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  • Death by raptor?

    I finally caught up with a case I'm sure many of you are familiar with, the 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson. For those who are unfamiliar, here's a quick summary;
    Kathleen was found at the bottom of the stairs in her home by her seemingly loving husband who claimed she must have fallen, but due to the multiple head wounds and large amount of blood splatter, the police suspected she had been beaten to death with a blunt instrument (something like the poker that was missing from the home). Despite a weapon not being found, the husband was subsequently tried and convicted of her murder.

    One seemingly bizarre suggestion was that she had actually been attacked by, of all things, an aggressive owl, staggering inside before collapsing on the stairs. But the more I think about it, the more this scenario makes sense. Does anyone else agree, or am I going mad?

  • #2
    Originally posted by Joshua Rogan View Post
    I finally caught up with a case I'm sure many of you are familiar with, the 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson. For those who are unfamiliar, here's a quick summary;
    Kathleen was found at the bottom of the stairs in her home by her seemingly loving husband who claimed she must have fallen, but due to the multiple head wounds and large amount of blood splatter, the police suspected she had been beaten to death with a blunt instrument (something like the poker that was missing from the home). Despite a weapon not being found, the husband was subsequently tried and convicted of her murder.

    One seemingly bizarre suggestion was that she had actually been attacked by, of all things, an aggressive owl, staggering inside before collapsing on the stairs. But the more I think about it, the more this scenario makes sense. Does anyone else agree, or am I going mad?
    Your going mad
    "Is all that we see or seem
    but a dream within a dream?"

    -Edgar Allan Poe


    "...the man and the peaked cap he is said to have worn
    quite tallies with the descriptions I got of him."

    -Frederick G. Abberline

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    • #3
      I agree
      G U T

      There are two ways to be fooled, one is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to believe that which is true.

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      • #4
        Birds of prey normally don't inflict blunt trauma. Usually. There was, of course, that eagle that took out Aeschylus, but that's always been looked at as a bit of a one-off.
        - Ginger

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Abby Normal View Post
          Your going mad
          Thanks, I've long suspected as much

          Originally posted by GUT View Post
          I agree
          You agree with Abby, or with Owl Theory?

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Ginger View Post
            Birds of prey normally don't inflict blunt trauma. Usually. There was, of course, that eagle that took out Aeschylus, but that's always been looked at as a bit of a one-off.
            Haha, yes, maybe the police should have checked for tortoises.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Joshua Rogan View Post
              Thanks, I've long suspected as much



              You agree with Abby, or with Owl Theory?
              Abby.
              G U T

              There are two ways to be fooled, one is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to believe that which is true.

              Comment


              • #8
                I'd think that large raptor birds would leave talon marks on the woman's head, not blunt force trauma. My mother reported that my çat (beige with brown Siamese Cat markings) was attacked by a bird like an owl or hawk, and had terrible wounds from the nape of his neck to the base of his tail. She figured the bird mistook our cat Shilo for a jackrabbit. (Shi survived, thanks to my mother's care of him, but definitely used one of his lives!)

                Did the victim live in a rural or suburban area? Was there the possibility of raptor birds in the area? They generally don't attack humans unless their nest is threatened, so I'm doubtful that someone taking an evening stroll could encounter that situation.

                I think the hubby did it, with the poker...
                Pat D. https://forum.casebook.org/core/imag...rt/reading.gif
                ---------------
                Von Konigswald: Jack the Ripper plays shuffleboard. -- Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut, c.1970.
                ---------------

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                • #9
                  If she’d been in Oz I’d have interviewed any local emu’s Pat
                  Regards

                  Sir Herlock Sholmes.

                  “A house of delusions is cheap to build but draughty to live in.”

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Herlock Sholmes View Post
                    If she’d been in Oz I’d have interviewed any local emu’s Pat
                    Emus in Aussie land, flying monkeys in Oz?
                    Pat D. https://forum.casebook.org/core/imag...rt/reading.gif
                    ---------------
                    Von Konigswald: Jack the Ripper plays shuffleboard. -- Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut, c.1970.
                    ---------------

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Pcdunn View Post
                      I'd think that large raptor birds would leave talon marks on the woman's head, not blunt force trauma. My mother reported that my çat (beige with brown Siamese Cat markings) was attacked by a bird like an owl or hawk, and had terrible wounds from the nape of his neck to the base of his tail. She figured the bird mistook our cat Shilo for a jackrabbit. (Shi survived, thanks to my mother's care of him, but definitely used one of his lives!)

                      Did the victim live in a rural or suburban area? Was there the possibility of raptor birds in the area? They generally don't attack humans unless their nest is threatened, so I'm doubtful that someone taking an evening stroll could encounter that situation.

                      I think the hubby did it, with the poker...
                      Sorry to hear about your cat, Pat, I hope she wasn't too traumatised!

                      Yes, the victim lived in a nice suburban mix of light woodland and lawns, and was last seen alive in the garden. I believe the scenario did propose that the owl was defending it's nest. However, I have read that some raptor attacks can happen when a bobbing pony-tail is mistaken for a squirrel. Not sure if this is how the victim was wearing her hair that night though.

                      The missing poker (actually a hollow type called a blow poke) was later found in the basement covered in cobwebs and forensically determined not to have been the murder weapon.

                      The autopsy describes the wounds to the back of the head as multiple deep tri-pronged lacerations, but there were no fractures of the skull. I have a hard time trying to visualise how any blunt instrument blows could cause 4" rips in the skin on a curved surface like the skull without causing any fractures. And an even harder time with how they could form a pattern of the size and tri-pronged shape of a birds foot. Seems to me that the only way the husband could have created these wounds is if he was Freddy Krueger.

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                      • #12
                        Thanks for the additional information, Joshua. (The cat survived for a few more years, but did tend to be wary of shadows passing over him!)

                        Well, I see what you're saying, but if the husband was convicted, there had to be some reason for it, other than "most likely suspect" and circumstancial evidence? What was the murder weapon?

                        By the way, hawks, falcons and eagles can also inflict nasty wounds with their talons. "H is for Hawk" is a great book by a woman who decides to take up falconry and details how to train a hawk. She got wounded by it because of not paying enough attention on one occasion. Few raptor birds are really big enough to threaten humans, though if there were multiple wounds and enough blood loss, maybe--?
                        Pat D. https://forum.casebook.org/core/imag...rt/reading.gif
                        ---------------
                        Von Konigswald: Jack the Ripper plays shuffleboard. -- Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut, c.1970.
                        ---------------

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Maybe an owl killed the Ratliff woman, also found dead at the bottom of stairs and also Peterson was last person with her.

                          Cmon this dude is a mess and probably killed two women. I’d be more concerned that this jack ass is now free again.
                          "Is all that we see or seem
                          but a dream within a dream?"

                          -Edgar Allan Poe


                          "...the man and the peaked cap he is said to have worn
                          quite tallies with the descriptions I got of him."

                          -Frederick G. Abberline

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Abby Normal View Post
                            Maybe an owl killed the Ratliff woman, also found dead at the bottom of stairs and also Peterson was last person with her.

                            Cmon this dude is a mess and probably killed two women. I’d be more concerned that this jack ass is now free again.
                            Didn't someone start a thread about the raptor finally coming in 2018?

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                            • #15
                              I believe ostriches and cassowaries are the only birds documented to have killed adult humans.
                              This my opinion and to the best of my knowledge, that is, if I'm not joking.

                              Stan Reid

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