Multiple shooting wounds, unusual outfit for a burglar, unusual behaviour for a burglar... poor research of a place to rob mixed with high level of sophisticated weirdness doesn't occur that often - and even those parts that seemingly point out as possibly poor research are mixed with some implications of excellent research of the location.
I've never said anything about this case before, despite of hearing abour it right after it happened so I apologize for being redundant, but it always striked me.
If the person on the surveillance was just a burglar and got surprised by Missy... wouldn't it be incredibly easy for him/her to say something to the accord of "Miss, please lock yourself in this room and hide far from the windows. There may be a dangerous intruder here. We'll let you know when it'll be safe to go out" and flee? It's not like they could be unaware what they're wearing. If it was all just to cover identity while burglarizing, then clearly cause surveillance was considered, and likely not only surveillance but also a chance of accidentally meeting someone "on the job". Perfect outfit to get away with no consequences. Possibly even no talking needed if the voice was known to Missy, some hand gestures should convince unarmed woman to hide.
It screams targeted, pre-planned murder IMO. Unusual plan and bizarre vibe, but also the perfect time to ambush Missy with no whitnesses and no gun on her. Any other time or location would be much more risky for the killer/s.
On the other hand...
Now as I'm thinking about it more - maybe I gave this person too much credit?
My "obvious" assumption was that the reasoning behind choosing such an unusual outfit for a robbery
had to be:
- to be 100% sure that they're wearing the perfect disguise and no surveillance will help anyone to recognize them,
- to not leave behind any fingerprints or dna (no hair, no accidental sneezing residue anywhere),
- and also to use ALL the advantages that this outfit provides: so if somebody (but not LE) will show up there early in the morning, then the burglar would be able and ready to talk his way out of it by convincing the person or persons to act like they met real SWAT officer (so order them to hide somewhere "safe" or run away), getting some time to escape and disappear.
I can't imagine myself to somehow end up in the position where I "have to" burglarize the church and just casually walk around, no rush, looking here, looking there...
THE CHURCH from all the places and NOT trying to move as quicky as possible, NOT making sure that I'm spending the least amount of time inside while looking for valuables. And to spend an hour there? This is crazy.
But to act like that while waiting for a person that I want to commit violent murder on? Why lights on? While leaving all these doors open and obviously disturbed? It's not like it wouldn't look like a burglary gone wrong if the person would make their presence less obvious for those coming in while checking out what's inside those rooms and stealing some things. It's not like cameras would not caught them if they closed each doors shut after opening them.
It's very possible that person going into building that should be empty and seeing lights being on would go against their basic instinct and brush it off as weird, assume that someone forgot to turn them off or that something is malfunctioning. But lights on and all the random doors open? Some glass on the floor? That could make Missy run out of there asap.
That perp's way of thinking was bizarre no matter if they were after Missy or stealing.
It's like... first burglary done by a crazy person who got burglarizing experience from tv or targeted murder done by deeply disturbed individual who decided to do something straight from the (previously mentioned) Agatha Christie novel.
I can't add anything about the murder weapon, just that this part of crowbar definitely can cause terrible puncture wounds:
But again, puncture wounds on her head AND chest.
This is not normal.
At least IMO the "expected" behaviour from burglar caught on burglarizing by a single person while being totally in disguise would be to:
a) lock the person somewhere and run away,
b) convince the person to surrender, maybe tie them up and run away,
c) hit them once to get some time and run away,
d) maybe even hit the person hard enough (if they're willing to fight or are actively trying to stop the burglary) to risk maybe killing them but still - with the only goal there being to get away without being caught or recognised.
What kind of burglar decides to go out of their way to stab the person multiple times in the head and chest? MULTIPLE times. One such puncture caused by hammer, crowbar or a gun is more than enough to cause a person to fall down and surely enough to stop them from chasing the burglar. Yet Missy got multiple puncture wounds and possibly was also shot.
There is no way that it was "just a burglary" gone wrong. Outfit is bizarre, behaviour is bizarre, murder is violent.
It does not sound like some well planning highely sophisticated, cold blooded murdered in action and such an unstable person with possible grudge against Missy should be identifiable for investigators long ago. It's still unsolved so... burglary done by deeply deranged person?