AL - Karen Shahan, 53, murdered, Homewood, 23 July 2013 #1

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The "disarray" ties in with the "obvious" murder LE referred to.

What I take that to mean possibly, is that the rest of the house was just like mine or better :), but one room was clearly messed up.

The "obvious" murder to me is a gun shot or a stabbing or something really gruesome and bloody with the weapon gone.

I don't know why I think that, mainly because you can accidentally shoot yourself or stab yourself in a million crazy ways, but there would be a weapon.

So, an obvious crime scene.

What intrigues me is - why did they call LE to check?

If this church and the Hobby Lobby and the housing are affiliated, wouldn't it be easier to call a neighbour/congregation member?

Or have I got the wrong end of the stick regarding HL?
 
Just revisiting -

Police have not divulged how Shahan died but said it was clear she had been murdered

No suspects have been identified and police said they didn't know whether the slaying was a 'random burglary gone bad' or something more sinister


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...murdered-couch-family-home.html#ixzz2b3NCcapy
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook


I personally don't think they would have referred to "something more sinister" unless they actually felt it was more sinister than a simple burglary.

If you know what I mean.
 
I haven't shopped at Hobby Lobby in a long time but after reading about them realize they really did not use bar codes for marking merchandise. I have no idea if they ever updated or if some nutty thief might think a manager had store keys and access to money.
 
txsvicki said:
I haven't shopped at Hobby Lobby in a long time but after reading about them realize they really did not use bar codes for marking merchandise. I have no idea if they ever updated or if some nutty thief might think a manager had store keys and access to money.
Click to expand...

BBM.

Your post sent me on a google journey.
Interesting reading about H/L.
:seeya:
 
since Karen Shahan was found. I really thought there would have been some news by now :(
 
BrianInBirmingham said:
RUMORS ARE FLYING! If I convey them here you're going to modsnip me. :) We are all quite certain what happened and for that reason, no, LE is not asking the public for help.
Click to expand...

Well, if you are "quite certain" about what happened, then we will just have to wait. I hope it's not long. I work next door practically and have been looking over my shoulder in the parking deck.
That poor woman.
 
waitin'4thewrld2chg said:
If this were a home invasion robbery and the murder was done to eliminate the witness, I would wonder if the murder itself might not have been accomplished as quickly and 'efficiently' as possible. This murder is described as brutal, which could mean, sad as it would be, that a knife and a little time were involved.

I know it is too simplistic to equate brutality with passion/rage and with the perpetrator being familiar with the victim. This could have been an opportunistic hit on a stranger's home, and the murderer might have been amped up enough on drugs (or not) to have become exceedingly violent. Very possibly home invasion murders commonly cover the gamut in terms of method.

However, I wonder if the disarray found could have indicated a struggle (maybe a chair overturned, papers pushed off a table, etc.) rather than a robbery. Mrs. Shahan's body was found on a couch but she may not have been on the couch during the entire horrific event.
Click to expand...

When we use to hear about overkills we immediately thought the perpetrator had to be known to the victim but if we have read any cases in recent years we realize that overkills now are done quite often to perfectly innocent people by strangers.

Our society seems to be more angry than ever before in general and if the victim is at the mercy of an angry perpetrator often times they die in overkill ways even though they did not know the home invaders.
Some of them have been grossly bludgeoned leaving a blood bath in the home. Often in the midst of home invasions rape can also happen before the suspect silences the victim from talking and before leaving the dwelling.

I just read a horrible sadistic case of a home invasion a couple of months back. I believe it was 3-4 suspects broke into a home. They sadistically raped the woman over and over again for many hours, then they tortured the 3 men who were in the home. They had electric drills and drilled into the ankles and knees of the men and they used other tools to inflict unbelievable pain. It was like some horror movie. They kept demanding money when they all told them they didn't have any money so they tortured them all for hours just for the hell of it. These victims lived......so that story ended without death but it will have everlasting physical and emotional affects on these victims for the rest of their lives.

Then there was Sara Walker, a beautiful woman, who was bludgeoned unmercifully and repeatedly stabbed all because the ex- felon wanted money. He wasn't even from that state. He just happened to go down that street and picked that home. Crime of opportunity like most crimes are.

And the list goes on and on where heinous overkills were done to perfect strangers. Just ask Dr. Petit what strangers can do to a family they didn't even know.:(

I suspect this woman was the victim of a home invasion. They may or may not have known she was there and once she saw them they decided to kill her so she couldn't ID them. They also may have cased her home out beforehand and knew her husband was not at home at the time. It is not out of the realm of possibilities either she was sexually assaulted before the murder.

I pray this case is solved.

It can take several weeks to get lab results back from the lab and with the economy and cutbacks being what it is now it may take even longer.

IMO
 
BhamAdGal said:
Well, if you are "quite certain" about what happened, then we will just have to wait. I hope it's not long. I work next door practically and have been looking over my shoulder in the parking deck.
That poor woman.
Click to expand...

Maybe I was feeling a little cocky last week. :) It's all opinion... I feel for this family and want justice to be done. Based on the statements of Homewood police department and mayor, you have no reason to be concerned... But also, "no one has been ruled out as a suspect". <modsnip> Hopefully, an arrest wil be made soon.
 
re: telling the community not to worry

in the Alana Gallagher case they did the same thing and the perp lived two doors down and was running around in that neighborhood full of kids for almost three weeks :eek:


(just pointing that out)


And welcome to websleuths BrianinBirmingham! :rocker:
 
ATasteOfHoney said:
Didn't LE used to routinely let the communities of violent crimes know if they had to "be on the lookout for" or "take reasonable measures to protect"?

