All Episodes Discussion

[SterlingSilver36]

What I like about Target is that no one is murdered, and Dateline pokes a little fun at its viewers.  We all know that the person who isn't interviewed (in this case, the wife) is the guilty one.  Furthermore, we have her screaming on the phone, and her ex-husband portrays her as a spendthrift.  Sure, he had an affair, but the girlfriend seems like a nice person, and even the ex-wife says she and Ira should end up together!  But then ... screech!  The woman hiring a hit man isn't the shrewish ex-wife -- it's the girlfriend!  And ... the ex-husband, too! 

Even though the bad guys were delusional people willing to tell any lie to avoid owning up to their avarice and narcissism, good on Dateline for turning its own formula on its ear!  I knew when I started watching it that I had seen the episode before, but I couldn't quite place it.  (I was mixing it up with the Florida podiatrist who murdered his wife while also scamming Medicare.)  Dateline suckered me in and fooled me twice with the same story!

Oh, Dateline, is it no wonder I can't quit you?

[nora1992]

And there is an update to the Target story - apparently the bloom is off the rose!

[JudyObscure]

11 hours ago, nora1992 said:

And there is an update to the Target story - apparently the bloom is off the rose!

I thought all along that Kelly was the leader in the murder plot.  The "hitman," was someone she knew and she made the first approach.  The police were just macho men who can't imagine a good looking woman as anything but a follower.  However.  I don't see why it matters, whose idea it was.  If the person waiting in the car while a bank robbery goes down is as guilty of murder as the friends inside the bank killing tellers, why would the second person in a murder for hire plot be less guilty?  They both plotted murder and there's zero evidence they changed their minds.  Both should do about 20 years.  They're dangerous.

[ari333]

On 3/13/2018 at 7:52 AM, JudyObscure said:

I thought all along that Kelly was the leader in the murder plot.  The "hitman," was someone she knew and she made the first approach.  The police were just macho men who can't imagine a good looking woman as anything but a follower.  However.  I don't see why it matters, whose idea it was.  If the person waiting in the car while a bank robbery goes down is as guilty of murder as the friends inside the bank killing tellers, why would the second person in a murder for hire plot be less guilty?  They both plotted murder and there's zero evidence they changed their minds.  Both should do about 20 years.  They're dangerous.

^^^^THIS^^^^

[CelticBlackCat]

Tonight's epi is allegedly new, "Deep in the Woods":  Although cops have a suspect in the disappearance of a young combat medic stationed at Ft. Bragg, N.C., they are unable to solve the case, until a bounty hunter steps in to help; correspondent Andrea Canning reports on the case.
Credits: Lester Holt (Anchor), Andrea Canning (Correspondent)
-----

I'll watch to see if it is indeed new, as I can't tell from the description.

[cooksdelight]

This was so lame. I, we all, knew from the beginning who did it. And Andrea’s uptalking drives me nuts.

[ridethemaverick]

I knew instantly I had seen this story before because Froggy Bottoms rang a bell. Once they mentioned the bartender living in the woods it all came back to me. 

I also remember being slightly creeped out by the private eye. I know Kelly's family is thankful and he absolutely did a good thing but...thousands of personal man hours and $40,000 of your own personal money and you're not a cop or relative of the missing girl? Weird, sorry. If I was his wife I'd have been wondering why he was so obsessed.

[sinycalone]

It wasn't really a who-done-it so much as how do we bring this killer to justice story. The police applied as much pressure (legally) as they could -- so they just let the p.i./bounty hunter work without hindrance.  I have no problem with the tactics the p.i. used either....but he did seem obsessive.  However, I have a feeling his years of tracking down lowlife fugitives for rewards just made him want to do something positive for once without the $$$ incentive.

[Lizzing]

48 Hours did the Kelli Bordeaux story about 2-3 years ago, and from what I remember of that, Dateline added no significant information. I also was thought the PI was kind of obsessively weird about the case, but at least he didn't chop off any fingers and did get a confession.  I did get a slight chuckle when Andrea responded, "Well, I do work for Dateline." to the PI's question of,  "Have you ever talked to a murderer?"  

