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Post by debbie on Apr 30, 2009 9:48:54 GMT -5
For some time now, I have been thinking "What if Charlie didn't leave those two notes? Would he have even been considered a suspect since everyone thought he was such a "good man?" Would someone else be blamed, maybe Arthur? I would love for everyone here to give an opinion as to what they think would have happened.
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Post by angel71242 on Apr 30, 2009 9:56:15 GMT -5
That's an interesting thought! It probably would have definitely made them wonder a little harder. I feel like maybe they could tell from the angle of Charlie and where the gun landed that he shot himself though. But I could be wrong. And not having the notes I think would most definitely have given them pause. That was a good question!
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Post by angel71242 on Apr 30, 2009 9:57:43 GMT -5
Of course, someone could always position the body and the gun to make it LOOK like a suicide.
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Post by Angela on Apr 30, 2009 10:16:11 GMT -5
I don't think they would have nailed Charlie for the murders as quickly as they did and they would have had to do a more thorough investigation of it. I think without the notes their main and immediate suspect would almost certaintly have been Arthur since he was the only survivor. I believe they would have eventually nailed Charlie for it but only after a more intense and lengthier investigation. And of course after putting Arthur through the ringer which would have been un-avoidable but a terrible double trauma for him. I'm real glad Arthur didn't have to go through that.
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Post by debbie on Apr 30, 2009 10:19:30 GMT -5
Me too Maria! He definitely went through enough. And I like you believe the finger would have been pointed directly to him.
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Post by Brian on Apr 30, 2009 12:47:37 GMT -5
Wasn't it just friends and neighbors out looking for Charlie? I don't think anyone who found him had any experience in what looks like a suicide. Plus, they just picked him up and carried him to the house, apparently without a photo of the scene. I don't think any thought was given to how the guns and body were arranged, and probably not even to the angle of the wound.
As discussed in another thread, the sheriff didn't even have many investigative skills (as far as we can tell).
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Post by Angela on Apr 30, 2009 14:24:47 GMT -5
Ever heard of that movie DUMB And DUMBER!!!!
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Post by Brian on Apr 30, 2009 14:50:34 GMT -5
Yes, but I assumed it would be dumb and didn't see it.
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Post by Jackhammer on May 2, 2009 13:16:27 GMT -5
Great question, Vickie. And it just opens up a whole other line of more questions as well. Like . . . If that is what really made Charlie look guilty from the start, who's to say someone else couldn't have written it and placed in on Charlie's murdered and re-positioned body? But then, you'd think that if someone had thought to do that, why wouldn't he/she have finished that unfinished sentence on the one note.
Now, it wouldn't have taken much of a detective to figure out that there was only one set of footprints leading out to Charlie's body. Even Barney Fife would have gotten that one. So that should have easily been declared a suicide. But if the body had been moved before L.E. was on the scene, that's a different matter.
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Post by Angela on May 2, 2009 13:44:19 GMT -5
Hey Jackhamer, does L.E. stand for Law Enforcement?
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Post by Jackhammer on May 2, 2009 14:33:25 GMT -5
Hey Jackhamer, does L.E. stand for Law Enforcement? Yep. Sorry. I guess that I've been reading too many crime websites.
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Post by Angela on May 8, 2009 5:58:05 GMT -5
If those notes hadn't been written and Charlie's brother hadn't verified that it was Charlie's handwriting it's a good thing Arthur could prove he had been at the store that morning while his family was being murdered. I also wonder what would have happened if his brother had said "that is not Charlie's handwriting." I still can't believe how something as crucial and important as those 2 notes were went missing. I wonder if the Sheriff just threw them away or if he gave them to Marion.
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Post by debbie on May 8, 2009 8:39:11 GMT -5
Its hard for me to believe those notes were thrown out too Maria. I wonder if Arthur kept them, it was the last thing his father would ever write. I'm not so sure I would want them if my father did that. It would be a constant reminder.
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Post by Brian on May 8, 2009 10:57:01 GMT -5
I would tend to believe the notes were kept by the sheriff and filed away somewhere. Then, years later, they were either; purged with other old evidence and files to make way for new/current files, or they were just lost/misplaced over the years.
I would like to think they took more photographs than the ones we know today and that they were in the file as well. If the file was misplaced I sure hope its found soon. But another thought just came to me, what if a Lawson relative worked at the sheriff dept. at some point? Maybe they wanted the evidence to disappear. Just a wild thought.
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Post by Angela on May 8, 2009 12:39:21 GMT -5
Actually Brian I think that's a big possibility. I don't think according to what several members of the Sheriff's Department have told us that thery were ever at the Sheriffs office. But if they were destroyed I can see it being a relative who didn't want outsiders having proof of what happened being the one who destroyed them.
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