SMOOTH OPERATOR - I've had problems with the amount of time he was supposedly gone and the time of the murder too...and then I have a real problem with his stated "alibi" - his son!
You said..
IMO, I strongly believe that this large window of time will be of huge detriment to his defense, especially since its fact that at any point in that huge window of time all the way til he revealed his presence to Karen(at some point well after 8pm that night) at any point in all that time he could have very easily, with zero negative impact, changed his mind and not murdered Karen.
Just some of the thoughts I had today while thinking about this beautiful woman, and the way in which her life was taken. My apologies for the random, rambling thoughts, I've just had Karen on my mind lately, and today I was thinking about the unbelievable, extended window of opportunity that Richard had available him to have turned back at any point and not followed through with her murder. The way he constructed his alibi IMO, leaves no doubt whatsoever as to the extreme level of premeditation, as well as the extreme determination he had for her life to be permanently extinguished from existing. Jmo.
I totally agree with your sentiments, but I'd like to look at this in a different angle. What if he meticulously orchestrated the whole entire murder, but never laid a hand on her...a "murder for hire"? Oddly, he left town without his wife (KS had to go to work that day) and he had just finished his VBS for the year...(whew!), well, then if he was really into this other relationship as the prosecutors claim, why hasn't the finger been pointed at this other male person...who might have been the murderer...and RS possibly had hired him or somone to do this.
You see, why would he want to be with his kids at that very moment? He would have wanted to be there with them, so that when they heard the "news", then all of them would be there together...to receive that dreadful news that Mom had been murdered.
I knew RS. I knew KS. I'm not putting this murder past his capability, knowing what I know about sinister ministers, but knowing the personality of RS, I just don't think he could bring himself to pull it off with what took place. And with the "alibi" and the time lapse, and ESPECIALLY WHO HE WAS WITH...HIS SON...well, i'm just looking at this in reality.
His "alibi" (like you) has really haunted me to the point that I wanted to know every detail as to how the NEWS was told to them when the church members revealed it to RS...and his son, and I've always wanted to know how he and his son reacted. What was his facial expression - if in fact he was the one who was behind the murder OR committed the murder?
And then, to go even deeper...did he orchestrate it to the point where he was the "shocked dad" in front of his adult child, so that "he couldn't have been the murderer...or known anything about the murder."...all the while, knowing the horrible truth that the "deed was done"..."now I'm free to move on with my life and no one will ever find out that I was ever behind this!!" I never knew him to lie, but yet, people change...for their own ways, their own wants, and when they want it bad enough, they'll stop at nothing.
I think he chose his alibi very wisely...very, very wisely!!
You see, this way, he can actually say..."that he didn't kill her...and be perfectly right...and some would believe him because "he was a children's pastor". I believe RS may have been working directly with someone in order kill her...and she was a beautiful person - inside and out.
Just my take on this...after thinking about it for several months...knowing what others have plotted in like circumstances.
DTLJ
Ok...I've been wanting to get that out for quite some time now...especially the reaction of their son.