Can't They Just Hire a Hitman?
I was watching the news tonight when I saw this story about two elderly women befriending homeless men and then allegedly killing them for insurance money. What I found interesting was the way the news story portrayed this tragedy. Instead of focusing on the cruelty of this act, the story seems to ponder the idea that women of this age should not be involved in such dirty work:
What is the point of this remark by the detective--that these ladies should have had better things to do than actually dirty their hands with killing these men? Uhh--detective--did you ever stop to think that women so cruel that they would try to rip off homeless men might resort to anything? Really--shouldn't the point of the story be that potential killers can come in all shapes, sizes, ages, and genders? What a sad story.
Police are investigating two women in their 70s who they believe hatched a scheme to offer two homeless men shelter, then collect more than $2 million in insurance policies after they were killed in hit-and-run crashes.
Police also believe the women may have committed the accidents and were befriending other men to set up more insurance policies.
"Anyone would think that even though they're making financial gains for this, that they would leave the actual dirty work to someone else or hire someone," police Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said. "We're not so sure about that anymore."
What is the point of this remark by the detective--that these ladies should have had better things to do than actually dirty their hands with killing these men? Uhh--detective--did you ever stop to think that women so cruel that they would try to rip off homeless men might resort to anything? Really--shouldn't the point of the story be that potential killers can come in all shapes, sizes, ages, and genders? What a sad story.
posted by Helen at 8:01 PM
11 Comments:
Yes, why could't they be like the nice little old ladies in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Keep in mind that the statement lacks context and that the reporter (Daisy Nguyen) had chosen to make it prominent, not the detective.
For instance, he may have been recounting the history of the investigation, its link to a similar crime from 1999, and explaining the investigators' original theory of the crimes. It appears that they'd originally pursued the case as one of insurance fraud.
Police traffic investigators discovered the alleged scam when they were looking into a fatal hit-and-run accident last fall. One investigator mentioned the case of two women who had taken out large life insurance policies on 50-year-old Kenneth McDavid when another recalled working on a similar case in 1999, in which 73-year-old Paul Vados was killed.
So when explaining why this wasn't a murder investigation from the onset, he may have said..
"Anyone would think that even though they're making financial gains for this, that they would leave the actual dirty work to someone else or hire someone," police Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said. "We're not so sure about that anymore."
In fairness 'Police traffic investigators', more likely a Vehicle Crimes Unit, regulary encounter insurance fraud and so may have pursued this avenue initially as a matter of standard protocols.
Notice the use of 'aspect' below, implying a multipart investigation.
"focusing our direction directly at Helen and Olga for the murder aspect of the investigation."
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Victorian attitudes about women are firmly entrenched in both normal and PC American cultures. The police might be more traditionaly respectful of women, especially elderly women, while the PC media would judge them as having less moral agency for their actions due to their double-victim status (women, old).
Most of us judge a group's propensity for crime and types of crime on a probability scale. Since our authorities encounter few old ladies who are murderers, it's reasonable to initially look in a different fdirection. There is nothing wrong with that. I suspect they would do the same with old men for the same reasons.
Other groups have a higher incidence of murder. For example, the probability that a gang banger is a murderer is much higher. In a case with those guys, it's reasonable to look closer at them as murderers.
Female scumbags get away with a lot. Let's hope that changes.
You know, I wish I could find documentation for this, but I seem to recall a story on the TV (I think it may even have been ABC News) some twenty years ago of women meeting men in airport lounges or in bars in hotels near airports, inviting these men to their rooms for a drink, and then the men waking up to an empty hotel room having been thoroughly robbed. Each of the men related having been offered, and accepted, a drink from the women, which was obviously drugged. The name of the drug was discussed, but it's been so long that I can't remember it.
Does anyone else recall this? Or am I hallucinating?
Frank H
It's not a gender thing, it's an age thing.
We have no trouble believing in the 30-40 year old woman luring a man in and killing him.
But a "little old lady" being a cold-blooded and conniving killer is not something we're willing to countenance. "Grandma" isn't supposed to do those sorts of things.
Brian,
I think it is both gender and age that older women can get away with things almost in broad daylight that men or perhaps younger women cannot. It is also the way that they prey on people--not in the typical fashion but more behind the scenes with people who no one really cares about (i.e. the elderly, men, homeless).
The media has little frame of reference for these crimes--especially those that involve serial killers. Believe it or not--women make up 17% of serial killers but no one counts them because we do not perceive them as frightening characters like Jack the Ripper. There are some female killers who dress older to look like little old ladies so they can get away with more right under people's noses. Why? Because no one bothers to think they are guilty. Even when female predators are caught--people respond to them with curiousity rather than fear.
FrankH: Yes, and then they wake up in a bathtub full of ice and find that one of their kidneys is gone!!
helen,
Let's all be on the lookout for those little old ladies lurking in the shadows behind their walkers. Your whining and complaining hit a new low today. Maybe tomorrow you can tell us about those dastardly paraplegics preying on men and boys? Thanks for alerting us to the threat. Lions, and tigers, and bears, Oh MY!!!
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