While paging through the Swiss federal court cases, I came across this case
where undercover police attempted to get a suspected murderer to confess in front of a fortune-teller. The court threw it out b/c the pressure exercised on the suspect was tantamount to sidestepping the right to not self incriminate.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
7 NEWS reported the firebomb attack on a tobacco shop on the north of Melbourne. Could be related to gangs with some executions reported.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Is it normal for prosecutors to keep the means by which they caught a criminal totally secret? Because the Swiss prosecutors who handled the notorious Rupperswil murder case have never disclosed how they caught the perp (other than there not being any witnesses involved), leading to lots of speculation about geolocation etc.
Speaking of this case, the trial was five years ago and yet there are still politicians complaining in this election that the perp might come free soon, even though there is no indication that he would.
Edited by SeptimusHeap on Oct 11th 2023 at 10:30:19 AM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
OG Troper
Well, that reminds me of the case of a hacker who was caught and sentenced to jail, but didn't buy the prosecution's version of how they caught him, suspecting they used a Stingray, a device that can capture all cellphone traffic in the area that was far beyond their warrant. He hand wrote a long letter with diagrams and calculations and sent it to a lawyer, who commented that she had gotten similar long letter before, but was surprised to find it was not a paranoid rant, but actually very well reasoned so she took his case, and in courts the prosecution had to admit that they had used the Stingray without a warrant, and iirc the guy either walked or had his sentence commuted.
the statement above is false
That's not going to happen to Thomas N., I bet - nobody wants to see that guy free. Even the fact that he was considered "treatable" by the court psychiatrists was super contentious if I recall.
(Apropos of Swiss criminals and CW: Rape, I'd like to assign the title of most brass-necked rape apologist to the guy who about eight years ago argued that kidnapping someone off the street and having sex with them in a remote forest didn't count as sexual coercionnote b/c the someone in question wasn't restrained or threatened in the moment they were in the forest. The courts, needless to say, did not agree)
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
Found it odd that after this time, van der Sloot admitted to killing Natalee aside from scamming her family.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Statistical study of time intervals between murders for serial killers showing that the timespans between the killings can be modelled as random distributions. That means for example, that gaps long several years aren't unusual and that there is no distinction between spree and serial killers.
Just found out that there is a wood called "murder wood" not that far from here. Apparently it's named after a brutal murder that took place there in 1906. What's more, the brass-necked rape apologist mentioned before picked that exact wood for his rape in 2010, as it's remote. Talk about creepy coincidence...
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
OG Troper
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I've always been kinda sceptical of the whole spree/serial divide. It felt like a Distinction Without a Difference. Like a lot of profiling stuff, it feels like they're just making categories to make it look like they have an actual sceintific model.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67270472
A Japanese man in his 80s was arrested for taking hostages in Warabi, Saitama after a previous shooting at Toda Chuo General Hospital.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) was mobilized. For those not familiar with Japanese law enforcement, the SIT has a tactical unit of its own. I was told that most of them are veterans of the Special Assault Team.
Edited by Ominae on Oct 31st 2023 at 8:01:14 AM
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
Man was arrested by the SIT.
According to the suspect, he has a grudge the particular JP Post office in Warabi. His motorcycle crashed into a JP Post motorbike from the Warabi office. He got pissed after the police reported it as a "property damage accident, not as a personal injury accident".
Nagoya International Law Office quotes the following on such a scenario:
"If no one was injured in the accident, the police will make a “property damage accident report” and no further investigation will proceed"
Edited by Ominae on Nov 2nd 2023 at 4:54:48 AM
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
The Master Of Fright & A Demon Of Light
I had taken "spree killer" to mean a killer who goes on a rampage (propably ending in arrest or death), like mass shooters in America. If that's the actual definion i would say that there is a difference between that and, say, Jack The Ripper.
Edited by Nukeli on Nov 2nd 2023 at 2:07:29 PM
~ * Bleh * ~ (Looking for a russian-speaker to consult about names and words for a thing)
My understanding is the distinction is that spree killers don't really have a "cooling off" period, whereas serial killers will frequently go weeks, months, even years between victims. Spree killers, once started, have much smaller gaps between attacks, assuming they don't go full berserker rampage from the get go
Edited by sgamer82 on Nov 2nd 2023 at 5:52:15 AM
OG Troper
I say this, because I just listened to The Last Podcast on the Left talk about Andrew Cunanan who killed five people in three months, and is considered a spree killer, and that's where the arbitrary nature of what a "cool down" period is kinda raised my eyebrow. Especially since there are serial killers who have had comparable sprees, usually just before being caught.
