The Shining Key(chain)To A Killing
or
The Return to(wards) George Zimmerman
A Mystery in Two Acts
"
There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact"
- Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes
George Zimmerman has a great story for the world to hear, and plenty of people to help him repeat it. He shot Trayvon Martin in self defense because at the moment, he had no way to retreat and was in fear for his life. He claims he was never the aggressor in the incident, and has a broken nose and battered head to corroborate his story. He was returning to his truck when he was approached from behind, and after a short verbal exchange he was sucker punched to the nose and fell to the ground, where Trayvon Martin started slamming his head against the concrete, verbally threatening his life and reaching for his weapon.
It's a great story, and it fits all the known points of a self defense case and there are no witnesses to the start of the fight. He must be telling the truth... or is he?
The following riddle includes only facts that will be entered into court. I welcome any suggestions or corrections and will gladly post updates when they are merited.
Sanford PD investigators and officers on the scene of the killing of Trayvon Martin failed to fully establish an important fact related to the case. There are differing reports of where Trayvon Martin's cellular telephone earphones were located post-mortem. The choices seem to be either in his pocket or next to his body. I'll not try to parse that question here, but it's a good one for later.
The ear-witness known as DeeDee heard what she claims to be the sounds of the earphones being pulled out of the phone, and the audio change to a distant, or different sound before her call was cut off. I'm trying intentionally to leave out what she was or was not characterizing as going on at the time, and concentrate on what might be a basis for two sides of a court case, or a hypothetical guilty/innocent narrative that BOTH sides of a fence would have to include as a given. It seems established that she did speak to Trayvon that night, and was on the line around the time the altercation happened. Were earphones employed? We don't really know.
And we just don't know about the whereabouts of the earphones when the altercation began. And we don't know for certain where they were found, either on or near the body. So this is a squishy issue but I'm hoping to move beyond it quickly.
A short bit of speculation follows:
Perhaps TM was talking without earphones after leaving the mailboxes. He could have put them away in preparation to passing the vehicle with the guy who might watching him in it. Perhaps he had them on the whole time, and during the various efforts by various parties, cops and EMTs to revive Trayvon, someone removed them to administer a mask or mouth to mouth "rescue breaths." Then they left them by the body, or put them in the pocket. Other possibilities exist, including the possibility that the earphones found and logged into evidence were a backup pair, or an alternate to a bluetooth wireless ear phone that was lost and never discovered after the police put away the metal detector, which they say they did after finding the spent shell of the bullet that was used to kill the teen. Possibilities abound, and no one yet can say for sure what happened. Reasonable people can and will disagree on this issue, and what if anything it means.
Now we return to the land of established facts:
The earphones didn't seem to be attached to the cell phone post-mortem.
Trayvon was on the phone around the time of the shooting
Now we get to GZ's personal effects and the items he employed to go about his business, whatever it was, up until and including fatally shooting the unarmed teen.
It seems GZ had two flashlights, one that was black and found near Trayvon's body and Trayvon's cell phone, and another that was silver on a small keychain fob that was attached to George's car keys. This was found near the T intersection of the cut thru and the dog walk sidewalk paths, one that led east to west and the other North to South. Maps abound… avail yourself of one, please if you care to read on.
For whatever reason, GZ dropped his keychain flashlight. It's still on when officers find it, tag it and photograph it later, and they say so in the accompanying notes. There is a big maple leaf next to it in the photo that shows up in other pictures too.
LINK TO LEAF LIGHT KEY PHOTO HERE
http://www.flickr.com/...
Complicating the matter even more, it seems that GZ was near this spot on two occasions, not just one. At first he traveled east on the cut thru. (In fact, some claim that a banging heard on his recorded call to a police operator is the sound of him trying to get his larger black flashlight to operate when he is somewhere near this area. I think the sound in question is around 2:30-2:40 into the call. This would seem to be on his eastward journey along the cut thru path.) On his westward journey, he may have passed there again before ended up near the body, which we know for a fact he did. But it's reasonable to assume he could have been near there twice, and while seemingly unlikely, dropped it the first time he passed near. It's possible.
