The Seventh Month is Always the Saddest

My idea for this post was to provide at least one useful idea or piece of advice on each of the four different murder cases I talk about in my blog.

1. Lindsay Harris(or Leslay Harris)May 2005-

I keep getting the name mixed up, but unfortunately I really do not have much advice on this one other than you probably have to try to think like a truck driver. One time I talked to a truck driver and he said that being a truck driver is all about one thing: patience. Waiting for your next pickup, waiting for the next call from dispatch, waiting in traffic, waiting to rest before you can drive on again, it is all about waiting.

I do not think this killer is a psychopath. Even if Lindsay Harris is alive for a day before she is killed and her body dismembered, think about what it takes to place parts of her body all the way from Las Vegas in hopes of distorting an identification from taking place.

2. Amanda Tusing June 2000-

I think when it comes to Amanda Tusing's case you have to think like someone working a missing person's case. Police do not initially assume the worst when someone vanishes because people disappear for all sorts of reasons. Some run-away, some fake their disappearance, some just do not want to be found. Investigators would check the boyfriend, parents, but also would call hospitals, the morgue, etc. Always check everything because it might be the one thing that leads somewhere.

There is one important starting point that should be remembered when it comes to Amanda Tusing and Tammy Zywicki's cases: No one knows that they will be parked on the side of the road at such and such time. It is simply fate. Therefore the first part of the crime should be rather simplistic because the killer does not have time to do what he might have done in Veronica Blumhorst or Lindsay Harris case, follow and prepare. My idea is that the case could be as simple as she was kidnapped elsewhere, and her car left where it is because the killer lives close to that area. Police consider all of this.

Also, if the crime has simple beginnings, the location of Amanda Tusing's body could be important. I think that depending on the flow of the river current, any intersection of the road with the river before the point of the body location should be checked. Any type of flood reporting might lead to the name of such and such officer and it could be important.


3. Veronica Blumhorst- September 1990

There is not much to write about this case because like Lindsay Harris it is a missing person/murder case. Obviously the boyfriend is a good place to start but there is one other place that would also be a great place to start when investigating her case. That place is the grocery store where she worked. I worked at a grocery store before, one of these family owned with only 7 or 8 locations that today is no longer in business but I can tell you this with certainty: Grocery stores have a social scene unto themselves. At the one I worked at it seemed like every bagger or stocker(mostly males) was dating or wanted to date one of the cashiers(mostly females). If you were a bagger you tried to work with the cashier you were attracted to because when it is slow you can chat. Even the night manager threw certain favors towards the cashiers in order to get in good with them. At the store I worked at the baggers and stockers had to wear black dress pants, a white shirt, and tie. The nice thing was all the tips you raked in during the day which made working there versus working at another grocery store a little different.

I read that Veronica Blumhorst had a "bubbly" personality. I do not know how attractive she was to other guys but it would be very surprising to me if police could not find one single guy who either wanted to date her or was dating her at that grocery store. Maybe the boyfriend worked at the grocery store too? Then again, it might have been a customer who followed her home or maybe someone who saw her parking her car in the garage late at night or someone else who did not work at the grocery store. Like much of the information in my blog, I only suggest another avenue, one I am sure police checked out.

4. Tammy Zywicki- August 1992

I read a bit more about Amanda Tusing's case and how the investigator working the case felt that he knew her even though he never met her. It got me to thinking about an idea, a victim profile. Tammy Zywicki is the only one where there is enough information to make some solid guesses. I am a little biased when writing this because my freshman year in college I did a paper on James Dean. I never met Tammy Zywicki, but you can hint at certain things. So this is my victim profile of Tammy Zywicki....

Tammy Zywicki was a warm-hearted existential thinker. The James Dean picture on the wall says she liked to live in the fast lane, live life for now. "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow." Some people do that, others get stuck in neutral. Then there is the It's A Wonderful Life movie. To an existential thinker, It's A Wonderful Life is not about an angel and how an angel gets his wings. I disagree that is why she liked the movie. The angel is just the vehicle for telling the story. A person who likes watching that movie every Christmas watches it because it is about a man who gets to see what the world would be like without him. It is about LIFE. Life would be a the constant theme that would come up when describing a person like this. They are interested in learning about life. Then there is going to Grinnell College. Why does a person choose to go to a college in the middle of Iowa when their grades are probably good enough to go to any other great university closer to home? Soccer and life are probably the answers. Small towns, small colleges with Div. 3 soccer teams are different because you are less of a number. Getting an education is one thing. The experience you have while you get your education is another. My point is going to Grinnell is probably alot different than going to Iowa State or Rutgers. It is probably much different than going to other larger private schools too. Grinnell would be the perfect school for someone like this because it serves two purposes: It is small, and it is quality, a top school.

Up until that day in August, I would imagine her outlook on the world was a positive one. She had already spent 3 years and a semester in Spain and nothing bad happened. The point is that nothing could have prevented what did happen. Wrong place, wrong time, just like Amanda Tusing. A person like this would want their loved ones to continue living their lives. You just do not know what is going to happen. Life is a journey not a destination. She simply looks at the world for what it is. The only thing you take with you are the memories you create along the way. I think if I had to pick one word that Tammy Zywicki's friends would use to describe her it would be "genuine." And life goes on....

Will a victim profile help solve a case? Is it correct? It is my perspective. I read she once punched a guy in the hallway at her school. Then you read about how she was stabbed in the arm when her body was found so the conclusion is that if someone attacks her she is going to try to fight. Then when you read about her case it seems as if police found no sign of a struggle at the crime scene. It does not seem in keeping with the type of person she is described as being.

That is why I always took the view that she was attacked elsewhere and not at the car. There is nothing to suggest I am right or wrong. It is just a different perspective. For example, I could have looked up registered sex offenders in the area or different trucking companies but I am sure those areas of the case have been covered. So I thought maybe she was kidnapped in Mendota and that is how I came across Veronica Blumhorst case. Veronica Blumhorst kind of piqued my interest when I read her description. As for the distance of Tammy Zywicki's body I thought it might be because the person is trying to keep anyone from connecting the dots. It is a thin theory especially since the details of each case are very different and in Veronica Blumhorst case there seems to be major suspicion of the boyfriend.


I sometimes wonder how many of these cold cases actually get solved. If there is one thing I learned being an amateur web investigator is that I have not solved anything. I think even if I were an actual investigator on one of these cases it would be just as difficult. It is hard to explain. But that is why they call it a mystery.