# Did HE hire someone, or decapitate her himself? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 22, 2003, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302 "2003-04-22T13:01:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/21 "2003-04-23T07:15:44Z")
Makes sense to me, **look!ninjas**. To rephrase it: If Scott Peterson had said he’d gone fishing in Lake Mead, the police wouldn’t have immediately thought to run DNA tests on the corpse that washed up on the beach in California, but because they _knew_ where Peterson had been, they naturally ran DNA tests on the first white female body which washed up on the shore, and since they had DNA from a specific individual that they were searching for, all they had to do is run one test for a match. If the body had turned out to be that of someone else, it would have taken longer for them to get a positive result, if at all. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/22 "2003-04-23T16:26:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MixieArmadillo \* > \*\*I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but for the love o’god, he took out a substantial life insurance policy on his wife only, tried to sell his missing wife’s car and their home, then he was picked up in San Diego in an unidentified vehicle, with dyed hair, a goatee, ten thousand dollars in cash, and his brother’s ID. > \*\* 1. The Life Insurance policy was refuted- see Mr Jim’s post. 2. He did sell her car. The Police impounded his work truck- they still have it- and he needed a truck to work. The Police basicly made him sell her car- then it’s evidence against him. :rolleyes: 3. He has had numerous threats against him, and was being harrassed by the Media- I’d hide too. If he had wanted to skip, he would have been gone by now. As I said before- there is (so far) exactly _NO_ evidence he killed her. Look at all of you dudes that were willing to send Condit to the gas chamber for Chandra. Some evidence does point to a possible mass murderer hitting pregant women in that general area. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/23 "2003-04-23T17:09:05Z")
I just saw the warden of the prison SP is in saying that SP does not really fit the profile of most of the Maximum security prisoners he has in there. Saying things like he’s a model prisoner, has manners etc…etc… My bet’s going for the ‘hired thug’ or ‘serial killer’ theory. I mean Geez when they interviewed his closest friends, they all sy they were shocked! And his best buddie said Laci was planning her pregnancy with his wife, and they all seemed to be very happy go-lucky. There is a lot that simply doesn’t add up here. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/24 "2003-04-23T17:14:59Z")
\*\*\*DrDeth wrote [/quote] > [@](#): > > Some evidence does point to a possible mass murderer hitting pregant women in that general area. And what evidence woud that be? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/25 "2003-04-23T17:24:53Z")
Another dead pregant body in the water? See post #3. Note that there was pretty good evidence of a stalker murderer in the Chandra case, and the DC police “forgot” to mention it to the media, while so many were convicting Condit of murder from their couch. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/26 "2003-04-23T17:32:22Z")
You’ve forgotten that the other woman lived nearly 120 miles away in a different city (also that her boyfriend is a suspect in that case). See the map in my first post above. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/27 "2003-04-23T17:49:50Z")
And what does mileage have to do with innocence **stuffy**? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/28 "2003-04-23T17:50:45Z")
Right. And we KNOW that a murderer can’t kill anyone that far apart. :rolleyes: Sure- it is scanty evidence- but so far- more evidence than they have against Scott. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/29 "2003-04-23T18:03:14Z")
Your sarcasm is duly noted **DD**. I’m trying to point out the obvious fact the first murder was committed in San Francisco a large city that would have _plenty_ of readily available pregnant women for our hypothesized serial killer, not to mention all the other large much closer cities. To travel to essentially a suburb (where no one noticed a stranger about) a hundred miles away then bring the body 100 miles back to the Bay makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/30 "2003-04-24T12:39:12Z")
Ah, but does it make no sense because of logic or genius? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/31 "2003-04-24T15:18:42Z")
I think it is entirely possible to maintain an awareness of the fact that SP has been charged with a crime, not convicted of one, while discussing the evidence against him. Based on what I’ve read here, there’s still a fairly large “reasonable doubt” issue to be dealt with. But the defense would do well to develop alternate suspects other than some vague, nebulous serial killer who may be targetting pregnant women. Right now SP is the only person with a motive to kill LP. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/32 "2003-04-24T15:32:52Z")
Fair enough **Phlosphr** , however I still consider it to be a remote, really, really remote possibility. The Bay is a pretty common dumping ground er…whatever, for bodies. Maybe another BA Doper can help me out, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was no less that 6 per year. On preview, exactly! **Evil Captor** ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/33 "2003-04-24T15:34:40Z")
_whew_ when i read the capitalization of ‘HE’ in the OP, i thought you were referring to Jesus. Now, i might not believe that he was the son of God, but accusing him of decapitating people is a bit much. 😃 anyway, I predict that this will go the way of the OJ…anyone notice that the more high-profile a case is nowadays, the less likely there will be any sort of satisfactory conclusion? OJ, Jean-Benet, Chandra Levy…just frustrating to think that we will end up with another ‘not guilty’ and yet no other arrests/leads. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/34 "2003-04-24T19:40:45Z")
When a body dies, the bacteria in the intestines begin to eat through the intestinal walls and consume the body from the inside out. In this process, the gaseous excrement from the bacteria begins to bloat the body much like a balloon. If the head and hands were bound, it is possible that a combination of tidal forces, friction, and water creatures succeeded in dislocating these extremities once they had rotted sufficiently. The head and hands would have fallen to the bottom of the bay even as the torso floated upward. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/35 "2003-04-24T20:07:50Z")
Boy am I glad I’ve already finished lunch. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/36 "2003-04-24T21:55:29Z")
Coincidentally, he was arrested less than a mile from where I work. Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/37 "2003-04-24T23:03:42Z")
A couple of links I found I found which may further the debate: [Homicide](http://mchlibrary.info/alert/alert032301.htm#1) is the leading cause of death among prenant women. Any you probably already knew that [62%](http://www.ncadv.org/publicpolicy/pdfs/when_men_murder_women_2003.pdf) of women homicide victims are killed by their husbands/significant other. That last is a pdf document, sorry to anyone lacking Acrobat. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302/38 "2003-04-24T23:13:50Z")
Right, stuffy, which is why I agree he is certainly a prime suspect. However, you can’t go into Court with only that sort of evidence- after all- that means that 38% of women are NOT murdered by their husbands, etc. Certainly a “reasonable doubt”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-he-hire-someone-or-decapitate-her-himself/170302.md?page=1)