Crime Scene -

It has never taken this long to get an answer from the detectives about questions we ask. Am I the only one who thinks that? Is it because we're on the right track? lol

Glad to see you back!

You made a connection with David Ledford that I hadn’t thought about. You’re right in that those soil samples could very well point to him. I have been thinking that something was going on between Monica and Ledford. I think maybe he was in her office more than once at night. When the interview with his wife is published we might learn something along those lines.

We need to ask about who Steve Barton is because I that’s the only spot that his name comes up. Could that be Frannie Grace’s brother with the carpet cleaning business?

The key to the safety deposit box: I don’t know this for sure, but maybe the police can check with all the banks and discover which bank the key came from.

I agree about the way Lori told Monica to contact the police. Her alibi was confirmed, so she didn’t kill Monica, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t lying for some reason.

I also agree with you about the friendship between Monica and Lori. I think it has eroded over the years and they don’t share things like they used to do.

After you read the alibi chart, you’ll see that we can remove some names from our list of suspects, but there were a few names that weren’t on that list.
No, I don’t remember it taking so long to answer the questions by the Detective. They’re usually answered very quickly. Maybe we should Ask the Detective. LOL

Seriously, I might be able to find out why it’s taking so long to get the answers to our questions. I’ll try to see what I can learn, if anything.

I went back and looked and Frannie did mention seeing the truck the first time they talked to her but it was only on the follow up that she was able to tell anything about it.
I think that Steve Barton probably is the brother-in-law that cleaned the carpets. That may be why they already had his prints.
I really love this case but when we answer one question it leads to a dozen more. LOL. But just like in a good crime novel, all the twists and turns keep you glued to the book!
I don't care for Mr. Sharp either. He is once crazy person. He can hardly talk without using sports language. Come on, he's a grown man! That's more like a kid would do. Ok, he knew Monica in Cincinnati, he said in the first interview that he knew her well enough to call her "Mon", even though she didn't like it. Then he says in the followup that he didn't really know her that well, but yet when he wrote to her about a job, she hired him. That's a little wishy washy to me. Why did he leave the paper in Ohio? The paper in Ohio seems like it would be a bigger publication than a little town like Oxford. His whole life is about sports. This doesn't make sense either.
I'm ALMOST sure that David knows that the person that he traded trucks with has to bee the killer. Whoever it is was probably out at his cabin at one time and that's where the pollen from the trees came from. The only other explanation for the pollen would be that it was someone who had been hunting recently and the only reference we have to hunting would be some of Melvin's friends and I'm not sure I buy that. Doesn't sound right, although stranger things have happened.
On to the new evidence!

When I saw the Case Solution link I went into shock!

I've calmed down a little now, and I may be crazy, but I just don't think this case is over. David Ledford has practically confessed, but I still think someone paid him to do it, if he did indeed do it. There is the possibility that he's lying to cover for someone. That might be wishful thinking on my part because I'm not ready for the end to be over that easily.

Surely, we have more coming. What do you think? Am I just a die-hard or what?

I agree, I nearly fell over when I saw the case solution section of the case. Although the evidence leads to David Ledford I have trouble with motive. I don`t think getting fired is enough to justify murder in this case as David seems to be too lazy or uncommitted to commit murder, unless he was paid to do so, that would provide motive?
I have some things I can`t seem to put together or put behind me that I hope you can all help me with.

1) Safe deposit box. - The $10,000 in here. If Monica was blackmailing someone would the entire amount be here, remember the blackmail took place in 2008, wouldn`t she have spent some by now. That is usually why you blackmail someone.
- The note. Are we sure the note is directed at Monica? Could it be a note she found investigating a story and it is here for safekeeping?
2) Edward Hagen. - In his interview, at the beginning he says he barely knew Monica but later in his interview he rants the she is not the saint or matyr that the papers make her out to be. I wonder why?
3) Lori`s letters. - The letter dated Dec 17 2007 where Lori tells Monica to call the police about the threats to her, we all assume she is talking about Melvin Roberts but I don`t think so. In the next letter dated Dec 23 2007, Lori writes "Aren't you glad you finally got the police involved? They talked to him and he hasn't called you again, right? That nutcase sure is the antithesis of his name!" I wonder who she is referring to?
4) I have read in recent discussions talk about a clown, Sydney the clown, and I am wondering where there is a reference to this clown as I can`t remember reading about him anywhere.

I don`t know if any of this is relevant but I thought I would mention it to see if anyone can make any connection with the case or am i just looking for something that isn`t there. I think this case is much more complex than it seems. David Ledford may indeed be the shooter but i am not happy with the obvious motive, any thoughts?

I was just about to post a comment about David and the fact that I thought it was him but I decided to check and see if there was any new information. Was I surprised when I saw that they supposedly arrested David for the murder!
Ok, let's see if we can make sense of this. Maybe it's over, but maybe not.
1. Look back at the analysis of the note. All the anger and exclamation points and then look at David's interview with the PI and then at his interview with the detectives. Sounds the same to me. I think David wrote the note. He saw Monica at least three times around 1 a.m. in her office. That would be my guess who Monica was arguing with. He claims she was wrong to fire him after he hurt his back and blamed her for it. He also claims she owes him money. Was he the one who took the photos of the gambling? Monica couldn't have been the one to take the photos otherwise the Rep would have know about it and I can't see any of them wanting to play poker with her, much less take photos of them. I just bet that's what he claimed she owed him money for.
2. We knew that David was at his cabin and that both he and his wife said he was there very often fishing and hunting. It was very probable that David or someone that had been out there was where the soil came from in the crime scene.
3. He traded trucks with a guy that he hadn't known very long (who is of the same caliber) with $2000 to boot. He hadn't worked in a while so where did he come up with that kind of money? Had to be the money Monica owed him for taking the photos.
4.You can assume that this Morgan Prescott is the logical person to commit the murder because of the truck trade. He was a drinking buddy of David's so he most likely was out at the cabin. It is only the word of the two men that they swapped trucks. What if the real scenario was that David paid Morgan to kill Monica and the swap of the truck was only temporary? With all the cars in the parking lot that night, who would think his truck would stick out? David lives in Louisiana now so why would they suspect him, and if they did, he now had a red truck and the new owner of his truck also lives in Louisiana? Just the way David acted when the PI interviewed him, told me he either knew who did it or he did it.
5. @ kdcypress: the $10,000 was the amount of money that the Rep paid her in blackmail and she put the whole amount in the safety deposit box because that is the exact amount that she left in her will for her goddaughter. The Rep was trying at first to say he didn't know her to throw suspicion away from him but when he saw the photos Monica had, he couldn't deny it any more. He called her that because she blackmailed him and he couldn't let anyone know. I agree now that Lori was probably talking about David being the one that was threatening Monica. David slayed the giant so therefore this David wasn't living up to his name. The clown discussion was just that. There was a photo in Monica's file with a picture of Sidney the Clown and his pal Churro. We were tossing around the idea of whether it was someone in the case from a long time ago that she was going to do a story on or something. Apparently, if it was, it has no bearing on the case.

Now all that being said, I still vote for David because to me, it all fits. It could be that he paid Morgan to do it but David would still go to jail for hiring a hit man. Just like Charles Manson. He wasn't physically there when those people were murdered but it was at his direction that caused it so he is actually jailed on that charge but they'll never let him out because he threatens constantly that if he gets out, he will " continue his work."