I had an opportunity to visit the crime scene this week. I’ll be making several posts related to my visit. This post deals with a theory that I now have to put to rest. In two previous posts, I postulated that neighbor Billy Watkins may have seen the person or persons who committed the first murder, or, at the least, he may have seen the car they were driving. You can read posts one and two for more information about this theory.
While taking pictures in front of Kit’s house, I noticed neighbor Billy Watkins pull into his driveway. I had a chance to talk to him briefly, and I told him my theory. Billy provided more details about what he witnessed that seem to back up his previous testimony that the car he saw was pointing out Calvin’s house to the box truck driver.
First, Billy Watkins was familiar with Joan’s maroon Volvo, and he is reasonably sure that the car he saw was not Joan’s. Calvin’s house and those around him sit some distance from the street. Mail is delivered to mailboxes that don’t necessarily line up with the house. So it is plausible that the box truck driver might have had difficulty identifying exactly which house he was supposed to deliver to, especially since it was pouring down rain at the time. Additionally, many of the houses on that street share a driveway.
My theory was that when Billy stepped onto his porch, he saw the maroon SUV after it had backed out of the driveway and then pulled forward to allow the truck to back into the driveway. Billy told me that he had been standing on the porch for some time when he saw the maroon SUV, followed by the white box truck coming down the street.
lastly, Billy added another detail that puts my theory to rest. He said that as the maroon SUV stopped just in front of Calvin’s driveway, the driver rolled down the window and pointed over the car’s roof toward Calvin’s house.
I learned another detail from Billy. Detective Noiseworthy testified that they did a neighborhood canvass the day the bodies were discovered. I knew Billy Watkins had not been interviewed until nearly six months later. I thought that perhaps he wasn’t home at the time. Billy said he was home the whole day and watched the police from his kitchen window. So much for a thorough neighborhood canvas.
