by Joyce
Gina mentioned in a comment the other day that you shouldn't mention crimes you're going to commit in a public forum. Someone should have told these people about that. Talk about stupid criminals.
According to the article in the newspaper, three people were charged with homicide for what they believed would be the perfect murder. Allegedly Susan Yeager wanted her estranged husband, Shawn Yeager dead, so she had her brother Cory Altman shoot him in a way that they believed would look like a hunting accident. Cory borrowed a rifle, hid in the trees behind his brother-in-law's house and shot Shawn Yeager in the back when he reached his back porch. Then he got into a car driven by Robert Pessia. The article stated that Cory joked about what he'd done saying he'd "got his buck for the year." They then returned the rifle, and went to Walmart (where Susan Yeager worked) and told her what happened. Yeager's body was found by his sons, ages 12 and 15 when they returned home from school.
They might have gotten away with it except for the fact that, according to news accounts, Mrs. Yeager had been talking for several years that she'd like her husband to be killed. She had actually asked co-workers where she could buy an unregistered gun and told them she and her brother could take her husband hunting where he could be killed in an "accident."
These killers are not only the epitome of cold blooded, they're the epitome of stupid. How in the world could they think they wouldn't get caught?
I've noticed that in many cases, criminals are caught because they can't keep their mouths shut. It's human nature for someone to want to talk about his accomplishments. Most people like to brag. Imagine committing the perfect crime and not being able to tell anyone about it. Let's say you steal a famous diamond worth a gazillion dollars that no one else has even gotten close to. All your buddies are talking about the genius who stole it, and you can't say a word! Not one word. Sooner or later, most people wouldn't be able to stand it anymore. They'd have to talk. They'd have to brag. And usually to the wrong person, like a future ex-spouse. The criminal dumps the spouse and before he knows it, he's wearing the latest in shiny handcuffs.
Can any of you name any perfect--or near perfect crimes? How about some criminals who got caught because they couldn't keep their mouths shut?
12 comments:
Joyce, I think the obvious dumb criminal of the week is the governor of Illinois.
And let's not forget OJ Simpson who may have gotten away with murder, but couldn't contain his own ego and greed.
Gina, I couldn't believe it about the Illinois Governor when I first read the story. How can anyone be that dumb?
And perfect crime? Hummm. I know an imperfect one, the famous Dr. Crippen was conviction and hanged for killing his wife. (British justice is swift). I just read that the tested the evidence for DNA and ... drum roll please ... it wasn't his wife. Maybe he did it, but he always claimed he didn't. I guess we'll never know for sure.
Gina, my thoughts exactly!
I'm so glad OJ finally got almost what was coming to him.
Martha, I either read that about the Crippen case, or saw something on TV about it. It was fascinating! Wasn't there a relative in the US who was trying to clear his name?
Hans van Meegeren comes to mind in re perfect crimes. He painted a whole bunch of fake Vermeers back in the day, and only got caught because of fate. One of his fake Vermeers made it to Hermann Gõring during WWII, and after the war, van Meegeren was arrested by the Dutch as a collaborator. They thought the Vermeer was real, obviously, and that he had sold part of the Dutch heritage to the Nazis. He had to confess to the forgeries and actually painted another 'Vermeer' in prison, to prove that he was the painter. Very interesting story, available among other places right here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren
Okay, here's another one: the Claus Van Bulow case. Will we ever know what really happened to Sunny now that she's finally passed away?
Ms. Dashofy,
What are you talking about? OJ has been scouring every golf course in the world looking for the "real" killer. How can you doubt the guy when he shows passion like that? ;D
Funny, Jake! Btw, your little story on Murderati yesterday was great!
Here's another one: How about the Peterson case in Chicago?
I thought of another "almost" one, too. It was even featured on one of those true crime programs on TV. Several years ago in the Pittsburgh area a woman drowned in her hot tub. The husband told investigators that she'd been drinking, etc. Looked like an accident, right? Well, eventually they discovered that the guy's first wife had drowned in a bathtub. They got a little suspicious. The guy's in prison now. I guess this story proves that not only do you not talk about a crime you committed, you don't kill your second wife the same way you killed the first!
I guess he figured, what the hell, it worked so well the first time...
And in another recent case:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081211/ap_on_re_us/missing_florida_girl
Don't you wonder how a spammer got past the squiggly letters, when the rest of us have trouble with them???
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