I was left with a question though: the perp didn't seem like a brain trust and I hardly think he could have cleaned up the crime scene all that well.  He admits to knocking Kelli out twice, so you'd think there'd be some hair or blood somewhere.  Was his campsite just that big of a mess that evidence couldn't be found?  (I could buy that--it is plausible.)  It was just glossed over by a one line "the cops didn't find anything".

[CelticBlackCat]

I did see this story before.  I didn't realize it at first but as the story unfolded I remember the PI who had found Kelli's body, well, not him specifically, but the fact that a PI spent a long time trying to find her and finally did by befriending the suspect.  Perhaps I saw it on 48 Hours since this was a first-run Dateline.

The photo at the end of Kelli Marie's grave with the PI David Marshburn and Kaz in front killed me.

[Ohmo]

5 hours ago, Lizzing said:

48 Hours did the Kelli Bordeaux story about 2-3 years ago, and from what I remember of that, Dateline added no significant information.

Thank you.  I knew I had seen this case before but could not figure out how I had seen it.  When the episode started, the PI creeped me out, but as the episode went on, he seemed genuine.  Intense but genuine.  I was in Fayetteville many years ago on a short trip.  The reason for the trip had nothing to do with the military, but one of my friends on the trip was from Fayetteville.  She was a military spouse, and she said that the military is a HUGE deal in Fayetteville.  Also, this is the South, and the PI made a brief reference to Kelli not being treated right as a woman and needing to be found.  I chalked the PI's reaction to part Southern culture, part respect for the military, and part just being a good person.  Sure, he was intense, but he did an admirable thing, and I bet there are many families of crime victims who would love to have answers like he was able to get for Kelli's family.

ETA: I liked that Andrea got this assignment.  Hasn't she mentioned more than once that she's a military spouse?  It seemed appropriate that she would be assigned to this case.

Edited March 17, 2018 by Ohmo

[ButterQueen]

I really enjoyed the new Dateline.  That PI was a hero.  It’s nice there are people in the world who care about others.  

[UsernameFatigue]

9 minutes ago, ButterQueen said:

I really enjoyed the new Dateline.  That PI was a hero.  It’s nice there are people in the world who care about others.  

I really enjoyed it too. The PI was a character but definitely a hero! I hope he got the credit he deserved, especially from law enforcement. 

It is hard to believe that there was no evidence found at the campsite or in the car. One would think that he had to have driven the car at least some of the way to where he buried Kelli's body. I know she was a passenger when he gave her a ride, but did the police check the backseat or trunk for evidence of Kelli? Doubtful that he would have transported her body in the front passenger seat if she was dead. It seems to me like they dropped the ball, but maybe they did do all they could.

I am constantly amazed at how really smart people commit murders and make dumb mistakes, and not so bright people commit murders and get away with it.

If I had a loved one I was trying to locate, I would hire that PI. 

[JudyObscure]

What bothers me most about, "Deep in the Woods,"  is why, just after being warned that the creepy guy was a convicted sexual predator, was Kelli alone with him?  Did he kill her in the parking lot of the Froggy Bottom or at his campsite?  This one is just frustrating and confusing to me.

[PepperMonkey]

That part of the story was from HIM, Judy, so I'm taking it with a grain of salt. She may have told him to get lost in the bar and he may have followed her out. He may have attacked her and she wasn't even arguing with him. If I am remembering correctly, he's the one who said they were arguing in the parking lot.

Also, I have doubts as to whether he JUST killed her. I mean, it took so long to find her body, we really don't know. Or maybe they tested for rape, and I missed it. I do remember seeing this on 48 Hours a couple years ago.

I thought the PI was obsessed at the time, but also, I have a tendency to get obsessed about certain things that just click with me and later I'm wondering why I got so obsessed. At least he did a good thing. I'm thinking his wife must be a saint, though.

[CelticBlackCat]

7 hours ago, PepperMonkey said:

That part of the story was from HIM, Judy, so I'm taking it with a grain of salt. She may have told him to get lost in the bar and he may have followed her out. He may have attacked her and she wasn't even arguing with him. If I am remembering correctly, he's the one who said they were arguing in the parking lot.

Also, I have doubts as to whether he JUST killed her. I mean, it took so long to find her body, we really don't know. Or maybe they tested for rape, and I missed it. I do remember seeing this on 48 Hours a couple years ago.

