Homicide Scenario Part I

[RpTheHotrod]

Dropping by with a challenge.

 

I am currently going into Criminal Investigation. One of my current assignments is a homicide scenario. I have my points, but I am bringing this to you for two reasons.

 

1. For your fun

2. To find anything I may have missed

 

(Yes, I am allowed to share this with others and get their input)

 

This will give you a look into what I'm doing for my studies.

 

This is the initial investigation. The investigation will continue on until it reaches the 5th and final part. This is part I. The objective is to get as much information out of the clues as possible with the information given.

 

Points will be rewarded by:

How you conducted the investigation for each part

How the crime scene was handled

What clues did the body tell you

What type of murder was committed and the motive

Who or what and why was this crime committed.

 

Good luck! I will post part II on the 29th or 30th.

 

 

***PLEASE NOTE***

At the end of each thread of each part, I will close the thread and post a link to the next part to continue discussion there.

***END NOTE***

 

On August 29, 1999, patrol officers responded to a 911 hang up phone call. The unidentified caller stated that "something strange was taking place in front of the Snake Pit Club on High Jinx Road." This call came into police dispatch at 3:10am. Patrol officers arrived at 3:25am and found a white male dressed in a business suit laying on his back in the parking lot in the front of the club. The white male was identified as Gustavious "Gus the Slob" Smith. He was lying next to the driver's side of his new Lincoln Town Car. The driver's side door was open and all the lights inside of the car were off. Gus was wearing a blue golf shirt, black shoes, black slacks, and a black and white checkered blazer. The blazer was not buttoned and was open. Gus the Slob's body was searched and he had in his possession a money clip with $12,241.00 in U.S. currency, his driver's License, and assorted credit cards. A wound was found on the back of his neck with a gray ring around the entrance. There was no exit wound. A spent 9mm shell was found about four feet from the body. A cell phone was found under the car and the phone was on. The car was ruynning and the keys were in the ignition. On the key ring was an ignition key along with five unknown keys.

 

Gus was the owner of the Snake Pit. Gus was a known offender who for the past forty years was involved in gambling, prostituion, and money laundering throughout the southeastern part of the United States. In other words, he was a major player in organized crime and was known as a person who could be dangerous.

 

The Snake Pit was a known location where criminals from the Southeastern United States and other areas would eat, meet, and hangout. The club had been at that location for over 60 years, and Gus purchased it 30 years ago when the prior owner who had also been involved in organized crime was murdered.

 

During the following day, you obtained the following information:

 

1. At 2:40am, patrol officers drove through the parking lot taking license numbers of the vehicles that were in the parking lot.

 

2. Gus the Slob, if he was wearing a blazer or suit coat always had it buttoned.

 

3. Gus the Slob had a black notebook in his right inside coat pocket. The notebook contained personal information and was supposed to be very valuable. This book was missing when the body was found.

 

4. Gus the Slob testified before a Federal Grand Jury on Thursday of the prior week.

 

5. During the past 3 weeks, Gus the Slob had his enforcer, Larry Jones, with him almost all the time.

 

6. You receive information from a variety of sources. The information is as follows:

A. It was a robbery

B. An unknown person is attempting to take over local gambling

C. An unknown person or group is attempting to control all organized crime in the southeast.

D. Gus was messing with a married woman and the husband was after him.

E. An unknown person called and stated, "Find Pretty Boy, and you will have the answer."

F. Gus was paying off a blackmailer.

G. Gus was involved in a prior road rage incident, and that the unknown driver was after him.

H. Gus was two-timing a woman who found out about his other girlfriend

I. Gus gave an STD to a former girlfriend, and she was after him after she gave the disease to her husband.

J. Gus had been involved in a recent murder.

K. A few years ago, Gus had a very contested divorce that lasted about 4 years

L. Gus had a multi-million insurance policy

M. Gus had the feeling that there was an informant inside the club as a customer. His feelings that any information obtained was not going to law enforcement.

N. Two weeks prior to Gus' death, an attorney brought some legal documents to the club. That attorney and Gus were in his office for about two hours. Gus would not discuss the meeting, but made a telephone call to an unknown person.

 

7. During the past month, it appeared that Gus had a lot of worries about something that he was keeping secret.

 

8. Three other known gamblers had been killed in the past few months. One in Key West, one in Biloxi, and the other in New Orleans.

 

9. Of the five keys on the key ring, three had been identified. One key was to his residence, one to the front door of the Snake Pit, and one to the back door of the Snake Pit. One of the other keys appeared to be a door key, and the other key to a lock box, or filing cabinet.

 

10. The person who called 911 appeared to be an older woman.

 

11. Gus had sent the employees home at about 2:00am when the club closed, and he told them not to clean up.

 

12. The Snake Pit is located one block away from another city. Two days prior to Gus' death, a new Town Car with 300 miles on it was found on a club parking lot with a decomposed body in the trunk.

