This exam has no right or wrong answer. Your score is based on your reasoning anThis exam has no right or wrong answer. Your score is based on your reasoning and application of the class materials and articles to the crime scenes. This exam is based on your critical thinking skills. Your answer must be detailed as to why you think the perpetrator(s) may have specific fetishes/paraphilias, typology, how they search for victims, etc. Make sure to discuss how the clues and evidence at the crime scenes led you to your conclusions.
Crime Scene #1
Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 4:30 pm
9900 block of Jersey Bounce Drive in Northwest Bakersfield
This neighborhood is between Calloway Drive, Norris Road, and Snow Road. It is a few blocks from Norris Junior High School.
Beatrice Bebe Tarleton, a 44-year-old white woman, was found dead in her home on Jersey Bounce Drive in Northwest Bakersfield. The reporting party (R.P.) was her estranged husband, James Tarleton, a 49-year-old white male. The couple had been separated for three weeks. James was dropping off his sons after they spent the weekend with him and his girlfriend, Emmy Slattery. James said he was surprised when Bebe did not answer the door because he knew she was unhappy with the custody arrangement. He said she had texted him several times on Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and early evening to see how the boys were doing. This was their first weekend with their father since the couple had split. He called her cell phone while waiting at the front door, and he could hear it ringing inside the house. He tried the door, and it was unlocked. He quickly put the boys back in the car and told them to wait until he returned. The family dog, Sonny, who had spent the weekend with the boys and their dad, bolted past James and ran into the back of the house. Seconds later, he heard Sonny barking furiously at the locked door of the closed primary bedroom. When James couldnt open the door, he went through the family room sliding glass door to the French doors leading into the primary bedroom from the back of the house. The French doors were wide open, and he could see Bebe lying in bed on her stomach with the covers pulled past her neck. He noticed the blood splatters on the wall and pillowcase as soon as he got close to the bed and backed out of the bedroom, taking Sonny with him. He immediately called 9-1-1.
The first responders found James, Brent, Stuart, and Sonny standing on the front lawn when they arrived four minutes later. Ms. Tarletons body was found face down and partially naked in bed. Her pajama bottoms were found ripped on the floor by the left side of the bed. Bebe had a clean one-inch head wound that had broken the skin, and the part of the skull was exposed on the left side of her face. Ms. Tarletons hair had been arranged post-mortem to cover the injury. Fly eggs were found on the head wound. It appeared that her body had been moved and staged soon after her death. There were several post-mortem bites on her buttocks and her left thigh. An empty cup of hot chocolate and an opened package of Milano cookies were found on the kitchen table. James told the police that Bebe was fastidious and would never leave a dirty dish anywhere in the house. It had been one of the things that they had argued about while married. He added that she hated sweets and would never have a hot
drink when it was over 80 degrees at night.
According to Bebes best friend and neighbor, Melanie Hamilton, the couple had been married for ten years and met at the accounting firm Jamess parents owned. Bebe and James had twin sons, Brent and Stuart, who had turned six years old the month before. Bebe and James bought out his parents early in their marriage, and James became the CEO and Bebe the CFO of the firm. After their sons were born, Bebe spent less time at the firm. A new CFO had been hired two years prior so that Bebe could spend more time with Brent and Stuart. Melanie said it had been a happy marriage for eight years. That began to change after Bebe stepped down as CFO. The accounting firm was not doing as well under the new CFO that James had hired. Bebe thought his choice did not have enough experience. However, James thought Emmy Slattery had potential. Two years later, Bebe discovered James and Emmy had been having an affair, and she asked James to leave the family home, and she sought out an attorney to file for divorce. According to Melanie, James did not want to break up the family but did not want to stop seeing Emmy.
Ms. Tarleton was last seen on Saturday at 5 pm. She and several neighbors had held a garage sale on Jersey Bounce Drive starting at 7:00 am that morning. She had sold a lot of James tools, stereo equipment, and golf clubs after he refused to pick them up two weeks prior. After the morning rush at the garage sale, Bebe noticed that several household tools she had for sale were missing. She was sure someone had stolen a steelhead hammer, a crescent wrench, and two Phillips screwdrivers. Bebe was detail-oriented and carefully recorded all the items she had sold throughout the day. One of her neighbors remembered seeing a young, thin white male in a black sweatshirt with a hoody pulled up near the tool table. Since it was already 85 degrees by 9:00 am, a person wearing a black hoody stood out from the rest of the crowd who were wearing shorts and sundresses. Melanie had spent the day helping Bebe with the garage sale, stayed for a light dinner, and headed home around 5 pm. She had texted Bebe around 9:30 pm to check if she wanted to go to yoga in the morning. Bebe told her she wanted to sleep in instead. Melanie was concerned when she did not hear from her friend by 1:00 pm on Sunday afternoon, but knew that she was depressed by the recent separation and decided she probably needed some time alone.
Bebe had long brown hair that was often pulled back in a long ponytail, and an athletic build and was much stronger than her five foot four inches tall and weighed 127 pounds would suggest. In addition to yoga, she jogged three times a week, and her twin boys kept her busy. She also walked Sonny daily while the boys were at school. The Coroners Office estimated that Ms. Tarleton was murdered between 10 pm and 11:30 pm. The manner of death was homicide, and the cause of death was blunt force trauma. She had been sexually assaulted post-mortem, and in addition to the head wound, she had several bruises on her upper arms and the back of her neck. The head wound was consistent with the type of injury that would be made with blunt force trauma with a steelhead hammer, and the bruising on her neck was consistent with near-fatal strangulation. The homicide investigators noted that Saturday night was a full moon.