CA CA - Hugues de la Plaza, 36, San Francisco, 2 June 2007

[luthersmama]

good idea.

He reads here sometimes. I'll check and see what he's up to.

 

[NewMommy09]

I would think that the suicide theory could be easily disproved by evaluation of the stab wounds. The entry and angle of the wounds would show whether they were made by someone else or not.

 

[crypto6]

It makes more sense to consider that he was stabbed by the person who was heard running away, then he went back inside and locked the door so that person couldn't get back in. Maybe he was in shock and didn't realize how badly injured he was and passed out before he could call for help.

Bingo. Why are the SFPD so adamant here?? Either they were lazy and thought this guy was a foreign vagrant sort whose case could be swept under the rug, they knew they screwed up very badly at the start and hunkered down, or they have a dog in the race. Looks like they underestimated the tenacity and substance of this guy and his family. I'm embarrassed for SF nd the USA here; we'd expect and probably get a lot more from the French if the situation were reversed.

C6

 

[MagicRose99]

Bingo. Why are the SFPD so adamant here?? Either they were lazy and thought this guy was a foreign vagrant sort whose case could be swept under the rug, they knew they screwed up very badly at the start and hunkered down, or they have a dog in the race. Looks like they underestimated the tenacity and substance of this guy and his family. I'm embarrassed for SF nd the USA here; we'd expect and probably get a lot more from the French if the situation were reversed.

C6

(bold by me)
A lot... *sputter* more... *sputter* different topic... different thread... walk away Magic... different topic...

 

[crypto6]

(bold by me)
A lot... *sputter* more... *sputter* different topic... different thread... walk away Magic... different topic...

I really dislike the frogs too. They can't fight and nothing is ever their fault, but their legal system will grab hold and won't let go. You may be dead before you get justice, but it will be done.

Don't you just see them in a shiny, new way?? Me either.

C6

 

[Blondieskatz]

It does sound very fishy. Why would you stab yourself several times to commit suicide then clean up...doesn't make sense.:waitasec:

 

[Steely Dan]

For those who missed it here is a transcript from the 48 hours website for the show. Was it suicide or was it homicide?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/13/48hours/main5636627.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesArea.0

News report: 36-year-old Hugues De La Plaza’s family and friends refuse to believe he killed himself… de La Plaza, a French-American citizen, was stabbed three times after coming home from a neighborhood bar… His door was locked, no signs of a struggle, no weapon was found.

IMO, all you need to know is they never found the weapon that made stabs.

After you read the transcript and are still interested look at my next post for my theory.

 

[Steely Dan]

I believe he came home and got buzzed by someone to come out. It was either a friend or in my theory a police officer, most likely off duty.

Since he was a womanizer without regard to relationship or marital status it was a guy who's wife had slept with Hugues. He was also a cop on the force. After killing him he freaked out and called a friend on the force who came and took the murder weapon for him. Then helped in leading the theory that he'd killed himself. If he was a detective he either deliberately didn't do a good job of processing the crime scene or just got lucky it was processed very poorly. If it was a patrolman it would be a little harder to influence the investigation.

However, there is nothing on the surveillance tape showing anyone else outside the building. Could it have been edited?

Once again the fact they couldn't find the knife proves to me it's a homicide. How does someone stab themselves three times and get rid of the knife?

 

[Vegas Bride]

Do we know where Drew P was that night?

It does not sound like a suicide Imo.

VB

 

[Ada]

What if he was attacked farther down the street, out of sight of the cameras? They said he was drunk. So he stumbles home, goes inside, stumbles around in his apt and eventually dies from his wounds.

 

[nostoneunturned]

my thoughts also

 

[colette]

There was high velosity blood splatter outside the home by the stairs. I think he was stabbed there. He ran inside and locked the door, and stumbled around inside the apartment confused from shock and blood loss.

He could of opened the door that night to someone he knew or he could have been sitting on the porch for some fresh air and someone assulted him.

Not a suicide, no way.

 

[Steely Dan]

Here are some of the really hinky things I find in this case;

Some of these are quotes from the 48 hours transcript.

There is no murder weapon

When those knives were tested, no blood was found.

"Would you expect, if there is a knife that is consistent with the wounds, that it would have blood on it?" Maher asked Casillas. "Yes, I would be. I would."

Investigators have an explanation for that, as well. They believe it's actually possible that after Hugues stabbed himself three times, he then washed the knife clean. Puh-leaaasse.

____________________________________

Investigators know Hugues arrived home safely, had a bite to eat and used his laptop to cruise some dating and sex Websites. At this point, Murphy believes, for some reason Hugues opened his front door and walked outside. (part of my theory)

____________________________________

"There are several themes in every case," Murphy said. "In this case, there was the theme about the jilted lover or the husband or the boyfriend that found out, and laid in wait and killed him. I didn't find it."