 

 

 

 

Based on the information given, what assumptions and ideas can you come to?

[IG-64]

Well, I can assume that "Gus the Slob" was a pretty nasty guy. And that maybe he had a metal plate in the back of his neck. But other than that I don't think I could help you with anything.

[Doomie]

It wasn't a robbery, since he had all his money still on him when the body was found. The grey ring aroudn the wound proves that he was shot from close range. His notebook wasn't there, so someone took it from him, and it was probably the reason why he was killed. (His blazer was unbuttoned beause he had been searched.)

 

Can't figure out the rest though...

[Sabretooth]

Okay, so I have a feeling Gus had murdered someone. he was dragged into a case and was giving rather strong defence, by being a witness, not a suspect. The blackmailer was helping him, but Gus decides to turn on the blackmailer. That makes him worried. The blackmailer has ties with Larry Jones. Larry kills Gus, takes his valuable stuff so that the police cannot get it. He gets out in a hurry, handing the gambling thing to the blackmailer.

 

Of course, it's a very weird and radical concept, since I didn't get the part with him and the women in the scenario.

[MTV2]

u ever watch CSI?

[Hermie]

The car was running, yet he was laying outside of it with the door open. Putting that together with what Doomie said, I would think it very likely that the killer was hiding in the back of the car when Gus came. (Though I wonder what the shell is doing 4 feet away, unless it's from a different gun...)

 

I think it most likely has to have some connection to the little black book and the other murders...

 

Both Gus' car and the decomposing body had new Town cars. Connection?

 

-Gus sent his people home at 2:00

-Officers patrol a 2:40

-911 call at 3:10

So the murder had had to happen between 2:40 and 3:10...

 

The bullet is still in the body, so it can be used to identify guns.

 

 

 

All I could think of without starting to analyze the rumors in number six...

[Dagobahn Eagle]

Though I wonder what the shell is doing 4 feet away, unless it's from a different gun...)

It was in the car, which was 4 feet from his body! Hah!

( )

 

The Town Car: There is a possible connection here. Gus drove a Town Car, and the body was found in a Town Car. Possibly, Gus killed someone, put the body in the trunk, and dumped the car there. Sounds odd that he'd do that, but it'd explain the new car. Unless he got it wrecked in the "road rage incident" (information point "G").

 

E. An unknown person called and stated, "Find Pretty Boy, and you will have the answer."

Excuse me: An unknown person called who? The cops? The slug? You?

 

Will you give us the textbook answer and how you reached it when we're done (ie. when we've given up:p)?

[jokemaster]

It wasn't a robbery, since he had all his money still on him when the body was found. The grey ring aroudn the wound proves that he was shot from close range. His notebook wasn't there, so someone took it from him, and it was probably the reason why he was killed. (His blazer was unbuttoned beause he had been searched.)

Pretty much the same things I gathered. Also, check the bullet inside Gus' body, it may not be 9mm. He could've killed someone, started walking away, then got shot himself. Or maybe the body was moved, but why whoever did it didn't hide it better, I don't know, maybe they noticed the cops approaching.

 

Also the call said "something strange was taking place in front of the Snake Pit Club on High Jinx Road." That means he wasn't necessarily killed before 3:10 AM, he could've been killed between the call and the police arriving.

 

Also, check if the cell phone was calling anyone, or recieving a call, and check the list of recent calls, and if it even was the victim's.

[RpTheHotrod]

Yes, don't worry, the answer will be given in due time. Part II of this investigation will be posted on Tuesday or Wednesday.

[Kjølen]

The "grey ring", or flesh burn, usually means the gun was put right up against the body, which is often proven to be suicide, but considering the shot was in the neck, it is more likely the gun was pressed against his neck from the back seat, as been stated.

[TiE23]

What about all of the murders happening in towns that where hit by the Hurricane? Maybe it was all about that businesses that got destroyed, maybe it has something to do with that.

 

The dealer has to be checked on the new cars, thats for sure. Gus obviouly did something in the club before walking out to get his ass smoked. I think he was out to leave the country because he had so much cash on him. But before he could get away from his enemies, he was smoked. He must of known that they were coming to get him, he proably knew the guys in the other towns, too.

[Nalukai]

SCENARIO 1

The killer was outside the vehicle when he shot gus, probably while he was getting out of the car and came down on the back of his neck... hence no exit wound since the bullet went down into the body rather than out. If he was in the backseat there would be an exit wound and blood in the vehicle. This would also explain the shell casing being 4 feet away. It could not have been a petty robbery or carjacking because the car was still running and Gus still had all of his belongings on him minus the black book. This tells us that his execution was to get the information out of that book, possibly the name of the informant, details on the attorney's visit such as the telephone number to the unidentified person, and details that he had testified against plus more which he might not have stated under oath. He could have been calling Larry at the time of death when he noticed assailant(s) appraoching the vehicle, Firing a 9mm weapon with his left hand and talking with his right.

