TN - Gail Nowacki Palmgren, 44, Signal Mountain, 30 April 2011 - #13

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Okay, I've finished transcribing the interview, and let me tell you . . . this is one of the most tedious things I've ever done in my time on WS!!! The repetitions, the obvious scripting, the lame questions, the excuses, the blahblahblah without any substance is mind-numbing. You'll see what I mean.

Poor Gail ~ how did she listen to this for all those years? :twocents:

I'm reposting Part One in my next post because earlier I left out a few lines about the funeral right at the beginning. Then I'll post part two after that.

I made a note of every time he smiled during the interview because that happens at some interesting points, usually when talking about Arlene but also when he uses the phrase "tragic accident." He really likes that report from the Sheriff's office. I know he's relieved to have some closure, but seriously he smiles ALOT.

And the one time he breaks down in tears is while talking about his job. At the end of the interview he seems to blame comments in the NFP for his firing at BCBS, which is a little bit outrageous since no one forced him to break company rules, you know?



ThoughtFox.... Again, thank you so very much.
 
http://www.wrcbtv.com/link/532589/gail-palmgren-crash-report

Page 37 states her speed was gradually increasing the five seconds prior (from 16 mph to 22 mph) ... yet her brake lights were recorded "on" three times during that five second period?

Page 38 states "The gearshift position was recorded as "Drive" until 0.3 seconds before the MRE, then a "Neutral" position was recorded at 0.2 before the MRE when a "park" position was noted at 0.1 before the MRE."

Also noteworthy is the homeowner's Accident Report ... she heard a "horrific sound" ... "I heard a sound like crashing of metal, the extended sound of screeching tires, and then a rumbling sound and a loud bang. Concurrent with those sounds I also heard the sound of a car puliing into our drive then backing out and driving away."

BBM....Can anyone tell me where this is coming from? I had to reboot to be able to view the PDF....all 2 pages of it. ???? Is that what everyone else is seeing? I'm so confused :sigh:
 
BBM....Can anyone tell me where this is coming from? I had to reboot to be able to view the PDF....all 2 pages of it. ???? Is that what everyone else is seeing? I'm so confused :sigh:

Holly, I can see 50 pages* (and I read the whole dang thing). Do you have an alternate internet browser on your computer you can try? Sometimes when things don't work for me in Firefox, I try Chrome.

*Correction... when I saved the PDF to my comp it was 99 pages. The PDF reader thingy (technical term) on WRCB's website is weird.
 
http://www.wrcbtv.com/link/532589/gail-palmgren-crash-report

Page 38 states "The gearshift position was recorded as "Drive" until 0.3 seconds before the MRE, then a "Neutral" position was recorded at 0.2 before the MRE when a "park" position was noted at 0.1 before the MRE."

Weird. Is this something the Jeep did on its own when it realized it was crashing? Does anyone know? My car is 10+ years old without all this fancy stuff.
 
http://www.wrcbtv.com/link/532589/gail-palmgren-crash-report

Also noteworthy is the homeowner's Accident Report ... she heard a "horrific sound" ... "I heard a sound like crashing of metal, the extended sound of screeching tires, and then a rumbling sound and a loud bang. Concurrent with those sounds I also heard the sound of a car puliing into our drive then backing out and driving away."

"Concurrent" meaning at the same time or immediately thereafter, indicating at the very least, a witness. IMO.
 
Just my two cents-we are talking about a 4000 lb jeep and at most a 400 lb rock. Why do you guys think the Jeep couldnt or wouldnt move it? Especially when the Jeep had forward momentum of perhaps as much as 24 MPH?
 
On page 2 it says that drug and alcohol tests were administered, but that the results are "pending". Wouldn't you wait for the results before publishing the report? IF Gail had drugs or alcohol in her system, would they still be detectable 8 months later?
 
Weird. Is this something the Jeep did on its own when it realized it was crashing? Does anyone know? My car is 10+ years old without all this fancy stuff.

Doubtful that any vehicle would be capable of doing this on its own. I think this indicates that she tried to take evasive action to stop the car. It might have worked if the boulder had not been up under the left front wheel. Trying to visualize all this. Seems possible the momentum of the boulder might have actually dragged the vehicle over the edge. Again, IMO.
 
MP from the interview:



Oy. I'd say it sounds awful because it's out of context, but I can't think of a context where it would sound okay.



Edited to add this quote, because no, Matt, you did not come home from the conference. Unless he's claiming BCBS is lying?


He's absolutely delusional about the reason he got fired.

Anyone else think he smiles at very odd times during this interview????


Reminds me of Scott Peterson.
 
I didn't follow this case so I don't know the particulars of the case but, I am wondering if gail knew someone on that road or stopped for some reason and had just began to "drive" again. iirc the speed limit there is 30mph and it would appear to me that she was picking up speed as if she was just taking off "again" and she could have been trying to put her seatbelt on when she veered to the left and then "overcorrected" to the right when she hit the rock and continued on. jmo for now
 
Just my two cents-we are talking about a 4000 lb jeep and at most a 400 lb rock. Why do you guys think the Jeep couldnt or wouldnt move it? Especially when the Jeep had forward momentum of perhaps as much as 24 MPH?

