Saroo Brierley: Two Different Stories

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60 Minutes Australia, above

CBS 60 Minutes aired the fascinating story of Saroo Brierley, who at the age of 5, was a child beggar.  Looking for his brother, who was out of sight after waking up from a nap on bench, he climbed on to a train looking for his brother in India, and ended up in the city of Calcutta, a foreign place to him where people spoke a different language. Without knowing his last name or the city of residence, and afraid of police because they didn’t take kindly to beggars,  Saroo tried to survive on the streets until someone brought him to an orphanage. Eventually, Saroo got adopted by an Australian family at the age of six.

By age 19, Saroo never forgot his birth family and images from his childhood. He was determined to find out where he came from. So using Google earth, he traced all the tracks that ran out of Calcutta looking for landmarks he remembered such as damn, water tower and the station where he used to go.  After six years, Saboo finally found his home, and reunited with his mother and siblings, only to find the brother he was begging with that day was hit and killed by a train.

What is interesting, however, is if you saw the American CBS 60 Minutes version, there are quite a few differences in the story told by the Australian 60 Minutes.

In the American version, Saroo ended up on a train car all alone for what he said seemed like 24 hours. In the Australian version, they showed him in a train car with other passengers and never mentioned him being “alone”.

In the U.S. version, Saroo goes back to his homeland, and when he arrives in his home city, he recognizes it right away. In the Australian version, he doesn’t immediately recognize it, even doubts if he is in the correct place, but he does eventually find his way home.

In the U.S. story, his childhood home is abandoned. In the Australian version, his childhood home is in rumble.

In the U.S. version, “a man approached who spoke English. Saroo said he was looking for the family that had lived in this house. The man told Saroo to come with him.”

In the Australian version, a man recognizes him from his childhood photograph and leads him to his mum.

Why the dramatic variances on a story if the story is true? Something is off here….

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Here is the transcript from the CBS 60 Minutes in the U.S.

Mark Carver on 20/20 and Touch DNA

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If you watched 20/20 this past weekend, you saw the story of Mark Carver–a fisherman who was on the banks of the Catawba River in North Carolina 100 yards away from Irina Yarmolenko, a UNCC student, who was murdered in 2008.

Carver was looked at by police because of his close proximity, and eventually charged and convicted of her murder on what appears to be a very weak, if not even flawed case.

ABC’s 20/20 presented a compelling case why he might be innocent. I saw no red flags to support guilt in the interviews shown, but I’d have to see interviews prior to his conviction to make a fair assessment. I honestly don’t remember if the interviews shown were pre- or during the trial or not.

I am also curious who the man was who didn’t identify himself on the show.  He was the man on the pontoon who said he talked to Carver the afternoon Yarmolenko was murdered. He only showed his back to the cameras and wouldn’t identify himself. He peaked my interest because police never spoke to him!  Who is this man?

I will also say I am adamantly against using “touch” DNA in cases like this because its not totally understood. While it may be accurate in identifying people or an “unidentified” person’s DNA who came in contact with the item tested, without knowing how far “touch” DNA can travel, or how easily it can be transferred nefariously or innocently, I fear it’s use will be abused.

If you remember in the JonBenet case, D.A. Mary Lacy declared that “touch” DNA exonerated the Ramseys because the “touch” DNA found on JonBenets leggings didn’t match the Ramseys. But in tests run by experts on a CBS show discussing the Ramsey case clearly showed that new panties bought on store shelves contain “touch” DNA before anyone even opened or used them!  It obviously came from the workers at the factory, which shows how someone can make erroneous assumptions about “touch” DNA.

We should conclude then that “touch” DNA should never  be used to exonerate anyone and it may be questionable in putting someone at a crime scene, too, because it might be easily transferred from one person to another or to different objects. We just don’t know enough about it to use it as objective science yet. I can think of only one instance where it might be plausible to use it, but we just don’t know enough yet.

I wish a court would mandate that further studies need to be done before we use such technology because we don’t fully understand it, and using it without full knowledge of how it can be transferred is flat out reckless in my opinion.

Sherri Papini Case

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Many of you have written to me asking me my opinion on the Sherri Papini case.

It’s one of the strangest cases we’ve seen in a long, long time.  You have a husband who comes home from work to find his family is nowhere to be found.  He quickly comes to the conclusion his wife is missing and calls police after finding her phone.

Then we have a shady character by the name of Cameron Gamble, who is a self-proclaimed expert in abductions. He gets involved in the case, separate of law enforcement.  Supposedly an anonymous donor offers money for Sherri’s return and Gamble is the designated spokesperson.  The sheriff was adamantly opposed to his involvement, but the husband, Keith Papini, goes forward anyway.

