FL - Amanda Buckley, 18, raped & murdered, Palm Beach Gardens, 19 July 2007

It said the uncle and father left to get the Atty. I am thinking the uncle suggested it. Was the uncle in the home when they found the body? Did the father call him first?

I think it was a very smart move to call the Atty before LE became involved. I realize it isn't a popular stance here, but anytime you are dealing with LE guilty or not...you should have an atty present. We might not like them all the time, but they will certainly save your hide from LE twisting statements etc. in any case. You do have to protect yourself from LE and ending up as an innocent on the wrong side of the bars. Perhaps the uncle was protecting the parents from becoming part of this horrific crime, if they had nothing to do with it or no prior knowledge.

I have always taught my kids never to speak with LE for any reason without an atty present no matter what the case is. Innocent or not, it is leaving yourself vulnerable to professionals who are trained in manipulation, mental torture to some extent, and to obtaining a "confession" at all costs. (I still disagree with LE being able to outright lie and "create evidence" to obtain confessions and would like to see this legally challenged then changed.)

Do I feel the son is guilty? Absolutely, I do. I want him to fry just like everyone else for such a cruel and dispicable crime. An atty won't save him from being found guilty and his punishment if the evidence is present.

It is actually better for the system that he had an attorney before the police were called. Now he can't say that he wasn't advised of his right to have one. He has no "Miranda" warning failure to rely on. If the evidence is there, he will be convicted anyway. They did the right thing.

Sounds like he might be nuts, though.

luthersmama said:

It is actually better for the system that he had an attorney before the police were called. Now he can't say that he wasn't advised of his right to have one. He has no "Miranda" warning failure to rely on. If the evidence is there, he will be convicted anyway. They did the right thing.

Sounds like he might be nuts, though.

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Exactly, and it wouldn't make a difference as far as reviving the poor girl.

The parents could have done a lot more to try and "cover up" their son's crime--other parents have. Remember Martha Moxley?

This poor girl and her family. Too bad the police didn't listen more seriously to the first victims who survived. I hope there's an outcry over that.

GlitchWizard said:

I read alot of fiction crime stuff, and often when someone is being interviewed by the police, the police will say "You can have an attorney, but you don't really need one if you are innocent, right?" Then they proceed to railroad the guy into something that gets turned around into a confession of sorts. I'm thinking getting an attorney's advice is probably the best move - but one I wouldn't think of first. I'd be blabbing all over the place, anything I knew without regard to how much it hurt me, my husband or my son in this situation.

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I've personally got no problem with that -and were it my child, I wouldn't be telling them to clam up - if you did it, say it. If you didn't - say that. An attorney to make sure they aren't questioned in ways that elicit false confessions, etc. however, that makes sense.


Were this my child, I'd not want him to get off on any type of technicality - bad enough having a child who kills. Having one do it again because I helped him get off on some technicality - that'd be worse! In this situation 'hurt' is a variable term - jail is not hurting them, freedom is hurting them, by letting them kill again.

Details said:

I've personally got no problem with that -and were it my child, I wouldn't be telling them to clam up - if you did it, say it. If you didn't - say that. An attorney to make sure they aren't questioned in ways that elicit false confessions, etc. however, that makes sense.


Were this my child, I'd not want him to get off on any type of technicality - bad enough having a child who kills. Having one do it again because I helped him get off on some technicality - that'd be worse! In this situation 'hurt' is a variable term - jail is not hurting them, freedom is hurting them, by letting them kill again.

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I agree with you. I would want my child to own up to what they did. Having an attorney present would be a good idea but I would not advise my child to try to get out of it.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Details said:

I've personally got no problem with that -and were it my child, I wouldn't be telling them to clam up - if you did it, say it. If you didn't - say that. An attorney to make sure they aren't questioned in ways that elicit false confessions, etc. however, that makes sense.


Were this my child, I'd not want him to get off on any type of technicality - bad enough having a child who kills. Having one do it again because I helped him get off on some technicality - that'd be worse! In this situation 'hurt' is a variable term - jail is not hurting them, freedom is hurting them, by letting them kill again.

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Yes Details, but far too few parents really believe that their child could kill again.

It was (pick one) drugs/bad day/her fault/her idea/etc.

There are a few stand up parents out there (I remember the father of one of the men convicted in dragging the man in Jasper, Texas, to his death apologizing to the family of the victim and stating publicly, "We didn't raise him this way" but it seems like stand-up parents don't end up as parents of murderers.

These parents had to have known about the earlier issue with the case that was dropped for lack of evidence. They knew what their son was, and refused to believe it.

I wonder if they get to digging in this case will they find more bodies?

Obviously the family would like us to think it was his first murder victim and thats why the clumsy attempt at putting her body in his room but we dont know if he was trying to save her body to eat her remains or dispose of her later in another location or just what. All we know is that he hid the body in the room without us knowing why he did that.

I'm sorry guys-but I have to disagree with some of you. His parents getting him an attorney before they even call the cops tells me they were more concerned with covering their sons hiney than that poor girl lying dead in his closet. Gee, I can't imagine where he got his self-serving behavior from.

Details said:

While I'm not wild about these parents - the girl won't get any more dead from an hour delay. So long as they didn't help their son to hide the body, didn't ignore screams from his room, didn't help him to escape, nor let him escape, I'm OK with calling the lawyer before police.

