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The Perfect Murder


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Paul Wallace was a middle-man who arranged corrupt government contracts in the United States. A bit like the role Bobby Baker played in 1963. However, rumours had been circulating that his activities were being investigated by Seymour Hersh.

On the morning of 15th December, Wallace had arranged for meetings with three men (Carl Quintero, Rafael Jenkins and Malcolm Helliwell) who were working unofficially for multinational companies involved in the arms industry who were all anxious to obtain a proposed multi-billion defence contract from the US government.

The three men arrived between 9.00 and 9.30. They waited in Wallace’s outer office with his secretary, Marita Lorenz. At 9.30 Lorenz entered Wallace’s main office. She came out at 9.40 and said that Wallace wished to see Quintero.

Quintero came out of Wallace’s office at 10.15. He said that Wallace had to look up some information and would call in Jenkins as soon as he was ready.

At 10.18 a shot rang out from Wallace’s office. The secretary and the three men immediately rushed in and discovered Wallace had been shot in the right side of his head. He was lying dead on his desk. By his right hand was a Tokarev, a 7.62-mm Russian automatic.

The police arrived at 10.35. As Wallace’s office was on the 27th floor and the only access to the room was via the outer office, it did not take them long to decide it was a case of suicide.

In fact, Carl Quintero had committed the perfect murder. How did he do it?

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Paul Wallace was a middle-man who arranged corrupt government contracts in the United States. A bit like the role Bobby Baker played in 1963. However, rumours had been circulating that his activities were being investigated by Seymour Hersh.

On the morning of 15th December, Collins had arranged for meetings with three men (Carl Quintero, Rafael Jenkins and Malcolm Helliwell) who were working unofficially for multinational companies involved in the arms industry who were all anxious to obtain a proposed multi-billion defence contract from the US government.

The three men arrived between 9.00 and 9.30. They waited in Wallace’s outer office with his secretary, Marita Lorenz. At 9.30 Lorenz entered Wallace’s main office. She came out at 9.40 and said that Wallace wished to see Quintero.

Quintero came out of Wallace’s office at 10.15. He said that Wallace had to look up some information and would call in Jenkins as soon as he was ready.

At 10.18 a shot rang out from Wallace’s office. The secretary and the three men immediately rushed in and discovered Wallace had been shot in the right side of his head. He was lying dead on his desk. By his right hand was a Tokarev, a 7.62-mm Russian automatic.

The police arrived at 10.35. As Wallace’s office was on the 27th floor and the only access to the room was via the outer office, it did not take them long to decide it was a case of suicide.

In fact, Carl Quintero had committed the perfect murder. How did he do it?

You can ask me questions?

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Guest Stephen Turner

Quintero had obviously shot Wallace before leaving his office, perhaps he used a silencer?The gunshot heard at 10-18 was either a recorded shot, or took place out side the office, although I cant figure out how this was achieved.

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Paul Wallace was a middle-man who arranged corrupt government contracts in the United States. A bit like the role Bobby Baker played in 1963. However, rumours had been circulating that his activities were being investigated by Seymour Hersh.

On the morning of 15th December, Wallace had arranged for meetings with three men (Carl Quintero, Rafael Jenkins and Malcolm Helliwell) who were working unofficially for multinational companies involved in the arms industry who were all anxious to obtain a proposed multi-billion defence contract from the US government.

The three men arrived between 9.00 and 9.30. They waited in Wallace’s outer office with his secretary, Marita Lorenz. At 9.30 Lorenz entered Wallace’s main office. She came out at 9.40 and said that Wallace wished to see Quintero.

Quintero came out of Wallace’s office at 10.15. He said that Wallace had to look up some information and would call in Jenkins as soon as he was ready.

At 10.18 a shot rang out from Wallace’s office. The secretary and the three men immediately rushed in and discovered Wallace had been shot in the right side of his head. He was lying dead on his desk. By his right hand was a Tokarev, a 7.62-mm Russian automatic.

The police arrived at 10.35. As Wallace’s office was on the 27th floor and the only access to the room was via the outer office, it did not take them long to decide it was a case of suicide.

In fact, Carl Quintero had committed the perfect murder. How did he do it?

Quintero had been trained in hypnotism by stage hypnotist, Will DeMur. DeMur had been hired by CONTROL for its top secret program, MC/HAMMER.

Upon entering the room, Quintero placed Wallace under a hypnotic trance and put the gun on the desk. He then implanted the post-hypnotic suggestion that Wallace look up certain information, and and that, upon reading specified key words, he would pick up the gun, point it at his head and fire. He further implanted the suggestion that the gun was not loaded - thus circumventing the problem of the will to live effectively overcoming the subconcious impulse to obey the implanted orders.

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Paul Wallace was a middle-man who arranged corrupt government contracts in the United States. A bit like the role Bobby Baker played in 1963. However, rumours had been circulating that his activities were being investigated by Seymour Hersh.

