** Re: The Suzanne Jovin Murder -- Part 2: Analysis of the Evidence (continued) **
Returning to the crime itself, it’s hard to imagine for even a moment someone who planned the "perfect crime" would concoct anything close to the Jovin murder. At the very top of your list you wouldn’t want the body to ever be found, least of all in or near your own neighborhood. A close second would be to have planned an airtight alibi. Common sense would dictate that whoever picked up Jovin, most likely in the center of Yale, and deposited her in an upscale neighborhood nearly two miles away, had little fear of being seen there or traced to her. So, even after bending over backwards to justify a "she knew her killer" theory the evidence and logic still point squarely against it.
Thus, whether we try to determine who killed Suzanne Jovin going forwards, i.e. from the events leading up to it, or backwards, i.e. what would account for the known evidence at the crime scene, we reach the same most probable scenario: Jovin was murdered in a car containing more than one other person none of whom she likely knew. If true, then what might have been their motive?
Four general motives for murder come to mind: a) a prior need to silence, b) sexual assault, c) robbery, and d) a desire to hurt or kill. Some have conjectured that perhaps Jovin was targeted by the terrorist Osama Bin Laden about whom she was writing her thesis. However, having seen her thesis and talked to her thesis advisor I can say with reasonable certainty that all of her information was from published, as opposed to live, sources, and her emphasis was in recounting events not uncovering new possible acts of terrorism. Furthermore, I would think a terrorist group killing would either be more blatant to prove a point, like murdering someone in full view or others, or the opposite extreme, making sure no one ever found the victim. There’s also no evidence to support that Jovin was in fear for her life either that night or any night prior relating to other murder mystery clichés such as a lover spurned, a debt unpaid to the wrong person, or revenge for a life ruined. While she may have been angry with one or more people shortly before her death, there is no reason at all to assume anyone was angry with her, let alone mad enough to commit murder. In fact, who is to say that anyone even knew Jovin was upset at them in the first place? Worse, once we start assigning sinister connotations to common events we head down a slippery slope where essentially everyone becomes equally a suspect, i.e. she didn’t take this person’s call, or made a joke about that one in front of friends. This line of thinking makes no sense, is a sign of desperation, and risks hurting innocent people in the process. We must always try our best to stick to the facts, and the facts here and prior do not remotely support scenario "a" above.
As for scenarios "b" and "c", sexual assault and robbery respectively, neither one seems apparent. Not only was Jovin fully clothed, she was also reportedly found wearing a watch and earrings with a "crumpled up" dollar bill in her pocket, and her wallet was reportedly still in her room. Therefore we need to shift the question to whether it seems likely one or the other was either desired or planned.
It’s reasonable to assume that since Jovin’s assailants were most likely male (based mainly on general violent crime statistics), were successfully able to get her in their car, and given we know they were willing to use deadly force, assaulting her would have probably been quite easy. Given Jovin was young and attractive, and given we know sexual assault is (sadly) an all too common event, at the very least we can reasonably conclude it was not the primary intent. As for whether a robbery was perhaps the main intent, it’s hard to say. On the one hand, the apparent lack of removed jewelry and dollar bill make it seem less likely. On the other hand, one could argue either the jewelry was not perceived as valuable and perhaps Jovin had forgotten about the dollar bill under duress, or, even more likely, the would be thieves just wanted cash, and lots of it. Perhaps when one of them learned Jovin didn’t have any significant amount on her, and her credit and bank cards were in her wallet at home, he got so enraged he killed her. After all, they took the extraordinary step of plucking someone off the street and had nothing to show for it.
The last possible motive, scenario "d", is some sort of act of sheer violence. It happens often enough that there’s even a term for when people who travel in a pack randomly choose to assault someone: wilding. There’s no evidence of a group assault on Jovin as one would expect if a group had decided to abduct and torment her. They also obviously didn’t take Jovin to some isolated area where no one would see or hear her, dead or alive, as one might expect in a planned abduction. Most importantly, the 17 localized stab wounds seemed not designed to inflict pain and suffering, but a quick and sure death.