But in a strange twist, Gamble takes the money off the table just hours before Papini is found alive on a highway at 4 a.m. Thanksgiving morning.

What are the odds?

Taking a few minutes to look at the case closer, I am flagged on several levels.  The husband’s behavior raises my eyebrows as well as Cameron Gamble, and I haven’t seen Sherri at all.

I can’t come to any conclusions at this point, but I will tell you I have a lot of questions I’d like answered!! Things aren’t passing the sniff test for me at this point.

What do you think?

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Amber Hilberling Commits Suicide

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Amber Hilberling, who was convicted of 2nd degree murder for pushing her husband out of their 25th floor apartment building in 2013, committed suicide in October. She was 25 years old. She was found hanging from a prison bed.

Amber continually claimed that she was innocent and didn’t intentionally harm her husband, though the two had a volatile relationship.

When Dateline played Amber’s recorded police recording just after her husband’s tragic death, her emotions and words betrayed the story she wanted us to believe.  It was actually horrifying to watch.

Amber tried to get media attention to get “free”. She went on the Dr. Phil show and was still actively writing media outlets. As a matter of fact, she wrote a letter and it was postmarked the day she committed suicide.

You can see the letter in a video here.

When psychopaths (I’m not saying she is or isn’t) feel trapped, they often do pull the plug.

I do not find her choice to take her life surprising.

Her parents, however, didn’t believe she was down and out–questioning if it was, indeed, a suicide.  They say the letter she last wrote showed she still had hope.

However, her former attorney says she warned the prison twice before she died that she was, in fact, suicidal.  In that same article, they list all of Amber’s misconduct in prison.  It’s quite interesting.

Do you wonder what made me doubt Amber’s story? There was one big whopper she let out among many other behaviors and actions that sealed her fate.  You can read my post here on Amber after seeing her story on Dateline NBC.

My Car Shopping Story

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ales_kartal / Pixabay

ales_kartal / Pixabay

So I had quite an interesting night this weekend going out to buy a new car. We’ve done months homework reading about car features, safety tests, recalls, service bulletins and complaints, and finally settled on a car we wanted.  We negotiated an incredible deal on a new 2016 Sonata with only 15 miles on it and we were going in to seal the deal at the dealership once and for all!

Before I signed on the dotted line, I had two questions for the dealer I wanted answers for.  I wanted to know if our car fell into the recent safety recall for the panoramic moon roof.  To check for myself, I wrote down the vehicles affected and brought it with me.  I needed the manufacture date. And second, I wanted to know why a car would sit on a lot almost a year.  Logic would tell you that they get several shipments in a year and that a vehicle was delivered in December of 2015-it was ignored for a long, long time. Why?

We had read if you get a great year-end-clearance deal to check the battery cables, pumps, paint, tires, and other items to make sure they didn’t show any signs of deterioration.  The car could have been parked outside for the entire time (most likely).

On the phone, I was only told that the invoice date of the car was December 28, 2015.  I asked them when it was manufactured and they said they didn’t know-they were looking.  When I got there, the sales guy still said he didn’t know and wasn’t sure he could find out. That was my first annoyance and a huge red flag.

I knew from previous visits that it was in the driver side car door, but I couldn’t find it at first. The salesmen acted as if he couldn’t either.  That was annoying!  Finally after looking several times, I found it where the door closed.  Low and behold, it was manufactured in October 2015.

Wow. 13 months ago!

I asked our salesman how come the car sat for so long and he said it just got shuffled around a lot.  I said to him that didn’t make sense because it only has 15 miles on it.   He the tried to soothe me with other answers that cars get brought out of storage and put back in, but that made no sense either. You don’t put your oldest car away.  You sell it first.

Next, knowing the manufacture date, we now knew the car was part of the panoramic moon roof recall.  I asked the salesman to check if this car was part of it.

He disappeared and came back saying the car was free–no recalls!

I was perplexed.

From what I read on the Internet, it was part of the recall.  I asked him how it wasn’t part of the recall and he said it just wasn’t–it was VIN specific.  But the news articles I read didn’t say that–so that was another red flag!

I then wondered if the car was manufactured at another plant because the recall only affected the Alabama plant.

I asked him how many plants there were, and he said four.  Just checking online as I write this, I see there is only ONE in the U.S. in Alabama, and four more in other countries! Another lie?

He assured me multiple times this car was not part of that recall.

I let that marinate in my mind because I felt unsettled.

We had the salesman drive the car into the service area under bright lights so we could inspect it thoroughly after our long test drive.  When we were going through everything, I saw on dealer sticker and there it was in big letters:  the car was manufactured in Alabama!  I looked at my husband and said I’m not feeling right about this.

