Five
MURDER

The following is the most complete and detailed account of what happened the night of the Keddie murders. This is not told in "ifs" or "maybes", as I've studied this case since c. 2015, and have had access since mid-2020 to all available case files, interviews, recordings, etc., still known to exist. I have spent thousands of hours poring over every detail, and assisted PCSO's SA, Mike Gamberg, during his tenure as Lead Investigator [from 2014 until budgetary restraints forced the case to be mothballed again, c. 2018]. During that time, we worked together to prove many points, including several of my own theories and conclusions. While we by no means agree on every point regarding the case, some of our joint conclusions are:

► Marty Smartt and Sue Sharp were having an affair
► Marilyn Smartt was the key conspirator and instigator of the three main killers (Marilyn, Marty, and Bo, aka 'MMB') inside 28
► Kathy Beckley lied to LE in 1981 about providing the boys a ride home; She, in fact, arranged for a friend to take them to Keddie
► John Boubede had a lengthy criminal career within and without the Chicago Outfit (mafia)
► Boubede was protected by several factions of law enforcement, but these protections are not found to be relevant the the Keddie Murders or ensuing cover-up
► Boubede's LE and USAF (military) records were falsified; signs also indicate his supposed 1988 death is also a falsehood

The murders had been planned for several weeks prior to April 1981. That particular Saturday night was apparently specifically chosen because of Spring/Easter Break. Many residents of Keddie, and Quincy, were students at Feather River College (FRC), which guaranteed they would be out of town for school vacation. The manager of Quincy's bar, Jack Brown, had even determined business would be so slow that night that he chose to hire a dee-jay for that night, rather than a more costly live band he would typically engage for weekends. Not only would the number of potential witnesses around 28 be very low that night, but the killers knew few people would be inside 28: A normal Friday and Saturday had Tina spending BOTH NIGHTS at their neighbors' (the Seabolts) house next door (#27). Not just that, but it was known John rarely spent weekends in Keddie: His normal weekend was to go to school Friday morning, then spend the weekends with friends, arriving back at 28 sometime Sunday.

Another oddity is the presense of Justin, son of murderers Loon and Marty, at 28 that night. Many argue that MMB could not possibly be the killers because there is 'no way in hell' they would commit murder at 28 knowing full well Justin was there. It's a very stupid argument. What's the most obvious answer anyone with a brain would offer? THE KILLERS, MMB, DID NOT KNOW JUSTIN WAS THERE. Sue was not the only horrible mother in this scenario. Marty and Loon were far worse. After all, they were the ones killing a woman and three children... But they also had no idea where their own two kids were that Saturday night.

In actuality, Saturday was the second night in a row that Justin had slept at 28 without Marty and Loon knowing. Friday night had been Justin's 12th birthday, and he spent it at 28. There was no acknowledgement by the killers of Justin's birthday, much less any gifts or a party. Justin chose to spend his birthday with the Sharp boys, and then spent the entire Saturday with them, and slept there again. In reality, his 'parents' would enter 28 to murder four innocent people there with NO IDEA Justin had been there for two nights in a row.

Looking through documents and online posts by several murderers, the only birthday that is mentioned is Marty's:. Justin's real birthday is April 10, but Marty's fake birthday is April 11. Marty used that fake birthday when signing up for the military. Loon and others often spoke of Marty celebrating his fake birthday AND his real birthday (one month later, May 11). Dee Lake and Bo had both likewise used fake birthdays when enlisting. Loon even said online that Marty was celebrating his 'fake birthday' at the bar that night (April 11, 1981).

The facts clearly indicate the killers believed neither Tina, John, Dana, or Justin would be at 28 that night to interfere with their murder plans. That's why three more people were dead, and that's also why Rick and Greg survived: In order to spare Justin's life, they had to leave all the boys in that bedroom untouched. That's why Marty stated Sue was the target and the rest were 'collateral damage', and Tina was killed "because she saw everything."