 

SCENARIO 2

We can conclude the fact that Larry was not with him at time of death, inbetween 3:10 and 3:25 am. Based on the testimony of a witness saying that he gave an STD to a former girlfriend, we might be able to speculate Larry as the possible husband. Since there was a strange occurance outside, it may be possible that Larry(possibly aka pretty boy) and his wife confronted Gus, who was possibly about to bail out of town with the amount of cash he had on him,and late on his blackmailing payments. It may also be very possible that Gus was the one that had fired the gun with the 9mm round, at Larry perhaps in self defense, and his ex girlfriend came from behind with a lower caliber gun, say , a .22, which would not leave an exit wound. He would fall forward, hit the car door, then fall backwards on his back. Gus could have been blackmailed by Larry's wife to keep it a secret on the origin of the std. They could have also taken his gun from him after death.

 

SCENARIO 3

Gus could have also been trying to take over the crime scene and eliminating the gamblers(which could have been informants). he could have taken 2 trips from biloxi to new orleans to achieve the 300 miles on the new town car. since the snake pit is 1 block away from another city... I am guessing that this city is gulfport, since gulfport and biloxi run straight together with each other. Biloxi to New Orleans is roughly 75-77 miles depending on the city limit stretch x4 would be 300-308 miles round trip twice.

 

some things that need to be checked out:

 

1. An autopsy on Gus to determine the caliber slug imbedded within his neck/body

2. An autopsy on the decomposed body in the trunk of the new Town Car to see if it is related to the other dead gamblers.

3. An investigation of his Strong hand, Larry, to see if he is indeed Pretty Boy and if he is married or not, and if either of them have an STD.

4. The direction of the head of Gus prone on the ground to see if he was getting out of the vehicle, and the angle of the shell casing from the body, and to determine if Gus was right or left handed- If he did actually fire a weapon it would have to be with his left hand since he would be coming out of the vehicle to do so.

5. Check with Travel agencies to see if any flights/trips are booked in his name or anyone else associated with him and, or is employeed at the club.

6. Check the remaining 2 keys on his keychain and see if there is a cabinet or strong box within the club or his residence... he might have feared the worst and hid that black book to prevent it falling into the wrong hands.

7. Determine if the Town Car at the crime scene is the one that the decomposed body was in... or could it have been another car that was wrecked and the body found from that one.

8. Check the cellphone and see his last outgoing and incoming calls, especially the last one dialed.

9. Get the Court Documents of the testimony from the prior week

10. Check to see if him and his ex wife were still legally bound through the insurance policy.

11. Check all Lincoln dealers in a 300 mile area and get a list of buyers of Town Cars from the past month(no need for used car dealerships since the TC was brand new.)

12. Fingerprint Gus, the vehicle, and the cellphone-the assailant(s) might have grabbed the phone for numbers as well before throwing it underneath the vehicle

13. Check all areas in a 100 foot radius for blood samples, it is very possible that the intruder was shot. DNA tests on blood and hair found at the scene.

14. If it was indeed 2 vehicles... check the old TC's odometer to determine if the corpse could have been from Key West... in the 700+ mile range.

 

that is all that came off the top of my head... if i had more than 30 minutes to work on this i might could have come up with more...

[TiE23]

Oh God, thanks Nalukai. >_>

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice job!

[Nalukai]

hehe thnx.... another thing i though of during work tonight.... since the police took the license plates of all the vehicles in the parking lot at 240 am and he had sent all of the employees home at 2... during the initial CSI we should take down all the license plates once again to see if any cars are missing.... then compare the 2 lists, the cars that are missing now become your primary suspects.

[Dagobahn Eagle]

I think Nalukai might be a cop:p.

[jokemaster]

I think Nalukai might be a cop:p.

Or the guy who commited the murder

 

>_>

<_<

[Nalukai]

no im a chef rofl...... i jsut have a very unique way of thinking when im not drunk hehe....

 

but then again maybe i am in the wrong business.....

 

HA if i had a gun on the line most of my servers would have been shot a long time ago

 

oh yeah heres something else...

 

Find all the banks that he had his accounts in and get print outs of all transactions in the past 30 days... look for large amounts of cash withdrawed in the 25-35K range... this will determine if he indeed bought 2 new lincoln towncars and whether or not he withdrew the money that he had on him at time of death. if he was indeed in the criminal world i am sure that Langley has a file on him with everything including what color his mothers hair is....

[RpTheHotrod]

Part II has been posted at

 

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=156146

 

 

Thread closed.