SAMANTHA GUTHRIE: A MOTHER MISSING

 

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The widespread interest in the case of the missing celebrity mother stems from the unlikelihood of the crime.  You have an 84 year old female crime victim in a scene that makes no sense. 

What would make sense is a simple and easy robbery, in spite of the security cameras stationed around the house.  In that case, the robbers would just wear hoods and be gone. 

  Nancy Guthrie’s house would be an easy target for thieves. The obvious question to ask yourself is that, if robbery were the motive, then why is Mrs. Guthrie missing? 

Another thought that must be entertained, no matter how ridiculous, is that Nancy is being held for ransom.  Kidnappers who expected any sort or ransom would have to be the dumbest criminals in the world.

It’s been stated that the woman can’t walk 50 yards unaided. Moreover she needs medications and, according to investigators, could die without them.

For that matter,   Pima County Sheriff may be speaking in code to whomever has Mrs. Guthrie.  An abduction could easily turn fatal and result in additional murder charges in addition to others.

Summ security camera footage abounds. More video could come from other home security systems in the area.  Mrs. Guthrie’s cellphone and wallet were left at the home, addressing any notions that she’d left home of her own accord.

 Yesterday, the language used by investigators was that the home was in disarray. Today the sheriff went a little farther in telling news reporters he was waiting for lab results before he could answer certain questions.  Lab results were mentioned because it’s being widely reported  there was blood DNA at the home.   I’m guessing but fairly sure investigators can already tell whose waiting to ascertain whose blood it was or whose blood it wasn’t. 

As in all criminal cases, police know far more than they can say.  I wish I could be more hopeful of a positive outcome.   

 

Alex Pretti: What Made Him Carry a Loaded Gun to a Street Demonstration?

 

Alex Pretti is the man shot in Minneapolis demonstration against ICE agents. First of all, I’m sorry for his family.  

Judging from the videos, the fatality has all the marks of a ‘bad shooting,’ i.e., a mistake on the part of an ICE agent. Available video seems to support the conclusion of a fatal mistake.

 I’m going to go with that, a mistake.  But there is much that will never be discussed.  How and why exactly did Pretti come to bring a gun and ammo to a demonstration where he’d already been involved in a tense standoff between ICE agents and the demonstrators?  

People don’t like the question, I know. They’re quite suddenly  devout Second Amendment acolytes.  So am I.  Alex Pretti had a right to carry an absolute right to have a loaded  pistol and two clips (?) filled with 9mm ammo and also a right to protest.   

But I’m curious:  Alex Pretti got out of bed that morning, got dressed, and then decided he would carry his pistol and ammo to the demonstrations in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Did he do that every day? Did he carry when he went to the grocery store, to church, to his job at the VA hospital?

How did he carry his pistol and ammo?  Was it in a holster, stuck into his belt, or did it fit in his pocket?  And when he decided to carry his loaded pistol to the demonstration, did he think about what might happen? 

Was he thinking he would shoot it out with ICE agent(s)in a gun battle if he felt threatened? Or would he say “No, I would never do that” thereby leaving you to believe the weapon was for ornamentation only, a fashion accessory, deadly jewelry, so to speak.

No one really knows what was on his mind when he brought a gun to a volatile situation but lethal weapons are not fashion accessories.  Nor can you say he was naïve about the clashes between ICE agents and demonstrators.      

 He’d fought with ICE agents before, according to CNN reporters Jeff Winter and Priscilla Alvarez.  Their story was based on anonymous sources close to Pretti.

To paraphrase the CNN report: . .  ‘he  (Pretti) stopped his car after observing ICE agents chasing. .  .a family on foot, and began shouting an blowing his whistle,” accord to the unidentified source.

And more: “Pretti later told the source that five agents tackled him and one leaned on his back – an encounter that left him with a broken rib. The agents quickly released him at the scene. . . .  Pretti was later given medication consistent with treating a broken rib, according to records reviewed by CNN.”

There’s a hearsay addendum to the article in which the unidentified third party ‘source’ says: “That day, he thought he was going to die.”

It sounds a bit dramatic, since the CNN story goes on to say he was immediately released.

UPDATE:  Interestingly, David Muir on the ABC nightly news this evening (Jan 28) played a video clip in which Pretti is shown spitting at and kicking the taillight out of a presumably ICE SUV.  The same clip shows a pistol tucked into his belt at his back, identified as such by the network news. 

To be clear, this was not on the day Pretti was killed, but several days before.  

Lawyer says Brendan Banfield will take the stand in his own defense in Au Pair Murders

 According to his lawyer, Brendan Banfield will testify in his own behalf in what is being called the "Au Pair" murder trial.  The former IRS special agent is accused of killing his wife and another man and staging the crime scene. 

 

According to the Au Pair Juliana Peres Magalhães , hired to take care of the Banfield's daughter, she helped stage the crime scene and participated in the murder   firing one shot into the body of Joseph Ryan. 

According to the prosecution, Ryan was lured to the Banfield home for a sexual tryst with murder victim Christine Banfield. The role-playing activity that drew Ryan to the residence was to participate in a rape fantasy, according to prosecutors. 

  Magalhaes  testified against Brendan Banfield, saying  she saw him shoot Ryan and stab his wife to death. . In exchange for her testimony she  received a lesser sentence. She pled guilty to a manslaughter charge instead of murder. 

Lawyers generally do all they can to persuade defendants to stay off the witness stand.  One can only guess that Brendan's willingness to do so is a last desperate attempt to save himself.  

Not By Robert Frost These Woods

 

There's quite a lot of snow outside. Usually stamped with lots of foot traffic, the path today has only a few brave souls trekking through the single digit temperatures.   So I go along myself this way because the cold puts things in a better light than when I'm comfortable and warm and well-fed.