I thought the PI was obsessed at the time, but also, I have a tendency to get obsessed about certain things that just click with me and later I'm wondering why I got so obsessed. At least he did a good thing. I'm thinking his wife must be a saint, though.

Yes, the PI's wife was very patient and understanding and she got into the act and helped too by posing as a paralegal.  Way to go!

[Ohmo]

20 hours ago, PepperMonkey said:

Also, I have doubts as to whether he JUST killed her. I mean, it took so long to find her body, we really don't know. Or maybe they tested for rape, and I missed it. I do remember seeing this on 48 Hours a couple years ago.

I doubt that they could have tested for rape since mostly bones were found.  There would be nothing to test, unless somehow semen had gotten on one of the clothing scraps that was found with the body.  Even then, though, I'd think any semen would become degraded by exposure to the elements.

[stillhere1900]

On 5/27/2014 at 9:32 AM, walnutqueen said:

One of my favorites was about the guy who'd spent all those years in prison being a model citizen and travelling all over the state doing the prison rodeo.  He was probably framed by his wife, and finally got out of prison (having to cop to some BS plea, I think) so he could spend time with his son.  The man made quite an impression on me; he seemed to have dignity and integrity (and I loved the fancy western shirt he wore while doing his interview).

I just watched this episode on Dateline: On OWN.. I truly believe his wife framed him. It said at the end that Bill was sentenced to 8 yrs in prison after he was released for "molesting two children"

I bet anything that his ex-wife brainwashed them into saying that. She truly 'still' has a grudge against him.

[applecrisp]

On 1/21/2018 at 9:26 AM, Lizzing said:

Logic doesn't always rule the minds of home invader murderers, which is why I mentioned the Cheshire murders in my prior comment.  In that case, two perps did a home invasion with just robbery in mind at first. They encountered the husband first, beat him profusely with a bat, tied him up in the basement and locked him in. Then they robbed the house, got the wife to go to the bank the next day for money, took her back home and they killed her, and doused her & the daughters with gas and set them on fire. Meanwhile, the husband came to and escaped.  (That's the gist; I skipped over some of the disturbing parts.). The point is that while it may defy sense to just tie up one seemingly dead homeowner and straight up murder the other, it can and has happened. 

The repeat episode last night was actually a good example of police work; from first blush it looked like the victim's daughter was the killer. She stood to inherit, had a key to her mom's house, found the body, pulled out the knife, bought cleaning supplies by her mom's house, and acted "weird" around the cops.  But the cops didn't stop and kept looking at everyone who had a motive, and thus caught the real killer. 

Even assuming that, had the police in this case done a proper investigation, they ended up with the same conclusion, that is no reason not to do the work.  It bolsters the prosecution's case, helps foster an appearance of competency  and fairness in the justice system that the public can trust, and cuts down on appeal costs. As it stands now, given the abysmal police work in this case, the cop lying to get search warrants, and the past running of the DA's office under Kelly Siegler, there is no way in hell I'd go anywhere near Harris County.

Do you have a name or title? Thanks. 

Did anyone watch on Sat. March 17th. I did not remember that the husband eventually got not guilty. A little surprised.

[AZChristian]

14 hours ago, stillhere1900 said:

I just watched this episode on Dateline: On OWN.. I truly believe his wife framed him. It said at the end that Bill was sentenced to 8 yrs in prison after he was released for "molesting two children"

I bet anything that his ex-wife brainwashed them into saying that. She truly 'still' has a grudge against him.

I would think that - given his years in prison for something he didn't do - the authorities investigated very carefully any additional allegations against him.  I came away thinking that just because he didn't do the original crime, doesn't mean he didn't molest those kids.

[editorgrrl]

On 1/21/2018 at 10:26 AM, Lizzing said:

The repeat episode last night was actually a good example of police work; from first blush it looked like the victim's daughter was the killer. She stood to inherit, had a key to her mom's house, found the body, pulled out the knife, bought cleaning supplies by her mom's house, and acted "weird" around the cops.  But the cops didn't stop and kept looking at everyone who had a motive, and thus caught the real killer. 

 

On 3/20/2018 at 10:32 AM, applecrisp said:

Do you have a name or title? Thanks. 

@applecrisp It was “The Evil to Come,” about the 2014 murder of Peggy Nadell in Clarkstown, NY.

