Unresolved Oddities; The Enviousdominous Files

[EnviousDominous]

I'm just a very curious person, and it's very cathartic to put ideas into writing. This thread may be read by, I dunno', ten people. Maybe one of those people will wonder who I am outside of my SteelCageForums persona. What I'm getting at is that I'm going to share opinions regarding criminal cases, some of which are ongoing, that points toward rampant police corruption and deliberate miscarriages of justice. I hope I spark some interest in these odd cases, but for the most part I'm wearing the anonymity of this forum as a means of avoiding the potential wrath of those involved.

I understand that my opinions should be taken with a grain of salt, and what I am going to share in this and future posts are based primarily on information I've scrounged from the internet. I promise that I have no personal connection to any of what I'll share, and am only posting as a means of satisfying my curiosity.

So, for my first example, I'd like to examine the ongoing investigation into the kidnapping and murder of Leigh Matthews.

Leigh Matthews (brief) Bio

Click for Spoiler:

Leigh Matthews was an aspiring college student in Johannesburg South Africa, who would go missing the day of a planned celebration of her 21st birthday, on 9 July 2004. By all accounts, Leigh had a reputation as a very smart and responsible young woman. While her parents seemed well off financially, she wasn't the type to spend money foolishly. She had planned her 21st birthday meticulously, and wanted a celebration themed as an homage to Pirates of the Caribbean. She was well liked and respected by her family and peers, and didn't have any known enemies.

Leigh Matthews Mother explains her daughter's disappearance

Click for Spoiler:

Sharon Matthews, Mother to Leigh Matthews, explained that she had received a text from Leigh indicating that Leigh was mistakenly in the possession of her Mother's credit card. They arranged to meet at Leigh's college, Bond University, at 10am so that Leigh could return the credit card. Sharon claimed that when she arrived, her daughter wasn't where they had planned to meet. Sharon claims that she had asked several students where her daughter was, and was told by one student that Leigh had been seen alone in the parking lot while another student had stated that Leigh was seen with an unidentifiable male in the parking lot. Sharon claims that she assumed at that point that Leigh was simply held up in class, and waited while attempting to contact her daughter on her cell phone by texting and calling. Eventually, after repeated calls, a man answered the phone and stated that he had kidnapped Leigh. Sharon claims that she had initially assumed that the person was playing a prank, and laughed at them. The individual became irate, and told Sharon that he would murder Leigh if his instructions weren't followed. It was at this point that Sharon claims that she realized that her daughter's car wasn't in the parking lot. The kidnapper ended the call, and Sharon called her husband Rob.

Rob Matthews explains his conversation with the kidnapper

Click for Spoiler:

Rob explained that he had called his daughter's cell phone, and that a man answered. The man identified himself as Leigh's kidnapper, and demanded 300,000 South African Rand (roughly $50,000 dollars American) in exchange for her life. The kidnapper stated that if Rob went to the police, that Leigh would be killed. Rob visited different banks, and managed to withdraw 300,000 Rand. While he was traveling between banks, Rob contacted a private investigator who worked for a company called Revert Risk Management. He arranged to meet the private investigator at a local gas station, where the investigator suggested secretly involving the police. Rob contacted police, and later met with police Superintendent Deon Scheepers. The Superintendent suggested that when Rob speaks to the kidnappers again, that he claim to only be able to obtain 50,000 Rand to determine the desperation of the kidnappers. Rob claims that when he was later contacted by the kidnappers, though not in the company of any witnesses, the kidnapper agreed to accept 50,000 Rand, and they arranged to meet at a secluded freeway offramp at 8pm that same evening so that the payment could be made. Rob traveled to the location with a police officer hiding in the backseat, but became understandably nervous before reaching the planned destination, and dropped the police officer off at a gas station a few miles from the offramp. Rob claims that he was so nervous, that he mistakenly drove past the offramp where the payment was supposed to be made. When he did, the kidnapper called him and angrily shouted at him for missing the offramp. Rob claimed to police that the man, when angry, spoke in an accent that sounded like that of a Black African. Rob drove back to the dropoff point, and flashed his headlights three times as was agreed upon earlier to be the signal that it was Rob with the payment. A figure, of which Rob couldn't later identify, approached the vehicle from behind and tapped on the rear passenger side window. Rob opened the passenger door and threw out an envelope containing 50,000 Rand. Rob was instructed by the individual to drive, and he drove away slowly while expecting to receive a call from his daughter or from someone who could tell him where his daughter was located. He claims to have driven until 11:25pm that evening, and only then realized that he needed to contact police to explain what had happened.

The police arrange a task force at this point, and set up a soundproof room in the Matthews' residence to prepare for any future calls from the kidnappers. Curiously; the kidnappers never call again.