It's widely known that Sheila slept at 27 the night of the murders, and was the one to 'discover' the murders Sunday morning. A huge red flag, which LE conveniently ignored as part of the coverup, is that Sheila had NEVER slept at 27 before, while Tina regularly spent every Friday and Saturday night at the Seabolts. Sheila has also routinely claimed that she'd developed a deep friendship with neighbor, Alyssa Seabolt, but this is also a baldfaced lie: Sheila had been away in Oregon due to her pregnancy when the Sharps moved to Keddie, and had only begun living in Keddie in mid-February. She had never started a friendship with any of the Seabolts. So, how is it that Sheila survived and Tina was murdered? The answer lies with Sheila.

According to the murder plans, the only people at 28 would be Sue, Rick, Greg, and maybe Sheila. The other co-conspirators may have expected Sheila to be in the bed beside Sue's. Sue, in her own deliberate absense as a mother, had christened Sheila as the defacto "mom" at 28, a role Sheila loathed, and yet another reason she wanted Sue dead. Sheila was probably expected to placate any trouble coming from Rick and Greg in the boys' room after MMB entered. But Sheila apparently chickened out. She must have understood that Justin's presense at 28 was both contradictory and problematic to The Big Plan. She had ample opportunity to notify the other killers that Justin had spent Friday night at 28 (such as during her Saturday morning visit at the Meeks' home), but she apparently chose not to give any warning. Rather than raise concerns and risk the murders being cancelled, she chose to spend the night at 27 and put Tina back at 28 to be killed. Sheila finagled her way into sleeping at the Seabolts' that night.

Tina had spent most of Saturday with the Seabolts, and Sheila went to 27 around five pm. Both Sharp girls ate dinner at 27, while Justin, Rick, Greg, and Sue had frozen burritos for dinner next door. Around 8:30 pm, Sheila went back home, gathered some bedding, and then returned to 27 to spend the night.

Upon exiting 28, and without anyone noticing, she flipped off the light switch on the wall just inside the front door. Sue was lying on the couch, facing the TV, and the front door was on the opposite wall to her, perfectly in her line of vision. Had Sue glanced up to bid goodnight to her daughter, she may have noticed Sheila flip the switch. Instead, she continued staring at the cheap B&W TV, too engrossed in the latest episode of LOVE BOAT to notice her own daughter setting her up to be murdered. The boys, Rick and Justin, were also watching, on the floor. This is around the time Greg, just five, had gone to bed.

That light switch not only controlled the front porch light, but it was hard-wired to the street light in front of 28- the biggest source of light anywhere near 28 and, in fact, around that entire area of Keddie. That high-watt lamp, attached to a yardarm, hung out over the center of Keddie's main street, illuminating the way for railroad workers to get from the station to the lodge. For years, contracts between WPRR and owners of Keddie stipulated that particular bulb had to remain lit, and the Lodge's coffee shop remain open, 24/7/365 for the WPRR crews. That is why Keddie's main street lamp was hard-wired to 28's porch sritch, and why the light was always on. Many, including the killers, made a point to LE that the area around 28 was abnormally dark that night.

By turning off the light, Sheila ensured the premises and surrounding environs of 28 were darkened so her co-conspirators could enter with far less likelihood of being seen. Not just that, she unscrewed the one bulb she could reach on the front porch, just in case the switch was turned back on. Sheila then returned to 27 and distinctly informed Tina that Sue had suddenly demanded Tina be home by ten pm, which is a lie constructed solely by Sheila. In other words, Sheila knowingly sent her own sister back to 28 to be murdered... Sheila, in fact, set up her own 'little angel', as she's called Tina for decades while publicly pouring crocodile tears,

Back in Quincy, John and Dana were still trying to get home from an afternoon in Quincy. We know that Sheila, the Meeks, and others provided various eyewitness accounts of seeing or being with John and Dana throughout Saturday. Most of these people are liars. As the varying lies from Sheila, several of the Meeks, John Blaine Gruebert, and others reveal, the conclusion is that each of them were either directly involved in the murders or in the ensuing cover-up.

Nina 'Mama' Meeks claimed the entire Sharp family (including Tina and Rick) had spent the entire day at the Meeks house, along with Dana and all the Meeks kids, from morning until evening. She claimed they spent the day playing cards and board games, with Sue and her family leaving around 6 PM.

