That could not have been me.
Jul. 8th, 2006 10:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsFifteen months ago, I wrote an LJ entry in which I mentioned driving up to the scene of a murder in my neighborhood. We had been told that, as far as the police knew, it was a random carjacking, could have happened to anyone. Ronald Whitehead, 62 years old, approached as he waited for the light to change, shot multiple times, body pulled from the car, off it goes. A drug dealer looking for a fast way out of the district. Nobody knew. At the time, I entitled the article "That could have been me."
No, it couldn't have been me. By selling off his estate and cashing in his life insurance policy, Velma Ogden-Whitehead became a millionaire six months after her husband's death. Several of you advised that I watch the papers closely because it might always be one of the family members. And it was. The wife, her son, and her son's best friend-- the last of whom got $1000 out of the deal and who will now spend a lot of time in PMITA prison for his part.
Apparently, the tip-off came from the content of text messages that passed between the son and his accomplice in the hours right up to the murder. Pardon me for saying so, but that's just stupid.
No, it couldn't have been me. By selling off his estate and cashing in his life insurance policy, Velma Ogden-Whitehead became a millionaire six months after her husband's death. Several of you advised that I watch the papers closely because it might always be one of the family members. And it was. The wife, her son, and her son's best friend-- the last of whom got $1000 out of the deal and who will now spend a lot of time in PMITA prison for his part.
Apparently, the tip-off came from the content of text messages that passed between the son and his accomplice in the hours right up to the murder. Pardon me for saying so, but that's just stupid.
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Date: 2006-07-09 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 06:02 pm (UTC)When people are killed by smart people who think things out, they are "missing persons", not "murder victims".
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Date: 2006-07-09 06:17 pm (UTC)And yeah, everybody yaks it up and text messages away and doesn't think "Hey, Echelon is watching me"... I don't discuss sensitive topics on cell, EVER.
Not that I'm planning anything like that. But if it's wireless it's going on somebody's tape drive. Heck, even if it's wired is probably is.
Face-to-face in a noisy park is best.
It looks like they're going to send Mom up the river too. And well they should. Frankly, she's the one that should get fried. Retirement age or no. She's destroyed not one life, but three, and should be made to dance Danny Deever for her deeds.
Justice would be for those two kids to see her hang from a tree, and a suspended sentence with the proviso that if they *ever* get so much as a speeding ticket, it will be considered whether to do the same to them.
One other note. Reporter Mullin has just ensured that there will be a change of venue in this trial. *sigh*
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Date: 2006-07-10 05:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-11 12:51 am (UTC)The Conversation (http://imdb.com/title/tt0071360/)
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Date: 2006-07-11 01:50 am (UTC)OTOH, if you were *really* going for it, you *could* get a deaf person who reads lips....
Gripping hand, that's why catchers always hold their mitts up when talking to pitchers. It's really easy to figure out "fastball" or "curve" or "changeup"...
It all depends on what the stakes are and how paranoid you are. When the stakes are Murder One...
But then, we wouldn't go there, now, would we?