[patty1h]

This is about last night's episode "Night of the New Moon" -- Weldon McDavid is so busted because his story makes no sense.   No one needs to get into camo, hide out in the bushes with an assault rifle in the dead of night as a test for the ex-husband.  I think it was just luck that he didn't kill Gregory Mulvihill - probably McDavid got shook when he saw there was a friend along, and Gregory running fudged his aim.  However, McDavid has his story in his own mind and he's not gonna budge on it. 

That savior complex got him involved with two women he ended up in relationships with, and his poor wife finds out that he had sex with Diana Lovejoy on top of this whole mess.  His statement that his first regret is that he hooked up with Diana and his second regret is shooting the victim.  Classy.

ADDED:  What do you all make of the fact that Diana searched for the darkest time of the night for the ambush to take place. Dateline put a lot of stress on that fact but never explained the reason behind it.  In my mind, it was because Weldon is black and so the darkness would help him blend into the night.  Can there be another reason?  Did Dateline not elaborate because it sounds racist?

Edited March 24, 2018 by patty1h

[Ohmo]

41 minutes ago, patty1h said:

This is about last night's episode "Night of the New Moon" -- Weldon McDavid is so busted because his story makes no sense.   No one needs to get into camo, hide out in the bushes with an assault rifle in the dead of night as a test for the ex-husband.  I think it was just luck that he didn't kill Gregory Mulvihill - probably McDavid got shook when he saw there was a friend along, and David running fudged his aim.  However, McDavid has his story in his own mind and he's not gonna budge on it. 

That savior complex got him involved with two women he ended up in relationships with, and his poor wife finds out that he had sex with Diana Lovejoy on top of this whole mess.  His statement that his first regret is that he hooked up with Diana and his second regret is shooting the victim.  Classy.

I don't disagree, but I would have reversed the sentences.  Weldon was the instrument of Diana.  He has a savior complex, but I don't think on any random, given day, he would just decide to shoot someone for the heck of it.  He was primed/conditioned by Diana.  I'd give the instigator (her) the 50 years and Weldon the 25 years.  To me, to be that cunning to get someone to do your bidding has a level of evil and duplicity that goes beyond the realm of shooting someone.  Weldon's guilty, but Diana's guiltier, in my opinion.  Her history of trying to pin abuse allegations on her ex plus the Google searches about the darkest time of night prove that she's cunning.  I don't buy that Weldon came up with the idea to bring a gun and Diana had absolutely no idea he would do that.

[Lizzing]

I agree that their sentences should have been reversed.  Diana would have gone ahead with the shooting plan even if Weldon hadn't agreed.  Plus I'm kind of stunned at the 25 & 50 year sentences for attempted murder, when we've seen some truly short sentences lately for actual murder.

[rwgrab]

Where to begin with the folks from Night of the New Moon?

Lovejoy started off on my bad side because I think it's particularly horrible to make false accusations of sexual assault on your child by your ex-husband just to win custody.  That's pretty low; not only for this specific case, but because it's stuff like that that makes other people doubt real allegations of abuse.  If the father of her child is a capable parent and wants to be involved in their son's life, it's not for her to decide that she can take that away from him by any means necessary.  And then when that doesn't work, she decides she'll just have him killed instead.  I don't buy for a second that she just had this "intimidation" plan, but it was actually kind of funny to see her try to sell that angle.  I'm actually not sure which is worse: the sexism of lowered expectations that McDavid had where he thinks all women need his help to get protection, or Lovejoy's playing into that and using it to get him to conspire to commit murder.  I'm going to say they're both worse somehow.

And then there's McDavid himself, who tries to sell some story where bringing a gun along to this wacky nobody-was-supposed-to-get-hurt scheme to gather evidence against Mulvihill is a good idea.  First off, the photos of his home with guns just lying around when he has an infant in the house suggests to me that he's not exactly following good gun safety practices.  Then he wants to tell the jury that if he were trying to shoot Mulvihill, he would have killed him.  Well, you can't have it both ways: you can't say "I didn't mean to hit him, but I did" on the one hand and "if I wanted to kill him, I would have because I'm such a good shot" on the other.  I think he definitely was shooting to kill and just missed.  Also? It doesn't mean Mulvihill is guilty just because he agrees to meet and find out what information is out there about his son.  It means that his ex has already shown a willingness to make up lies about him with regards to his son, and he wants to know what else she's putting out there.

