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halgia
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Also, I don't see how she lives in a house where her beloved parents were brutally murdered. I get it that they loved the house. Also all the stuff.... just too much stuff for me - but I can see why she keeps it.

 

I could be wrong, but I didn't think she lived there, only that she hadn't sold the house.  I thought she kept it (and takes care of it), much like she's kept the rest of her parents'  possessions.  Which, believe it or not, no longer seems that odd to me.  We have a house on our street that hasn't been lived in for years.  An elderly couple owns it, and some of their children want them to sell it.  However, they lost a young child from illness while living in that house, and the father just can't bring himself to part with the house.  So, I sort of understand the daughter's reaction in this case.

Edited by Ohmo
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- I would have liked to have heard more about what Mark Porter (the killer) was like. We just got that vague statement from his former secretary which told me almost nothing. I wished they'd interviewed some other people who knew him and gotten into some specifics. I'd also like to have known what he was gambling on, with whom and how much his debts actually were, though I don't know that authorities ever determined that.

 

Yes!  I thought he was  a very interesting character.  How did he go from respected member of the community to that state of panic that led to a sloppy murder? I'm guessing the husband wasn't there when he first went to the house so he struck the woman from behind and then started trying to get the safe opened.  Then the man came home, there was a brutal fight, he grabbed the coins and left.   Why didn't he force the woman to open the safe?  Why go through all that and take so little?

 

I can picture the perp stewing about it and deciding someone had probably seen him, or his car, at the house so he had better go to the police with his dumb "meeting at McDonalds," story.  I wonder if the police would have figured it out if he hadn't gone to them first, hands shaking and seat dripping?

 

The house:  Fascinating! Flowered wallpaper, flowered rugs, little tables, knick-knacks and photos over every inch of table and wall space  -- I couldn't live in it, but I love looking at it. It reminded  me of houses in the Victorian age. I wish the show had given us a slow tour.  The daughter said her parents were careful about who they let in their house but not careful enough.  Still, I think they loved their stuff and liked having it out where they could see it. 

 

These people were what I expected "Hoarders," to be about before we all learned that hoarders were a whole different thing.

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I had to pause the dvr when they showed Michael being questioned by police. He said "I'm soooo sorry" in the exact tone you would use if you spilled coffee on someone's rug. He really did think he could get away with saying oopsie! my bad!

 

IMO he loved playing the dual role of white knight and James Bond to Danielle's damsel in distress. And there was no issue of mental illness raised, which I'm sure he would have tried if he'd been able to get a diagnosis. Some people are just dumbasses, and imo his photo should be in the dictionary under that entry.

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"Daughters of Betsy Faria lose life insurance battle in St. Charles County judge's ruling"

 

House wrote in his ruling that he knew Hupp’s inconsistent statements about what she would do with the money damaged her overall credibility, “but such statements shed little light on what Plaintiffs ultimately need to prove in order to prevail, namely Betsy’s specific intent at the time Betsy named Pamela as the designated beneficiary.”

 

He concluded that the sad thing is Faria couldn’t tell anyone today what she intended in December 2011.

 

“The way to honor her memory and the proper course of action for the Court under the law and the evidence is not to speculate about what she might have intended. It is rather to give effect to what she actually did, which is to allow her close friend Pamela Hupp to use the money at Pamela’s discretion.”

 

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/daughters-of-betsy-faria-lose-life-insurance-battle-in-st/article_aba95ab2-4b9a-5978-8fa7-f168c7994d56.html

 

I guess it's some small consolation that all this has likely cost Hupp as much as she made off the insurance, or close to it.

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Thanks for the info. Guess we are going to have to let our little friend KARMA kick her ass.

