It just bothers me that the timing is so tight.
To put together the timeline I, numerous times, timed the walk from Jovin's apartment to the spot where Peter Stein said they had met. I also followed and timed the exact circuitous route Stein said he took back to his room after meeting her. I did the walk and time thing, again numerous times, on all sorts of routes I thought applicable.
And of course I've never liked that witness who supposedly saw her on College Street.
The time and place she claimed to have seen Jovin fits exactly in the timeline where I would have predicted it to be. Recall I went back and re-read the published material and verified there was nothing from which she could have deduced a likely time and place for a fictitious sighting. However I do agree that it's one thing to be able to recall encountering someone you knew; it's another to recall seeing someone you've never met especially when there's no need to notice (like others walking near Jovin that night). So if the latter is your point, I would agree.
It also bothers me that the killers pulled the whole thing off so efficiently. Usually they make mistakes.
The irony here is that I believe the killers made all sorts of mistakes. It's the NHPD who have been guilty of inefficiency, to put it mildly. For example, the police never revealed the existence of the Fresca bottle nor have ever made mention that Jovin very likely might have made it as close to her apartment as Krauszers. Thus, people who might have seen all sorts of suspicious things in or around Krauszers might possibly have never bothered to report them figuring Jovin had only gotten as far as College Street, several long blocks away. As far as I know, they never bothered to compare the partial print on the Fresca bottle to any of the clerks who worked there at the time.
The police also didn't make mention of the tan/brown van until years later, and, when they did, went into no detail about a possible make or model, whether it was commercial or passenger, or even its size. They also took years to analyze the DNA from the fingernail scrapings that turned out not to match their prime suspect. Think of all the people who might have figured what they saw or heard was likely meaningless because it wasn't consistent with what the police were alleging had happened.
And you'd assume that one or both would have been dripping blood.
Yes, you would. The fact there was no blood spatter at the scene would indicate some vehicle somewhere was filled with blood. If Jovin were indeed abducted in a brown/tan van, it's likely a hunk of scrap metal by now. Since Van de Velde drove a red Jeep, I'll wager the NHPD decided it totally useless to scour junk yards, abandoned cars, and owner lists for any that might match the one witnesses saw.
Even worse, at the time the police did finally announce they were seeking information on the van they failed to tell the public they already had impounded one. As much as I would have given anything that it be the "right" one, it was obvious to me early on it was not (one day I'll go into more detail). Once again I fear the police become complacent in a search for the van thinking they (by sheer luck) had found it.
If she were stabbed by someone she knew well, it would have to have been a person who wasn't known to any of her friends, a person with whom she had a "secret" relationship. And that's a rather melodramatic scenario.
Someone so secret she also didn't tell her diary or her sister, didn't write any emails, call on the phone, or mark in some form or other in her date book etc. Highly unlikely. And even if she were the sort to do this and pull it off, her long circuitous route that ended minutes from her apartment plus a visit to a convenience store are not consistent with someone planning to clandestinely meet someone. And then there's the problems associated with the one-person-in-a-car murder scenarios not to mention the fact the killer would have no way of knowing for sure Jovin truly hadn't told anyone or left notes about who she might be meeting either that night or in general secretly. So, again, highly unlikely.
- Jeff |
