# Movie "Sicario": why dead bodies in walls of house? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sicario-why-dead-bodies-in-walls-of-house/820051 "2018-08-22T14:19:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sicario-why-dead-bodies-in-walls-of-house/820051/21 "2018-08-22T23:41:25Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > The house was in the US, so dumping in public would be more problematic. Agree with you on the dumping in public. AIUI, the cartel is, well, gunshy about killing in the US. Isolated notorious examples aside. (E.g., the hit on a cartel lawyer/financier in an upscale shopping center in a Dallas Fort Worth suburb: [Murdered Southlake Man Headed Major Mexican Drug Cartel, Attorney Says – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth](https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Murdered-Southlake-Man-Headed-Major-Mexican-Drug-Cartel-Attorney-Says-374504041.html)) See also, the difference in murder rates between Juarez and El Paso, or any two twinned Mexican/U.S. border towns really. If they didn’t want to hire the pozole guy, and his procedure doesn’t look all that hard, then backhoe a nice hole somewhere and dump. Or do what the House of Death did for their victims. What that is, I don’t know, but I imagine an antelope hunter will find something grisly near Fort Bliss or the Hueco Tanks, one of these days. Borderland Beat ([http://www.borderlandbeat.com/](http://www.borderlandbeat.com/)) is a great resource for news like this, and if you find yourself currently plagued with easy, dreamless sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sicario-why-dead-bodies-in-walls-of-house/820051/22 "2018-08-23T12:18:01Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > In a standard wall there’s 3.5 inches of empty space. Were these dead bodies hobbits or something? > [@scr4](#): > > I think we’re talking about a false wall built in front of the original wall to creating a gap. Is it an American-style wall? Adobe or bricks can easily be half a meter thick (exterior brick walls are usually double, adobe will be single). ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sicario-why-dead-bodies-in-walls-of-house/820051/23 "2018-08-23T12:26:40Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Is it an American-style wall? Adobe or bricks can easily be half a meter thick (exterior brick walls are usually double, adobe will be single). Typical US home construction uses [stud walls](https://www.google.com/search?q=stud+wall&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjG85DVlIPdAhVnmuAKHfENAkgQ_AUICigB&biw=1422&bih=985) with a “2x4” at their core. The 2x4 is actually 1.5 x 3.5 inches. The stud wall is then faced with drywall (“sheetrock”) that’s 1/2" - 5/8" thick. This is the sort of construction that was shown in the movie. Exterior walls might use 2x6 or 2x8 studs (to allow for insulation), but even the latter only creates a gap that’s 7.5" deep, not quite enough for an adult human head. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sicario-why-dead-bodies-in-walls-of-house/820051/24 "2018-08-24T14:22:20Z")
It’s a thing that has happened a few times in real life. A notable example is British killer [John Christie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christie_(murderer)), who concealed some of his victims in the walls at 10 Rillington Place. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sicario-why-dead-bodies-in-walls-of-house/820051/25 "2018-08-24T14:46:48Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Such a house would be unlivable due to smell for quite some time. How long? 6 months? The bodies would leak, too. Places where you _expect_ corpses to be [stored](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMi117KF9Kg) take a great many pains to keep the liquids and odors from offending, with imperfect success. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sicario-why-dead-bodies-in-walls-of-house/820051.md?page=1)