 

Bitch better pray I'm not diagnosed with a terminal illness, lest I get my affairs in order, change my name to KARMA, and hunt her down myself.  ;-)

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I know that we often complain about the two-hour episodes, but I'm glad we got this one.  This is the Harold Henthorn case, which 48 Hours has also done, but I like seeing the different approaches.  We got a lot more information on the death of Harold's first wife, and this time we heard from Tony's other brother.  (48 Hours interviewed the brother who's the cardiologist.) I feel sorry for Lynn's best friend, and I'm absolutely sick at the thought that Harold purposely lived apart from Toni for two years so he could pry her away from her family in Mississippi.  I completely believe he did that, and I agree with the jurors that Harold targeted Toni.  That other woman did a very smart thing when she listened to her instincts and decided that Harold wasn't for her  He belongs in federal prison, and it's so unfortunate that Toni's family wasn't more aggressive in trying to get her to leave him.  If you're telling your daughter that she shouldn't be alone with her husband, it's time for your daughter to get out of Dodge.

 

I'm very glad that Toni's family got custody of Hayley, she will hopefully receive the proceeds from her mother's life insurance to ensure a secure future, and I'm glad her cousin Anna Kate is nearby.  I thought she was a cutie.  I'm also glad that Hayley has her mom's lab coat.  May Toni's scent permeate that coat for as long as possible.

Edited by Ohmo
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"Daughters of Betsy Faria lose life insurance battle in St. Charles County judge's ruling"

 

 

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/daughters-of-betsy-faria-lose-life-insurance-battle-in-st/article_aba95ab2-4b9a-5978-8fa7-f168c7994d56.html

 

I guess it's some small consolation that all this has likely cost Hupp as much as she made off the insurance, or close to it.

 

This is disgusting.  Hopefully, karma will truly bitch-slap Pam Hupp.

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I had never heard of this case, so it was new to me. I'm telling ya....if you're going to do the online dating thing, do online background checks as well. The Internet has given the crazies of the world a new playground.

This guy scares me, even if he is in prison. He killed two women and lived off the life insurance money. There are probably a hundred more out there just like him.

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He certainly has earned his username "Planner."  He takes "premeditated," to a whole new level. 

 

The saddest thing for me was that little video of her last day alive when he surprises her in her office.  She looked stunned and trapped -- if only she had refused and had it out with him right there with friends around.

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Bitch better pray I'm not diagnosed with a terminal illness, lest I get my affairs in order, change my name to KARMA, and hunt her down myself.  ;-)

Truthfully, I am a little surprised I have not run a crossed a little "Karma" there are so many unusual names now.  Also, spellings of names.

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IIRC the librarian who witnessed the signatures said she was not shown ID and did not know Betsy. Given that Betsy worked in insurance and would have surely known how to properly and professionally deal with a change in beneficiary and directions for use of funds, I believe she was never in that library and her signature was forged. Either that or Betsy was coerced. That's my theory and I'm stickin' to it. :(

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I had never heard of this case, so it was new to me. I'm telling ya....if you're going to do the online dating thing, do online background checks as well. The Internet has given the crazies of the world a new playground.

This guy scares me, even if he is in prison. He killed two women and lived off the life insurance money. There are probably a hundred more out there just like him.

One should do due diligence regardless of where one meets a potential partner. You could pick up a nutjob at the bar or church or the grocery store or anywhere else. There's nothing wrong with online dating, and I'm surprised to find there's still a stigma attached to it.

That being said, Harold is a sociopath who clearly preyed on religious women, although I'm not sure why. I don't do the whole religion thing, son I'm not sure why he felt those women made better targets.

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I am guessing he hit the Christian dating sites because he figured he'd find some Miss Lonelyhearts who wanted a "good, Christian" man. A friend of mine met a man on Christian Mingle who turned out to be heavily involved in the KKK. She ran like the wind. Men are getting more creative when looking for a mark online. And women are as well.

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I had seen this story on the other show, so I deleted it. I wish I'd watched now.

 

Maybe you can watch it On Demand or on the network's website.  It was very well done and, despite the tragic nature of the story, I enjoyed it a lot.

