There's No Need For a Trial...

This idiot is guiltier than sin, if that's even possible.

I'll post the text I'm referring to, but for those of you not local, you may not know the story. So here it is: Last week there was a car fire in an alley in south Minneapolis, which isn't so odd. Cars burn all the time for various reasons. It's not news. But of course, the FD discovered the body of Kristine Larson (age 19) inside. THAT'S news. A dead body in a burning car. Hmmmmm....

Last night, or maybe the night before, the news channels interviewed the girl's family. Ms. Larson apparently had a child and the boyfriend (or ex-bf?) was apparently a suspect, which is natural in such a weird death. Well, the family was denying it across the board - "No way, not him. They had their problems, I'm sure, but he wouldn't do anything like that. No problems at that level."

So jump to today, the story to be found on KARE11.com:

Prosecutors on Wednesday charged the ex-boyfriend of a murdered woman with strangling her, then starting a car fire and leaving her body inside.

19-year-old Kristine Larson is the mother of 21-year-old Zachery Matthews' two year old son, Darion.

Matthews claimed to police that he found Larson already dead when he arrived at his home in Saint Paul last week.

He told police he found her in a closet, placed her in her car and drove it to an alley on 24th Avenue South in Minneapolis.

But he denied setting her or the car on fire.

Larson died the same day she went to Matthews' home to pick up their son.

Matthews originally grieved with Larson's family late last week, but police arrested him on Sunday. Larson's family members say they are simply horrified by Matthews' arrest.

"For the three days before he was arrested, he's been here, crying with us, hugging us, falling to the floor, sleeping in her bed. We thought his tears were like ours, tears of sorrow and apparently they were tears of guilt," says Michelle Sveiven, Larson's sister. "Her child is left without a mother. Her mother and father are left without a daughter and our entire family has lost somebody very dear to us that can never be replaced."

Court documents outlining the charges did not spell out a motive for the murder. The couple's relationship ended several months ago.

Larson's family members say they were concerned Matthews' behavior was becoming dangerous. Her sister describes arguments and unexplained bruises on Larson's body.

A year ago, Matthews was charged with assaulting Larson's mother. Family members say she was injured trying to protect little Darion, during an argument between Larson and Matthews. At that time, Matthews was ordered by the court to take anger management classes.

Kristine Larson's funeral will be held Thursday, December 27th.

OK. Did you get all that? Let's look at this part again:

Matthews claimed to police that he found Larson already dead when he arrived at his home in Saint Paul last week.

He told police he found her in a closet, placed her in her car and drove it to an alley on 24th Avenue South in Minneapolis.

Riiiiiiiiight.

OK, that's a completely logical chain of events, just what ANYONE would do in the same set of circumstances.

He arrives home and finds his BabyMama (that's a real word) mysteriously dead and stuffed in a closet.

So he does what ANY reasonable person would do...he takes her lifeless corpse and puts it in her car, which was ostensibly parked at his house (the article doesn't say but we can logically - using REAL logic - surmise that as she was at his house and she had gone there to pick up their child, well, she obviously must have driven there.) So anyway, she's dead. No big whoop. What to do?

Put her in her car. That makes sense. It just doesn't DO to have the murdered corpse of the BabyMama hanging out in the closet. The next girlfriend might complain.

So he puts her in her car, and drives her...where else? To an alley in south Minneapolis.

And leaves her there.

Isn't that how people take care of their dead? Of course. Perfectly logical. That's just what anyone would do if they were thinking straight. And telling the police all about it, no doubt with a poker face, a lot of sweat, grumbling, complaining, and con-man simplicity.

Only thing is, his story is completely idiotic.

People, seriously...if you are going to kill someone, at least have a good story. This would be funny if it wasn't so completely tragic and heartbreaking.

"But he denied setting her or the car on fire."

REALLY?!

Well, that makes it better. He took his dead girlfriend, loaded her into her own car and brought it to south Minneapolis and abandoned it there. But some unknown stranger happened along, saw that a woman was "sleeping" in a darkened Minneapolis alley, and took the next logical step...of buring the girl and the car in some weird tribute to...what....the god of urban decay?

This guy is guilty. I've never said this before and likely will never do so again, and I'm in the wrong county anyway, but I would LOVE to serve on the jury that hangs his sorry ass. That guy deserves to burn.

OK, I just went to Confession tonight, and now I have to go back. Minnesota does not have the death penalty, and truth be told, I'm against it. But there IS such a thing as righteous anger, and let me just say....let Vengeance be God's. Yeah, I know I should be praying Divine Mercies, but this ticks me off so much that for now, I can't.

Of course, I'll never be chosen for jury duty for such a trial as that; the Defense would preempt me off just given my background and education.

But just the same...to be a fly on the wall during his court proceedings would be a blast. His story will go down in dumb criminal history.

And the poor orphaned child won't grow up to know his mother or his father...please keep that child especially in your prayers this Christmas season, and the grieving family.

As my regular readers know, a year ago I was a claims investigator, and my specialty was fire and theft claims. This is exactly the type of claim that used to land on my desk. While the basic investiation usually revolved around detecting and ruling out fraud, this one would be paid quickly unless the idiot in question was also on the title.

And fatalities are always handled delicately. Say what you will about insurance companies, but while I was there I saw a great deal of compassion on behalf of people who suffered great losses. We had to be obedient to policy language, but if there were loopholes that allowed us to pay things to grieving families...we did it. I digress, but two weeks after I began my position as an investigator, I handled a claim involving a guy who had burned to death in his car. It happened on November 30. It was a suicide, but we never officially ruled it. Instead, we called it a mechanical accident (on the evidence we had on the car itself) and ignored the human factor that had caused the mechanical "accident." If we had done otherwise, the claim could have been denied. We didn't want to go there, because then the grieving family would suffer that much more.

I thank God every day that I don't have to deal with this stuff anymore, but at the same time, handling such things and sitting across from real criminals has also made me quite crusty. It's no wonder that people in such fields become jaded very quickly; the sorry state of human nature is all too apparent, and the vile acts covered by innocent smiles and deceptive platitudes become all too obvious over time.

Please pray for Kristine Larson and her family, especially her child - their own trial is just beginning and there is no end in sight.