To my faithful blog followers:

Barring any new information arriving in the next month or so, this will be the final blog about Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns until I return from New Hampshire in early October. That trip will determine what happens next (f anything) with the project. Here are a few final observations, some whimsical and some quite serious.

1. DNA does not require a blood sample. It can be obtained from any body tissue. If, as a 20/20 journalist apparently told an interviewee, there were sixty DNA samples in the house, it obviously does not mean there were sixty blood samples in the house. (How did 20/20 know that, anyway!)

2. Many (more than a few) people have told me that my involvement with writing this book has helped to keep the case alive in New Hampshire. I hope this is true. Further, encouragement came from different sources to keep asking questions. I have but questions without answers are not very helpful.

3. If # 2 is true, one must wonder about the reason for unreturned phone calls, unanswered e-mails, lack of response to interview requests, and unanswered letters requested a venue to speak about the project.

4. It has been suggested that I should personally track down people I’ve contacted in other ways but who have not responded. My answer to this, while it may not be satisfactory to all but is nonetheless sincere, is that when I provide the opportunity for someone to tell me his or her side of the story and they refuse, I take them at their word. If someone says he “wants no part of this” or “we will not be participating with your book,” I would tend not to push the issue. I’ll admit that the narrative obviously suffers when this happens.

5. I had wondered why so many people, including Ed Burns, had not been interviewed again when the case went to different investigators. ( A couple of sample questions—“Why was it you wanted your three daughters for Mothers’s Day weekend, Ed?”  or “You saw the scratch on Jim Vittum’s face on Saturday, right, _____? (fill in your  choice of names?) I guess I’m still wondering if the investigation is actually over.

Until October, unless something dramatic develops; in the meantime, the manuscript will be resting in my current projects drawer.

Duke