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I agree 100% - and as luthersmama pointed out, it's probably better in terms of moving things along that an attorney was present prior to/when the cops were there.

I just listened to the 9-11 tape here.....
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/mplayer/audio/24510

I kind of feel sorry for the father of the boy, but in this 9-11 tape he says the girl was there yesterday, and supposedly sleeping in his son's room.....
Was she his girlfriend? Sooo Sad.....and does this guy look older than 26 to ya'll?
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/07/24/m1a_pbgmurder_0724.html

good grief, wasn't this guy put away a long time ago. just another monster looking for victims.

He looks much older than 26 to me. She went on a trip with him and his parents a few days before she was found. It sounds like the father thought she slept over after they returned.

Think about this 26 yo. He is able to kill a girl at his home and his parents allegedly didn't know about it. So if they are away that much, then I would assume that he would have had an opportunity to move the body at some point. But he didn't. He left the body there- for his parents to find.

The same attorney they went and got represented him in the past. Might I assume that parents also made those arrangements and helped (or did) pay for the attorney? Letting his parents take care of things for him is looking like it might be a habit doesn't it?

He was waiting for his parents to find the body and take care of it for him.

I think the dad sounds just totally beside himself. I think his son probably told him that Amanda overdosed and died but I really wonder if the dad believes that. He is just repeating what his son told him to 911.

These parents might have been in denial about their son being a pervert but some part of the dad questioned that. He said that Amanda's car was in the drive and that he had seen her the day before and he thought she had slept the night before in his son's bedroom. His son was acting strange and kept locking his bedroom. The father had to have suspected something as he hadn't seen Amanda that day and her car was still there. Why would his son keep locking the door when he left the room if Amanda was in there. The dad decided to find out and found Amanda dead in the closet. He knew something wasn't right. By now the parents know that it was no drug overdose. That son had to have murdered Amanda right there in their home. If he duct taped her mouth she wouldn't have been able to make any noise.

I wonder why the parents hadn't asked where Amanda was? Her car was right there and they didn't see her that whole day. I'm snoopy. I would have asked where she was or why she was hanging out in the bedroom all day. To be honest, my 26 yr old son wouldn't be living at home and if he was he wouldn't be having 18 yr old girls spend the night. This guy even looks way older then 26 yrs. Amanda was a pretty girl with so much going for her. What in the world did she see in this creepy guy? He was a big nothing going nowhere. And living with mommy and daddy. Did he even work?

I would have called 911 first and if I thought of it my son could get an attorney to protect his rights but he darn well would tell what happened and it better be the truth. If my son murdered a girl after he raped her he could just wait for a court appointed attorney. It would be a cold day that I would hire an attorney for him. I've been in that girl's parents shoes and my son would be on his own.

kwatson696 said:

Investigators say they found duct tape in Buckley's hair, bruises on her body and evidence of rape, an autopsy revealed the girl was strangled, beaten and sexually abused ...

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Thank you so much for the information kwatson.

Anyone know if drugs were even found in her system?

s_finch said:

Someone who knows their son is going to face life in prison or possibly the death sentence. I think I'd have called my attorney and LE at about the same time and have instructed my son to say nothing. Course, it definetly would look to the parents as if the son is guilty, but surely they were hoping for that 1 in a million chance that he wasn't--that maybe he'd let other friends in there too and he wasn't responsible for the body. Sounds crazy but parents will grasp at anything.

I'm not saying it's right, but it's not that uncommon. Didn't J Ramsey call his attorney right about the time he called the cops????

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s_finch,
Patsy Ramsey called 911 not John. But they lawyered up fairly quick.

This is so sick. Too bad the courts didn't believe the girls in the January case. This poor victim would still be alive.

philamena said:

s_finch,
Patsy Ramsey called 911 not John. But they lawyered up fairly quick.

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And some insist that the Ramseys also called their attorney(s) before their 911 call was placed. :angel:

aussie_mum said:

Totally horrible.

While I admit the going to the attorny before calling the police is odd, I am wondering if the parents may have actually believed the girl died from drugs and because of the trouble their son had been in previously, wanted to do everything possible to ensure that the 'truth' was told to police.Some of the previous charges against him were dropped against him, he could have easily told them LE had it against him etc etc.
I don't know these parents obviously, but it makes me sad that sometimes nice parents have kids who do bad things. Of course I have sympathy for the girls family and friends, who couldn't? But sadly there are so many people affected by incidents like this. I think it would affect the souls of everyone including investigating officers, their families....

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This is exactly what I've been wondering, Aussie. As parents, we are predisposed to love and to want to believe the best about our children. I applaud the parents for calling the police, even if they postponed the call until after the attorney was present.

I'm going to say something awful here, but I am trying to put myself in the parent's shoes and understand their reasoning: the girl was dead, she was not going to get any deader if the call was made now or in half an hour. If they believed their son's story, and I'm sure they did (whether they should have believed him or not), they were doing what they thought was the right thing to do.

Just as an aside: I would think that it is terribly hard as parents to see these types of flaws in our children----who would want to face the fact that their baby, the one they held close and nursed, the little boy they threw a softball with, grew up to be a sexual predator and murderer? Facing that fact must be like feeling the death of that baby, that little boy. It has got to be horrible.

These parents have my sympathy and my prayers, as do the parents of the young girl's parents. In different ways, both of these families have lost their children. Whatever has happened, the 26 year old did it, not his mom or dad.