Omaha double murder

Shutterfly, bravo- very good analysis. You shed some light on things I had not even thought of and I have been obsessed with this case for months.
Not to grind my own theory but doesnt a lot of this suggest a perp who was not a professional hit man? Too sloppy. It doesn't suggest an angry ex med student at least to me. If he did have Tommy summonded from the basement how did he manage that? He left the knives- that to me suggests he's very off mentally. This is not to my mind a hardened drug dealer or hit man.
I still think they need to pull the hard drive on the Hunter's computer(s) and see what Tommy was up to on line. I think this guy was local, maybe someone in their 20's who lives alone or in his parent's basement and plays a lot of fantasy games. He may appear to have his mental illness under control but something snapped. He may have gone there to see Tommy about some on line disagreement or as I suggested to give him some software. Maybe Tommy said something to him about his being 'wierd' who knows, he then went off and did the killings.
I would like very much to send a follwup email to the officer at OPD who did respond to my earlier email and strongly suggest they pull the drives if not already; I know they won't comment but I'd like to anyway. I think they have exuausted the angry med student or ex patient angle. To my thinking he may have been a disturbed young man who badly needs to get taken off the streets. Any comments?

Both the parents are doctors. The killer went to the address with some sort of intent of revenge on either one or both of the parents. The housekeeper happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. LE should check into patients medical records to see if either of the parents had any patients who had died and perhaps the killer is a pissed off family member of a relative who died under the care of one of the doctors.
The pissed off med student story would be another fitting scenario. If they said he had hard hair and an olive complexion maybe the man was from India? Sorry to sound like i am generalizing or something. A lot of doctors are from India or it is their home country.

Meow- The angry ex med student or family member of a deceased patient idea has been around since the start- and I still think it's good. One thing though- according to the newspaper article the FBI has been involved in the case since at least April. That's nearly six months to sort through the patient and school records. But maybe this is a larger task than I think. I just think they have done and are doing that and it's either a slow go or isn't panning out. I also considered this being someone from India- however it could fit a native American, Hispanic, Middle Eastern or Asian as well. We just can be pretty sure he was not African American. He may have actually been caucasian, just dark.
One idea is that maybe they have had some idea who this is for some time. He may have fled the country following and getting him extradited is taking a lot of delicate moves. Many countries won't extradite if there's a chance the accused would get the death penalty. I'd like to see him get that, but I'd settle for his being put away for life.
I reread the article from the World Herald and it did mention computer analysis would be done. If my idea has merit- that it was someone Thomas knew on line- and I still think it has merit- then that should come out or maybe it has and they are trying to close the circle. We can only hope. In any event this man needs to get taken out of circulation.
It does occur to me that Creighton Med Center does heart surgeries on persons flown in here from the third world. LE could do worse than to check out the families of anyone Claire Hunter operated on

Tnx Snick. This is a case that has so many incredible twists and turns. It will be interesting when LE checks the family's (including Thomas) ccomputers to see if there were any threatening messages or interesting websites. That also applies to phone records. The two families need to know what happened. I can understand your fascination after reading this thread.

This murder does seem like someone with an axe to grind vs. a random act like a serial killer. Whoever did this may not be insane but personality disordered like most deviants who commit murder. This still could be an angry med student or a displeased relative who possibly made contact with the boy via internet to get to the parents.

Just a couple random thoughts today:

One factor maybe I have not mentioned up to now: the Omaha Police department is very understaffed now and has been for some time prior to this crime. The homicide division took a big hit, lost a big percentage of their veteran staff due to 'early retirements' late last year. I think they still are very understaffed. There are more unsolved murders than I can keep track of- this Summer was horrific in the minority areas; there is still an average of one murder every other day or so that goes unsolved.
That being said I think that perhaps their approach to this crime has been that, so long as the families and media are not pressing them, they will not put as much effort into the investigation. They made a big splash right after, asking for leads and tips and got a lot of them- none to my knowledge were ever acknowledged. I think I recounted my experience at submitting one and having to ask my city councilman just to get them to acknowledge they got it. I get the feeling they aren't doing jack.
My big question is why the families, especially the Hunters, have not been more active in pressing this. I understand their grief, but I now think their son's murder will go unsolved if they don't get out and take some active part. I question if the phone and computer records were ever accessed.
I also question if there isn't more to all this than meets the eye- if for example this crime was due to actions of one of the older Hunter children maybe LE has decided to avoid a scandal that would affect the Creighton reputation.
Did I mention on this board- the funerals for both victims were held at exctly the same time. Coincidence? Perhaps, or indication of some blame?
This is a case that would benefit from National exposure- I am not sure how to go about getting that- it's probably pretty run of the mill so far as crimes go today so maybe that's not going to happen.

Hi, Snick
Could you please expand on "the funerals for both victims were held at the same time"?

The crime took place on March 13, a Thursday. The funerals for both Tom Hunter and Ms Sherman were held on Wednesday the 19 at 11 AM, in two different parts of town. The Hunter funeral at the Creighton campus church and the Sherman funeral across town at a funeral home. I do not have immediate access to the funeral announcments but can try to post these if anyone is interested.
I was not the only person noting this. A few comments were made on local discussion boards. It may not mean anything- it just seemed strange and still does. Perhaps the Sherman family blamed the Hunters for somehow endangering her- or maybe the Hunters felt her carelessness was to blame.

