Mike Riemer ...Still Think He's Guilty?

[freakbook]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

The "I love you Diana" note left on the dashboard would indicate it was someone she knew who killed her.

Diana's mother said that the handwriting on the envelope matched Mike's handwriting from previous cards that he had sent her. So Mike wrote it.

There was blood on the passenger seat where Diana was sitting. I believe that blood came from the killer after killing Diana and getting her blood on him, and he rummaged around in the truck.

Mike and Diana had recently reconciled, so that envelope could've been there from before. If the perp looked around the truck and saw the envelope then he couldve put it on the dashboard to frame Mike. Because from what I understand it was an empty envelope with I love you Diana on it. If the envelope was empty then that means she already received what was inside of it

[freakbook]

Originally Posted by Huskerz85

If the perp was some random wacko (as has been suggested earlier in this thread), then he got incredibly lucky that Mike had a penchant for abuse/DV.

On the flipside, I've started wondering about the likelihood of this being someone who knew Diana and/or Mike (and who knew he/she could frame Mike after killing Diana)........

Hmm a tad lucky yes, but not really. Even if Mike never hit Diana then the results would've still been the same.

From what I'm guessing they had no suspects for the previous killings, so you have a slain couple and then a slain girlfriend. The crime of passion, envelope, and tube sock makes Mike look like a killer in both, and then the fact that his body was hidden makes it look more obvious

The only luck the killer has is the fact that they were never seen, and the police didn't have any suspects to point the finger at

[Stratego]

I think Mike most likely did kill Diana. I believe he may have stripped and bound her to torture her or extract some kind of confession (about an affair?) from her.

[freakbook]

Originally Posted by Stratego

extract some kind of confession (about an affair?) from her.

Interesting you say this, I had a similar thought. The detective did say that Diana was seeing another man while they were broken up. So if Mike found out that day then the crime of passion adds up.

Only problem is Mike's corpse. If Mike did indeed kill Diana and then himself then where are the rest of his bones? Only thing that was found was his skull and I'd figured his body would be close to Diana's like Cars said.

[Stratego]

Originally Posted by freakbook

Only problem is Mike's corpse. If Mike did indeed kill Diana and then himself then where are the rest of his bones? Only thing that was found was his skull and I'd figured his body would be close to Diana's like Cars said.

I suspect animals got to him. I don't know what condition Diana's body was in when found, but he was out there much longer of course. I do wish they had found him sooner, it might've answered some of those questions .

[freakbook]

Originally Posted by Stratego

I suspect animals got to him. I don't know what condition Diana's body was in when found, but he was out there much longer of course. I do wish they had found him sooner, it might've answered some of those questions .

Perhaps. But if you think Mike killed Diana, do you also think he killed the other couple? The tubesocks were found on both women's throats.

Also if Mike was the killer, then that means he dropped Crystal off at K-Mart instead of leaving her at his father's house. Why would he do that?

[TheCars1986]

The detective says that Riemer "could have walked" to where his remains were ultimately found. Meaning he wasn't moved by animals. He was roughly 1/4 mile away from Diana. He was killed there, IMO.

[freakbook]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

The detective says that Riemer "could have walked" to where his remains were ultimately found. Meaning he wasn't moved by animals. He was roughly 1/4 mile away from Diana. He was killed there, IMO.

Hmm. I just noticed a similarity between both couples.

Regarding Ruth Cooper:

Two months later, on October 26, her body was found near a dead-end road 1.5 miles away. She had been decapitated and her head was found about fifty feet away.

Regarding Mike Riemer:

In March 2011, a skull was found one mile from where Diana's body was discovered. It was identified as Mike's.

Both Mike and Ruth were found roughly a mile away from their spouses, and both appeared to have been decapitated in some capacity. They both were also significantly older than their spouses

[Stratego]

Originally Posted by freakbook

Perhaps. But if you think Mike killed Diana, do you also think he killed the other couple? The tubesocks were found on both women's throats.

Also if Mike was the killer, then that means he dropped Crystal off at K-Mart instead of leaving her at his father's house. Why would he do that?

I think the tubesocks may just be an eerie coincidence, with the killer simply using what was at hand. I wonder if there were any similarities in how the socks were used.

He might've been afraid his father would start asking questions. Or perhaps he wanted everybody else to think someone else was responsible for their deaths.

[Stratego]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

The detective says that Riemer "could have walked" to where his remains were ultimately found. Meaning he wasn't moved by animals.

The question was where the rest of his bones are. I'm relatively sure they were moved by animals.

As for the question why his remains were found so far from Diana's. He would've left the crime scene to drop off Crystal and then returned to the woods, perhaps intentionally looking for a spot not too close to Diana's body.

[freakbook]

Originally Posted by Stratego

I think the tubesocks may just be an eerie coincidence, with the killer simply using what was at hand. I wonder if there were any similarities in how the socks were used.