Meanwhile, Richard Meeks had different claims entirely, saying Johnny spent Friday night with him, and they met up with Dana at Holiday Mart Saturday morning, then headed over to the Baze's home, where they spent the afternoon sharing half of one beer while listening to albums. According to Richard, John and Dana left the Bazes around 3 pm (which is around the time we know John and Dana actually left Keddie!). This horrible lie was so unrealistic, even John Baze had a completely different. more impossible version.

In one of the sole instances where Justin's claims line up with reality, he said Sue had dropped him and Rick off at baseball tryouts early Saturday, and they got back to 28 around noon. However, he nor anyone else make any mention of Sue giving him a ride back to Keddie. He did say the Sharps got back to 28 around noon. He also mentioned John and Dana doing yardwork with Sue, then John changing clothes and hitching back to Quincy with Dana, which was verified by Rick's version.

In determining the true chain of events on Saturday, the most flagrant liar is Sheila. Initially, she parroted Nina Meeks' claim that everyone spent the entire day at MXHQ as "One Big Happy Family". Given the various versions of Saturday being offered up by her co-killers, her own version quickly did an about-face: Completely changing her story to LE and others, she began mimicking Justin's and Rick's version: After dropping Justin and Rick off at the ball field, Sue, Greg, and Sheila spent the morning shopping and visiting with the Meeks. Sheila added that she went to visit a nearby friend and asked her to sleep over at 28 that night, but Sheila knew full well that would not be allowed: her friend's mom had just turned down the same request the day prior, noting Sue was inadequate supervision for any children.

Shortly after, Sue and Greg picked up Sheila, and they picked up Rick and Justin at the ball field. She claims they then encountered John and Dana hitching on the highway, and picked them up. However. Rick indicated that John and Dana arrived at 28 separately, shortly after Sue drove the others home from Q.

From documents and and TRUSTWORTHY sources, we know all the Sharps, Dana, and Justin were back at 28 by the late morning. John and Dana then spent a few hours in Keddie, including doing the yardwork with Sue. John later changed from shorts and a tee-shirt into layers of warmer clothing (yet a far cry from adequate for the cold nights of April, indicating John had no intention of spending Friday night outdoors), then left with Dana to hitch back to Quincy.

Removing the claims of killers and liars alike, it's apparent from remaining information that John and Dana had no plan to sleep over at 28 when they left Keddie that afternoon. There would have been no purpose in hitching back to Quincy just to turn around and hitch back to Keddie if they'd thought they would be sleeping at 28. There would be no purpose in risking being turned down by Dana's caretakers, the Dorrises: Had a sleepover at 28 been planned, a phone call from 28 to the Dorris home would have determined that outcome, saving trips to Q and back to 28. It's also clear that the boys had not arranged for a ride back to Keddie from Quincy.

We do know John and Dana left Keddie for Quincy around 2:30-3:30 PM Saturday afternoon. It's unknown how long it took to catch a ride and get into town, but the next reliable sightings were at the Dorris foster home in East Quincy around 5:30 PM. Just before 6:00, they approached the Dorrises about spending the night at 28, and the Dorrises approved with the stipulation J/D get a ride rather than hitch. Sue made no such demand, as every story about her knowing of the boys' sleepover at 28 is a lie invented by the killers/co-conspirators. This Dorrises mandating J/D find a safe ride to 28 is the FIRST TIME any trustworthy claim was made concerning any plans to stay at 28 on Saturday night.

To make this important point very clear: All others who claim they knew John and Dana were staying at 28 earlier than Saturday at 6 PM are, at the very least, liars and, at the very most, MURDERERS. This includes Sheila, the Meeks, John Blaine Gruebert, and others.

J&D were next seen around 6:30 pm at Kathy Beckley's apartment. They asked her for a ride to 28, and she refused. Kathy is a then-27 y/o that 17 y/o Dana had been bedding. Kathy lived across from the Exxon and just behind the Chevron the boys were repeatedly seen hitching at that night. She made up an excuse not to take them to Keddie, so the boys went to the Exxon around 7 pm and began hitching.