Score one for Dateline: I loved when McDavid said "man, if there's one thing I regret, it's sleeping with Diana" and Andrea just kind of deadpans "so, you know, shooting Greg isn't a regret that you have?"

But also, note to Dateline: if you show still photos in your commercial bumper montage of Lovejoy buying the Tracfone at Best Buy like 5 times, it's not exactly a cliffhanger to go to commercial break on the line "and you'll never guess what they saw on the Best Buy surveillance camera!"  Haha, I think we have a pretty good guess :)

[cooksdelight]

I cannot tolerate Andrea Canning’s uptalking so I watched with closed-captioning. At first I was thinking the wife was a goner, but then they started showing “you won’t believe what happened” clips and the suspense was over.

[Ohmo]

3 hours ago, rwgrab said:

I'm going to say they're both worse somehow.

I'm not convinced that he was shooting to kill.  I do think it's likely that Weldon developed tunnel vision as a result of the Crystal Harris incident and convinced himself that Crystal and Diana were equal.  I don't buy for a second that Diana didn't somehow figure that out about him and use it to her advantage, be it by Googling Weldon or just becoming aware of it through conversation between teacher and student.  I don't think they are equally guilty because Weldon's actions were based on a false premise that Diana created.  If Waldon met Mulvihill on the street and didn't know Diana, he wouldn't just decide to shoot him.  I would have given Weldon 10-15 years because I do think he was intending to miss, and I think that if he really wanted either man to be dead, they would have been.  Dude was in the Marines and instructed at a gun range.  If he fired seven shots and only one hit someone, I'd say the intention was more likely to miss the target than hit the target.  He missed six out of the seven times.

Weldon does have a hero complex when it comes to women, and he was gullible.  He also did shoot someone.  That is deserving of some prison time.  However, Mulvihill is not dead, and the person who truly wished him harm was Diana, a woman who was willing to use someone else to achieve that goal.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Ohmo

[cooksdelight]

I have a hard time with Mulvihill going out to the middle of nowhere, almost, late at night for that meeting. Why not ask to meet the guy in the daytime....at his office or place of business? Stupid.

[rwgrab]

2 hours ago, Ohmo said:

I don't think they are equally guilty because Weldon's actions were based on a false premise that Diana created.  If Waldon met Mulvihill on the street and didn't know Diana, he wouldn't just decide to shoot him.  I would have given Weldon 10-15 years because I do think he was intending to miss, and I think that if he really wanted either man to be dead, they would have been.  Dude was in the Marines and instructed at a gun range.  If he fired seven shots and only one hit someone, I'd say the intention was more likely to miss the target than hit the target.  He missed six out of the seven times.

Oh totally.  I see what you're saying about McDavid's and Lovejoy's motives.  Lovejoy was definitely worse in that she knowingly put her ex-husband in danger with the hope that he'd be harmed (I'm basing that on the fact that she had indicated to her aunt that she wanted to find somebody to kill Mulvihill).  McDavid is operating under, as you said, "the woman I'm sleeping with has told me these horrible things about this guy".  So whether he meant to kill Mulvihill or not, he disguised himself so as to ambush him with a rifle and then fired seven shots in his general direction based solely on what this person told him.  

It's definitely hard to assign blame with that sort of thing.  McDavid took a gun and fired at a guy he didn't know anything about.  Lovejoy instigated the whole thing knowing full well her ex-husband could be in danger.  I'm just glad they both wound up in prison for a decent length of time.  

[LakeGal]

I don't know why they all kept referring to Diana as beautiful.  I thought she had a big nose and was kind of unattractive.

[atlantaloves]

I agree, in profile, she was truly butt ugly. But I really enjoyed that episode, I love a new Dateline every now and then! 

[JudyObscure]

I'm glad they're both in jail.  I agree that Diana is probably the worst person because making  false accusations of child abuse  against your husband is just about as low as a person can go -- other than hiring someone to kill the guy, that is.

