IL - A confession and a map to a murder victim? Chicago

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mysteriew said:
They pretty much had to go out. It was so public they risked problems if they didn't go.

But they didn't have time to organize and conduct a search. So basically this means that someone (or two) went out and looked at the area. Maybe they even looked under a bush or two. Then they left. Probably went back to the station and cussed the internet.
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Lol this is beyond accurate.
an ex works cpd and I asked him if he heard anything - he said "no and it's labor day weekend so I better not hear anything!" that's sorta the mind set i think.
 
The 2008 postmark is strange. I know Post Secret receives a lot of mail, but I didn't think the backlog was so great.
 
toscaxyz said:
The 2008 postmark is strange. I know Post Secret receives a lot of mail, but I didn't think the backlog was so great.
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That was my thought when I originally said I thought it was 2008.
Maybe this was a body already found? Maybe there was no one there to begin with.
I've no idea why the post card would just now be posted.
If there was a body there I hope the Perp wasn't PO'd that it took so long to post and did more killing.
 
luvhockey said:
That was my thought when I originally said I thought it was 2008.
Maybe this was a body already found? Maybe there was no one there to begin with.
I've no idea why the post card would just now be posted.
If there was a body there I hope the Perp wasn't PO'd that it took so long to post and did more killing.
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Maybe it was originally reported through regular channels, and basically ignored -- false confessions are a constant problem for LE -- and was posted to generate public pressure?
 
the 2008 thing threw me off too. Im sure he has a lot of mail (Frank), but that's seems like an excessive amount of time! That's 5 years! It's being played to the press as though it's new and he decided to talk to le after reddit got involved. That is a red flag in itself. This isn't the first post secret to admit to murder, and I doubt it'll be the last. I do not think the others were ever turned over to le either.

Obviously whomever did this, chose to make it appear as realistic as possible - even using their non-dominate hand to write the address with. Strange. I wouldn't be shocked if there are bodies in that area - the violence back home is astounding and definitely not so great in that area either. Pilsen and the area in which this was mailed from is primarily hispanic although tons of suburban white kids live there now. There is a huge art community there - and it's of the underground variety. Most of my close friends live there and I thought for sure Id hear rumblings about this on fb - but nothing. I post a link and no one responded, damn near everyone on my friends list is back home and in that area! I just don't think anyone is buying it.

People go missing all - the -time in Chicago. They were pulling cars not too long ago and solved at least 2 missing persons cases from years back. imagine if they had the means to do extensive work in the waters under ashland ave and around lake shore dr? This is a corrupt city (but i love it!). Drugs and money run everything to a hilt.

Ill dig around and see if there's any missing females in 2008 that fit into the criteria of someone who'd send something to post secret. That's a demographic that in 2008 -2009 was much smaller - a lot smaller. it was ran on blogspot back then and Im not sure if there was a book deal out yet.
 
Of course just because the card was sent in 2008 doesn't mean the crime was committed then. It could be somebody stewing for years.
 
I remember reading an interview with Frank once where he stated that he gets many postcards that he can't post because they are criminal in nature. (Murder, child sexual abuse confessions, etc). So I wonder why he chose to finally post this one? It's so weird.
 
sfbaynancydrew said:
I remember reading an interview with Frank once where he stated that he gets many postcards that he can't post because they are criminal in nature. (Murder, child sexual abuse confessions, etc). So I wonder why he chose to finally post this one? It's so weird.
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Hey there stranger!

I agree that this one is indeed strange. The fact on how little bit of press it's gotten is also very odd.
 
oh wow, I remember reading about this postsecret thing years (?) ago ...

I wonder about the site owner's moral/ethical/legal obligations

it'll be interesting to see if the police find anything


ETA: is there no way to navigate that postsecret site to read old postcards???
 
I came on WS just to see if there was a thread about this.

My two theories:

* The secret is real. In this scenario, someone who knows about the case sent it in as a way of tipping off the authorities anonymously and getting attention. Or maybe they have the place wrong but think it's the right place and wanted to see if anyone would look into what they believe is correct. Less likely, IMO, the real killer sent it in. Then maybe Frank took it to the police who didn't or couldn't investigate further so it was posted in hopes of pressuring LE (I think Frank has gone on twitter to encourage reddit to look into it) to do something or if they were at a dead end, that someone else close to the case would give more tips.