 

That being said, Harold is a sociopath who clearly preyed on religious women, although I'm not sure why. I don't do the whole religion thing, son I'm not sure why he felt those women made better targets.

 

 

I'm thinking maybe he thought if the women believed he was a Christian, they would trust him more.  I know, that may not be logical, but it's the best I could come up with.

 

Her family requested that he not get the death penalty because they didn't want Haley to be without her father as well as her mother.  Well, she's without him anyway and her relationship with him will always be prison visits, which I'm guessing would be horrible for her.  Also, her father didn't hesitate to take her mother away from her, so the family didn't need to be so considerate.  Just my opinion.  He deserves death for what he did.

 

Finally, about him being such a planner.  Maybe so, but if I was going to try and pull off a murder, I would have my story so absolutely down pat that I wouldn't make careless mistakes like he did with varying stories.  He screwed up both times.

 

What an evil, evil excuse for a human

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I'm torn: I have a serious problem with Ricky only getting a yr in jail because he could have saved Venus' life TWICE!!!  This isn't just a moral issue where if he had told the cops, she might have been saved.  He was an active participant.  He did all that stuff for Doug to help him cover his tracks. When the first attempt was aborted because Dough got pulled over by the cops in Venus' area, and then [planned a second attempt. Ricky could have told the cops but he didn't 

 

Ricky knew 'twice' that woman was going to be murdered but he didn't say a word.  In the end, he did help the DA convict Doug with his testimony.

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I called bullshit as soon as he claimed they were having a challenging hike and stopped for lunch at 3:30 and planned to continue farther even though they would be losing light by then. Toni wanted to hike down that unfamiliar trail in the dark? Puh-leeze. I know people do run out of daylight accidentally (it's happened to me and was pretty scary) but he tried to say they were doing it on purpose. For such a planner, that dude should have PLANNED a better cover story. But I'm glad he didn't because he's right where he belongs imo. :(

 

Toni's niece who wrote her letters? Adorable. I wanted to give her a hug through the tv screen.

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What a douchebag Doug is/was.  What is wrong with people that they think the answer is to kill their spouse? 

 

I was amazed that the prosecutors didn't attempt to cut a deal with Doug initially - - like reducing his sentence - - if he would tell them where he buried Venus.   He would have no incentive after the trial - - either because he got the max or because he was acquitted.  So that made no sense to me.

 

Ricky certainly wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but I think Venus' family is displacing their anger toward Doug at him.  What Ricky did was wrong and it's sad that it apparently never occurred to him to notify authorities but Doug was the so-called mastermind and Doug was the killer.  If it hadn't been Ricky, he would probably have found someone else. 

 

I too found Venus strange - - why on earth would you want to move to one of three cities based on their proximities to amusement parks?  Wouldn't you be checking the employment situations/housing/education, etc. first?   For someone who appeared to be very tight with her family and even dependent on them, it was odd that she would want to move that far away. 

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Maybe I need to take a break from these shows. I find myself lacking empathy for the family of the victim. And how stupid that the prosecution placed great emphasis on Venus's family so the jury wouldn't think she was an irresponsible person/parent. Because that would have justified murder, of course.

I don't remember seeing this one before but Venus' parents and brother got on my nerves with their self-righteous finger pointing. I should have felt sympathy for them but didn't.

See above. That mother just grated on my nerves. When she reported how her co-workers tried to soothe her by suggesting Venus took a jog around the block, and she snarls - "Get a grip! My daughter doesn't do things like that. I'm outta here." Bizarre beyond words. She acted like they suggested Venus was out turning tricks to support her meth habit. And then the brother auditioning for The Voice as he stars in his church Christian Rock group. I'm always leery of people who take advantage of a loved one's death to show off.
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(edited)

Every time I watch a Dateline or 48 Hours, I go into it telling myself 'this is going to be the one time the husband didn't do it.'  Pretty sure I've never been right.

