Was Attack On Anchorwoman Really Random?

Close Friend Of The Arkansas Television Personality Found Beaten Says, "You Just Never Know"

(CBS/AP)  A friend and co-worker of Anne Pressly, the 26-year-old television anchor who was found brutally beaten and near death at her home in Arkansas Monday morning, says he finds it hard to believe the attack was random, as police have suggested, and not somehow connected to her local celebrity.

"Anyone who works in TV, has fans," Matt DeCample, who works at the local ABC station with Pressly, told CBS News' The Early Show. "And the vast majority of them in Arkansas are great people and say 'Hi,' to you in the grocery store or whatever. But everyone has the few odd ones. You just never know who might go a step too far.

"Of course, there's a lot of people you may never hear of and no one knows for sure if it was something like that," DeCample continued. "But, if it was something random, that is probably the toughest thing on a lot of people out here right now, is just the unknown.

Little Rock police say the attack on Pressly is being considered a random assault because there is no evidence to suggest that she was targeted because of her high-profile job.

But criminal profiler Gregg McCrary cautioned The Early Show about the dangers of tunnel vision in criminal investigations.

"We have to be very careful not to get a constricted view of what this may or may not be," McCrary said. "These cases are often not what they appear to be when we first look at them. So a random attack is one hypothesis.

"But they have to challenge that hypothesis as well," McCrary told The Early Show. "Look at all of the things that support that this is a random act of violence, or maybe a robbery gone bad but also bring all the evidence that contradicts that and you have to look at the possibility of stalking, of victim targeted crime, as well as random violence.

"How investigations go bad is when tunnel vision sets in, then confirmation bias sets in and we begin to look only at those pieces of evidence that support the dominant theory and so forth," McCrary said. "So it's got to be very open and very objective until they can narrow this down."

Pressly was hospitalized in critical but stable condition Thursday morning.

Police say the beating is being treated as a random incident in the course of a robbery. Investigators had considered whether a stalker or someone in the news recently may have assaulted her, but there is no evidence of that, according to police.

Pressly, battered and bleeding, was discovered Monday morning a half-hour before she was to appear on KATV's "Daybreak" program. Her mother went to the woman's home after she didn't answer her regular wake-up call.

[bombadil4]

Some possible extra concerns here: 1. No suspect description of any kind yet from the victim. This might suggest devastating injuries to the young woman. 2. From what we know so far, this sounds more like a rage/obsession sort of attack rather than what you might expect from a petty purse snatcher. One has to wonder if there is more than meets the eye here.

[questionnews]

Please recover soon, tell us who did this horrible crime,
list of possible suspects:

Bush and Cheney.?
McCain?
Condee Rice?
FBI?
CIA?
Cop?

or all of those above?

They did it to Valeries Plame before.

This corrupted government cannot be trusted in any thing.

Posted by niceface09 at 11:58 AM : Oct 23, 2008

That''s a fine list of possible suspects, but the following suspects are far more likely.

Keebler Elves
Pee Wee Herman
Stewie Griffen
Megatron.
Happy Gilmore
Eric Cartman
Tom Brady
Mayor McCheese
Speedy Gonzalez
Tom Brokaw
Michael Phelps
and
The Power Rangers

If you were to investigate you will find that none of these folks have an alibi for their whereabouts during the night in question and all of them had a motive.
It''s so obvious.

[barbaram99]

Hope the lady gets well soon and back to twlling the news or what her duties are. Yes I allow the news on TV in home and they are known and so they are doing their jobs. I SEE THEM AS THAT. They do their work, Go home. They should live their lives with out fear. I have talked to them in persons and or said Hi. I am appalled they beat her. Catch the fool.

[slim1h2o]

This is how it all went down;

1st man to 2nd man, Got any money?
2nd; Nope, do you?
1st; If I did, would I ask you for some?
2nd; Good point,how are we going to get some?
1st; I know where this cute woman lives, I bet she has some money.
2nd; Lets go,,,careful though,, we don''''t want to wake her up......crash!!!
2nd; aww man,, I told you to be quiet, now we have to beat her up, to shut her up...

Any question people?

Oh, and my prayers are with her......

[smclimans]

Sounds like "jilted" and/or "spurned" love

or a rival in the business

[questionnews]

Looks like CBS is really milking for some kind of conspiracy out of this story. The next article will introduce the alien abduction, Trilateral Commission & Skull & Bones Society connection.

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Praying that you will make a full recovery!