With no luck, they kept returning to Kathy’s to beg for a ride. They’d go through the fence by the Chevron, a short-cut, which is why witnesses saw them at Van Gas and the Chevron: they were traveling back and forth to Kathy's from the Exxon on the opposite corner. Kathy finally relented and arranged for a ride, so they hung out with her until their ride arrived. This is why reliable eyewitness accounts of the boys hitching outside the Exxon stop around 9-9:30 pm.

Using simple logic, I'd determined Kathy’d lied to PCSO about this ride back in 1981. Around 2015, I told Mike Gamberg of my reasoning, also pointing out where she'd lived in relation to all the places the boys had been sighted: going back and froth from Exxon to her apartment was the simplest explanation. He looked into it and quickly not only confirmed from Kathy that she'd lied in 1981, but Kathy admitted to him she'd eventually arranged for J/D to get home via a friend. Kathy told Mike she'd lied in 81 because she was embarrassed and concerned about her affair with underaged Dana, and didn't want to be seen with him. The person who gave J&D that last ride then confirmed this with Mike by phone, before Kathy had time to 'poison the well'. This person not only confirmed giving them the ride home, but also spoke of what even other witnesses in Keddie had failed to mention: When dropping of J/D, this person noted the outside of 28 was not only unusually dark, but there was a dull glow coming from the living room window.

This not only proved what I'd already deduced (Sue had gone to bed by the time John and Dana got there, but had left the bathroom light on, which acted as both a night light and a navigation light) but also proved this person was telling the truth about giving J/D that final ride.

John and Dana were dropped off around 11-11.30, and apparently spent a bit of time upstairs before going down to John's basement room- Dana's outer coat was found on the floor near his body, indicating he'd taken it off when they arrived. John's room was in the unfinisihed basement,and it is believed there was a space heater in his room, and that the boys retired to John's room and were likely asleep when the home invasion / attack on Sue began.

In all of PCSO's, DOJ's, and FBI's lies and coverup, they never asked about the movements of their prime suspects- their ONLY suspects- in the lead-up to the murders. Ignoring, for now, the contrasting lies they told LE, we know from eyewitness accounts that the primary killers- Marilyn Faye Smartt (35), Martin Ray Smartt (32), and Severin John 'Bo' Boubede (50), are not mentioned anywhere in any report prior to being seen at the Back Door Saturday night. Even murderer Dee Lake's account of being at 26 on Saturday to pick up his rifle from Marty, as he told Josh's crew, is a lie. LE never once investigated any of the les told by the killers, and never named Loon as a suspect, much less murderers Sheila or the Meeks.

According to LE's fake investigation of the murders in 1981, we only 3know these three, intentionally making a spectacle of themselves, spent the evening building their alibi at the BDB. Loon wore a floor-length off-white gown. Overdressed in three-piece polyester disco suits in a working-class bar, Bo and Marty went the extra mile by wearing mirrored sunglasses.

At night... inside a dark bar... three years before Corey Hart turned such assinine buffoonery into one of the stupidest songs ever to chart.

The garishly-overdressed trio of murderers spent the entire night at a table by the dance floor, near the DJ from the local radio station hired for that night to play records. As stated before, the bar owner, Jack Brown, normally hired a band to play live on weekends, but not April 11th- he expected business to be down sharply that night. Loon was on the dance floor most of the night, dancing with the soon-to-be ex-husband she despised for having an affair with Sue. Sometimes Bo gave her a spin, but it was mostly Marty and Loon cutting a rug.

Around 2010-2011, I determined that Marty, Bo, and Loon created a joint alibi filled with lies so flagrant an armchair detective could easily debunk them... so why didn't LE? It's so insanely inane, I named it the "Loonibi", a portmanteau of 'Loon' and 'alibi'. At the time, I still believed the murders were mainly Loon's idea, but I later determined others had been involved, only as more evidence came to light.

