Yasmin Ashareh: Misreporting details
In considering the murder of Yasmin Ashareh, there is a detail that is constantly being misreported by some media sources:
Police are seeking the public’s help in tracing the movements of a 20-year-old Etobicoke woman before she was stabbed to death and dumped in a garbage bag last week.
This report was published today. Listen to the Toronto Police news conference that took place yesterday. There is much made about the fact that the body was found in a duffel bag and not a garbage bag, though some garbage bags were also seized as being relevant to the investigation.
Not all the newspapers are getting this wrong, I should point out.
Why should this matter?
The duffel bag suggests that the body was moved a considerable distance. A garbage bag is not strong enough to hold a body. It would stretch and split in short order. A duffel bag, on the other hand, means that the killing could have happened just about anywhere. Lugging a garbage bag is hard work. A duffle bag has strong broad straps to help carry the weight.
The contents of the other bags? Bloody sheets and towels, perhaps?
Now this gets interesting. A killer would dispose of the body as far from the scene of the crime, as well as from his own residence (assuming these are different locations) as possible. He’d want to keep police attention away from himself. So why not dispose of the body in a ravine, where it might take weeks or months for the remains to be discovered? The only thing I can think of is that the housing complex is a place where the killer felt comfortable. It is a place he is familiar with, where he felt he could carry out the disposal and not be encountered, and where his knowledge of the garbage pickup schedule meant that he was confident that the body and other evidence would be carried off within hours. As it turned out, the garbage was missed, and the decomposition of the remains drew attention.
Of course, I could be giving the killer or killers too much credit.
In any case, the police must certainly be considering tenants of the housing complex, past as well as present, looking for a name that somehow intersects with Yasmin Ashareh’s short life.
Technorati Tags: Yasmin Ashareh, Toronto, murder
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Comments
I like the idea of searching past tenants of the complex Steve. They might even trim the list for expediency to those who lived there while the garbage day was the same. With changes to garbage days happening on and off, it might trim the list down dramatically.
Posted by: TrustOnlyMulder at July 18, 2006 05:28 PM
just a small point but there are very large "contractor" garbage bags you can get made of 3mm poly that you could use to carry oh, a Honda Civic if you had to. however, you're right in that duffel bag has been mentioned previously and that would likely be used with the intention of movement
Posted by: matt at July 18, 2006 06:04 PM
Thanks Matt. I'll look for those for carrying two weeks' worth of sodden diapers -- the bags sold at the grocery store always look to be on the verge of exploding.
Still, I expect that this was not a well-planned crime, or else the disposal of the body would have been handled much better.
Posted by: Steve Janke at July 18, 2006 06:14 PM
Wait until the facts are out before bringing up honor killings. It is absolutely heart breaking to hear of these kinds of sick crimes but to start pinning blame before an arrest is made, or circumstances are known, is borderline conspiracy theory territory.
Posted by: Matt at July 19, 2006 12:37 AM
It may not have been a well planned crime but it was obviously pre-meditated. A garbage bag you could find anywhere but to use a duffel bag you better bring one with you - how many women own duffel bags?
Posted by: Jay at July 19, 2006 07:39 AM
Good point, Jay. A duffel bag is not something that every household has lying around, but garbage bags are easily found.
And duffle bags are very personal. They carry clothes and athletic gear, typically. The kind of stuff that leaves behind sweat and hear and skin cells.
Posted by: Steve Janke at July 19, 2006 09:28 AM
 
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