But I really can't stand idiots like McDavid either.  I don't believe he was trying to miss.     Even police officers miss their targets two thirds of the time. There's a huge difference between hitting a still target in a brightly lit room and hitting a moving target in the dark.  If he had only wanted to scare Diana's husband he could have shot in the other direction.  The sound would have been terrifying enough, no one would have known exactly where the shots were landing.  I think he meant to kill Diana's husband because he liked having sex with her, and may have been expecting part of that $120,000.  He may even have planned to divorce his wife for her.  One thing seems certain to me and that's that he did have a hero complex and thought he and his big bad guns were going to get him all the stringy, ugly  blondes  he could handle.

[Ohmo]

1 hour ago, Figster said:

Even if what Diana said was true about her ex (and most of us agree it likely wasn't), it still doesn't mean he had any right to try to kill the man! 

We haven't said that Weldon had a right to kill anyone.  He does deserve some time in prison, but I completely disagree with you. If anyone deserves double time in prison, it's Diana by a country mile.  She had tried to accuse her ex of child molestation.  When that didn't work, she went to murder, but not in a way that would get her hands dirty.  She used someone.  Weldon was gullible and stupid, but Diana was cunning and cold-blooded.  No way would I reward her with less time because she was able to orchestrate a murder plot that was designed to save her ass but take down someone else's.

Edited March 25, 2018 by Ohmo

[UsernameFatigue]

4 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I'm glad they're both in jail.  I agree that Diana is probably the worst person because making  false accusations of child abuse  against your husband is just about as low as a person can go -- other than hiring someone to kill the guy, that is.

But I really can't stand idiots like McDavid either.  I don't believe he was trying to miss.     Even police officers miss their targets two thirds of the time. There's a huge difference between hitting a still target in a brightly lit room and hitting a moving target in the dark.  If he had only wanted to scare Diana's husband he could have shot in the other direction.  The sound would have been terrifying enough, no one would have known exactly where the shots were landing.  I think he meant to kill Diana's husband because he liked having sex with her, and may have been expecting part of that $120,000.  He may even have planned to divorce his wife for her.  One thing seems certain to me and that's that he did have a hero complex and thought he and his big bad guns were going to get him all the stringy, ugly  blondes  he could handle.

I agree with all of your post, though I would have been fine with both of them getting 50 years. 

I also thought that McDavid was an idiot. When he said that what he regretted most was sleeping with Diana I just shook my head. Because according to him, that was the worst thing he could do to his wife.  Apparently leaving her as a single mother and his kid essentially fatherless is secondary to a roll in the hay. But then his wife is equally stupid to think that McDavid deserves to be home with her and the kid. Nope.

Love your comment about the stringy, ugly blondes JUDYOBSCURE. He definitely has a type, and it isn't pretty. Or even attractive. But then the misguided "hero" (hardly) wasn't a catch either. 

Edited March 25, 2018 by UsernameFatigue

[walnutqueen]

They are both guilty, and deserve as long as they could possibly spend in prison.

I don't for a moment believe any part of either of their defenses.  She wanted her husband dead, he wanted to kill that husband.  Even the best sharpshooters miss their target - especially when it is moving, IN THE DARK.

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, walnutqueen said:

They are both guilty, and deserve as long as they could possibly spend in prison.

I don't for a moment believe any part of either of their defenses.  She wanted her husband dead, he wanted to kill that husband.  Even the best sharpshooters miss their target - especially when it is moving, IN THE DARK.

Even police are trained to shoot for the largest part of body mass.  Whenever someone says, "Why didn't they just shoot them in the arm or leg?" - it's because it is nearly impossible to shoot that accurately, and it's safer for everyone (except the target) to shoot for the central part of the body. 

The guy in last night's episode was delusional about his skill level, and was probably even more delusional thinking that there was going to be a future with the woman who hired him.

[ChristmasJones]

I just couldn't help but laugh out loud when Weldon sat there with a straight face trying to claim he wasn't planning to murder the guy when he was in camouflage, in the bushes, on his stomach, aiming an AR-15 at the guy.  Its just completely laughable.  His ego is so huge he has to claim that he could have killed him if he wanted to. Well- he shot him in the back! The guy could have easily died.  I will never believe that he decided to aim for a certain spot on the guy's back that he knew would just injure him, not kill him.

I'm glad they both got put in the slammer. She was so pathetic when she sat there crying and making excuses at sentencing.

