A previous post (Stacey Needs Advocates) mentions a portion of Murder in a Small Town: the Tragic Death of Stacey Burns which I sent to the homicide prosecutor at the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office. Here is a short section of that chapter on the alibis of those who could be considered suspects.
“While Jim Vittum and Ed Burns were not the only potential suspects in the initial stages of the investigation, they certainly were the strongest. One can only hope that the professionalism of the investigators prevented them from dismissing other peripheral possibilities. As a famous fictional detective points out in Watchers of Time by Charles Todd, ‘when the police look for guilt, there’s always enough to serve their purpose. Nobody is free of guilt. But if you search for the truth, now, that’s a different tale.”
That section concludes with the following observation, for which I assume full responsibility.
“The real danger with the erosion of alibies over time is that the arduous examination of them will fall victim to the same erosion. This is how people get away with murder.”
Could this be why, thus far at least, the murderer of Stacey Burns has gotten away with murder? Surely, those who have the case on their desks right now are revisiting these alibis to see if there has been any erosion (my term, by the way) in them.
Duke
As an alibi I have not been “revisited” and there certainly hasn’t been any “erosion” on my behalf.
I cant help but wonder – where did the murderer go after the killing? Did he or she walk up or down the street to a car? Did they go thru the woods to a house or a car or a boat in the lake? Are there cameras anywhere in town that captured any cars traveling in the early morning hours? Or boats? Did they change their clothes and shoes in the bedroom before leaving? Getting in the house un-noticed is one thing – but getting out and away is another. Have all the cameras been checked in town and businesses?