The Perfect Murder

[NJCher]

I used to have a friend who had a successful dental practice. She had a fabulous home with a living room that had bookcases displaying the latest in her art finds and art books.

But one day she pulled the books aside and showed me hidden cabinetry behind the art and art books. And what was in there? True crime books.

Anyway, after we discovered our mutual interest in true crime, we talked it about frequently. We used to devise the "perfect murder." Here is how her brother, a trial attorney, said he would commit the perfect murder.

From an attorney's point of view, there should be many other viable suspects. Therefore, the perfect crime would be committed in public. His choice was a park with many other people there or even a shopping mall.

The perfect murder would be committed with an instrument that could be easily disposed of. If I remember correctly, his choice was poison that could be injected with a quick prick of a needle. The murder instrument would be quickly and easily discarded.

These are the two elements I recall; there may have been others. This was over 10 years ago. So it got me to thinking...

If you were to commit the perfect murder, how would you go about it?


Cher

[XanaDUer]

1. It would have to be an undectable poison, right?

They killed Markov with ricin shot into him from a specially equipped umbrella on a London street.

[mitchum]

2. A stranger...

[johnnie]

3. I wonder

If you used the needle idea, maybe hitting a main artery and pumping it full of air might work. An air bubble would cause a heart attack..no?
It would have to be a stranger. You would need to be wearing latex gloves. Can't think of any more right now.

[onager]

4. And always remember Ben Franklin's advice...

"Three people can keep a secret, but only if two of them are dead."

IOW, no accomplices.

;-)

[SemiCharmedQuark]

5. What, like Succinocholyne?

They can trace that now using a gas chromatograph spectrometer. It is very difficult to find an "untraceable" drug. Plus they would definitely find the needle hole. The poison would have to work incredibly fast, or the person would immediately turn around and suspician would be on you in a second and you would have a syringe on you. Syringes float, so you couldn't throw it in a lake, and they would check all trash cans, once they found the needle hole.

There just isn't such a thing as a perfect murder. Our law enforcement and forensic scientists are too good.