On the morning of 15th December, Wallace had arranged for meetings with three men (Carl Quintero, Rafael Jenkins and Malcolm Helliwell) who were working unofficially for multinational companies involved in the arms industry who were all anxious to obtain a proposed multi-billion defence contract from the US government.

The three men arrived between 9.00 and 9.30. They waited in Wallace’s outer office with his secretary, Marita Lorenz. At 9.30 Lorenz entered Wallace’s main office. She came out at 9.40 and said that Wallace wished to see Quintero.

Quintero came out of Wallace’s office at 10.15. He said that Wallace had to look up some information and would call in Jenkins as soon as he was ready.

At 10.18 a shot rang out from Wallace’s office. The secretary and the three men immediately rushed in and discovered Wallace had been shot in the right side of his head. He was lying dead on his desk. By his right hand was a Tokarev, a 7.62-mm Russian automatic.

The police arrived at 10.35. As Wallace’s office was on the 27th floor and the only access to the room was via the outer office, it did not take them long to decide it was a case of suicide.

In fact, Carl Quintero had committed the perfect murder. How did he do it?

Quintero had been trained in hypnotism by stage hypnotist, Will DeMur. DeMur had been hired by CONTROL for its top secret program, MC/HAMMER.

Upon entering the room, Quintero placed Wallace under a hypnotic trance and put the gun on the desk. He then implanted the post-hypnotic suggestion that Wallace look up certain information, and and that, upon reading specified key words, he would pick up the gun, point it at his head and fire. He further implanted the suggestion that the gun was not loaded - thus circumventing the problem of the will to live effectively overcoming the subconcious impulse to obey the implanted orders.

Is this correct John? Stephens guess was also the best that I could think of. If this is right, Mr.Quintero was a very talented individual.

John

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Stephen got very close to the right answer. This is what happened.

As a result of Seymour Hersh’s investigation, Paul Wallace was no longer in a position to provide government contracts. He also posed a serious danger to all those who had been involved in this scam to get these defence contracts. He might provide information to the authorities in order to get a smaller prison sentence. It was therefore decided he had to be killed. As he was under investigation, the police would be quick to believe it was suicide. In fact, in virtually every major financial scandal, a key witness has committed suicide. Or has Robert Charles Dunne has commented, was “suicided”.

When Quintero entered Wallace’s office he was carrying a briefcase. Inside the briefcase was a Tokarev, fitted with a silencer. During the meeting Quintero pretended he was interested in obtaining for his client the proposed multi-billion defence contract from the US government. At around 10.10 he moved to his right side and opened his briefcase in order to show Wallace some papers. Instead he brought out his gun and shot him in the side of the head. Quintero removed the silencer and placed the gun in Wallace’s hand. He then took out a small tape recorder and placed it on a table close to the door. The previous night Quintero had taped three minutes of silence followed by the shooting of the Tokarev gun.

Quintero then left the office and engaged in conversation with Jenkins, Helliwell and Lorenz. He therefore had an alibi when they heard the Tokarev gun being fired. They all rushed in Wallace’s office when they heard the gun shot. Quintero was at the back and found it easy to pick up the tape recorder and slip it in his pocket.

Understandably, when the police arrived, they soon concluded it was suicide as there were four witnesses claiming that Wallace was alone in the office when he died. The suicide made sense as he was being investigated for corruption.

I do not know if the events described above ever took place. As we know, Bobby Baker, never gave information about others involved in his defence contract scams. Like his fellow conspirator, Fred Black, he was charged with other minor crimes, in return for silence.

However, if someone had been silenced in the way described above, I am convinced that it would not have been investigated as a murder.

One of Bobby Baker’s business associates involved in his defence contract scams, Grant Stockdale, did commit suicide after he tried to tell Robert Kennedy about what he knew about the scandal.

On 26th November, 1963, Grant Stockdale flew to Washington and talked with both Robert and Edward Kennedy. On his return Stockdale told several of his friends that "the world was closing in." On 1st December, he spoke to his attorney, William Frates who later recalled: "He started talking. It didn't make much sense. He said something about 'those guys' trying to get him. Then about the assassination."

At 10:00 a.m. on Monday, December 2, 1963, Grant Stockdale arrived at his office on the 13th floor of the Alfred I. Dupont Building, 169 Flagler Street in Miami. His secretary, LaVerne Weingartner, who usually opened the office had an appointment with the dentist.

Mary Ruth Hauser, who worked as a secretary in another office on the same floor, had a brief discussion with him. She later said: “He stood there very calmly. He didn't seem at all agitated.”