Speaking for myself only, I've never been good at physics, and 24 mph seems reeeaaally slow to me, LOL. That's why I'm carefully reading through the report, because I truly want to understand how this happened. :twocents:
 
BBM....Can anyone tell me where this is coming from? I had to reboot to be able to view the PDF....all 2 pages of it. ???? Is that what everyone else is seeing? I'm so confused :sigh:

Page 54 from the witness report..

Witness states...
I cannot be completely sure of the exact date or the time of day (but to the best of my recollection it was on the weekend of April 30-May 1st) last spring when I heard a horrific sound outside my home. I know it was just days before my husband and I left for Roswell GA to visit our grandchildren on May 5-8th. I was in the master bedroom located in the back of my home when I heard a sound like cra...shing of metal, the extended sound of screeching tires, and then a rumbling sound and a loud bang. Concurrent with those sounds I also heard the sound of a car pulling into our drive then backing out and driving away. My husband was asleep and I awakened him, however he hadn’t heard anything. I walked into our living room to look out our front window to see if an accident had occurred in front of our house. This was an extraordinarily loud noise and one we do not usually hear yet everything looked in order and there was nothing to be seen.
 
while I was on the live chat during the presser, someone brought up an example that helped me-if you rear end someone in traffic at that speed, their car moves. Now, that is 4k lbs against 3 or 4k lbs. So what is a rock that is at most 10% of the weight of the jeep going to do? And on top of that, the Jeep was in motion at a relatively good clip. IIRC the speed limit there is 30mph-is that correct? So she was relatively close to the speed limit when she hit the rock.

She must have been terrified. :(
 
Page 54 from the witness report..

Witness states...
I cannot be completely sure of the exact date or the time of day (but to the best of my recollection it was on the weekend of April 30-May 1st) last spring when I heard a horrific sound outside my home. I know it was just days before my husband and I left for Roswell GA to visit our grandchildren on May 5-8th. I was in the master bedroom located in the back of my home when I heard a sound like cra...shing of metal, the extended sound of screeching tires, and then a rumbling sound and a loud bang. Concurrent with those sounds I also heard the sound of a car pulling into our drive then backing out and driving away. My husband was asleep and I awakened him, however he hadn’t heard anything. I walked into our living room to look out our front window to see if an accident had occurred in front of our house. This was an extraordinarily loud noise and one we do not usually hear yet everything looked in order and there was nothing to be seen.

So someone did hear something-what did they do after they heard this? Did they call LE? Did they go out and check? By check I mean did they go outside and look? Apparently not. :(
 
ThoughtFox, thank you SO much for transcribing. I really appreciate it.
 
Page 54 from the witness report..

Witness states...
I cannot be completely sure of the exact date or the time of day (but to the best of my recollection it was on the weekend of April 30-May 1st) last spring when I heard a horrific sound outside my home. I know it was just days before my husband and I left for Roswell GA to visit our grandchildren on May 5-8th. I was in the master bedroom located in the back of my home when I heard a sound like cra...shing of metal, the extended sound of screeching tires, and then a rumbling sound and a loud bang. Concurrent with those sounds I also heard the sound of a car pulling into our drive then backing out and driving away. My husband was asleep and I awakened him, however he hadn’t heard anything. I walked into our living room to look out our front window to see if an accident had occurred in front of our house. This was an extraordinarily loud noise and one we do not usually hear yet everything looked in order and there was nothing to be seen.

Gosh, I wish she had made a report the day she heard the ruckus, but hindsight is 20/20 I guess.

The bolded part is curious/troubling if true.
 
while I was on the live chat during the presser, someone brought up an example that helped me-if you rear end someone in traffic at that speed, their car moves. Now, that is 4k lbs against 3 or 4k lbs. So what is a rock that is at most 10% of the weight of the jeep going to do? And on top of that, the Jeep was in motion at a relatively good clip. IIRC the speed limit there is 30mph-is that correct? So she was relatively close to the speed limit when she hit the rock.

She must have been terrified. :(

IMHO.. There would have most definitely been signs on the ground of a rock (boulder) that size being moved......JMHO
 
Speaking for myself only, I've never been good at physics, and 24 mph seems reeeaaally slow to me, LOL. That's why I'm carefully reading through the report, because I truly want to understand how this happened. :twocents:

I am intrigued by the physics of this as well. Seems to me that 1) upon impact with a boulder, the driver would instinctively remove foot from gas peddle, IF that had not been done already, thus the rock might have shifted slightly, but not 23 feet, and the impact would have caused the vehicle to abruptly stop. Or, 2) Even for a 4000 lb vehicle to move a 400 lb rock, the driver would have to be accelerating to get enough momentum to move it 23 feet. According to the report, the car went from drive to neutral to park within micro seconds of going over the bluff, which doesn't indicate acceleration. #3) 24 mph doesn't seem very fast to me, either. If this was truly an accident, it was the freakiest of freak accidents. MOO.
 
So someone did hear something-what did they do after they heard this? Did they call LE? Did they go out and check? By check I mean did they go outside and look? Apparently not. :(

The homeowner looked through the window facing the road and saw nothing amiss, but did not walk outside according to her statement. She never reported it to LE until her neighbor told her on 12/1 that people were outside her house investigating Gail's disappearance. :(
 
Gosh, I wish she had made a report the day she heard the ruckus, but hindsight is 20/20 I guess.

The bolded part is curious/troubling if true.

She is also claiming her husband was asleep.. Seems that would help her to remember IF it was in the afternoon or at night..JMHO
 
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