How about the one where the husband left his wife on the deck while he went to bed. She's on the phone talking to someone when they realize something is wrong. Her throat is slit. Husband is suspected for months but not proven.

Similar event in another state. Truck driver is caught in that one. A receipt in the truck puts him near the previous woman's home. Yup. He did that one too. Slit her throat. Totally random. A big weight lifted off the husband's back.

I thought it was one of the best mysteries ever covered by one of these shows.

ETA

Yes this is the one Jenkait mentioned above.

Edited by Ina123
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(edited)

I have a feeling this is an unpopular opinion, and I am *NOT* condoning murder at all, Doug is 100% a scumbag, but I wish Dateline and other such shows with episodes about a mother/wife being murdered by the husband would go into more detail about the husband's view when his kids get taken away from him. Courts always side with the mom in custody affairs barring extreme circumstances, so I get how powerless Doug would feel after he's forbidden to see his children. Hearing the Dateline narrator say "Venus packed up and left the apartment [without telling Doug, and I think this was before they went to court over custody], taking the kids to her parents' house" kind of pissed me off because of how downplayed it was. Doug's insane and a piece of crap, I'm not justifying him ever laying a hand on Venus, but if losing his kids was what set him off, I understand the explosive anger he likely felt.

Maybe the fact that he wound up killing her justifies why he didn't win custody.

Edited by Ina123
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It just pisses me off to think that Pam Hupp might never face the music due to this crock of bull about supposed head trauma.

And I'll never forgive the prosecutor for building a case that 4 good, law-abiding citizens had to have been lying about Russ being with them that night. Nor will I forgive the jury that accepted that crap.

Does anyone know if Russ's game-buddies went to the media and pleaded THEIR case to the public? I just can't wrap my head around it. I'd be so furious.

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How about the one where the husband left his wife on the deck while he went to bed. She's on the phone talking to someone when they realize something is wrong. Her throat is slit. Husband is suspected for months but not proven.

Similar event in another state. Truck driver is caught in that one. A receipt in the truck puts him near the previous woman's home. Yup. He did that one too. Slit her throat. Totally random. A big weight lifted off the husband's back.

I thought it was one of the best mysteries ever covered by one of these shows.

ETA

Yes this is the one Jenkait mentioned above.

 

Also David Camm, from the ep 'Mystery on Lockhart Road.' He was an Indiana State Trooper and his wife and two children were shot to death in their garage while he played basketball at a gym nearby. The Prosecution's theory was that he slipped out of the basketball game, killed his family and then returned to the game. He was convicted of the crime twice. Then after winning his second appeal (because in closing arguments the prosecutor had accused him of molesting his children) it turned out that this weirdo named Charles Boney - a guy with a history of stalking women, attacking them and stealing their shoes - had killed them.

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Tis came up "new" (not repeat ) on our DVR. weird...

It's weird. The tvguide.com said it was new as well, but it is the same story. Maybe they repackaged it somehow or changed part of it?  

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Not that she deserved to die for it, but when the first wife's friend said the first wife didn't verbalize issues with Howard because she "wanted to be a good wife" or whatever bullshit she spewed but eyes rolled so far in the back of my head they got stuck for 2 hours.

 

Jesus Christ.

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I have a feeling this is an unpopular opinion, and I am *NOT* condoning murder at all, Doug is 100% a scumbag, but I wish Dateline and other such shows with episodes about a mother/wife being murdered by the husband would go into more detail about the husband's view when his kids get taken away from him. Courts always side with the mom in custody affairs barring extreme circumstances, so I get how powerless Doug would feel after he's forbidden to see his children. Hearing the Dateline narrator say "Venus packed up and left the apartment [without telling Doug, and I think this was before they went to court over custody], taking the kids to her parents' house" kind of pissed me off because of how downplayed it was. Doug's insane and a piece of crap, I'm not justifying him ever laying a hand on Venus, but if losing his kids was what set him off, I understand the explosive anger he likely felt.

