The most common synonym for speculation is conjecture and that is all that may be offered here. After all, I am only a civilian, not privy to the facts and evidence which the police apparently have in copious amounts (but not enough) in the Stacey Burns murder case. As an uninformed civilian, my speculation likely fits into another synonym  for the word as well and that is “risky.” Here is some risky conjecture about the killer of Stacey Burns.

1. He or she must be amoral, a person without conscience and without any sense of right versus wrong. This observation is based on the fact that four plus years have not produced enough guilt to make the killer admit what he or she has done.

2. He or she must possess a psychopathic personality, a personality which by definition is characterized by emotional instability, lack of sound judgment, perverse or impulsive (often criminal) behavior. This observation is based on the methodology of the murder and the killer’s subsequent ability to manage to escape prosecution.

3. He or she (and this is very risky) will likely never have the courage, the intestinal fortitude, or perhaps just the ability to come forward on his or her own and admit guilt for this horrible act. This observation makes sense if one considers again that it has been over four years and the killer continues to interact with other people and to apparently go on with his/her life. The police strategy seems to be to wait for this to happen. One can only hope that my conjecture here is wrong and theirs is right.

Feel free to offer your own speculation in response to this.

Duke