Will hesitantly re-state my own purely-speculative guess as to what may have transpired the night of Faith’s murder… even though I’m less confident than ever that it is even close to actuality, and acknowledging there are LOTS of other plausible theories out there, just none that seem to conform well to all the things we know! But I'll do it because the Breaking Homicide broadcast once again leads people down the path to Karena and Takoy (and now a boyfriend as well), and I’m not comfortable that that is the best or simplest fit for the known evidence (though I do remain suspicious of Eric Takoy Jones and his associates, and the new Ty McNeil connection is intriguing, but that is all). In fact it’s hard for me to imagine that if Karena or Eric is involved, police haven’t been able to demonstrate it after 5+ years of investigation in such a brutal case and crime scene — even without a DNA match there ought be a lot more to connect one of them directly to the crime by now.
My own rough scenario has always been along the following general lines:
First I’ll note that this was a very vicious, brutal crime… with no real indication it (the murder) was pre-planned, premeditated, or “staged” at all (though possible). Instead I think it stemmed from spontaneous, momentary and impulsive rage following a robbery, rape attempt, or other crime/encounter gone awry. With that said…:
Faith and Karena go to the Thrill where at some point they encounter a couple of guys (who are either blood relatives or close friends of one another) — these may be complete strangers (possibly event transients) to the women, or 2 men who slightly knew them through some other social context. The men take a fancy to the girls and try to hook up, but are rejected. Annoyed by them, Karena eventually concocts the excuse of a headache to leave the Club and escape any unwanted advances, leaving the men angry/jealous. Either from the girls themselves or from others at the Club the men get enough information to Google around and get the girls’ address. After some further drinking or drugs they decide they should pay the women a visit, and maybe they can yet party with them (or maybe teach them a lesson for being too snooty).
There are many possible scenarios once they get to the Hawthorn apt., but my point is I think they may have gone looking for both women and with NO intent whatsoever for murder. But getting there and finding Faith alone they took advantage of the situation, leading to a sexual assault on Faith. At some point in her struggle to resist, she either bit one of them, kicked him in the groin, tried poking his eyes out, or otherwise committed a painful, defensive act absolutely enraging the assaulter in-the-moment, causing him/them to subdue her with the nearest thing possible (the bottle). (I believe it may have required 2 individuals to have simultaneously manhandled Faith so brutally yet produced so little noise from the apt.)
The hardest thing for me to account for is the bag note, but then that is difficult to explain under any scenario. I believe the above scheme, which admittedly has its own problems, nonetheless fits what is known at least as well as other scenarios.
People are naturally gravitating toward Karena, Takoy, etc. because they want to believe this crime can be solved and that the solution is right before their eyes (in the form of names/characters we already know). But (for now) I’ll continue to speculate that the perp may be someone entirely unknown from released documents and reports, and that is exactly why the case has dragged on for so long (...I’m reminded of the Mississippi Jessica Chambers vicious-burning murder case that I followed for a year where dozens of names were mentioned on the Web, yet in the end the person arrested was someone who hadn't crossed internet radar).
We’re all tired of hearing it, but unless some major flaw is found in the DNA analysis done, this case needs a (perhaps NON-Black, NON-Caucasian) male DNA match above all else (possibly from an eventual CODIS hit); ALL the circumstantial speculation about other matters will not get us to an endpoint, and is open to multiple interpretations. We're all operating heavily on gut instincts and intuitions which can be misleading.
We’re all tired of hearing it, but unless some major flaw is found in the DNA analysis done, this case needs a (perhaps NON-Black, NON-Caucasian) male DNA match above all else (possibly from an eventual CODIS hit); ALL the circumstantial speculation about other matters will not get us to an endpoint, and is open to multiple interpretations. We're all operating heavily on gut instincts and intuitions which can be misleading.
Having said all this, toward the end of the “Breaking…” show they bring up Occam’s Razor, which indeed is the approach I always take toward crimes, BUT in the instance of long-unsolved crimes Occam’s Razor often breaks down and there are some quite unexpected twists… which is one reason I’m less confident than ever that the simple scenario I’ve painted above is true (it’s too simple!)… I put it forth anyway because I believe people do need to think outside-the-box of Karena and Takoy, and accept that what we know in this case, what the police have disclosed, may be but a small fraction of what there is to know. I won't be surprised if it turns out that someone out there has the right theory, but I'll be even less surprised if it turns out no one does.
[…If by chance you haven’t already seen the Hedgepeth Breaking Homicide episode it officially airs tonight (10pm EDT) and Derrick Levasseur, one of the hosts, says he will be live-tweeting (@DerrickL) throughout, so that may be interesting or it may just be hectic and repetitious.]
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ADDENDUM: Looked at all the comments of those live-tweeting the episode last night; a few thoughts:
1) I had some slim hope that with 1000s of new eyes on this case someone just might spot something different or have an original idea not previously offered… but as expected, for those who have followed the case for a long time, it was almost entirely re-hash of predictable, redundant thoughts, with the vast majority of folks again led to suspect Karena.