He might've been afraid his father would start asking questions. Or perhaps he wanted everybody else to think someone else was responsible for their deaths.

The original detective on the case said both of the socks were tied in a similar fashion that the knots looked identical.

All he had to tell his father was "hey, me and Diana are going somewhere after getting the trees. Can Crystal stay the night with you?"

Initially I thought Mike did it. Apart of me still think that he did. But there's a lot of holes in the logic that Mike did it. Unless we conclude that Mike killed the other couple and Diana then it doesn't add up

The biggest thing for me is Mike's missing body. If he killed Diana and then himself, then something of his should've been found around the time Diana was murdered.

[Stratego]

I wonder how special the knot was. The tube sock may be a similarity, but there were also differences like the decapitation and cause of death. Perhaps Mike put the sock around Diana's neck when he returned to the scene, remembering the murders months earlier.

If they normally didn't leave Crystal with his father, it might raise some questions, especially after their deaths. But like I said, maybe he wanted to point the finger at some stranger or perhaps he hadn't even figured out yet what he wanted to do after killing Diana. And if that visit actually took place before Diana was dead, the reason might very well be that he didn't expect he would end up killing Diana.

Originally Posted by freakbook

The biggest thing for me is Mike's missing body. If he killed Diana and then himself, then something of his should've been found around the time Diana was murdered.

Why do you believe that? Even if he was murdered, his body was probably in the same place. It wouldn't have been the first time they missed a body hidden in plain sight, so to speak.

I can't exclude the double homicide theory, but I still lean towards Mike being responsible.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Stratego

The question was where the rest of his bones are. I'm relatively sure they were moved by animals.

There is a misconception that only his skull was found. From the Washed Away Podcast:

Originally Posted by Det. Pat Beall

Now the skeleton isn't totally intact because of animals. And so they search an area. They get the dogs out there and they searched the area and they find, you know, maybe half of the skeletal remains in a area, but within maybe a 50 yard radius of where the skull was found. In the skull, through the eyeball, going up through the skull was a tree growing up. They cut the tree, of course. So, they can take it into count the rings. And it goes back 35 years. It goes back to the number of years of the tree that his body was there. So his body had been there for a long time.

Originally Posted by Stratego

As for the question why his remains were found so far from Diana's. He would've left the crime scene to drop off Crystal and then returned to the woods, perhaps intentionally looking for a spot not too close to Diana's body.

He could have left Crystal with his father if he had just gotten done murdering Diana. He would have had to have killed Diana, driven roughly an hour north to the K-Mart to abandon his daughter, and then drive back to the general area of the murder scene before mysteriously killing himself. The detective also said his body was:

Originally Posted by Det. Pat Beall

Not very far, you know, it's very easy to walk if you're injured or whatever. Now we know he didn't shoot himself in the head because the skull is intact. You know, there's no bullet trauma or whatever in the skull. So, you know, we'll, I don't think we'll ever know how he died.

Him making a point of pointing out that he could have walked to where he was found is interesting to me. How would he have been injured if he was the one who bound and murdered Diana? It makes no sense, unless he was injured by the same person who murdered Diana.

[freakbook]

Originally Posted by Stratego

Why do you believe that? Even if he was murdered, his body was probably in the same place. It wouldn't have been the first time they missed a body hidden in plain sight, so to speak.

True, his body could've been hidden in plain sight, but his skull was discovered a short distance from where Diana was found. If his skull location is any indication of where Mike died then he should've been found around the time Diana was.

Diana hadn't been discovered for two months after Crystal was found, and her body hadn't been picked by animals or anything else. So if Mike did commit suicide then I think he would've been found shortly before or after Diana was found if he did indeed kill himself. His skull was intact with no signs of trauma, so he either shot himself in the chest, or the killer murdered him like Ruth, shot in the chest and then decapitated

Also something to consider. If the Ruth/Stephen murders are connected then it rings odd that Ruth, Stephen, and Diana were all found in the open but Mike wasn't. So he was either hidden by someone else on purpose to frame him, or he hid himself and then committed suicide

EDIT: I will say that most killers don't stop and they generally escalate. So if Mike was the killer and then killed himself then it would make sense why no one else was murdered after Diana. So there is a small part of me that thinks Mike did it, since Diana was the only one with a "crime of passion" death compared to the others.

[Stratego]

Well okay, it was more than the skull. I don't think it makes much of a difference. No matter how Mike got there, his remains were likely scattered due to animal acitivity.

Like I said to freakbook, maybe he didn't really know what to do when he visited his father after killing Diana in the heat of passion. Or maybe his plan was actually to create a red herring. Maybe he hadn't even killed her yet. But if Mike was not the one who killed Diana, that means she was still alive when he visited his father. What I find interesting is that she didn't go inside the house with them and Mike seemed to be in a hurry.

The detective probably doesn't want exclude the theory that Mike was injured by a third party and in that case it's possible he walked away. It doesn't seem there's any kind of evidence that he was injured.