I agree. If a custody battle was going on and the father suddenly took the kids out of state without the mother's permission there would be an Amber alert and widespread panic. Of course, we now know Doug really was a horrible person, a murderer in waiting, but the family court's extreme bias in favor of mothers has been way out of hand for over a hundred years. These days it's hard to imagine that custody once went automatically to the fathers. If Venus had been violent enough for Doug to call the police a few times, it's quite possible that her temper actually was too out of control to be safe with children. In this family the grandparents probably should have been given custody -- and I'm not wild about them.

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I watch this every time it runs on Dateline.

Poor Stephanie. She was alive when he threw her from the bridge, practically naked, in freezing cold water. He is a sick son of a bitch.

I felt bad for her friend, wishing she could have helped. Her dancing didn't bother me at all. In fact, Stephanie met her married lover at their dance classes.

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An investigation into the murder of a beloved couple in South Carolina reveals a feud and divides a family.

 

 

- While the conviction of Khalil Moore doesn't prove that Bambi and Richard weren't involved, neither of them seemed guilty to me. Not that I'm a human lie detector or anything, but my feeling throughout the episode was that they were both telling the truth. I'd like to hear what other people's impressions were.

 

- If Bambi & Richard had planned on killing the Parkers, would they have needed to bring in a third person? And if they enlisted the help of a pro, would Richard have needed to be present at the crime scene? I mean, isn't that the point of hiring someone else to do it, so that you can show that you weren't there?

 

On the other hand, it's possible that Bambi & Richard hired Moore to kill her parents but were also telling the truth about how Richard's DNA was present at the crime scene. The problem with that theory is that it's pure conjecture. As far as I know, there is no evidence tying Moore to Bambi or Richard.

 

- If I was on a jury, I would give absolutely zero credibility to hearsay evidence from a jailhouse informant. Unless they can provide confirmable information that they couldn't have possibly gotten anywhere else, I would automatically disregard their testimony.

 

- And yet again another case of a prosecutor refusing to consider that he might have been wrong. This really fascinates and disturbs me because we see it over and over again. Russell Faria, David Camm, the two brothers in Detroit convicted of murdering the drug dealer, etc..

 

It's easy to attribute this to a Cover My Ass mentality on the part of law enforcement, but I think it goes a lot deeper than that. In a lot of these cases the families of the victims are also unwilling to admit they were wrong. Betsy Faria's family still thinks Russell is guilty. David Camm's former in-laws still think he's guilty even after another man was convicted of the crime. I think people will go to great and irrational lengths to avoid acknowledging even to themselves that their actions led to the conviction of an innocent person (and as far as the families go, they get very used to hating the person they think killed their loved-one and they just don't want to stop.)

 

That said, I don't know that the prosecutor shouldn't have prosecuted Richard. He didn't have the advantage of our 20/20 hindsight, nor is this like the Faria case where there was an obvious alternate suspect sitting right in front of him. When you have the victim on record saying "If anything ever happens to me, so-and-so did it" you'd be an idiot not to make that person the focus of your investigation. Then his DNA shows up at the scene and it looks like a slam dunk.

 

But what the prosecutor could say is "We looked at the evidence objectively and we thought that it showed a strong case against Richard. We prosecuted him by the book and a jury of his peers agreed with us. Turns out, we were all wrong. But even though I don't think we did anything wrong, the fact that our actions led to the conviction of an innocent man deeply troubles me." Would that be so hard?

 

Good people can be wrong, but it takes character to admit it.

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How does he explain the blinds in that bathroom being closed before he went in there ? The cops took a picture of the blinds being closed *before* the house was released to the family.  Richard said he closed the blinds so that Bambi couldn't see in.

 

I'm glad they finally found the real killer but I wanted to know  about the blinds.  lol

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Stampiron, I think your post says it all.  Of course they should have been suspects, they were in a dispute with her parents and she was going to benefit financially.  Both maintained their innocence.  

