Circumstantial evidence

How so?

Well, it shows how circumstantial evidence can be so overwhelmingly convincing to the human mind, yet so frustratingly inconclusive in the eyes of the law.

That tension right there between knowing something intuitively and actually proving it forensically, that's the engine of this entire investigation.

Absolutely, because when police started digging in that alkaline dirt based on Christine Ross's phone call, they weren't just recovering victims.

But the context is everything.

You find those items during an investigation for sexual deviancy, and it instantly transitions the suspect profile from a public nuisance to someone actively planning for abduction, restraint, and control.

But the circumstantial evidence gets even heavier.

Eight months into the massive West Mesa investigation, the police execute a targeted search warrant on Joseph Blea's home.

Yeah.

So a lot of juries will hear circumstantial evidence and they think that's a pejorative.

Yeah.

But it's not.

You could get convicted with circumstantial

evidence.

circumstantial evidence is like there's a camera outside it shows Elia coming in me coming in afterwards me going out and then the next person that was in the room finds Elia's dead body and I'm the only one that could have killed him that's circumstantial evidence but they're like no where's the blood and semen which if I killed you they'd find semen everywhere

but who's

I have to say, um, you know, what's really important in this case is the fact that it's a no body case.

Does the fact that you have no body, you don't have a cause of death, you don't have a weapon, make the circumstantial evidence in this case that much more significant, right? What they know is that Steven Cazy disappeared, literally disappeared from his office on March twenty-first, twenty-twenty-three.

He went to the bathroom.

He left an email unwritten, left his phone behind, um, but then he's never seen again.

In this case, I think they were looking right away as, uh, possible abduction or-- and/or, um, a, an assault or a homicide.

Well, well, yeah, because I think Kozlowski, um, uh, made an error by being found a week before.

You believe then that this, uh, that the circumstantial evidence is very powerful in this case.

Very, very powerful.

You cannot.

Robes, how do you get around circumstantial evidence that says that there's a message that you tell your mistress, hey, everything's going down tomorrow.

I'm going to be freed up.

It's going to be all good.

Debbie was left assuming that Kate's body had been found, but she was wrong.

The police have been really active in progressing the inquiries, and they've gone to the Crown Prosecution Service, so they are going to be explaining what they've got, the circumstantial evidence, and they would be having to seek a decision to charge him.

Once you've reached that stage, there wouldn't be a need for any continuation of bail or anything of that nature.

He's coming in.

But not unheard of.

Then you give all the circumstantial evidence.

And that's the word right there.

Circumstantial.

of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of The

Shore Road Mystery This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Circumstantial Evidence for a moment frank hardy lay in the thicket stunned by the shock of his fall with his breath knocked out of him gradually he recovered himself and managed to scramble to his feet his first thought was for the other boys but a quick glance showed that both chet and joe were unhurt beyond a few bruises joe was sitting in the ditch looking around him in bewilderment as though he had not yet realized exactly what had happened while chet morton was picking himself up out of a clump of undergrowth near the fence in the road the driver of the hay wagon was trying to calm his startled horses who were rearing and plunging in fright any bones broken asked frank of his two companions chet carefully counted his ribs guess not he announced cheerfully i think i'm all here safe and sound wow what a spill that was joe got to his feet good thing this is a soft ditch he said it's lucky somebody didn't get a broken neck well nobody did and that's that how about the bikes frank examined his own motorcycle righted it and found that the machine was not damaged beyond a bent mudguard he had managed to slow down sufficiently before careening into the ditch so that much of the shock had been averted and the motorcycle had simply turned over into the spongy turf my bike's all right announced chet it's bent a little here and there but it's good for a few more miles yet same here said joe hardy looking up i think we're mighty lucky to get off so easily you might a run me down roared the driver of the hay wagon now that he had recovered from his fright tearin and snortin down the road on them contraptions why don't you watch the road asked frank you heard us coming we couldn't see you you might have killed the three of us driving out like that you didn't have anything to worry about i didn't eh no what if i'd been killed you could hear our bikes half a mile off unless you're deaf put in joe it ain't my business to listen for them contraptions growled the man on the hay wagon i got my work to do well don't blame us said frank and the next time you drive out of a side road like that stop look and listen say who do you think you're giving orders to and now the man reached for his whip and acted as if he meant to get down and thrash somebody none of that if you know when you are well off cried joe his eyes blazing chet stepped forward if you say the word we'll give you all that is coming to you he put in all of the boys looked so determined that the man let his whip alone

get out of my way i got to be goin

he growled well after this you be more careful said frank

of The Shore Road Mystery.

This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

Under Suspicion for a moment after the detective's question there was dead silence jack dodd stared at the fishing-rod as though stupefied then mechanically he took it in his hands yes it's mine all right he admitted i lost it oh you lost it did you said the detective unpleasantly that's very likely you lost it in that car i didn't i've never seen the car i left my fishing rod out by the front fence about a week ago and when i came to look for it the rod was gone the other detective snickered incredulously it's true protested mr dodd jack told me at the time that he had lost his rod you'd back him up of course but that story won't go down if he never saw the car before how does his fishing rod happen to be in it jack and his father looked blankly at one another clearly they were utterly astounded by this unexpected development and at a loss to account for it i think this pretty well clinches it declared the trooper the rod couldn't have got there unless the boy was in the car that's certain but i wasn't in the car i lost the rod a week ago you'd say that anyway declared one of the detectives roughly bring the car back to town jim he turned to mr dodd this isn't the end of the matter there's not much doubt in my mind that you and your boy took that car you certainly haven't been able to give us much of an explanation of how it came to be on your property and the boy has told a pretty thin story to explain away that fishing rod you're not going to arrest me exclaimed mr dodd no said the detective reluctantly you don't have to come back with us i guess you won't go very far but we're going to lay charges against you and your son for what for stealing that car what else do you think and we're going to do a little more investigating about those other cars that were stolen too mr dodd said nothing he realized the futility of objection nothing he might say would swerve the detectives from their determination to charge him and jack with car stealing on circumstantial evidence they would be branded as thieves The state trooper turned to the Hardy Boys and Chet, who had remained silent during this exchange of words.

"'You boys said there was another car stolen?' Frank nodded.

Does

that qualify, babe, as circumstantial evidence enough to convict? I know there's plenty of other stuff, but that is how unlikely is it that the day you tell your other woman that he's going to be free and clear just happens to be the same day that somebody broke in and shot the woman?

After a year and a half of you saying, I want to kill her, I'm thinking of ways to kill her, if I could kill her and not go to jail, I would.

Yes, for me as a juror, that would be enough.