>>>If 20/20 had actually done any
research they'd have known no such
police report involving Jim and
stalking exists and, one presumes, told
this to the audience.<<<<<
From the Time article (post #42): "Other reporters and Van de Velde's lawyers have found one complaint, filed last Sept. 16 in nearby Branford. In it, a reporter said she had received several hang-up calls and suspected Van de Velde because he had sent her two
letters at work expressing interest in
a relationship."
I suppose one could argue that this is
not really a "stalker" complaint, but
an air of uncertainty still surrounds
Jim and this case. In reality there is
not a whole lot that would eliminate
Jim as a suspect- he fit's the profile
to,arguably,some degree. There's the
stalker issues, his description by some
as being wound too tight, and the job
crisis over which he sought
professional help. There's the
relationship with Suzanne that had her
very upset and the fact that he has no
alibi for evening of the killing. Not
enough to convict him, but with the
lack of evidence leading the case
elsewhere, not enough to completely
rule him out.
**************************************
Playing devil's advocate and presenting
the evidence as I believe the police
might view it... It, unfortunately,is the most likely scenario, I believe, given the evidence we have been presented.
Suzanne arrives at her apartment at
about 8:30 after dropping the borrowed
car at the campus parking lot. Between
8:30 to 8:50 a group of friends ask her
to go to the movies, she tells them she
is going to work that evening, they assume that means on her thesis. And from 9:02 'til 9:10 she is on-line,
e-mailing a friend about leaving books
in the apt. house lobby.
Jim has last seen Suzanne between
4-4:30 that afternoon when she drops
off her thesis, leaving a note
requesting an e-mail if Jim has any
concerns. At 6PM Anna Ramirez drops by
Jim's office to ask him if he wants to
go see a movie. Jim replies that he
will spend the evening working, and spends that time reviewing
Suzanne's thesis. Jim says that at some point he briefly goes over to the
hockey game, a short distance from his
office, and ends up at home between
8-8:30.
Could a meeting have been arrainged
between Suzanne and Jim for a time
later that evening? We have a conflux
of the time element at either the
4-4:30 drop off time of the thesis, at
which point a 8:30 call to Suzanne
could have been promised, or the,
perhaps, coincidental 8:30 arrival of
Suzanne and Jim at their respective
residences, where a call from either
would have found the other home to
take the call.
Would this have been unusual? Given the note by Suzanne requesting contact if
Jim had any problems, and the fact that both had either been reviewing the
thesis or about to work on it, it
doesn't seem a far fetched proposition. A probable occurrence?
At this point Suzanne leaves her
apartment to return the keys and to
meet with Jim. She is seen at 9:15 by
Peter Stein, to whom she relates that
she is returning the car keys and is
very tired. Peter also states that
Suzanne is carring some 8 1/2 by 11
"papers". This I suspect would most
likely be part of the thesis, a
revision or addition, that she is
bringing to the meeting with Jim.
She returns the keys and is last seen
walking north on College St.(so. of
Elm) by the "mystery" witness at
approx. 9:25 to 9:30. Suzanne is next
seen at 9:58 at the corner of Edge Hill and East Rock about 1.8 miles away.
The question, not assuming the
presupposed meeting with Jim, is where
is she going? Drawing a line between
College & Elm and the murder scene
there is really only 3 places that make any sense from the evidence we have:
the hockey game at Prospect and Sachem, Jim's office at about the same spot, or Jim's home at StRonan and (approx.)
Canner.
The hockey game would not be very
likely, Suzanne passed on a chance to
go to the movies earlier and had told
friends she would be working at what
they assumed was her thesis. That
leaves either Jim's office or his
apartment.
The problem then exists as to how she
got to the crime scene 1.8 miles away.
It might have been possible to walk
that entire distance but very
likely? What has always occurred to me
is that perhaps Suzanne was the type of person who like to "walk and talk"
things over. To some, under stress, a
long walk and discussion is a kind of
therapy. But 1.8 miles? It's possble if the other person was somewhat of a
"walker",too. We saw Jim in the 20/20
piece walking quite briskly and
bicycling through New Haven.And
Suzanne? We have this from an article
written by her sister Ellen:(post 211)
"She had a distinctive walk-fast, lively and purposeful-and the spirit of an explorer. During a September 1998 visit, she and her boyfriend, Roman, and I covered miles of Manhattan on foot."
It's possible,too, that the peception of walking distances by a student who walks a great deal to class might have made the distance seem that much shorter. Or Suzaane could have met Jim at his office, driven to his apartment, and then walked and talked the remaing .5 miles from Jim's apartment on St Ronan to the crime scene. One doesn't realize until viewing the map that St Ronan becomes Edge Hill, the same street as the murder scene.
My feeling is that an argument ensued, as was heard by local residents, with Suzanne saying she "can't believe you're doing this," and then as she walked towards one of the neighborhood homes, she was struck from behind on top of the head and is rendered unconscious.She is then cut numerous times about the shoulders, with the final blow to the throat.
Being unconscious would slow the heart and respiration rate, which might help explain the lack of a great deal of blood.Also, with the final cut to the neck being underneath her, much of the blood might have been hidden by her body. |