Much has been speculated about the significance of the 17 stab wounds and the slit throat. Did this signify a crime of passion? Given that 1) we’ve pretty much quashed the "single person did it" theory, 2) despite Jovin’s boyfriend being out of town there’s no evidence Jovin was either involved in a secret affair or ever would have engaged in one, and 3) even if someone had such a secret burning passion for her and was able to get her into a car and not afraid to use deadly force, there’s no evidence of a sexual assault or even the removal of clothing, a crime of passion does not make any sense whatsoever given the circumstances.
Rather, it seems most logical death was brought on by rage, not passion. December 4th, 1998 was an abnormally warm night. People had the urge to get out of the house as was evidenced by the number of people reportedly out for air and walking their dogs in the neighborhood Jovin was found. If Jovin were indeed forced into a car containing a group of people, most likely these were teenagers out for a ride, if not because of the weather then because it was a Friday night. To go further out on a limb, I kind of doubt the kids intended to hurt anyone that night. If they did, I'd think they would have brought along a much bigger weapon, not a knife with a 4-5 inch carbon steel blade as has been reported. Given everything discussed above, the only explanation that makes reasonable sense to me is a robbery gone bad. At least someone in the group was probably desperate for cash, perhaps because they were on their way to East Rock Park to buy drugs. Recall Jovin’s feet were found touching the right side of East Rock Road as one travels toward East Rock Park, about a mile away. Perhaps they needed Jovin herself as insurance, i.e. to tell them the code on her ATM card if necessary.
At first perhaps the knife was used to scare and intimidate Jovin, but when she not only had no cash nor even her wallet the person wielding it may have become infuriated and killed her. The killer’s actions may have been an adrenaline rush or he may have already been high, and/or perhaps he was dared or ordered to do it. 17 stab wounds could easily have been delivered in about 30 seconds, and given the close proximity to the head and neck area they most probably were struck in rapid succession. Another reasonable, but not conflicting, explanation for the number of blows is that the killer wasn’t convinced Jovin was totally dead after the initial flurry. In this context, the slitting of her throat was done last to be absolutely "sure". Normally when one thinks of a slit throat one thinks of slasher movies where such is the one and only fatal wound delivered by a cold and calculated killer. This along with the difficulty of inflicting numerous head wounds to someone with a severely severed neck, not to mention the amount of blood that would have flowed from an initial throat wound, also make it most likely the head blows came first. The fact that Jovin’s body was found in a populated residential area is also consistent with the notion things happened very fast and panic had set in. Even though the assailants were most likely not from that neighborhood and not in danger of being recognized, and perhaps even driving a stolen car, it’s very likely had they been of a more rational mind they would have driven to an area where there was little chance of anyone spotting them at all and calling the police.
At this point, anyone who has followed news reports of the murder is probably wondering why they got the strong impression Jovin was killed by someone she knew, and killed at the location where she was found—a totally opposite conclusion. The quick answer, and perhaps even obvious one when one thinks a while about it, is that the police were desperately trying to fit the crime to the one person they labeled a suspect from the outset, just days after the crime. It’s very important to note, and quite incredulous, that at the time the police named their suspect they had absolutely no evidence whatsoever on him: no blood, fiber, hair, fingerprint, etc., and had even turned down an offer to search his apartment, take a blood sample, and/or administer a polygraph. They labeled it a crime of passion, a secret love affair gone wrong, which they were forced to abandon months later once they had actually interviewed Jovin’s friends and family. What followed, as is detailed in Part 1, were outright attempts to manipulate the media into thinking they were making great progress and had not tossed an innocent man to the wolves. As one policeman said to me about the New Haven Police: "Their #1 priority is to make the public feel safe," implying that the longer they made it appear they had their man, the safer the public would feel.
