Devin,+Ghanash,+Robbie,+James


 * A Young Life Cut Short **

 Bob Smith and Jane Doe were madly in love after graduating from high school and starting their bright futures at Northwest Arkansas Community College. However, the news of Jane’s pregnancy caused them both to drop out of school to take care of their new child, Joe. Since they were not ready to take care of a child, they tried every way possible to get rid of Joe. They tried abortion during the pregnancy and adoption after the baby was born, but Jane’s strict, conservative parents would have none of this modern blasphemy. Bob’s parents also genuinely shared this belief after a convincing display by Jane’s parents. They all strongly insisted that Jane keep the baby, and due to their providing financially for Bob and Jane, Jane had no choice other than to keep the baby. Jane was resentful of the fact that she had no control over her situation and rumors had surfaced that Jane had contemplated getting rid of her child once and for all. The rumors did not explicitly state how she was going to accomplish this, but people assumed the worst. Bob, on the other hand, dealt with his frustration in a more appropriate way; he took up gun collecting, and took great pride in his small collection. However, Bob was, unfortunately, very forgetful, which led to many occasions in which he left loaded guns in the house.

On Halloween Day, Jane and Bob had left the four-year-old Joe in their small home while they went to a Halloween party. Of course, since they and their friends were relatively poor, the party did not involve any actual costumes. Being at least average parents, they had remembered to at least keep the door locked and the windows closed. According to Jane, when she and Bob returned, they “saw Joe lying dead on the floor”. After a slight moment of hesitation, Jane said that she “has no idea who could have done this”.

The initial police report states that the child was indeed shot by the gun that was on top of him, it occurred at very close proximity, and only one bullet was found at the crime scene. The boy had no bruises or lesions beside the one bullet wound. The parents have not been officially questioned yet, but police have noted that both parents seem to have severe arthritis. A closer inspection of the gun showed that both the inside and the outside of the gun had been recently oiled, which inhibited police from extracting any definite fingerprints. A brief questioning of a few, randomly selected partygoers stated that only Bob was seen at the party; contrary to Jane’s initial testimony at the crime scene, no one had seen her at the party.

Was this truly a murder?

HoF Report