And since there are fewer active serial killers these days, but more mass shooters, I personally kinda feel there are people who have a desire to kill a lot of people, and they just pick what avenue works for them depending on their situation. I feel like a lot of people treat the categories the BSU invented in the 1970's as settled science that is based on hard and fast archtypes of people that exist, rather than just documentations of patterns displayed by a set of mass murderers who were active back when cars had become prevelant but cellphones hadn't been invented (to pick two arbitrary, but impactful technological changes).
Edited by JethroQWalrustitty on Nov 3rd 2023 at 3:14:01 PM
the statement above is false
The key phrase there is "usually just before being caught", and are usually the reason they are caught.
Last Podcast frequently mentions serial killers going into a "berserker mode", in which the Serial Escalation required to maintain the effect their crimes have on them reduces those cooldown periods more and more until they are acting like spree killers and no longer care about getting caught to fulfill their desires.
They've also occasionally discussed that one factor in serial killers becoming less common is the internet age making them easier to catch early, meaning they're caught before doing nearly as much damage as a Bundy or a Gacy, but perhaps not early enough to stop a Cunanan or a Richard Chase.
Well, Thomas N. in Switzerland was only caught two days before his next attack. That was thanks to DNA rather than "the Internet", but yeah, murders draw a lot of police resources and eliminating forensic evidence is tough.
Granted, I am not sure if Thomas N. would be classified as a serial killer. The four murders were all at once, to eliminate the witnesses/victims of his first rape-robbery; he was stopped before he could hit again.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
"Internet Age", not internet itself.
I wouldn't consider Thomas N a serial killer either. Less sure about spree. It was a spree, but its motive sounds straightforward Leave No Witnesses rather than motivated by psychosis, but I'm not sure if that's a requirement for a Spree Killer.
Edited by sgamer82 on Nov 3rd 2023 at 7:43:46 AM
Going by Wikipedia, it doesn't seem to be. I don't think the fact that Thomas N. had already visited the scene of his next crime and had all the equipment ready makes him an attempted serial killer, does it?
Speaking of, this case is probably a good illustration of why adequate police resources are important. If it had taken a little bit longer (say if DNA samples had been stuck in a years-long backlog), there could have been a lot more murders.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Foreign Troper
A 77 year old US-American shot two protesters in Panama after a blockade on the road
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Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20231116/k10014259771000.html
50-year old man in Chiyoda was arrested after using his kei car to smash through the security barriers for the Israeli embassy. One of the officers stationed nearby got hurt.
Driver's detained. He's with a (unnamed) right-wing group.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Mweheheh
Busy day today:
US Supreme Court rejects ex-cop Chauvin's appeal in George Floyd murder
Early Bill Cosby accuser files sexual assault lawsuit under expiring New York Adult Survivors Act
Oscar Pistorius will have another chance at parole on Friday after nearly a decade in prison
Foreign Troper
Pop icon Shakira has settled with the Spanish Government in her 14,5 Million € Tax Fraud Case to avoid jail time
Edited by Forenperser on Nov 21st 2023 at 8:23:13 PM
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They ”do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal wellbeing in this fight,” she said, adding that she was “determined to defend” her innocence at a trial her lawyers “were confident would have ruled in my favor.”
Yeah, right. She didn't settle for her kids, she settled to take a few million euros worth of wrist slap instead of a jail sentence for herself.
I despise hypocrisy, unless of course it is my own.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
BBC news reported that a knife stabbing incident is invesigated by the Garda Siochana.
I heard that the evening in Dublin also had a riot.
Edited by Ominae on Nov 23rd 2023 at 10:34:48 AM
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Unsolved also covered the case, and presented the Keefe D version. I had listened to the LPTOL episodes (years ago), but I didn't quite follow the story there, the series does a pretty good job of laying down the facts and making clear when we're talking alleged events based on witness testimony.
I do wonder why they decided to move now. The story has been an open secret for years, but seemed to have lacked forensic evidence. Still, driving the car easily qualifies as accesory to murder, and if you can prove he was driving the white Caddilac.
the statement above is false