The Gayoso Murder

I didn't know the young woman, a DJ for RadioPig now Q107.5, murdered in the Gayoso House apartments over the weekend. Her murder seems to have gotten the usual television news sensationalism, of course.

But there are questions. It seems, according to one television news story, that she was murdered Saturday night, but her body wasn't discovered until coworkers found her around noon Monday. She had no friends, not even in the building? That's odd, but not that odd, as I had a friend and neighbor who was last seen on a Thursday and not discovered dead until early Sunday morning. He was the namesake for my cat, Bennie.

The newspaper story says that someone was going around the Gayoso knocking on doors. How did they know this? More importantly, how did he get in? I thought the Gayoso was a gated and keyed apartment building. It looks that way in this picture. Another, less reassuring, view is here. The CA says:

Police said Tuesday she was strangled by a man who slipped past security cameras and key-card stations into the Gayoso House apartments at 103 S. Front.

Note the use of "slipped past" implying no guilt on someone's part. And did no one in the building report some stranger knocking on doors late night Saturday to management? What wasn't done then? There's a gap in the timeline here that screams "elision."

Who let him in and why? Is traffic in and out so high that laxity set it? Did the murderer hit the buzzer, hoping someone would just let him in without question? Did someone hold the door for him, not knowing? This needs to be explained.

Also, according to the paper the murderers were caught within 12 hours of discovering her body:

Items stolen from the apartment were recovered on the street by police, leading to the arrest of a man and woman in Frayser about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday.

"On the street?" You mean outside? At a pawnshop? Some snitch saw them and recognised them when police started asking questions? The items were taken on Saturday night and "recovered" on a Monday? Again, where?

The paper also noted the assistance of "federal agents." From what department? Why were they called in? How does an in-home murder rate that highly?

Lots of questions remain. I hope we get the answer.

On related notes: The Gayoso House Apartments are owned by Jack Belz and are a part of the Peabody Place complex. Did the high traffic in that area play a part in the failure of security? You can go to this site to see the apartment rating, which ironically mentions security as a good feature. Lastly, you can learn about the history of the building here.

A lot of questions surround the security in the building and what happened. Some questions about the investigation and solving of the case remain as well. I hope we will learn more in the days ahead. I hope the names Belz and Peabody Place don't deter deeper inquiries and reporting.