At 10.17 a.m. he fell (or was thrown) from his office on the thirteenth story of the Dupont Building in Miami. All of the people who saw and spoke to Stockdale on his way to work said he had been in good spirits, waving and saying hello. He stopped for a shoe shine, spoke to the elevator operator, and exchanged words with the parking garage attendant. However, it was his business partner, George Smathers who claimed that it had been an accumulation of grief and worry that had driven Stockdale to suicide. Smathers was of course involved with the defence contract scam with Bobby Baker, Fred Black, Grant Stockdale and Lyndon Johnson.

Stockdale’s wife also said her husband was depressed and in a public statement accepted that he committed suicide. However, on 16th June, 2004, Grant Stockdale’s daughter told the forum (via an email to Adele Edisen): “The Military Complex didn't want the American People to realize (and still don't ) that they were calling the shots. Daddy knew he was being followed... & he told Mom that they were going to get him... and they did. There was an attempt on my life also several days after Daddy's funeral. I realize now that this was a scare tactic to silence my Mother... i.e. if you speak about anything, your kids are dead. It worked.”

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Guest Gary Loughran

Very good. I had thoughts along Stephens lines but couldn't get the 3 minutes and bang figured out.

I seem to recall a similar scenario as this from one of the Jonathon Creek mysteries, fwiw.

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Very good. I had thoughts along Stephens lines but couldn't get the 3 minutes and bang figured out.

I seem to recall a similar scenario as this from one of the Jonathon Creek mysteries, fwiw.

I got the idea about the recorded shot from "The X Street Murders", a short story by Joseph Commings. However, his story was very different and did not involve making it look like a suicide. It was clear a murder had taken place. The detective also needed to solve the crime so Commings wrote it as a conspiracy involving more people than the killer. One of the conspirators gives the detective a clue (a drawing of two circles next to each other) and this enabled him to work out what happened and helped him identify the murderer.

I will post another mystery puzzle later today.

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Very good. I had thoughts along Stephens lines but couldn't get the 3 minutes and bang figured out.

I seem to recall a similar scenario as this from one of the Jonathon Creek mysteries, fwiw.

I got the idea about the recorded shot from "The X Street Murders", a short story by Joseph Commings. However, his story was very different and did not involve making it look like a suicide. It was clear a murder had taken place. The detective also needed to solve the crime so Commings wrote it as a conspiracy involving more people than the killer. One of the conspirators gives the detective a clue (a drawing of two circles next to each other) and this enabled him to work out what happened and helped him identify the murderer.

I will post another mystery puzzle later today.

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Stephen got very close to the right answer. This is what happened.

As a result of Seymour Hersh’s investigation, Paul Wallace was no longer in a position to provide government contracts. He also posed a serious danger to all those who had been involved in this scam to get these defence contracts. He might provide information to the authorities in order to get a smaller prison sentence. It was therefore decided he had to be killed. As he was under investigation, the police would be quick to believe it was suicide. In fact, in virtually every major financial scandal, a key witness has committed suicide. Or has Robert Charles Dunne has commented, was “suicided”.

When Quintero entered Wallace’s office he was carrying a briefcase. Inside the briefcase was a Tokarev, fitted with a silencer. During the meeting Quintero pretended he was interested in obtaining for his client the proposed multi-billion defence contract from the US government. At around 10.10 he moved to his right side and opened his briefcase in order to show Wallace some papers. Instead he brought out his gun and shot him in the side of the head. Quintero removed the silencer and placed the gun in Wallace’s hand. He then took out a small tape recorder and placed it on a table close to the door. The previous night Quintero had taped three minutes of silence followed by the shooting of the Tokarev gun.

Quintero then left the office and engaged in conversation with Jenkins, Helliwell and Lorenz. He therefore had an alibi when they heard the Tokarev gun being fired. They all rushed in Wallace’s office when they heard the gun shot. Quintero was at the back and found it easy to pick up the tape recorder and slip it in his pocket.

Understandably, when the police arrived, they soon concluded it was suicide as there were four witnesses claiming that Wallace was alone in the office when he died. The suicide made sense as he was being investigated for corruption.

I do not know if the events described above ever took place. As we know, Bobby Baker, never gave information about others involved in his defence contract scams. Like his fellow conspirator, Fred Black, he was charged with other minor crimes, in return for silence.

However, if someone had been silenced in the way described above, I am convinced that it would not have been investigated as a murder.

John, the term "silencer" is a misnomer. They are more accurately noise suppressors. In the US, a "silencer" only has to reduce noise by one decibel to be classified as a "noise suppressor" and made subject to government regulation. I don't think there's any guarantee that the noise (which despite what Hollywood portrays - is still a "crack") would not be heard from the outer office. But if that hurdle is overcome, how do you ensure that the victim, as well as possibly the chair, won't topple over causing a "thud" loud enough to attact attention? Even picking up the tape recorder in the manner described is not without risk. How can you ensure one of the others is not going to turn around to say something to you just as you've picked up the device?

My own answer was tongue-in-cheek, but if it were possible to do as I described (opinion is divided), it would be risk-free.

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