This was one of the most transparent cases I've ever seen.  A third grader could figure out that their plan was to off the guy.

The guy was stupid for going. Who does that???? Meet a stranger in the dark in the middle of the night? 

[JudyObscure]

Yes, I think he watched too many of those movies where the star is justified in all his violent actions because, in the first scene, someone kills his wife or daughter. He learned as a kid that he could make some other kid, "Kiss the sidewalk," and be praised for it, if it was in defense of someone else.  These days, he thinks he can shoot someone in the back and be praised for it so long as his victim is an abuser.  He forgot that in the grown-up world he doesn't get to be the judge, jury and executioner.

I wonder how much the first Dateline show had to do with all this.  Did McDavid  get his big ego, blown out of all proportion from that first show?  Did Diana Lovejoy watch that episode and say to herself, hey, there's this guy in town who will do anything for a damsel in distress, and then seek him out for that purpose?

[Ohmo]

33 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

Even police are trained to shoot for the largest part of body mass.  Whenever someone says, "Why didn't they just shoot them in the arm or leg?" - it's because it is nearly impossible to shoot that accurately, and it's safer for everyone (except the target) to shoot for the central part of the body

That's why I think that he was attempting to miss.  Weldon was a trained gun instructor.  The episode didn't go into details about what he did in the Marines, but it's reasonable to speculate that he had some gun training there as well.  It's much more likely to me that that training would kick in (like muscle memory), and one or more of those shots would have hit center mass if Weldon was actually trying to kill Mulvihill.  I'm not saying that all seven would have hit center mass, but I think at least one would.  We know from the Crystal Harris timeline that Weldon was a gun instructor in 2013.  I don't think someone who could not hit a target after firing seven times would still be employed as a gun instructor.

Even allowing for the dark, for someone who does what Weldon did for a living to miss six of seven shots points more to trying to fight muscle memory, in my opinion.  Trying not to not hit someone and go against what Weldon's normally trained to do.  Even the shot that Mulvihill sustained makes me think that Weldon was trying to miss.  It wasn't lethal, which, in my opinion, points to Weldon was trying to miss, but if that didn't happen, any shot that did hit was positioned so as to result in injury but not loss of life.

[walnutqueen]

2 hours ago, Ohmo said:

That's why I think that he was attempting to miss.  Weldon was a trained gun instructor.  The episode didn't go into details about what he did in the Marines, but it's reasonable to speculate that he had some gun training there as well.  It's much more likely to me that that training would kick in (like muscle memory), and one or more of those shots would have hit center mass if Weldon was actually trying to kill Mulvihill.  I'm not saying that all seven would have hit center mass, but I think at least one would.  We know from the Crystal Harris timeline that Weldon was a gun instructor in 2013.  I don't think someone who could not hit a target after firing seven times would still be employed as a gun instructor.

Even allowing for the dark, for someone who does what Weldon did for a living to miss six of seven shots points more to trying to fight muscle memory, in my opinion.  Trying not to not hit someone and go against what Weldon's normally trained to do.  Even the shot that Mulvihill sustained makes me think that Weldon was trying to miss.  It wasn't lethal, which, in my opinion, points to Weldon was trying to miss, but if that didn't happen, any shot that did hit was positioned so as to result in injury but not loss of life.

I've actually shot with a lot of people who rely on muscle memory for a living, including cops, firearms instructors, Marine Rangemasters, competitive marksmen, and just really good shooters.  Olympic Medalists miss under ideal conditions.  This blowhard who insists  he was "trying to miss" in the dark at a moving target is DEEELUSIONAL.  There's no guaranteed sweet-yet-not-lethal shot in the back anyone can make an argument for.  Any "trained gun instructor" (which is largely a self-described profession) would be among the first to poke holes into this theory.

[rwgrab]

5 hours ago, ChristmasJones said:

The guy was stupid for going. Who does that???? Meet a stranger in the dark in the middle of the night? 

I think (if I'm remembering correctly) they said that he was just supposed to find some information taped to that utility pole.  I don't think he thought he was going to a meeting with anybody and was then surprised when he saw McDavid crouching in the bushes with his bicycle light.  I mean, still dumb to go out there, but he may have felt safer if he thought that he'd just be grabbing a packet of information.