In keeping with this philosophy, police briefings from the very beginning always mentioned how people in the vicinity of the crime scene heard a man and a woman arguing proximate to the time Jovin was found there. For example, on December 9, 1998, based on public comments made by Captain Brian Sullivan, the Yale Daily News wrote: "Police are searching for a male suspect based on reports from an Edgehill Avenue resident who heard a loud argument between a man and a woman between 9:15 and 9:45 p.m. Friday night, he said." The very next day they quote Sullivan as saying the time was between "9:30 and 9:45 p.m." Contrast that to what the Hartford Courant wrote on December 7, 1998: "A police source said East Rock residents heard screams shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday," followed two days later by "While interviewing people in the neighborhood, police learned that a couple of ‘angry voices’ -- including that of a man -- were heard about 9:48 p.m." The possible location of the arguing broadens on April 21, 1999 when the Yale Daily News quotes a newsletter sent out by the Ronan-Edgehill neighborhood association: "[Jovin] may have been walking on Edgehill or East Rock toward the intersection with a man, or alone, shortly before [9:45 p.m.]. She may have gotten out of a vehicle at or near the intersection of East Rock Road and Whitney Avenue, or some other place in the neighborhood between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m" (the words in brackets were added by the paper). The story goes on to say "A woman reportedly heard a male and female arguing near the corner of East Rock Road and Whitney Ave just minutes before the slaying, the Register reported Tuesday."
It is obvious that numerous folks heard a variety of things uttered in the vicinity of the corner of Edgehill and East Rock the night of December 4th—but despite so many people venturing out in the unusually warm air, no one actually saw anything. It's entirely possible someone were yelling at their dog for all we know. Regardless, more than a year later, on March 1, 2000, ABC ran a prime time version of their TV show 20/20 in which they described what the New Haven police were able to "piece together" for Jovin’s last moments this way: "At 9:45 a neighbor heard a man and woman arguing. At 9:50 another neighbor heard a woman scream five times. Just minutes before Suzanne’s body was found, a passerby heard what police believe were Suzanne Jovin’s last words. They were, "`I can’t believe you’re doing this.’" Therefore, let’s explore this scenario to determine just how likely it may actually be. In fact, let’s go one step further and instead of questioning if it’s reasonable these events are connected to the murder, let’s assume they all are.
First we have the arguing. For someone from within their house to hear two people arguing, most likely those two people would have to be outside, as opposed to in a car. So, if these two people were Jovin and her eventual killer, where is the killer's car that must have driven her there? Did he pull over and park? Did Jovin let herself out at a stop sign? If she got out of the car near the corner of East Rock and Whitney, wouldn’t she have most likely headed for Whitney, a large, well-lit, main road that directly leads to downtown New Haven? Regardless, as we’ve seen, once we place Jovin outside of a car the entire scenario becomes highly improbable. The only other possibility is the couple was still in the car but arguing with the windows rolled down. As also discussed before, given the lack of any trail of blood, it’s highly unlikely Jovin were dragged or carried anywhere, thus making it most probable that no matter where the car containing Jovin may have been parked, it had to have ended up at the spot where she was later found stabbed. Given the 9:30-9:45 time estimate for the arguing, we are faced with explaining how within the 10-25 minutes all this occurred, people inside their houses were able to hear arguing yet not a single passerby reported anything similar or even suspicious. But, once again, let’s just gloss over all this and continue on with the rest of the scenario.
Next, we have the five screams followed by words "I can't believe you're doing this." First off, obviously since neither event brought the person hearing it out of their house, nor prompted them to call the police, we can safely conclude they didn’t think it was coming from someone getting brutally murdered. Indeed people who have heard the screams of murder say they are unlike any you’ve ever heard before. Second, considering Jovin had no defensive wounds, one would expect the order of events to have been reversed. Are we to believe Jovin was screaming as she was being stabbed, caught her breath enough to be able to yell out those words, all the while not putting up a single hand in defense?! One might envision the killer on top of her keeping her immobilized but it’s hard to imagine how someone pinned to the ground after either being tackled or felled by a knife wound would still be able to scream loud enough to be heard, let alone utter words that might be audible to someone in their house. And, once again, considering the brutal nature of this scenario, where is the blood? Lastly, since 17 blows would have taken only half a minute, one would expect the same person to have heard both the screams and the words. Neither did, making it very likely they were two different (unconnected) events and thus not part of a murder scenario.
