Can’ tell anything from reporting but there was some reporting that they weren’t getting a lot of calls, at least not credible ones. Maybe they didn’t want to discourage people from calling and weren’t going to talk about all the calls that didn’t help.
The consensus appears to be that he looks more like Dave Franco (James’s brother).
The NY Post has a photo of his mug munching on a burrito at McDs with the mask hanging off looking stupid. He didn’t even ditch the surgical mask or change his appearance whatsoever.
He should have bought take-out food only, keeping his mask on during the entire interaction with staff, and never eaten inside any restaurant.
Any second he spends out in the open, particularly in a place with video surveillance, is one more chance to be identified. Eating take-out is Assassination 101.
This.
Just as some people (me included) are much worse at recognizing faces than most people, some people are much better at recognizing faces than most people. I’d presume that whoever recognized him was in the better-recognizing area of that spectrum.
Yeah. Whatever you’re looking for is always in the last place you look – because then you stop looking.
Didn’t he have the manifesto on his person? I think wanted to get caught (perhaps more specifically, he knew he’d eventually get caught, so was deliberately careless — “might as well get it over with,” “while this is hot news I can vocalize my grievance”).
The initial getaway seems more well planned and executed, but even with that, experts say he was amateur (e.g., about not always keeping his mask on until he was back in Altoona). Maybe he knew that a manhunt for a day or two (followed by capture) would generate the most publicity — more than being apprehended at the scene of the crime, and also more than living on the lam for years until the public mostly had forgotten all about it.
They didn’t necessarily recognize him just from his face. He also had the jacket and backpack:
That was a pretty unique backpack. It stands out from generic backpacks and makes him more noticeable in general. I think I’d be more likely to first recognize the backpack and jacket and then ask myself if his face looked like the suspect.
If a person watches a lot of the 24/7 news channels, they would have seen the photos of the suspect many times over. They would have ended up subconsciously memorizing many subtle details of the suspect. If someone was just casually following the story and seeing occasional surveillance photos, then they might not recognize him. So if you were a McD’s employee who watched cable news constantly in your off-hours, then you might recognize him even if you don’t have a super ability to recall faces.
I’m really surprised at the number of people with face blindness. At least, in this thread it’s a lot!
I worked at a local public library when I was in high school and through college, and I recognized people often after one interaction. When checking out books we had to look at the name they wrote on the card in the book, then, look them up on our giant rolodex of cardholders. People would be shocked that I’d look for their card before even reading their names.
I would say there would be a 90% chance I would, at least in the area I live in.
Younger person, but still wearing a covid mask? That would raise my eyebrows as something different than normal. Very rare to see a person out in public wearing a mask any more. They would likely be much, much older anyways.
Then after seeing pictures of him on TV on a frequent basis, somewhat slim build and dark hair? Give him a second look, along with a comment to my fellow coworkers "doesn’t that guy look like the masked killer from NYC? Then they look and offer their opinions.
One year at college I ran into someone who hailed me in a hallway by name. Tall, thin, blond guy, pretty friendly, pleased to see me. We began chatting and he very quickly realized I had absolutely no idea who he was and got a little upset. I had been in a small (~18-20 students) upper-division biology class with him a year or two earlier, which had included multiple overnight field trips. He wasn’t someone I hung out with constantly, but we had an amiable relationship in class. But a year or so later - boom, gone.
I worked at a McDonald’s in my late teens. I was friendly and chatty with customers if I was working upfront, even if busy. Never noticed a soul. I wouldn’t have recognized anyone short of an Elvis or Hitler impersonator.
I’m not going to cop to out-and-out face blindness, but my powers of recognition are not something I’m going to brag about, either. On the basis of the pictures I’ve seen on the net, I really don’t think I could identify the guy if I saw him in real life with any degree of confidence.
But I might wonder about him. “Hey, he kind of resembles that guy. I wonder… But then again, why the heck would he turn up in Altoona, Pennsylvania, however many days later? No way. Can’t be him. If he didn’t leave the country, he’s at least on the other side of the Mississippi River by now.” (I’m not aware of anything reported that would indicate that he would go there for some specific reason. Is it just some random place where he happened to turn up?)
Here is an internet test to answer the thread title question:
I am not quite in face-blind territory, but close.
Me as well, I’m much better at remembering faces than I am names. I can recall people from 50 years ago by their face, but I’ll be damned if I can recall their name most of the time.
This was a good looking young guy and a lot of people invested a lot of time following this story due to its supposed righteous vengeance aspect. It’s no suprise to me that he stood out in the crowd.
I think this board may have a relatively high percentage. I’m not sure why; but it might be that it tends to affect one’s IRL social life, and may make it easier to interact in ways in which it doesn’t matter.
Add me to the face blindness list.
I expected a more polished person. The guy in the photo looked like a model.
It’s probably the hair. It was hidden in the photo.
Seeing both photos side by side confirms the cops got the right person.
Dave was actually the Franco I was thinking of. Not sure why I wrote James
I wouldn’t have recognized him for a different reason. I don’t really watch TV news. I get most of my news from NPR. So I haven’t seen very many pictures of the suspect. Maybe a couple in the online news articles posted in the breaking news thread here. But I really haven’t seen enough to really know what he looks like.
Which is nice to have, sure, but not life changing. Not enough for college or a flat, barely enough for a better car.
Interesting to read how many here have difficulties remembering and recognizing faces.
AH! So he did have his jacket and backpack on him. That makes a hell of a lot more sense now. I just saw pictures of him in his dark blue/black sweatshirt and didn’t see anything about those other items. Now with that info, I may put 2 and 2 together.