 

New evidence came out and proved someone else did this.  He had no connection to Bambi and her ex.  The jailhouse snitch was a proven liar.  I am glad he was set free.  

 

Also, don't name your daughter  Bambi if you want her to grow up being responsible.    Just kidding.  Sad.

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I agree, Stampiron said it well.

  That prosecutor came off as really stupid.  Also, polygraphs are only as good as who is giving it.   

 

As for the blinds, someone could of opened them back up, needing more light to see or photograph,

  

I am sure they would of seen that blood when the they questioned him the first time.   Its also standard procedure to examine and photograph both clothes and the body of suspects just as they claimed.

        I smell a bunch of dirty cops and the prosecutor. They do whatever and say whatever they want.

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How does he explain the blinds in that bathroom being closed before he went in there ? The cops took a picture of the blinds being closed *before* the house was released to the family. Richard said he closed the blinds so that Bambi couldn't see in.

I'm glad they finally found the real killer but I wanted to know about the blinds. lol

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How does he explain the blinds in that bathroom being closed before he went in there ? The cops took a picture of the blinds being closed *before* the house was released to the family. Richard said he closed the blinds so that Bambi couldn't see in.

I'm glad they finally found the real killer but I wanted to know about the blinds. lol

I wondered about this too. But I thought maybe the crime scene tech could've taken all photos, then possibly opened the blind for more light while collecting the other evidence. It was a tiny little bathroom & it may have been dim. For me, that would've been a reasonable doubt.
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No way could I have voted to convict.  The evidence was weak - - all they had was a jailhouse snitch (who later admitted he lied), a spot of blood on a shoe that did have a reasonable explanation and a question about whether blinds were opened or closed.  O.J. Simpson can be acquitted with loads of evidence against him and this man is convicted with nothing.  Unbelievable. 

 

I was a bit disheartened that Bambi mentioned how much Horry County put her through and yet did not mention her ex-boyfriend, who spent EIGHT YEARS behind bars.  

 

Shame on the prosecutor for not admitting he was wrong. 

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Its funny, I have been watching The People vs. OJ Simpson and posters were infuriated that 7 months later the crime scenes could be staged. They handed off this crime scene in hours! We didn't see the initial photos of his shoes but they apparently released the crime scene quickly,

Also I get that everyone loved the murder victims but I found them odd. There are many ways you could protect the land without having her daughter sign it over to you.

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(edited)

No way could I have voted to convict. The evidence was weak - - all they had was a jailhouse snitch (who later admitted he lied), a spot of blood on a shoe that did have a reasonable explanation and a question about whether blinds were opened or closed. O.J. Simpson can be acquitted with loads of evidence against him and this man is convicted with nothing. Unbelievable.

I was a bit disheartened that Bambi mentioned how much Horry County put her through and yet did not mention her ex-boyfriend, who spent EIGHT YEARS behind bars.

Shame on the prosecutor for not admitting he was wrong.

Me too.

The whole break up was weird to me, maybe weird isn't the right word. They just glossed over it. Did Bambi try to help prove her ex was innocent? Did she testify for him? She was his alibi, right? It's like she got out jail after 6 months and just moved on, meanwhile her ex is convicted of murdering her parents, and she doesn't have much to say about him. Just odd. I might have missed something .

I usually think they drag out these stories but I would've liked a little more details.

Edited by imjagain
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As for the blinds, someone could of opened them back up, needing more light to see or photograph,

  

 

 

 

 

This is so true. I wonder why the cops & prosecutor  made a big deal about the blinds being closed. Why didn't they 'free their minds to consider that maybe the blinds were reopened by CSI investigators for better lighting while taking pictures. 

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Living in a small town like where they are, I can tell you firsthand they will be suspects forever, in some people's minds. I've seen it break people down and ruin their lives. After reading the comments about the blinds, I had to go back and rewatch. In one of those photos taken outside, it looks to me like the blinds in that window are open...or pulled up.

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