As in instead of laying a flower or wreath lay a bottle of expensive wine? That's bordering bonkers.
Maybe and a very faint maybe someone pours it in on top of the coffin. Even that is very very far fetched.
People don't really misplace expensive wine. Anytime an expensive bottle is bought it's coveted. Can't see anyone placing it in a ditch accentidally or as a tribute.
Yes and yes.
Very interesting post on Reddit about the books in Sophies House
https://www.reddit.com/r/MurderAtTheCottage/comments/pll2dd/a_dream_of_death/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
I always found the info that there was a poem about death left opened interesting. There doesn't seem to be a poem on the page but Nick Foster did say on Newstalk recently that it was a story about the poem rather than the poem itself.
The poem is very eery all things considered:
I DREAMED that one had died in a strange place
Near no accustomed hand,
And they had nailed the boards above her face,
The peasants of that land,
Wondering to lay her in that solitude,
And raised above her mound
A cross they had made out of two bits of wood,
And planted cypress round;
And left her to the indifferent stars above
Until I carved these words:
She was more beautiful than thy first love,
But now lies under boards.
It is odd all right,
did she put on her boots and house coat to step outside the front door to watch the sunrise? , did she smoke?
perhaps forgot to set the latch and locked herself out,
made her way round the house to the back door and confronted someone?
I wonder how dramatic their arguments were regarding the issue, or did they just have a word.
Was Alfie Lyons ever once considered a suspect or looked into?
The keys are turned though in the crime scene photo, potentially to the right if I was to make a guess as you can't seem to see the locks of the door if it was turned left.
Which kind of indicates it was being unlocked or thats the way they were left in the door before the attack.
If it was brutal and methodical, it could have pointed to a contract killer, rather than Bailey.
Why would Bailey really want her dead? A woman who only spend brief periods during the year in a cottage? He wasn't after her money? Was it something sexual? Did she ever have a brief short affair with Bailey and that fateful night she turned him away, and he then smashed her head in?
It's certainly not that Bailey sat in Ireland in his house, thinking, when does Sophie ever come back to Ireland so that I can kill her? That's a a bit hard to imagine.
If the murder happened close to daybreak it could be better to minimise the risk of being seen than spend time trying to move or conceal her body.
Also as pointed out by both @odyssey06 and @TimeLadsPlease above, trying to move or conceal the body would also have increased the chances of transferring forensic evidence.
not to any serious degree I believe - as they were co-alibing each other (Shirley, that is); considering she found the body they should have been suspects #1 and #2... there are mumblings about Alfie having a bandaged hand in the days after the murder - but nothing conclusive that I have seen on that, could be more bullshit
interesting to think that if Jules and Ian had just agreed that he'd stayed in bed all night and stuck to it then he'd have just as "solid" an alibi as Alfie
That's a good point. If she was genuinely covering for him surely they would have one story and stick to it.
the door is clearly unlatched and would open with a push IF the lower handle is not active
If the body was dumped behind the bushes, Sophie would not have been found for several days,
The body would have been found by mid-day , as she had an appointment with her housekeeper at noon .
I see Ian is on VM1 on Monday in an interview with Colette at 9pm
True, but fair chance the killer would not have been aware of that.
Then again ... maybe they were which in itself would be indicative!
I wonder would current DNA analysis technology be able to narrow down the likely origin of the blood found on Sophie's boot?
I have read it didn't match Sophie Toscan du Plantier or Ian Bailey. In photographs it appears relatively recent.
Could current technology identify whether it is from a male or female and in the absence of a sample from a suspect to match, at least suggest the geographic region of origin of its owner.
No. According to Josephine Hellen, Sophie mostly used the front door. Josephine herself always used the back, she said it was unusual for Sophie to use the back.
Its male DNA & not blood, not baileys, could be the investigators or local police amongst others but I agree, its at least worth checking out. Hopefully it will be
From what I have read all they could tell from the sampĺe when reanalysed was that it was from a male.
I dont think they had enough that they could identify or eliminate any particular individual - but open to correction on that.
Also there are concerns about how well the boot was stored and possibility of contamination... cos you know its only a murder case.
Quite a number of keys in that photo. I guess that they all belonged to the house?
But using the weapons in this case would have much the same forensic consequences even if the killer was not in a 'frenzied' state of mind, no? Blood, clothing fibres, whatever getting left all over the place. So the time and specialist equipment required to do a proper cleanup of this crime scene make it unlikely the killer conducted one, even if they had the requisite expertise, IMO.
Would current amplification of low copy number DNA analysis techniques enable more information to be gained from the sample? A picture in 11th July 2021 Independent article shows what appears to be a fingernail sized bloodstain on her left shoe.
The reanalysis happened in 2011 I think, dunno how far the tech has advanced since then ... but Ian Bailey is thinking along similar lines by the sounds of this.
https://www.thesun.ie/news/7220580/sophie-toscan-du-plantier-suspect-new-evidence-claim/
So is the lack of evidence left by the killer a result of luck, incompetence or being methodical?
Sophie always used the front door according to the house keeper. I remember reading that somewhere. There's a reconstruction clip in one of the episodes from an aerial perspective that shows the actress portraying Sophie parking her car and walking directly to the front door. Thefront door was immediately accessible from the spot where the car was parked.
If the house keeper is correct in saying that Sophie didn't use the back door then it would be a significant fact that it was used by her on the night of the crime.
It seems to be largely down to the use of objects / weapons rather than fists.
Pethaps with an initial surprise stunning blow. No chance for the victim to scratch / scrape the perpetrator.
And then disposing of the weapon.
While leaving rock / concrete block behind to which fingerprints dont stick.
Doesnt seem like the actions of someone with a large size advantage in a drunken frenzy... why would they be so particular about striking with weapons and not just batter away.
Yes I see that now, her bags are left inside the glass door to the front porch.
I thought the wellies were by the back door.
It's just strange that a neighbour with insomnia heard a car, but never any other noise like a woman shouting either in pain or in fear of her life.
If the neighbours really didn't hear any shouting or cries for help etc.. then the only explanation would have to have been a totally unexpected surprise blow with the rock or brick on her head.
If the killer would have taken the rock and the brick with him and dumped them both somewhere in the sea, the Guards wouldn't even have had a murder weapon.
Nearest neighbour other than immediate neighbours Alfie + Shirlie (and empty holiday home) would have been about a mile away.
The blind 'neighbour' might have heard a car passing by their house on the 'main' road but half a mile down the road and another half a mile up the cul de sac would probably have been too far away to hear anything.
I’d say Alfie died with a dirty secret
It's more a question what "dirty" means here.
Sophie wasn't exactly an angel either.
She had an affair already early into her second marriage with Bruno Carbonnet.
It is often suggested that she may have had another affair with Karl Heinz Wolney a German musician often playing at venues in Crookhaven.
Just by this behaviour of Sophie, I wouldn't rule out some kind of sexual motive to the murder. Some ex-lover out for revenge, jealousy, something like that.....
And then there was her husband, and the possibility of a messy and expensive divorce.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wb.vanillicon.com/v2/bd89cdce15309a6ec2dff928c865017a.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wc.vanillicon.com/v2/c2d01dc58c93157b55e4469cba109cf9.svg)