One of the key tenets of the Loonibi is that Marty or Bo were angered when the DJ changed music from country to rock... one of countless important principles the killers could not keep straight in ensuing interviews with LE. Marty or Bo (depending on who told the lie and when it was told) got mad at Jack, or Jan Albin, and they collectively stormed out of the BDB. The fact that all three of them hammered this key plot point home is the first red flag that it's hogwash. The second is the story is so utterly stupid. The third is none of them could keep straight who was pissed at whom or how their leaving the bar actually went down.

But, for whatever stupid reason, the killers felt their alibi demanded an excuse for why they suddenly left the bar after twirling the night away, with only Marty and Bo returning a short time later to close the bar. However, there was no gain in this lie, as any investigator with a brain would have asked if the music, indeed, had changed. LE could ask Jack, or Jan, or her husband, Doug, who'd been sitting at the bar. Or ask Eric, the DJ, or any of the numerous patrons present that night which they subsequently interviewed. The cops asked nobody! Instead, this one lie by the killers had the corrupt cops lying about numerous points. In fact, LE lied in their reports that people who knew Marty and Loon, people who even worked with Marty, suddenly couldn't recognize them reelin' and rockin' on the tiles, or supposedly causing a ruckus over music. According to the falsified reports from the fake 'investigation' by corrupt LE which followed the murders, only a couple of the many people who knew and saw Marty, Loon, and Bo at the bar could identify them by name!

In other words, the Keddie Kover-Up is as ridiculous, obvious, and stupid as the murderers and their alibis.

Regardless of their lame claim of a musical shift, the killers left the bar just after 1 A.M. Contrary to their alibi, even LE's bogus reports maintain a scant few noticed them leave. MMB made no big scene, no minor stink, no argument whatsoever... they just quietly left. They returned home to 26, changed into work clothes, grabbed or gathered their kill kit, and descended upon the already-darkened 28 with murder in mind. Their kill kit consisted of at least three rolls of white medical tape (with two different widths, 1/2" and 3/4"), several knives, Marty's expensive blue-handled hammer, and a Daisy 880 bb/pellet rifle. It's duly noted in several documents that 28 had no such tape, no such rifle. Sheila and Rick both were asked. Also, according to Sheila, Richard Meeks claimed that Justin, at the joint memorial service for Dana, John, and Sue (held Thursday, April 16), said the Smartts had all kinds of medical tape and knives at home. This is on file, yet no file exists of LE asking the killers if they had access to anything used in the murders, much less the tape and knives. LE never even asked Richard or Justin about Sheila's claim. LE even ignored Marty when he claimed he suddenly and inexplicably noticed his hammer was missing Sunday morning.

I've read thousands of documents, and nearly every basic Q that should have been asked, almost every line of inquiry one would logically take in this investigation, intentionally wasn't. If LE got a response they didn't like, they either buried their documentation or altered witness statements. So many documents are blatantly doctored or falsified, the sheer audacity and sloth of LE's intentional miscarriage of justice would be utterly laughable were it not so ugly, and damning for law enforcement as a whole. We're talking about cops who rarely, if ever, typed anything, yet so many documents are typed, filled with obvious lies by LE, and left UNSIGNED. Almost any typed document in this case is immediately suspected of falsification, particularly from LE who NEVER TYPED TEIR REPORTS.

Descending on 28, Marty, Marilyn, and Bo entered through the now-unlit, unlocked front door. Since John's room was in the unconnected basement, and because crime fears largely didn't exist then, 28's doors were routinely left unlocked, even when nobody was home. As Sue had left the bathroom light on, the killers used that dim light as the sole means of navigation, and went straight to the far rear bedroom, where Sue, Sheila, and Tina normally slept. This is a house Marty was very familiar with, as his 'great pal', Sheriff Doug Thomas, lived there just prior to the Sharps, and had even let Marty live with him briefly. They immediately went for Sue, most likely not noticing Tina asleep at the far end of the other bed, in the dark some ten feet away from their sole intended target.