[sainte-chapelle]

McDavid always struck me as a little off, even in the original dateline episode. A man with a massive hero complex and an ego to match. If he believed Diana's story then he was having sex with an extremely vulnerable and damaged abuse victim, that is just gross. As someone else mentioned why would a shooting instructor and former Marine have guns lying about, that is just asking for an accident.  His wife is a piece of work too, didn't seem the slightest bit bothered that her husband almost murdered someone. Of course he belongs in Prison you asshat! I also think he meant to kill the husband but got spooked when he was spotted and panicked when he realized the husband brought his friend. I think at that point it was abort mission as he didn't want to kill an innocent person.

Edited March 26, 2018 by sainte-chapelle

[Ohmo]

Remember when Dateline did an episode about "Dirty John, " the guy who pretended to be the doctor, who Cooks and her friend had to deal with at a bar, and who got involved with Debra, that interior designer?  Well, the case is coming to TV courtesy of Bravo.  Connie Britton's playing Debra.

Connie Britton Set to Star in Bravo's True-Crime Anthology Dirty John

This is supposedly an anthology series.  Season 2 will focus on an entirely new case.

Cooks, who do you think should play you?  LOL! :)

[cooksdelight]

HAHAHAHA!!! I have no idea!! How funny!!

[SunnyBeBe]

This episode on the death (suicide) of Lisa Jennings once again indicates why it's so important to leave a note if you commit suicide. I' guess people who are in anguish aren't thinking that clearly, but, it seems that if you argue with your spouse and one dies by gunshot, the survivor will be charged, no matter what the evidence shows.  

 This lady's husband was convicted of her murder, when it actually was a suicide.  After authorities concluded that's what it was, a state trooper with too much time on his hands and a propensity for lying pushed it to prosecution.  After years in prison, the husband's conviction was overturned and he was reunited with his kids and other family members.  If not for a sister with a lot of dedication and money, this guy would have served a 25 year sentence.  Another disturbing case.  

https://www.nbc.com/dateline/video/a-crack-in-everything/3691233

[Mrs. P.]

This episode pissed me off. Once again an authority figure screws a man over by abusing his power. The husband lost 8 years of his life after being convicted of a murder which could have been disproved if all the evidence had been disclosed as it should have been.

He should thank his sister every day for pursuing the truth which eventually set him free.

[Wings]

On 3/26/2018 at 7:03 PM, Ohmo said:

Remember when Dateline did an episode about "Dirty John, " the guy who pretended to be the doctor, who Cooks and her friend had to deal with at a bar, and who got involved with Debra, that interior designer?  Well, the case is coming to TV courtesy of Bravo.  Connie Britton's playing Debra.

Connie Britton Set to Star in Bravo's True-Crime Anthology Dirty John

This is supposedly an anthology series.  Season 2 will focus on an entirely new case.

Cooks, who do you think should play you?  LOL! :)

I just watched this on demand.  They are going to elaborate on the daughters spying and detective work.  There isn’t much of a story to tell otherwise. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

This episode on the death (suicide) of Lisa Jennings once again indicates why it's so important to leave a note if you commit suicide. I' guess people who are in anguish aren't thinking that clearly, but, it seems that if you argue with your spouse and one dies by gunshot, the survivor will be charged, no matter what the evidence shows.  

And I'm 99% certain Lisa committed suicide but there's still that 1% of me that wonders why her sister and eldest daughter are so convinced it was murder. Is it that they simply cannot accept she would have killed herself, or is there some part of the story we're not privy to?

[biakbiak]

3 hours ago, Wings said:

I just watched this on demand.  They are going to elaborate on the daughters spying and detective work.  There isn’t much of a story to tell otherwise. 

There is a lot more to the story that Dateline didn't include. And I imagine they will go more into her sister's murder and the grandmother's reaction.

Edited March 31, 2018 by biakbiak

[truebluesmoky]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

And I'm 99% certain Lisa committed suicide but there's still that 1% of me that wonders why her sister and eldest daughter are so convinced it was murder. Is it that they simply cannot accept she would have killed herself, or is there some part of the story we're not privy to?

This is what the oldest daughter has to say... scroll down to her Feb. 8th post.

https://m.facebook.com/laci.deckard?fref=nf

Edited March 31, 2018 by truebluesmoky