*** Long Post Alert ***
I had lunch with some LE today (not from WI, not involved or really even aware of this case). We discussed and I tried to get their opinion, specifically something I might have overlooked or incorrectly assumed. Not sure if any of this is relevant, but here are a few of the thoughts that came from the discussion.
Re the Dispatch Log and “possible suicide attempt” comment: Dispatch log should be considered to be notes of the communication at the time, not a full transcript. There’s going to be a lot of radio communication that log does not reflect. Notable that the first unit would advise that they are arriving at the scene and approaching the house. This officer would absolutely not just charge right in even if the door was wide open. It would be standard procedure to advise what can be seen as the officer approaches and evaluate whether it’s safe to approach and enter. That’s probably significant in that it’s unknown to us where the officer was when he observed the “man down” and reported “possible suicide attempt.” At that point, with no real threat assessment, this first officer would likely not enter until backup arrives to clear the house. More info would come in as more officers arrived to access the situation.
A good question that came up: I’ve assumed that since LE is confident that Jayme was present she must have been in bed sleeping (as I would expect a child her age to be at that time on a school night). That may be a bad assumption. I don’t know that she was asleep, I don’t know that she was in her room, I don’t even know that she was home prior to the assault. There’s a whole lot there that I’m assuming. LE almost certainly knows at this point, but I don’t.
I’m also assuming that the assailants arrived via a car pulling into the driveway and the assault in the house began with the first shots, probably the two shots that the neighbors reported hearing. But again, I’m not privy to the details I would need to ascertain that. I can’t rule out that perhaps the assailants were already there. That perhaps they were dropped off near the house and approached on foot. That maybe they were friends of James and they were hanging outside, maybe those shots were just rural folks shooting for any number of reasons before there was any intent to assault. I guess it’s even possible that the assailants arrived with Jayme (or James, or Denise) since I know nothing about where everybody was prior to the assault.
My takeaway: there’s so much about this case that just doesn’t seem to fit any plausible scenario. But that may well be because I’ve made a lot of assumptions - if any of those assumptions are wrong, that changes everything. With that I’m sure LE has a more complete picture than I do. They may not have named a suspect or released any significant details, but maybe my final assumption - that LE is as stumped as I am - is also incorrect.