Sue slept in the twin bed, the foot of which was immediately inside to the right ot the bedroom door, and her daughters shared the queen on the far side of that room. There was a space between the bed and far wall so Tina could access her side of the bed, while a throw-rug lined the narrow path between the beds. A TV tray served as a nightstand between the beds, which Sheila and Sue shared. On Sheila's side rested her reading assignment, 'Never Cry Wolf', with Sue's glasses and ever-present ashtray opposite. Between were an alarm clock and a cheap lamp.

Sue was incredibly myopic, and wore her sole pair of glasses every waking minute. The mere fact she hadn't time to put them on, and was found dead without them, indicates this was a planned surprise attack.

Something peculiar to the crime scene is indicators of Tina's insecurities. There was a large piece of cardboard found on her side, which was normally either blocking the window on the far wall (to keep out cold air and creepy stares) or resting against the wall itself. This night, Tina slept with the cardboard covering her, atop the blanket. I believe Tina used it as a 'security blanket', as both Rick and Sheila stated Tina had slept with it on top of her several times prior. So, either the killers were most likely expecting co-conspirator Sheila in that bed, or they didn't notice Tina in her stead, or simply didn't notice Tina at all under the cardboard. They certainly noticed Tina when she awoke and screamed, because that was not part of their plan. Sheila Sharp is why Tina is dead.

At 1:15 am, neighbors in #16 were awoken by screams. According to the main report, one person woke up to screams, then woke up her boyfirend to listen: "Barbara woke Plyer up by saying, 'Did you hear that?' At this time, Plyer heard what he described as muffled screams coming from the direction of the rear of their house. Plyer looked at the digital clock in the bedroom. It read 1:15 AM." The rear of 16 opened on the back bedroom of 28.

Tina screamed, perhaps Sue as well. Upon awakening, Sue probably understood her life was over. Whatever the truth, the screams woke Justin, Rick, and Greg in the next room. The screams woke John and Dana, sleeping downstairs. The screams woke the couple in house #16: The girlfriend woke first, then nudged her partner awake. The screams seemed to eminate from the rear of #28 (the rear bedroom window was directly beside Tina). After briefly listening for more screams and hearing none, the Plyers went back to sleep.

Back at 28, all hell was breaking loose, and the killers' Grand Plan went straight to hell. They had Tina screaming instead of Sheila helping. The screams soon had Justin, Rick, and Greg from the next room awake and inquisitive. John and Dana, downstairs and likely asleep, were soon rushing upstairs. Instead of walking into a room with one victim and one helpful co-conspirator, Marilyn, Marty, and Bo were instead confronted by four people they did not expect to be there at all- including Loon's own son! This is why four people are dead instead of just Sue.

Immediately after entering, the killers were suddenly dealing with Tina and Sue. I believe Tina, the immediate problem, was dispatched first- probably cold-cocked and knocked out. As Marty said in one of his many confessions, Tina was taken from 28 'incapacitated', but also note that, early on in his Sherlock Holmes series, Doyle had Holmes state that a dead person is certainly also incapacitated. Not enough of her remains were found in LE's half-assed 'recovery' operation from 1984 for any cause of death to be determined. However it was done, Tina was no longer screaming, and certainly was never a physical threat. Nor were the boys in the next room, with three armed adults they recognized and knew towering over them, threatening them into silence.

However, John and Dana were bounding to the rescue, up the back steps and in through the kitchen. Three armed adults against one scrappy 15 year old and a 17 year old, it was no contest. Soon, Dana, John, and Sue allowed themselves to be bound at the wrists with the medical tape, and the contest was over. From then on, it was torture and murder.

At autopsy, no blood was found below any of the tape on the victims. This confirms that, whatever minor fighting for their lives that may have been, the victims were soon bound and defenseless. The younger three boys were huddled in the boys' bedroom, while the older three victims were being systematically beaten and stabbed to death in the living room.

The bathroom light Sue had left on was also the main source of light the killers used to navigate and maneuvre during the murders. This light shown through the open bathroom door, past the small hallway connectingn the bedrooms, spilling into the living room. There, a small patch of light landed on the carpet between the couch and TV. This very area where light fell has been called the Kill Zone, as it's where the murders took place, where most of the blood was spilt that night. It is where the victims were systematically placed on a cushion taken from the couch, then repeatedly beaten and tortured, eventually murdered.

