Shameful: 'Today' Plays Heart-Rending 911 Tape of DC Madam's Mother

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[iowamark]

If she was going to blackmail someone, she would have done that before being convicted of several felonies, wouldn’t she?

[bvw]

The point is, in her profession, and in her particular business, she did have information that was sensitive and valuable enough to be used for blackmail, whether she did blackmail or not. That means motive, because what some will pay to keep hidden, another will kill to keep hidden.

[maryz]

I don't think there's any reason for 911 calls to be made public when it's a legitimate call handled appropriately. (I think there was a case in Boston a few years back of truly inept handling by the dispatcher, and it made the papers.)

In any case, the call isn't the news, and generally, they make lousy entertainment -- sound quality is usually so bad, the TV has to run subtitles. But they can do it, and it's been done -- talk about the herd of independent minds!

[maryz]

that “suicide” has to be marked with a permanent question mark.

From what I've read numerous times over the years, women typically don't choose violent or potentially disfiguring methods of suicide. They favor poison or the ever popular alcohol-and-pills. Everything about this is just begging for further investigation.

[bvw]

Means, motive, opportunity.

As you say the means -- that is the form of the death -- is suspect. And it is clear that while she did have motive for suicide, others also had motive for her murder. So that leaves opportunity -- have the investigators pursued that?

Probably not.