Cold Case Review of Sophie Tuscan du Plantier murder to proceed. **Threadbans lifted - see OP**

Nothing unusual. Most likely she had a watch. Even cell phones back then had a clock built in and had an alarm funcion.

Anything else would have required buying batteries, or keeping batteries, double As and the likes. But that's hardly worth it, if you're only spending 3 weeks in a year at the property.

Far easier to rely on the cell phone and your wrist watch.

Don't know how this would have something to do with the murder. As far as I know there is nothing new on the murder. Apparently Sophie's clothes were sent to the FBI? - but no news on that one either.

I don't think so. She must have had a cell phone, she was speaking to her husband that night. I am sure the police checked when the last call was made and to whom. They did have an alarm function even back then. If not a small travel alarm clock could easily have done the job, not visible on the pictures.

It's likely that the whole house was not full of Sophie's personal belongings at all, only what she brought with her, and what she left with was there. She was only there for 3 weeks every year.

It's possible that the discussion about an alarm was just trolling. It has nothing do do with the murder, it doesn't mean anything. It could maybe just give us an idea about her routine.

I didn't know she had a landline to her house and a wireless piece. That would imply she had to pay charges for the whole year, but only use it for calls during 3 weeks at most every year. To me it was just a guess about a cell phone, anybody in a certain business would have easily had one back then as well. Roaming was more difficult back then, I recall.

There still isn't any news on the re-examination of her clothes by the FBI. I presume they didn't find anything they could use.

Sorry about that. My only guess is that Sophy may have been an early riser, not adapted herself to the hour's time differnce between France and Ireland for a short trip. Plus there were things to do in the house, contracters, repairmen, etc. Thus the guessing she might have gotten early, that is if the murder was in the early morning.

As far as I know these landline phones had a monthly nominal fee, plus the calls per minute, charged per country and often distance. Cheaper within Ireland, more expensive to other countries. It's also possible that this part of remote Ireland wasn't served by any sort of cell phone coverage yet, at that time.

OK, it was probably Jeremiah Scully . The odd-bod lived a kilometre away in Dunkelly East along an old mountain track that he used to visit Alfie. He used to carry his empty gas cylinder over to Alfie and return for the full one which he was able to carry back along the unused track. He used to steal tractor tyres and batteries, so a 20 kg block would be no problem for him. Not surprising he was first on the list of suspects, not necessarily the chief suspect. He was known to the Gardai. He was interviewed after the murder under the guise of stolen goods and the Gardai who interviewed him rated him an unlikely suspect. Bailey was probably in their sights by then. Scully died in 2022.

There's no real sign of a motive, though, for him to suddenly up and murder the French lady in the holiday home.

I wonder if this Scully was the same fellow as the man who was mentioned as "liked to look in the windows at women undressing" - is it the same bloke, does anyone know?

If so, it would give him a more explainable motive than Bailey ever had.

Due to premier at the Tribeca film festival in June.

This type of question crops up now and again, by “newusers” especially.

Next we’ll have Bailey knocking on the door in the early hours for some reason, and when rejected chases Sophie down to the gate, and that’s the Garda angle anyway, so it must be right.

It is closer to Sophie's gate than the house, but it is represented on one of the maps, I think on this one (from Dunmanus files on reddit). Apologies if incorrect.

Unfortunately, most of the wounds were to the head and front of body. She struggled to defend herself, injuries to hands and fingers, etc. As far as one can judge, it was a one-to-one battle. He hit her on the head, repeatedly.

A horrible business, God help her. Justice should find this criminal!

But I think, had it been a "chase", there would be more injuries to the back area and probably signs of stumbling, falling, etc. I know it's all guesswork but going by whatever evidence there is.

The blood drips on Sophie from above, would indicate that the assailant was standing over her, and more than likely raining down blows upon her with the concrete block.

Given the severity of the assault, it is accepted that the killer would have been splattered with Sophie's blood due to the close proximity of the killer to his victim.

To me, this scenario strongly suggests that the killer arrived by car?

Note: The gate was open, something Sophie wouldn't put up with, and was adamant it remained closed. There was no blood trail leading outside the gate area, and there was unidentified tyre tracks found within close vicinity of the gate (murder area)

If we accept this was an unplanned killing, then it is fair to say that the killer didn't have a spare set of clothes to change into?? Therefore, had to leave the scene with haste and clean himself up unseen by anybody else..

There was no blood trails leading away from the crime scene, so either the killer was a forensic genius, or left the scene in a vehicle.

The murder has been discussed to death (excuse the pun), but the killers exit not so much.. If the killer drove to Sophie's - Why? Was he planning to meet Alfie instead? Why?

It appears to me that the killer 'had' to murder Sophie to protect himself? The only reason being that she could (and would) identify him.

Is it a give in that the killer would have been covered in and dripping the victims blood along his escape route ? Quite possibly not. Assuming the fatal blows were delivered to her head by a concrete breeze block this would squash the skull and the blood would more than likely flow out either side of the head or pool behind it and not spray in an upward direction covering the assailant. If it were a shotgun blast to the head, for example, blood and brain matter would travel in all directions. She was lying motionless as well, we assume.

But lifting the block up and down again would leave blood droplets scattered everywhere - No?

Including on the killer.

But why would the killer return to the door?

The blood droplets found on the grass verge could have come from the killer going back to the door?

All we can be certain of, is that the door was either pushed to (closed), or attempted to be opened after the assault had taken place, both are strange actions to take considering the circumstances.

In all probability, the murderer drove there in a vehicle, opened the gate (to drive the car in). Sophie put her shoes on and freely walked down to the gate were an altercation taken place..

The murderer was not equipped for a murder, hence used what was available on-site at the time (in this case - a concrete block).

This whole case points towards a sudden moment of uncontrollable anger, an anger driven by fear of being outed??

What would cause a rational man to fear something so much as to kill the person threatening him?

A opportunist house breaker..? Typically never.

A rejected sexual advance..? Not impossible, but highly unlikely. You would have to have an emotional attachment to resort to such measures?? Cold calling at the door looking for the ride must have a practically zero success rate I would imagine?

Neighbour disagreement..? Quite possible in normal circumstances.. But considering Sophie was around for maybe 3 weeks of the year, would you really be bothered, probably not.

Peeping Tom..? By nature, a Peeping Tom would be socially awkward and lacking in self confidence. Sophie was known to leave her curtains open and maybe could have been spotted in a case of undress..? Did she confront a local pervert, threaten to shame him, prosecute him, make him the laughing stock of the peninsula..?

Quite possible - But would a Peeping Tom drive down to his victims residence, and even open up the gate to get a better view…? Possible but unlikely.

We have very little that ticks every box.. I still feel the murderer was known to Sophie, and the killer purposely drove to the area (not necessarily to meet Sophie). I believe murder was not the killers intention upon arrival at Sophie's / Alfie's passageway.

Alas, I dont think Sophie will ever get justice for the cutting short of her young life. The passage of time has dimmed the horrific nature of her brutal murder. Most of the actors around at the time have either moved on or died, leaving only people who don't want to be reminded of their local history, or the many opportunists looking to make a quick buck out of the whole sordid business.

Once Bailey died, so did a lot of the interest in the case. There was no longer a scapegoat to hunt down and condemn.

With the last flurry of podcasts and documentaries, the case will eventually be disregarded and resigned to a dusty box in the backroom of an outdated Garda station somewhere.