WHY THE COUCH CUSHION? Upon discovery of the crime scene, both sides of the cushion were found to be soaked through to the foam interior with multiple layers of blood from multiple victims. Therefore, whenever LE state they believe the cushion was used to comfort Dana, that Dana was given preferential treatment, or that Dana may even have been involved, that person is either an idiot, a liar (probably both), or (like the FBI's John Douglas) was lied to. The reason Douglas' analysis and profile of the Keddie case is so off-the-mark is he was fed lies by PCSO, DOJ, and apparently even by his own FBI.

So, why was the cushion used? To comfort the victims? HELL, NO! The cushion protected the killers. House 28 had cheap, thin, used carpet directly atop the wooden flooring. No padding under the carpet, and no insulation under the floor. A hammer pounding into a skull resting directly on top of that floor would be incredibly loud, the floor itself acting as a soundboard. The deep, uninsulated crawlspace below 28 acted like a loudspeaker/echo chamber, notifying the world of what was happening in 28. The cushion was used simply to muffle the sounds of hammers and knives hitting bone.

Once the remaining victims were bound and grouped in the living room, it seems this is when Sue was gagged. Why only Sue? The killers made certain Sue was a conscious witness to the depravity they unleashed. Of the four, known injuries to the others meant that soon only Sue was left conscious, able to scream. The gag began with a blue bandana, not the missing red one John had been seen wearing much of Saturday. Then strips of medical tape were applied, stupidly, to her bloody face. Then Sue's own panties were tied around her face as the final layer, knotted at the back of her neck. A knife nick on her crotch indicates the pantied were cut from her body. Sue was placed in the darkened space on the floor between the couch and Kill Zone. Now bound and gagged, her head was propped up against the base of the couch, made to witness the others being tortured and killed.

Logic dictates Dana and John were dispatched next, as they posed the biggest- and only- physical threats. Both were hammered on their heads and, once unconscious, were in turn worked over in the KZ atop the cushion. A victim were individually placed on the cushion and worked over. When not being tortured or beaten, they were placed outside of the KZ. A series of no less than fourteen bleed-out spots stained the carpet, from the couch area through the Kill Zone, then arcing to the farthest corner at the front of the room. It was so methodical, the bloodiest areas of the living room were confined to one side, leaving a swath of blood-free carpet from the front door to the kitchen and bedroom hallway.

Once the boys were down, the killers went after Sue with a singular focus and vigor. She was punched, hit repeatedly with the barrel and butt of the rifle, and hit with such force the point site at the tip of the barrel and the ramp site near the stock were both ripped from the rifle, found by investigators on the living room carpet. The tip point left a perfectly-shaped puncture wound below Sue's right eye. Several teeth were loose in their sockets, as were Dana's, both the result of hammer blows. Several of Dana's front teeth were sheered off.

At some point, Sue appears to have been threatened with a knife, resulting in several cuts to her left ear, nearly severing it. Sue also had defensive wounds to the top of her left hand, consistent with trying to fend off the knife, which she could still do despite her wrists being taped together. The stab wounds to her ear also cut off several strands of hair, and all of them I've located in CS photos appear between the foot of the couch and the kill zone, indicating she was likely already on the floor in "her spot" at the time.

In the 10-15 minutes that elapsed since the killers first entered 28, I believe both Tina and Dana- and definitely Dana- were dead, and that Johnny was unconscious, slowly dying from hammer wounds which left his swelling brain oozing through his skull. By 1:30, Bo and Marty knew they needed to bust ass back to the bar to re-establish their alibi, since the screams came right after they left the bar- and their alibi- behind. Leaving Loon at 28 to guard Sue and the younger boys, M&B went back to 26, cleaned what blood off that they could see, switched back into their disco duds (so quickly they didn't bother putting their vests on, as Bo stupidly pointed out to LE), and made a phone call before hauling ass back to the bar.

(...more to follow in a few days...)