The Most Incredible Murder Mystery, ever.
You couldn't make this stuff up it's so bizarre!!!!! For those who have
served on jury...this one is something to think about.. Just when you
think
you have heard everything!!
Do you like to read a good murder mystery? At the 1994 annual awards
dinner
given for Forensic Science, (AAFS)President Dr. Don Harper Mills
astounded
his audience with the legal complications of a bizarre death. Here is
the
story:
On March 23, 1994 ... the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald
Opus,
and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opus
had
jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide.
He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he fell past
the
ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through
a
window, which killed him instantly.
Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had
been
installed just below the eighth floor level to protect some building
workers
and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide
the
way he had planned.
The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was
occupied
by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorously and he was
threatening her with a shotgun! The man was so upset that when he pulled
the
trigger, he completely missed his wife, and the pellets went through the
window, striking Mr. Opus.
When one intends to kill subject 'A' but kills subject 'B' in the
attempt,
one is guilty of the murder of subject 'B.'
When confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife were
both
adamant, and both said that they thought the shotgun was not loaded. The
old
man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the
unloaded
shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killing of Mr.
Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming the gun had been
accidentally loaded.
The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old
couple's
son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It
transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and
the
son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun
threateningly,
loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his
mother.
Since the loader of the gun was aware of this, he was guilty of the
murder
even though he didn't actually pull the trigger. The case now becomes
one of
murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.
Now comes the exquisite twist ... Further investigation revealed that
the
son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent
over
the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder.
This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to
be
killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window.
The son, Ronald Opus, had actually murdered himself. So the medical
examiner
closed the case as a suicide.
A true story from Associated Press.
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