2) To my surprise I think only 1 or 2 people asked about the estimated time-of-death — a question I’ve long been asking — surely somewhere out there is an officially-established time-of-death, but it has oddly never been released even though it could help dispel some of the theories put forth.
3) A small number of people did ask about fingerprints — were there noteworthy fingerprints on the bag, the pen, the bottle, doorknobs…? Again, an obvious question I’ve posed before, and bizarrely the police have never addressed.
4) Finally, I’ve surmised before that Faith fought back mightily, probably leaving defensive wounds (bruises, scratches, marks) on her attacker’s arms (who probably wore long sleeves during the ensuing hot September days), and one commenter did note that police would surely have seen defensive marks on Karena’s or Eric’s arms in the first 48 hours if there had been any to see.
After watching the show my first thought was based on the body what is an estimated time of death? That would help eliminate Karena or put her in the hot seat. The video clip did seem to establish a fight happened between Karena and Faith. It is odd that there was no trail of blood as if someone did clean up. Maybe the person took all of their clothing off at the scene and clean up enough to not drip with Faith's clothing. I also was struck how Karena sounded on the call. She was able to open her phone first to call as if maybe this scene was not a shock to her. She also called a friend to see if she had heard from Karena. If she wanted to check on her why didn't the guy that picked her up bring her back home? It seems as if she wanted to make sure their other friend was there with her when she went home. Her not wanting to talk about the event is also suspicious. If it were my firend I ould do anything to helpfind out who killed my bestfriend.
ReplyDeleteAs far as wounds on the murderer--if you are knocked in the head with that bottle, you will be stunned after the first strike. I doubt Faith was able to do more than try to cover her face and head with her arms.
ReplyDeleteYou could be right about this... but contusions to Faith's arms, hands, and legs (from the autopsy, which records a "beating"), in addition to the head wounds, as well as general blood spatter and disarray would seem to indicate a significant struggle. Still, the initial officer on-site recorded "no obvious signs of a struggle" and neighbors heard little, so who knows???
DeleteThe Breaking Homicide hosts made good points about the clean exit of the killer and also how no one intends on murdering someone with a bottle. That really makes me believe that if the altercation between Karena & Faith indeed happened at the club, it's very possible it continued at the apartment...Karena may not have intended to kill Faith but in the heat of the moment, grabs the bottle, knocks Faith out? (Which could be why there's the lack of struggle or screams) But then Karena snaps and continues the beating leading to her death. If there is "too much DNA" ... the girls were roomies, probably drank the bottle of rum together in the previous few nights so of course her DNA could be all over it but making it hard to say she did it. Also...in the 911 call, Karena says Faith was found in HER (Karena's) bedroom. Why would she be in there???
ReplyDeleteWe seem to just go round-and-round-and-round on this, but those who think that Karena did it still have to explain the presence of semen DNA that matches male DNA on the bottle, the pen, and the Time-Out bag. The only explanation I ever hear is some sort of "staging," which, while possible, is hard for some of us to imagine (and the police, who have interviewed Karena at least 10 times, are convinced THAT male is the perpetrator).
DeleteContact Deb Webber. A renound psychic, known for her ability to help in crimes such as these. She use to be on a show called sensing murder. The woman has a phenomenal ability to get cluesthat no one has. I know people say its a stretch but i know she could solve it. Watch the show and see her ability.You can contact her.
ReplyDeleteI know police depts. do occasionally use the services of "psychics," but don't know if police in this case have ever solicited, or received unsolicited, ideas from any psychic.
ReplyDeleteMost crime psychics don't have that great or credible of an overall 'batting average' (or they'd be busy non-stop with cases), but I'm not here to prejudge any particular one, or any particular approach to gaining more insight on this case.
I think the DNA is throwing everyone off. It's possible she had consentual sex and touched the bottle and note and transfer occurred. There's stories of emt transfer of DNA on victims and throwing investigation off there's so many different plausible explanations for DNA that if not in right context can be misleading. I think to much has been made of this DNA.it was stated she met with a male friend earlier that day. I believe the bottle as weapon strongly indicates roommate. Along with so much other indicators, I believe it had to do with Brandon and roommate sent texts using faith phone.
ReplyDeleteAnything is possible of course, but in general, DNA forensics is some of the best evidence available. In this instance any ‘transfer’ would just happen, by coincidence, to include the bottle, pen, and bag, three very key items. Moreover, law enforcement has tested all-known males within Faith’s circles of acquaintance (presumably anyone she would’ve been having consensual sex with?), and yet has no DNA match to any of them — at the very very least there seems to be a male who encountered Faith that has never been identified — he could be too scared to come forward; far more likely he’s too GUILTY to come forward.
DeleteAlso, I don’t see how the bottle-as-weapon indicates roommate (there are so many ways for one roommate to kill another); I think it just indicates the unplanned, spontaneous, impulsive nature/rage of this crime.