Yo, Snick, no more info?

I agree that the timing of the two funerals seems strange, but then again it could just be one of those things with no relevance that still seems suspicious given the other circumstances. I mean, it's not likely that the two would necessarily have the same visitors. I guess....

I hope to keep up on this story. Please post again when anything comes up.

--tapu/jen

Saw this pop up today. Snick, how long did Ms Sherman work for the Hunters? I ask because it does seem strange that the funerals weren't scheduled so they could attend both. This is especially true if she was a long-time employee.

Ms Sherman had worked for the Hunter family around ten years- at least that is my understanding from articles in the World Herald at the time. Both the Hunters worked long hours and she almost ran the household, was a defacto mom to Thomas- she would take him to her family events, they were very close.
Sure does suggest something, doesn't it? One of these victims was the target and the other family blamed someone. At least that's how I read it.

Snick1946 said:

Ms Sherman had worked for the Hunter family around ten years- at least that is my understanding from articles in the World Herald at the time. Both the Hunters worked long hours and she almost ran the household, was a defacto mom to Thomas- she would take him to her family events, they were very close.
Sure does suggest something, doesn't it? One of these victims was the target and the other family blamed someone. At least that's how I read it.

Click to expand...

Okay, now that is really weird. Have you looked into the family names for arrest records possibly of relatives? Of course, they have pretty common names. Anyway to find out a list of, just for example, Mrs. Sherman's immediate family members, esp males like brothers, sons...

Anyone who has not yet read Shutterfly's analysis of the crime scene should scroll back now and do so. It's brilliant. I have had so many changes in my mind as to motive and suspects but the point he made that impressed me was that the evidence suggests that Thomas, not Ms Sherman was the primary trarget. He looks to have been called up from the basement, either the perp knew his name and asked for him or pretended to be from school with something, etc. Ask yourself- if this was an angry ex med student or patient, how likely is it they'd know this child's name or that he was even there? To me this suggests an arranged meeting- again, what would a 12 year old boy and a 20 something have in common or where would they connect? On the internet. Don't mean to grind my theory again but it makes sense.
Having said that, I wonder about the boys older siblings and if something they did may have triggered this. My wife grew up in that neighborhood, she didn't know the Hunters but knew a lot of kids from doctor's families- a lot of them were into drugs and dealing, out of their homes.
I also wonder if someone in Shirlee's family benefitted from her death but think I have aired that one before.
It has even crossed my mind that Dr. Hunter could have been doing consulting work for some secret government agency. He had the background for it, per his biography I noted from an older article on line from Creighton. Maybe that ties in somehow.
I cannot shake the feeling that there is a lot more here than meets the eye. Also that LE may be a lot closer to breaking this than we know, I hope so.

Snick1946 said:

Ms Sherman had worked for the Hunter family around ten years- at least that is my understanding from articles in the World Herald at the time. Both the Hunters worked long hours and she almost ran the household, was a defacto mom to Thomas- she would take him to her family events, they were very close.
Sure does suggest something, doesn't it? One of these victims was the target and the other family blamed someone. At least that's how I read it.

Click to expand...

If someone worked for me for 10 years and died, I'd want to attend their funeral and pay respects. If Thomas became an unofficial member of her family, it would work both ways.

It speaks volumns that the these two groups of people pulled away from each other after the murders, and yes, I'd vote that bitterness and blame is behind it.

I have been gone awhile from here with health stuff and other real life taking over but I am just catching up on this thread now. So sad to see that this has not been solved yet. I need to go read the rest of the thread now properly

Ciara,

Good to have you back again. It'd be nice if there had been some development in this since your last post but no. Sometimes I think people will be posting on this thread two years from now, still unsolved.

I agree with others here after reading about the funerals being held at the same time. Thats really odd. If I had known someone that long even if they didnt work for me I'd want to be at her funeral aswell as my son's. The fact she practically ran their household and mothered their son yet the funeral was at the same time as their own son's is strange unless it was taken out of their hands.

I cant understand why the parents are not shouting for justice from the rooftops, this was their child. Its a peculiar case.

Anyone who saw the movie 'JFK' will remember Kevin Costner's brilliant portrayal of Jim Garrison. One of the most memorable lines in that movie is in his trial summation: 'Let justice be done- though the heavens fall."
If you go back through my postings in this thread you can see how my idea of what happened here has shifted and changed as time goes by. It has now been seven months since this crime took place. This thread on this board is about the only visable sign of any interest in getting to the truth anywhere in the world on this case.
I am not going to be specific here but I have the idea someone is being protected, why or whom is a mystery. Unless and until the families and cetrainly the Hunters get off their butts and start raising hell here this case is going to remain unsolved. Nuff said.

Snick1946 said:

Ms Sherman had worked for the Hunter family around ten years- at least that is my understanding from articles in the World Herald at the time. Both the Hunters worked long hours and she almost ran the household, was a defacto mom to Thomas- she would take him to her family events, they were very close.
Sure does suggest something, doesn't it? One of these victims was the target and the other family blamed someone. At least that's how I read it.

Click to expand...

Sherman did NOT work for the Hunters for ten years and most certainly was not a mother-like figure to Thomas, never taking him any where with her, they were not "very close."

Sherman worked for them for no more then 2 and a half years.

Welcome to Websleuths Moonlighter! Do you know the Hunter family?