Rob Matthews holds a press conference

Click for Spoiler:

Against the advice of police and private investigators, Rob contacts media outlets and arranges a press conference at his home to plead for his daughter's life. When asked the identity of the kidnapper, Rob recalled at this time that when speaking over the phone that the kidnapper had claimed to be from Libya, and he stated that when upset the kidnapper spoke with a foreign accent. Rob pleaded ?Please let her go. Please. We?ve been to hell and back and that?s only half the journey.?

Rob would hold another press conference after his first received significant media attention, and roughly 40 hours after his daughter went missing. At this conference, he would say angrily ?What kind of people do this to others? Do they have no pity? Even bad people must have some feelings.?

The Matthews' home became a command center where police would work in shifts to provide 24 hours of coverage, waiting eagerly for messages from kidnappers, though none would come. Police attempted to locate Leigh's cell phone by triangulating the signal from when the kidnappers had called Rob and Sharon, but were unable to locate her phone or any sign of her in spite of this capability.

Leigh's corpse is found

Click for Spoiler:

On the morning of July 21st, 2004, a man was harvesting tall grass from a field and came upon the nude body of a young woman. He immediately traveled to a nearby bar, and phoned police to report the body. When police arrived, they determined that the body was that of Leigh Matthews. She had been shot two times in the back of the head and two more times in the chest, though her body was very well preserved. Suspiciously, there was no blood found at the scene, and forensic experts would later determine that Leigh would have lost at least 2 liters of blood from her wounds. Bullet casings were found at the scene, though they were grouped together to indicate that they had been planted. There were also no bullet slugs found in or near where the body was found. By all rational interpretations, the scene was staged to appear as though Leigh had been murdered in the field. Curiously; the police would still use the obviously planted shells to determine that the weapon used to inflict bullet wounds was a 9mm Taurus pistol. Forensic investigators would find that Leigh had not been sexually assaulted.

The search for the kidnapper(s) intensified, and the case drew international attention. It's reported that Nelson Mandela, who was then the President of South Africa, personally contacted Sharon Matthews to encourage her to know that her daughter would receive justice. A nationally renowned detective, Piet Byleveld, would take over the case. He revisited every known scene, and chose to focus on details of the phone call that occurred between Rob Matthews and the kidnapper. Piet was told that the kidnapper had used an Indian accent when he became irate, and thus the investigation was directed toward Leigh's classmates who have Indian names. Piet found the name of a classmate, Donovan Moodley, and it's curiously reported that he determined based on that name that Donovan was an Indian man and thus investigating Donovan as a prime suspect. Though, Donovan Moodley is an Anglo-Saxon name by origin.

Piet gathers evidence against Donovan

Click for Spoiler:

Donovan was a fellow student at Bond University, but by all accounts he and Leigh did not associate with each other. He had also worked for a finance company for three years prior to these events, but was fired on assumption of fraud. However; no fraud charges were ever filed. He was Indian by origin, but did not speak with an Indian accent. Donovan's spending was closely analyzed, and it was determined that in the days following the payment of 50,000 Rand, Donovan had spent money on random purchases (motorcycle repairs, jewelry for his girlfriend, a lavish trip with friends) that amounted to almost 50,000 Rand.

Leigh's car was found by police around this time, and in the vehicle police found a lottery ticket that they claim
had a fingerprint. Conflicting accounts from police indicate that they had linked the print to Donovan. Police initially claimed that since Donovan was a licensed gun owner, that they had already had his fingerprint in file and could thus link him to the piece of evidence. Later; Piet would contradict this claim by indicating that he only obtained Donovan's fingerprints after arresting him and that until then the evidence was inconclusive. Based on this evidence, Piet arrested Donovan.

Donovan was interrogated without a lawyer or representative present, and would confess to the crime during this interrogation. Piet claimed that when he arrested Donovan, that Donovan had casually asked "What took you so long?" which Donovan would later deny. Piet would claim in interviews that the interrogation was very uneventful, that Donovan calmly and coldly admitted to kidnapping Leigh out of greed for a potential ransom and that had later murdered her in the field where she was found out of fear that she would identify him if she was left alive. Donovan however, would claim that he endured extreme torture at the hands of Piet Byleveld. Donovan claimed that he was aware of details of the case prior to his arrest due to the media exposure the case had received, and that the torture intensified when after confessing he had attempted to implicate other kidnappers. Apparently, Piet wanted the public to believe that Donovan had acted alone and had thus coerced Donovan to claim to be fully responsible for her death.