So we’ve examined the Jovin murder from all angles and still are left with the conclusion that the most likely scenario is that she was killed in a car containing more than one other person in a robbery gone bad. If I were writing a screenplay, it might go something like this: A car with four teens, a pair in back and front, pulls up near Suzanne Jovin. The driver rolls down his window and asks her directions somewhere. A few moments later, as she’s engaged in conversation, the back door opens and the two passengers slip out. One brandishes a knife and says "Say a word and you're dead. Get in the car." At that point, like most victims of muggings, Jovin is momentarily stunned. It doesn’t make sense at that instant to scream and risk death, so she gets into the back seat. The one with the knife gets in next to her as the other hurries to get in the other side. They order her to duck down so she is not seen, and start driving north on College/Prospect Street. They question Jovin about her money and wallet. She doesn't have either. The one wielding the knife flies into a rage and, while Jovin is still bent over, stabs her repeatedly. Jovin never sees it coming and never stands a chance of being able to defend herself. Being in such a confined space the killer keeps striking her in the same limited exposed area which is her head and back of neck. To make "sure" she is dead he slits her throat. With a dead victim in the back seat and blood everywhere the killers themselves start to panic. They want Jovin out of the car as soon as possible but not on a main road like Prospect where they might be noticed, so the driver takes a right on East Rock Rd which he recognizes as a cross street that would also quickly get him out of the area. One block down, just past the intersection of Edgehill and thus just out of view from any possible traffic on that road, they pull over to the curb. The passenger in the back seat on the right opens the door, gets out, leans over and grabs Jovin under her arms, pulls her straight out just enough to clear the car, and deposits her face down on the strip of grass there, her feet just touching the road. He gets back into the car, closes the door, and they drive away into the unknown.
The last important question to be asked is why, since most "gang" murders are solved so quickly and easily (since the likelihood of someone leaking information that makes the grapevine increases, as does the likelihood of someone outright ratting on the other upon a falling out), has this high-profile murder gone unsolved for two years with reportedly no evidence nor any leads? It is my contention given all that I’ve learned and observed that the Jovin murder investigation has been, at best, a sterling example of gross incompetence, or, at worst, a giant cover-up by the New Haven police. A year ago one wouldn’t dare speculate about something so sinister as a police cover-up, but given the recent Grand Jury finding that the top cop assigned to the Jovin case, Captain Brian Sullivan, had withheld evidence in another high-profile murder -- a crime for which he was subsequently arrested -- it almost seems obvious (not to mention that Sullivan and another cop active in the investigation, Detective Thomas Trocchio, have been accused by the New Haven Advocate newspaper of withholding evidence in yet another alleged murder).
I think the reason why the Jovin murder has not been solved to date is not because people are not willing to talk, but because the New Haven police have not wanted to listen for fear of looking like they’ve admitted they wasted the last two years desperately trying to make the crime fit someone they labeled a suspect to appease the press and the public. The fact that they have no evidence whatsoever is because all of it is in a car for which no one is looking.
If the police truly want to do the most they can to solve the Jovin murder they should 1) spray luminol on the floors of every stolen car recovered around the time period of the murder to detect the presence of blood, as well as check for the existence of any hair and skin residue, 2) publicize the promised $50,000 reward in local schools and in parts of New Haven and outer lying communities heretofore untouched, via handing out fliers, putting up posters, and running public service ads on radio and television, and 3) ask every arrested criminal or criminal informant if they know or have heard anything about the murder.
The good news is that I think the climate has finally changed. I think several people in the media are finally saying "fool me once…" to the New Haven police. I’m also very encouraged that Yale has hired their own private investigator who will have access to police files. Given all this I truly think Suzanne Jovin’s murder will soon be solved and the Jovin family will finally get the closure they deserve.
- Jeff |
