It doesn't have to be lying for the sake of lying - Stephen Crawford found Arlis Perry's body and he was ruled out as a suspect for 3 decades until DNA confirmed he murdered her.
I should have been more clear, I mean that police don't have anything to go on and the person may have an alibi or pass a polygraph (technically clearing them as a suspect, like Gary Ridgeway in many of his murders) but police still suspect them and may continue to investigate them. I'm not saying the police have enough evidence to go to trial but still let the person go and announce they're no longer a suspect, I'm saying that police can still suspect someone they've named as not a suspect which is why I don't always trust when they say someone's been ruled out.
Your statement about letting them go without announcing they've been cleared is way more common though, like with Sabrina Aisenberg and Lisa Irwin's parents.
Thank you for replying. I really do appreciate it.
However, all LE agencies have far more investigative tools to rule someone out now...than they ever had in decades old unsolved cases.
I remember the police said a husband was the main suspect for over 20 years when his wife actually was brutally murdered by the BTK serial killer. After his capture was only when everyone knew he was innocent all along. This is way before police became much more liability cautious when not labeling anyone as a suspect as they did before the 90s, but as POI since then until they know an arrest is going to be made.
99 percent of the cases I've followed for almost 4 decades now have the same pretty much standard answer when LE is asked.... saying... they have not ruled anyone out. If they are continuing to hunt for needed evidence for whomever did it then they will say...they have ruled no one in or out without specifically naming any names one way or the other.
I wasn't aware the Irwin parents were ever publicly ever ruled out by LE. I think LE suspected them all along.
Yes, I agree its rather common unfortunately for them to let suspects go at the first or during the ongoing investigation due to not having enough probable cause to arrest them at the time, but I'm still unaware that it happens often where the police publicly rule anyone out by naming them specifically, and they were withholding it because they knew the named person they publicly had ruled out was the actual murderer when an arrest was made. That's all I'm saying.
As far as Gary Ridgeway, iirc, the poly information came out after his arrest. Unfortunately he was/is a sociopath who easily can pass polygraph with flying colors, and that did push him waydown as a potential suspect, but I dont remember LE publicly coming out and ruling him out by name at the time he passed his poly. As you know, LE never divulges whether anyone passes or fails before or when the investigation is ongoing.
That usually only becomes known at the time if the ones taking them tells the media the results they were told by the ones who took them.
Thanks again for your reply.
We will see what happens in this heartbreaking case
What matters most to all of us is the evil one or ones who did this to RC must be arrested, and charged with the harshest punishment saught against them.
Jmho
