Another 'Zodiac' killer on the loose?

Those who knew her closest
Who could have known that Touma had just returned from a three-year assignment in Germany and had elected to live off-post, at least until June 21 when she was due to check out of the motel? Her ex-husband, a corrections officer in Charleston, S.C., professes shock at Touma’s death, indicating he learned of her death via e-mail from his father. And who, of course, is the father of Touma’s unborn child? By one report he is a married U.S. Army sergeant who was stationed with her in Germany and who is now stationed at, of course, Ft. Bragg.  In the case of Marine Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, her killer was the married father of her unborn child.

By another report Touma was engaged to a soldier stationed at Ft. Bragg, again someone she had served with in Germany.  If either story is correct, one or both soldiers will need to account for their whereabouts around the time of the victim’s suspected death.  Police have allegedly searched the home of at least one local suspect and removed items from the home for scientific analysis.  This “person of interest” is assigned to the JFK Special Warfare School studying psychological operations (PSYOPS), which, would include using subterfuge, lies and half-truths to confuse your enemy. Perhaps this man will prove to be the last person to have had any type of contact with Touma. “The investigation continues.”

If the writing on the mirror and the anonymous letter were simply done to mislead police, to point them in another direction by someone who’s watched, read and studied about past serial killers, then investigators will be quick to return to the usual suspects in such crimes.  Police will look at those closest to the victim, someone who could have known she was back in America and someone who could have found her at the motel; someone who could slip quietly in and out of her room to visit, and apparently kill her. If the police and the FBI are unable to link the death of Touma with the murder of other victims, this as suggested in the confessed killer’s letter, then the usual suspects will likely include her killer.

Right now there is no reason to believe a copy cat serial killer is stalking new victims in other states as the letter suggests, but this case will take on a media life until Touma’s cause of death is determined, and her believed killer is identified. And while investigators and the medical examiner consider Touma’s likely cause of death, they will likely also consider the remote possibility of an elaborate suicide.  By this, could Touma have become depressed, perhaps related to the father of the child she carried, to the point that she would take both her and her unborn child’s life after weaving a complicated hoax, to include writing and mailing the letter just prior to taking her own life?  But why would anyone construct such a morbid hoax?  Depending on the victim’s cause of death, this “CSI” type of suicide is perhaps something investigators will need to consider, but at the present time a scenario on the lower end of their list of Touma’s likely cause and method of death.

Meanwhile the murder of Megan Lynn Touma, someone described by those who knew her as friendly and fun-loving, a crime the anonymous letter writer has suggested was a “master piece,” will likely turn out to be one more sad and terrible incident of anger, frustration and rage directed against a pregnant woman who, statistically, has the most to fear from the very person who impregnated her.

Clint Van Zandt is a former FBI agent, behavioral profiler and hostage negotiator as well as an MSNBC analyst. His Web site, www.LiveSecure.org, provides readers with security-related information.

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