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> Over the next few days, he cut up the plane into small pieces, and dumped the parts in trash bins in and around Lompoc City Airport.

Marvelous! Like an ordinary criminal trying to dispose of the body.

He may have thought no body, no crime? but that doesn't work very well when said crime is filmed start to finish and published on Youtube...



> He may have thought no body, no crime? but that doesn't work very well when said crime is filmed start to finish and published on Youtube

Judging by the Hans Reiser case "no body, no crime" doesn't work at all.


to this day I believe reiser could have gotten away with it if he hadn't been so clearly socially awkward/autistic. there wasn't much solid evidence at all.

there's something to be said about people instinctively distrusting the socially inept: just look at all these modern "catch a pedophile" outfits, where losers are baited by impossible situations into ruining their life.


Removing the seats from his car, hiding it, and having two books on homicide investigation inside it are not social awkwardness.


>Removing the seats from his car, hiding it

...several days after the killing (per the testimony of an officer)[0]. reading books about homicide investigation is not illegal, and certainly not suspicious enough to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.

I believe a more charismatic person could have talked his way out of it. At the very least the first impression wouldn't have been "eccentric unsympathetic computer guy, russian mail-order bride, he probably did it".

[0]https://www.wired.com/2007/12/traffic-officer/


Yeah, but neither DA nor the judge considered lack of body or murder weapon a problem when bringing him in front of the jury.


I forgot about him. /. was all up in arms at time. He still in jail?


Yes. Next parole hearing is 2027.


Maybe he just couldn't handle the smell


"The video was just a deep fake, your honour"


Airbeas Corpus


He may have thought no body, no crime?

He may have, or maybe he thought he did nothing wrong, which is why he had it on youtube.

And so he disposed of the plane wreckage, as he needed to, lest he be fined, and he cut it up so it would fit in the bins.


He was a licensed pilot. It's unlikely he thought he hadn't done anything wrong.

He also repeatedly told the FAA and the NTSB he didn't know where the plane was -- whilst he was in fact cutting it up in his garage...


imo, he knew what he was doing was illegal, but didn't think it was wrong.


...or if you call the 'Police' before and tell them you crashed!




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