The trial

Click for Spoiler:

Sharon Matthews was curiously satisfied that Leigh's kidnapper had been caught, and that the family could now have some closure with his arrest and eventual conviction. Donovan pleaded guilty to the charges, and thus he would not be cross-examined and Piet wouldn't be required to make a statement in regard to his investigation. Forensic examiners were very puzzled by this occurrence, because it was their conclusion that more than one individual had to have been involved. Donovan was found guilty of kidnapping, extortion, and murder. He was sentenced to life in prison, and the media lamented the fact that the death penalty was not an option for justice in South Africa.

It would also be claimed that when police searched Donovan's car, that two blonde hairs were found. The hairs were determined, by assuming alone, that they belonged to Leigh Matthews. Forensic examinations determined that Leigh was murdered by the first gunshot to the head, and that she was in a sitting position when killed. No blood was found in any of Donovan's vehicles. Donovan's confession was curiously flawed, in that he claimed to have murdered Leigh in the field where she was found, though she obviously had been planted there long after being murdered. Her feet had signs of post-mortem frostbite, indicating that her body had been stored in a freezer during sometime before being planted in the field. Investigators chose not to investigate a funeral home owned by a relative of Donovan Moodley, or any of the freezers that Donovan owned for evidence of Leigh having been stored at either location. No explanation was given for why they chose not to investigate these obvious leads. The apparent assumption among investigators is that Donovan is lying about the circumstances of Leigh's death for unknown reasons, and that it's by his will alone that the true details are not known. Donovan claims, for the record, that his spending was financed by the sale of his BMW, which was corroborated by the individuals who purchased the vehicle.

It's claimed that Donovan had confessed to taking Leigh's clothing prior to murdering her, and that he then returned to his home where he burned her and his clothes and belongings of hers that he had taken from
the scene. Curiously, he confessed to returning to the scene a few days after murdering her to retrieve a ring that the media had reported Leigh's mother had given her. If this really happened, then the body would have been in a greater state of decomposition due to having laid in the field for weeks before being found, which forensic investigators concluded could not have happened. Police found the burned remains of Leigh's clothes and phone near the home where Donovan lived.

My conclusion

Click for Spoiler:

I find it strikingly odd that, given the conclusion of the media and forensic investigators that more than one individual had to have been involved, that Leigh's Mother and Father are satisfied with Donovan's arrest and conviction. Also; no account of this case indicates that anyone else had been present when Leigh's kidnappers spoke with Leigh's Mother and Father over the phone. Leigh's Father had supposedly spent a period of six hours gathering ransom money and negotiating with the kidnappers before contacting a private investigator, and when he agreed to meet with the kidnapper while a police officer hid in the backseat, he instead became nervous and went alone.

I feel that Leigh's parents are responsible for her death.

I believe that behind the scenes of happiness and love, that there was financial strife between Leigh and her parents. I feel that when Rob claimed he was obtaining 300,000 Rand, of which no bank could confirm that he had received all or part of, he was instead planting the dead body of his daughter in a frozen storage and had contacted a private investigator with his story. I believe that Sharon was involved in Leigh's death, and used the alibi of being at the university for an extended period of time to explain her own whereabouts. I feel that Leigh being in possession of her mother's credit card was a factor in her death.

When this story caught national attention, Piet Byleveld saw the opportunity to enhance his fame. He concocted the idea that Leigh had been approached by Donovan in the University parking lot, who had asked Leigh for a ride. That after Leigh had driven far enough away, that Donovan produced the 9mm Taurus pistol and had then kidnapped her and answered her phone to indicate to her Sharon that he had kidnapped Leigh.

Piet Byleveld would later claim in interviews and in his books recounting the kidnapping that he believes that Donovan had financed his lavish lifestyle through unproven kidnappings, and that only because the families involved had paid the random and thus had their relatives returned safely the police were never called in regard to the kidnappings. He would also claim years later that he agreed that other kidnappers had to be involved, though when pressed by interviewers he would become strangely sheepish and refuse to answer any further questions claiming that he's merely a police officer.

What I find to be most inconsistent with the claim that Leigh had agreed to give Donovan a ride, was that she had apparently agreed to meet her mother to return the credit card, but had apparently agreed to leave the University with Donovan immediately after indicating that she would meet her mother in the University parking lot. If Leigh was truly as responsible as is claimed, then she likely would have refused to leave the University of her own free will that close to meeting her mother, and it's claimed that she didn't inform her mother of this trip because she "trusted" Donovan, even though other students claimed that Leigh and Donovan did not associate with each other.

Donovan has attempted to file multiple appeals to his conviction in the years since, and all have been dismissed on the grounds that his story has changed multiple times but has always maintained that he did indeed kidnap and murder Leigh.

I believe that Donovan was made to believe, through intense and unyielding techniques of torture and interrogation, that he was indeed involved in a kidnapping and murder that forensic examiners proved could not have happened the way he remembers.

Thank you if you bothered to read all of that. This was very therapeutic for me.