This being a murder trial we are speaking about, now we get to the not-so-small matter of the dead body. It's found south of the T intersection, in the grass some 50-60 feet away from the lighted keychain-flashlight. I apologize for linking to the next photo, which shows a dead body covered with a yellow tarp. Trayvon's shoe is visible, which helps to orient the way he was lying after first being observed by police in a face down position. Rescue efforts included turning his body over from front to back, but probably not shifting more than was necessary to do so. Certainly for the purposes of this discussion, we can say the keys were "here" and the body "there," some distance away.
LINK TO LEAF/TREE/BODY shot
http://www.flickr.com/...
And now my question, dear readers is this: what caused George to drop his keychain light, and when did he do so?
In other words, what's his keychain doing over here when the body is over there? And where was he sucker punched to to the ground?
I don't have a firm theory yet. But at some point all these things seem to happen: (help me if you think this isn't right)
GZ passes the T the first time, having approached from his car (west of the T)
GZ nears the T again from a different direction
GZ moves south of the T eight feet, or the approximate distance of the keys from the intersection.
the two spot one another
the two have an initial exchange of words establishing awareness of one another (there will be more talk later, either freestanding or grappling or both)
an action causes GZ to drop his keys
an action causes TM's phone to make a change to a different audio level, with a "bump" sound accompanying
GZ (at least) moves from the key location to the body location
TM MAY move from the keys location to the body location
additional words MAY be spoken with both standing walking or running
additional words are spoken as they grapple on ground
A black flashlight is dropped, tagged NUMBER FIVE (not the keychain flashlight)
TM's cell phone is dropped NUMBER SEVEN
TM's tan bag from 711 may be dropped (if it's the right bag)
GZ shoots TM
GZ walks away from the body
The order can be changed many ways, but any account needs to include all these elements.
We do not know what GZ told investigators on the night of the shooting. Nor do we know what his videotaped walk thru included, when he walked the scene with investigators and his father the next day. Nor do we know what he then told investigators when they returned to the station house and grilled him in what others have called the harshest questioning he underwent. He may have given his statement to investigaors more than once on each day in question, adding up to the "five times" number that was quoted to him by the prosecution when he was under oath swearing that his stories did not show inconsistencies.
But at trial his defense team will be asked to present the above list in the order they feel events happened, and hopefully for them this agrees with what he told investigators five times already.
Keeping in mind the substance of the story put forth by George Zimmerman by his various surrogates, family, friends and his original "legal advisors," we seem to have a rough consensus that GZ was "returning to(wards) his vehicle when approached from behind and to the left by Trayvon. A short exchange of words was then followed by a punch to the nose where GZ fell to the ground, was battered and then he shot the teen. He seems to be describing one meeting, not foot chase, and a situation where he was never the aggressor. It's a great story. Now try to assemble it with the known facts listed above.
The mystery starts here?
http://www.flickr.com/...
The answer to the puzzle may well provide the verdict in court.
Like the riddle of the fox, the goose and the corn crossing a river in small boat, the right answer does not include cheating!
The correct answer, my own speculation and a bonus quiz below the fold!!! Don't peek until you solve the puzzle!
I told you not to peek. Answer and my own speculation to come in 24 hours.
bonus puzzle is here:
pop quiz: why is this man not in handcuffs and who is he calling?
bonus puzzle: Place these in the proper order - post mortem quiz
GZ puts the gun down on the sidewalk
first civilian approaches GZ
GZ re-holsters the weapon
GZ has his picture taken with an iPhone, showing his bloodied head and a cell phone up to his ear
iPhone photog disappears from Tim Smith's view so as not to appear on report
GZ's wife is notified of the shooting
GZ's wife finds GZ's vehicle
officer Timothy Smith (TS) exits his cruiser on RVC
Ice Tea can falls from TM's hoodie pocket
Ice tea can placed on yellow tarp
TS approaches GZ
TS speaks to GZ
TS disarms GZ
GZ's wife moves GZ's vehicle
TS puts GZ in handcuffs
TS is put into TS's cruiser
second officer arrives
rescue efforts begin to save TM's life
third officer arrives
patrol car parks near cur thru entry on Twin Trees
patrol car parks near cur thru entry on Retreat View Circle
EMTs arrive
rescue efforts end
yellow tarp placed on TM' s body
crime scene is cleared of spectators
GZ is treated for injuries in TS cruiser
GZ is transported to SPD
TV news crews film scene
Tracy Martin arrives home
Crime scene investigation begins
Crime scene investigation ends
last authorities leave scene