* The secret is fake. In this scenario which is more plausible IMO we have several explanations. Someone sent it in to get attention or play a prank or even Frank did it himself (I've heard this theory). There have been secrets in the past that people have thought were probably fake because they were so extreme. Either way, it was then posted for publicity (or attention to domestic violence if you're less cynical) OR because if Frank posted it like nothing was going on and like it was possibly real then maybe people who really have committed crimes would be more encouraged to send in things and be found out. I also think it's not very plausible for someone who killed their SO to send in something so specific. If it turned out to be real, if the victim was found and ID'd then it would be fairly easy to start looking into people she'd dated. I also can't think it would be a good idea to encourage civilians to go out and look for the body, even LE has sometimes screwed up in keeping evidence intact, a random person who lives in the area and ventures out with a shovel and Google Maps 99% of the time does NOT have enough knowledge on how to properly seal off evidence to avoid tampering if any bodies were found.

Either way I think Frank probably took it to the authorities. The secret is postmarked 2008. Even after that period of time if it turned out to be real he could get in trouble for not going to the LE about it. IMO he did and it was released back to him so he posted it. Otherwise he could just as easily have posted in 2008 since it would get him the same publicity and would be the same to him, there's a big back log but secrets like this would probably stand out.
 
Excerpts from an older Reddit Q&A (time stamp says "last year") with Frank Warren:

http://www.***********/r/IAmA/comments/tgiu6/im_frank_warren_founder_of_postsecret_caretaker/

Q: "How old are the secrets we see on the site? Are they all ones you received in the last week before posting or do you put in older secrets as well?"
A: Most of the secret posted every Sunday are about a week older or less. Sometimes I keep secrets though that may show up years later. Secrets that are most likely to be posted are funny, or tell a secret act of kindness. They are most likely to get posted because I receive so many of the heavy ones.


and

Q: Have you ever read secrets that made you want to contact authorities?
permalink
A: I have never contacted an "authority" about a secret. Although I have leaned upon my friend Reese Butler who is the founder of HopeLine, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, for help with some painful secrets.
 
The fact he's been holding onto this since 2008 makes me suspect Frank's motives for posting it now. He has repeatedly stated that he does not contact authorities about secrets he receives, nor did he in this case, some twitter user contacted the cops in Chicago.

I think his blog had grown a bit stale and he did this as a publicity stunt to regenerate interest. Just my suspicious opinion!
 
sfbaynancydrew said:
The fact he's been holding onto this since 2008 makes me suspect Frank's motives for posting it now. He has repeatedly stated that he does not contact authorities about secrets he receives, nor did he in this case, some twitter user contacted the cops in Chicago.

I think his blog had grown a bit stale and he did this as a publicity stunt to regenerate interest. Just my suspicious opinion!
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I agree with this and wouldn't be shocked if Frank is bound for another spoken word tour or book sales - and this was a way to generate ticket sales
 
At the beginning, Post Secret was supposed to be an anonymous art project about secrets. I don't think there's ever been a realistic expectation that everything people mail in is true. But of course the possibility that it might be is part of the appeal.

The secrets that get posted seem to be almost random to me. Not all of them are homemade cards, which I thought was the original point of the whole thing. Some are very moving or thought provoking. I think there's value in the project because people get a glimpse into the inner lives of others, and for many this helps them feel less alone. But none of this helps explaining holding onto a supposed murder confession since 2008. Except possible ticket and book sales, as Astrokitty points out.

Sad.
 
I think there's plenty of explanation, like I said in my post in this thread, it could easily be a fake to generate attention (though that sounds rather contrived, Frank mailing a secret in himself and holding onto it for years to post it when he needed publicity?!) or IMO it's actually a way to encourage more people to confess, meaning if they think secrets aren't taken to the authorities they'll speak up about what they've done and more perps will be found. :twocents:

Also when it comes to other secrets like about drugs or abortions, people who may live in jurisdictions where that's illegal may need to talk to someone about it but not feel safe doing so in unless they know Frank won't give them away, though in cases like that I genuinely think he wouldn't bother.
 
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