He wasn’t either. We knew we were being lied to.

At this point, the salesman was running around checking on another vehicle for us. When we first walked in, he said they had two vehicles matching what I wanted –so he was looking for it.  In the meantime, I decided to get some facts.

The new 2017 cars were all lined up in the showroom.  There were four of them. I opened each driver side door and looked at the manufacture date of each one. All of the 2017s had manufacture dates of  September and even October 2016 –less than two months old.   So the FIRST LOT of cars being sold for 2017 were only manufactured 1-2 months ago. It was just proof positive again my car sat for a long time.

Now I was really curious why the car I was looking at sat so long! It should have sold long ago.

Wanting to figure things out, I decided to put the manager on the spot.  I walked into the managers office and I got lucky–two other salesman happened to be rummaging through his office for different things.  I said I’m curious if you could answer a few questions for me. Can you tell me why a car would sit on your lot for 13 months and not sell?

They all looked at me and the edgy, middle-aged guy about my age (he reminds me of Ty Pennington) pipes up and says, “Well we don’t even get cars on the lot for 6 months after they are made.  That’s not surprising at all.”

What??!?

I quickly retorted, “Well, that’s untrue.  Every 2017 on your showroom floor is 2 months old or less!!”   I let it be known say through that crap.

You should have seen how shit-faced they looked.  If only I had a camera.

They all looked at each and then the other sales guy said the car just got moved around and we missed it. We don’t track dates of manufacture.

I said, “But it only has 15 miles on it. It wasn’t moved much.”  They looked frustrated.

Then the manager said, you are getting a great deal because if we don’t sell the car, the manufacturer will take it back.

That was all B.S.  and I knew it!  Now I was mad.

Dealers pay a floor plan loan for each car on the lot and the quicker they sell it, the more money they make! They don’t sell it–they pay interest. No one wanted me to know this fact.

They couldn’t give me a legit answer to save their soul. People lie when they have something to hide.

What were they hiding??

I went and chatted with my husband. He felt things were off too.  I said out loud where the “Ty” guy could hear us, it’s clear they are lying to us.  He heard me.

I then said, “I think they know if things go wrong, I’m not the kind of person they want breathing down there back.  You watch, I get this sinking feeling they won’t even sell it to us tonight.  They’ve seen I’m not one to buy into their B.S. antics. I’m asking too many questions. I won’t go away if they screw with us.”

I was very vocal about saying things like, “Don’t tell me a warranty will cover me–I’ve seen how those work at dealers and its a big headache!  I’ve been through that game.  You and I know a lot of B.S. flies in dealerships.  It’s no secret as you know!”

The sales guy I was working with actually bowed his head and replied, “Yes”.  I was surprised he even admitted it (trying to build my trust?).

Anyway, the salesman kept running back and forth, and said he was checking on something else as we had left the car in the service area after our inspection (it passed) to sit down and think.  He runs back and forth several times.

Next thing he comes up to us, and says, “You won’t believe this, but there IS a recall on that car–but its not entered into our system yet. (Mind you, the recall was put into the news 30 days ago!!! So that was likely total B.S., too!)  So I can’t sell you that car.  I’m sorry I can’t. And I don’t know when we will be able to fix it.

Wow.

I knew it!

But I was glad because we changed our mind at this point. We were finished and ready to go.

They saw I was an educated consumer and whatever B.S. they were pulling on me–they didn’t want to deal with me when I figured it out! And I would figure it out eventually why I was getting all these lies.

Were they going to send me out the door without fixing the recall? Was that their game?

Reading further, I think they were trying to stick me with a vehicle that had a safety recall. They were going to denying it existed, and get it off the lot fast!  And that’s illegal. Check it out!

So this dealer lied:

1.  They didn’t know the manufacture date or where to find it
2.  They didn’t know where the car was manufactured
3.  That the car had a safety recall
4.  That cars arrive to the dealership 6 months after manufacture
5. Why the car sat on the lot for 13 months– I still don’t know (the color was silver by the way–not fuscia or anything). It was a Sonata Limited.
(Possibly #6 in telling me there were 4 manufacturing plants–he may have not known or was misleading me)

At that point, I lost all faith in this dealer.

Frankly, every interaction I have had with multiple Hyundai  dealers has been very unprofessional and disappointing, and yet their car is very safe (see Informedforlife.org).

The salesman asked me if I wanted to buy a 2017 and I said I’d think about it. He called today and left a message that he said was good news. I have not called back.

I’m frustrated!!!!  This is ridiculous.