First, no one has been arrested so my thoughts are mainly speculative in nature. I wanted to make it clear for legal purposes.
I believe the murder was well thought out in that the killer was apparently smart enough to have a clean change of clothing ( possibly minus underwear), to probably go to a creek by the property to change clothing, had money for pay phone calls if needed ( some of which spilled out of the pockets) and had an alibi. I don't know how airtight the alibi is, but that may be the sticking point if they don't have a coroner experienced in establishing TOD.
The use of either a knife from the household knives or from one's personal collection of display type knives ( apparently knife collecting is a hobby for some men) to stab Janet indicates that the perp. was familiar with and comfortable with his surroundings. An outside killer would have brought a deadly weapon with him, and most likely a gun not a knife, due to the distance factor. However, we need forensic test results to be able to include or exclude the use of a knife from the personal property of Raven and Janet.
The presence or absence of a baby and a dog doesn't matter at all if the perp was a family member. Reason being that the dog wouldn't bark and the baby is way too young to tell anything or remember anything the night his mother died. Would a stranger have left her baby alive and her dog barking its head off? ( Think of Nicole Simpson's Akita blood-stained and howling all through the neighborhood).
The big unknown for me involves the issue of computers. I THINK that computers play a larger role in this murder than we even know now. All of us seem to have an intuitive thing going on about the whys and whos, and mine is telling me that most likely Janet had found something that cauesed her to threaten to leave Raven once and for all, or turn him over to LE ( a separate large criminal charge perhaps) but with Raven's baby in her arms this time. It would have to be something worse than embezzlement. After all, she didn't leave him when that was breaking news. I can totally see Raven saying " I stole so that we could have nice things for the baby. I did it for you".. and being contrite in words. She might have forgiven him a white collar, non-violent, non-personalized crime of this sort, but there is really no justification for most alarming things ehe might have found on a PC. ( Indications of an affair, misappropriation of money they shared together and needed desperately to stay in their house, as evidenced from the landlord's comments about their financial arrangements with him 2 days before the murder, or something involving a larger theft or fraud- I don't think any woman would stand for it twice, and most of us would probably leave the first time- the presence of a baby may have made the difference the first time).
I also believe the first report of the 911 call to be correct. That she WAS emailing with either a present or former co-worker or co-workers and something alarmed them enough to call 911 and put themselves in harm's way by going to the house.
It has not been reported who made the 911 call. If it had been Raven, I think the news reports would have said so. They are protecting the identity of the caller for some reason. Personal safety would be my guess. If some guy just killed his wife in my town, I would certainly report it, but I definitely would not want him to know that I was the one who called 911 and possibly even found her body.
No one has commented much about this aspect of the crime, and frankly, I am puzzled, because I think it is a huge clue into the perp's identity. John Douglas and Robert Ressler, as well as Clint Vanzandt ( not sure of his last name) are all criminal profilers or are or have been employed in the business of catching killers and they have ALL said, independently of each other, that the last thing a family member who murders wants to do is be the one who " finds" the body or who the one who calls 911 and has to " talk to the police" about finding the body.
We have history behind the theory that Janet might be leaving Raven or had found something meant to be well-hidden on his PC: The couple separated in the early spring of 2004 and lived in different towns for a few months before Kaiden was born. Janet would have known she was pregnant by April 2004 at the latest. So, it's entirely possible that the presence of a viable pregnancy with a male heir ( vs another ectopic pregnancy as she is said to have had not long before becoming pregnant with Kaiden) is what brought the couple back together again. From what I was told, they reconciled after her first trimester. I see Raven as being totally filled with pride at the fact that the baby was a boy.. I doubt a girl would have been as thrilling to his narcissistic self.
People always consider motive for a homicide, although a motive is not necessary to prove guilt. The motivations for this murder all seem to come from inside the household from what we have been able to find out about Janet: She was hard-working. She was pregnant when they separated and she was not the one cheating on him, although I have been told that he was rampantly unfaithful to her. She appears to have been very tolerant and supportive of his disorganized " plans" for his life. I would not be surprised at all to find out that he had taken out large insurance policies on Janet within 30-60 days of her murder. He is one of those people who seems to think he is charming enough to get away with anything.
I find his April 25 journal entry, the only one which remains in his BLOG, to be very stream of consciousness putting thoughts down on the computer writing. I don't think he was writing for a thousand or more prying eyes, I think he was writing about his sense of failure mixed in with his inflated sense of pride and of being someone entirely special in many ways.
Raven's sense of self- importance is at great variance with the circumstances. Fired,facing serious legal charges whether he pled guilty or not, possibly having a minimal job at best, having to get free rent to live, putting vehicles he loved and indentified with up for sale... He was NOT a success, except in his mind.
Personal freedom for Raven meant freedom from his marriage, IMHO. And murder, not divorce with 18 or more years of child support may have been the way to accomplish his goal.
Disclaimer: My theory is composed of known facts about the crime, and speculation. It is not factual, and is not submitted as such, but as opinion for thought only. Thanks.