Why am I not seeing this anymore in cases of murders and abductions?

Doesn't the community need to know if there's a maniac on the loose, what way this person gained entry? ETC, ETC,

I mean, I'd be very afraid if I lived in the immediate area----and perhaps unnecessarily so. But we don't know, do we?
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BBM from post #208 from 08/03.

If given such warnings after this terrible crime, what would people in the community do differently in the face of the warnings?

---Lock their doors at home?
---Use their deadlock bolts at home?
---Lock car doors, whether in their driveways, in traffic, or in mall parking lot, or at work?
---Arm security systems or alarms at home (if in place)?
---Look around them as they exit their cars at home? At the grocery? At work?
---Not open the home doors to strangers?
---Leave home exterior lights on at night, or use motion sensors to flip on lights.
---Have self-defense weapons, not ncessarily guns, at bedside, or within reach throughout home.

Even living in an extremely safe, low crime, single family neighborhood, we do all the above, all the time. Kind of like wearing seat/lap belts in the car. To us, a LE admonition about a maniac on the loose would not change our behavior.

LE could issue such warnings, but do you think people who do not normally take such ordinary precautions
for their safety would heed the advice? For how long?

If LE issues a warning, then after an arrest is made is this case, should LE make an announcement to that specific municipality -- no danger, you're safe, don't bother with anything now.

Even after LE arrests someone for this crime, I predict, at some point in the future (a week, month, year, decade, who knows), Homewood is going to have another violent crime. So when could LE advise the community to just fugetabufit?

If there is a Maniac On The Loose, say in central B'ham now, if LE arrests suspect someone for this crime, what would stop that central B'ham maniac from crossing into Homewood for a violent attack? Or maybe a maniac from NYC, Chi-town, or LA will pass through Homewood and commit an awful crime. Or move there and commit a violent crime.

Aren't there always Maniacs On The Loose? Somewhere?
And nothing short of incarceration prevents them from coming to any neighborhood and committing crimes.

Be careful out there. And in your home too.
MOO. :seeya:
 
I got mod sniped again. I have nothing more to offer. If some facts begin to come out, I'll be back at that time.
 
al66pine said:
BBM from post #208 from 08/03.

If given such warnings after this terrible crime, what would people in the community do differently in the face of the warnings?

---Lock their doors at home?
---Use their deadlock bolts at home?
---Lock car doors, whether in their driveways, in traffic, or in mall parking lot, or at work?
---Arm security systems or alarms at home (if in place)?
---Look around them as they exit their cars at home? At the grocery? At work?
---Not open the home doors to strangers?
---Leave home exterior lights on at night, or use motion sensors to flip on lights.
---Have self-defense weapons, not ncessarily guns, at bedside, or within reach throughout home.

Even living in an extremely safe, low crime, single family neighborhood, we do all the above, all the time. Kind of like wearing seat/lap belts in the car. To us, a LE admonition about a maniac on the loose would not change our behavior.

LE could issue such warnings, but do you think people who do not normally take such ordinary precautions
for their safety would heed the advice? For how long?

If LE issues a warning, then after an arrest is made is this case, should LE make an announcement to that specific municipality -- no danger, you're safe, don't bother with anything now, just fugetabufit.

MOO. :seeya:
Click to expand...

Yes, they should do all of the above. If there's a rapist or a serial killer on the loose, the public should be made aware. IF there is a criminal targeting a certain age group, gender, neighborhood.....yes, we should be on cautious alert. Common sense.
We can all be careful in our typical daily lives but there are events which require additional safety measures.
Or else, why bother reporting any of it at all?
ykwim?
 
ATasteOfHoney said:
Yes, they should do all of the above. If there's a rapist or a serial killer on the loose, the public should be made aware. IF there is a criminal targeting a certain age group, gender, neighborhood.....yes, we should be on cautious alert. Common sense.
We can all be careful in our typical daily lives but there are events which require additional safety measures.
Or else, why bother reporting any of it at all?
ykwim?
Click to expand...

"If we thought someone was targeting people in that area, we would alert people,'' Atkinson said.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/08/homewood_police_on_murder_of_p.html
 
The fact that there hasn't been a hint of a suspect in this case is very hard for those in the community to deal with. I so understand that. Saying no one has been ruled out is no different than not saying anything at all. People want a suspect, any suspect just so they can feel safe again. I can understand how they all feel. I lived in a small town in CT and there was a murder, unheard of in that small community. We all felt uneasy until the suspect was identified. There was never any trial to my knowledge because when the DNA evidence came back the man was already in a mental institute. It's hard to deal with and I know you all want answers but right now they just are not there. Not only does this family and their friends have to deal with Karen's death they also are dealing with the fact that whoever did this is still out there. jmo
 
ATasteOfHoney said:
Yes, they should do all of the above. If there's a rapist or a serial killer on the loose, the public should be made aware. IF there is a criminal targeting a certain age group, gender, neighborhood.....yes, we should be on cautious alert. Common sense.
We can all be careful in our typical daily lives but there are events which require additional safety measures.
Or else, why bother reporting any of it at all?
ykwim?
Click to expand...

BBM Why report it? I have always heard "If it bleeds, it leads." Sells papers. I miss Walter Cronkite. :moo:
 
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