Something else Murphy didn’t find were any signs in Hugues' life that he was suicidal. There are so many people involved in his sex life there had to be at least one really angry person, IMO. However, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack it would seem. Also, I would imagine a lot of them were kept very quiet.

____________________________________

There were no drugs in his system.

____________________________________

The French reviewed all the investigation materials and retested all the evidence. According to François, they made a remarkable discovery: unknown DNA was found on Hugues' watch band. (this is another thing I used to build my theory about a SFPD person possibly being involved. It's at very least a sign of slovenly work on the case, IMO.)

____________________________________

Gascon confirmed that the San Francisco Police Department had quietly commissioned an outside review of the case. They received the report in February 2009.

"It’s unbelievable that we just happened to find out about this," Nix said. "There’s something about this is really fishy something smells bad to me."

____________________________________

And yet, despite the fact that now two outside reviews have labeled Hugues de la Plaza’s death a homicide, Dr. Azar continues to stick to her conclusion of undetermined.



If you have any information about the death of Hugues de la Plaza, please call the San Francisco Police Department>/link>'s Anonymous Tip Line at 415-575-4444.

 

[Steely Dan]

What if he was attacked farther down the street, out of sight of the cameras? They said he was drunk. So he stumbles home, goes inside, stumbles around in his apt and eventually dies from his wounds.

They never mentioned a blood trail going up further on the street, IIRC. If that didn't exist it seems the theory doesn't work. JMO

I'm not criticizing you, just your theory. Feel free to criticize mine. We're here to kibitz about this stuff and as long as personal attacks aren't part of the discussion I think it's cool. Once again this is not aimed at you. I don't think I've read a lot of your posts. This is more for other people to read.

 

[LadyL]

I wonder what was found on his laptop ... did he contact someone for a rendezvous; go to answer the door when they arrived, only to be attacked by that person or that person's pimp (a set-up/robbery) or that person's husband (possibly spying on his wife & set-up the meeting pretending to be the wife)?

If so, they brought the murder weapon with them obviously & it happened out of view of the security cameras (I don't know what angles the camera covers but it can't cover every angle)

I think in the transcript, the emt says there was lots of blood outside - probably pooling while he tried to get back in to safety, struggling with opening the lock or whatever then once inside he locked his own door

I think the broken watch etc,. inside are just indications of him being in shock & walking slowly around dazed ...

just theories that don't necessarily explain everything

just brainstorming here

 

[Steely Dan]

I wonder what was found on his laptop ... did he contact someone for a rendezvous; go to answer the door when they arrived, only to be attacked by that person or that person's pimp (a set-up/robbery) or that person's husband (possibly spying on his wife & set-up the meeting pretending to be the wife)?

If so, they brought the murder weapon with them obviously & it happened out of view of the security cameras (I don't know what angles the camera covers but it can't cover every angle)

I think in the transcript, the emt says there was lots of blood outside - probably pooling while he tried to get back in to safety, struggling with opening the lock or whatever then once inside he locked his own door

I think the broken watch etc,. inside are just indications of him being in shock & walking slowly around dazed ...

just theories that don't necessarily explain everything

just brainstorming here

They don't go into a lot of detail about that. I don't know if when he went down he had left his door open or whether it was locked when he got there. I'm leaning toward he left it open.

Also, it's annoying they didn't go into more depth on what kind of lock it is. I have a simple latch lock that I could push down with one finger if I had to. Was it an inside deadbolt lock that needed a key? Answering that means a lot to me in this case.

 

[2goldfish]

I am very interested in slight signs of struggle, NO attempt to call for help, he went outside and went back in, locked the door, died?

The only person I ever knew who was stabbed actually had no idea at first. he was in a fight and thought he'd just been punched. it was only much later that he looked down and saw the knife still sticking out of his chest....

I wonder if the reason for all the anomolies is simply that Hugues had no clue he'd been stabbed. he was drunk. you would assume he would notice the bleeding but lots of people I know arent particularly observant...I can see a fight happening and a stabbing that wasnt even noticed by a stabbee before I would believe either a suicide (with...no....knife around?) or that he WAS aware and yet didnt call for help, went out and back in, and wandered around til he died.

 

[colette]

With the neck injury, one pathologist on the show said he would have died in about 2 minutes. Two minutes is time enough to get inside, lockup, stumble into things around his home and die. At first he probably thought clear enough to come inside and lock his door but as the blood flowed out, shock set in and he was unable to call for help.

 

[bogeygal]

With the neck injury, one pathologist on the show said he would have died in about 2 minutes. Two minutes is time enough to get inside, lockup, stumble into things around his home and die. At first he probably thought clear enough to come inside and lock his door but as the blood flowed out, shock set in and he was unable to call for help.

I watched the show last night, and I agree with you colette.

First I thought suicide, but changed my mind when the private detective hired by the father gave his report.

 

[travelgal]

I got the feeling that Dr Azar refused to re-open her findings or change them. Something about her set off my hinky meter. It does appear to have cover-up written all over it IMO.