48 Hours: A Case for Murder

A Young Man's Stabbing Death Sparks an International Debate

(CBS)  "It was just a typical San Francisco day, where the fog is really dense but the air is really crisp and clean. Saturday morning, typically what you do is you find your open coffee shop, go grab a cup of coffee," said Shannon Stabile, a San Francisco Fire Department paramedic. "Then the tones go off. OK. We gotta go. So we grabbed our coffee and off we went."

"It was kind of foggy and I’m always a little foggy in the morning. I remember enjoying the coffee," said paramedic Kris Moore. "I think we even said to each other it was time to wake up."

When they arrived at the scene, Stabile said the police tape was already up.

"As we were walking up to the house, the wind started to blow. As soon as I hit the door, the smell was very distinctive, because blood smells like iron. It hit me like a wall. And there was so much of it," she said. "It was just unbelievable the amount of blood. I had never seen anything like that… I couldn’t imagine what his last moments were like."

"We were only in the house - I'm not even sure we were there for a minute. And it was kind of hard to put together what had happened," said Moore.

"You can see when he started to pass out, because the hand prints and smears are going down the wall because he's falling backwards. It was very sad because you could tell he was grabbing at anything," Stabile said. "That was the most unusual crime scene I had ever seen. And I did deem it as a crime scene."

News report: 36-year-old Hugues De La Plaza’s family and friends refuse to believe he killed himself… de La Plaza, a French-American citizen, was stabbed three times after coming home from a neighborhood bar… His door was locked, no signs of a struggle, no weapon was found.

"Hugues was the love of my life," said Melissa Nix, a former girlfriend of Hugues de la Plaza. "Once you fall in love with somebody, there’s always a part of you that loves that person.”

"Walking into that crime scene, anyone with any kind of experience would not ever think that was a suicide," Nix said. "The Medical Examiners report determined that Hugues died of stab wounds. She was not able to determine whether they were self-inflicted or if he was stabbed by somebody else."

"I did not call this a suicide at the scene," said Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Venus Azar. "In fact, I remember saying, 'This is a homicide.'

"I’ve been swayed back and forth because none of this makes sense. Who would want to kill this guy? What’s the motive? It wasn’t robbery. There’s no evidence of a struggle."

"My gut tells me it's a crime of passion," said Nix. "Hugues was dating a lot of different women and maybe not using a lot of discretion about who he dated."

"Things that you wouldn’t expect to happen can and do happen. People can spontaneously decide to kill themselves," said Azar.

Said Nix, "Hugues De La Plaza was murdered."

[Rhythm144]

I am from San Francisco, and for a while my lifestyle was not too different from Hugues: clubs, girls, late nights.

My theory is that he came home drunk, went online for a girl, possibly a prostitute, she came over, and probably wanted money right away, before she comes inside. There was an altercation and Hugues was stabbed three times maybe by her maybe by her pimp, or just underground late night people.

It's a sad case, and the SFPD and the medical examiner calling this a suicide is a dis-service to the family and friends of the victim. Sloppy police work; they just don't want to admit that they could be wrong.

Like I said, though, it's a sad case. May God have mercy on his soul.

[zagadki]

I've lived in SF for years to and I totally agree with this scenario. I believe the solution is/was in Hugues computer searches that night or it was an unfortunate random stabbing by some street bum.

[KimberlyPhD]

Dr. Azar (sp?) is the biggest moron! I can't believe that SFPD actually still employs her. How can they let her continue to open her mouth and let the SFPD look like baboons?

[mikerembis]

It is obvious to this viewer that with no suspects at hand that knew this young man, this was a sad, random act of violence. I believe that his drunkenness kept him from realizing that he was injured at all, and felt no real need to call for help. He stumbled around his apartment and collapsed, unaware that he was anywhere close to death. This is why there were no signs of distress left in the blood trails and no call to 911.

[raydernation]

First off, this was a murder plain and simple and that puts me in agreement with everyone on this thread so far. But what none of you mentioned was how could this possibly be a suicide, when they couldn't find the knife. Zippo, that in and of it self should have told them this guy didn't do his self in. Most suicides are committed by gunshots, are over dosing. When knives are used its normally to slash their wrists. So theres no way he's going to stab himself (3) times go outside, hide the knife, go back inside, lock the door and fall down and die. No, this was either a street crime, or he contacted someone on the web like some of you suggested, something went horribly wrong, and they did him. I would lean toward street crime, but, I wouldn't rule out completely that ex girlfriend either. I've seen so many cases like this on 48 Hours and Dateline NBC that have some very strange twists indeed. This case in some respects remind me of that case 48 Hours Mystery aired twice this year called "The Curious Case of Colone Shue" that was a mind blower of a case. To be honest this might not get solved unless someones conscious start working on them and they break down and 'fess up, very sad case he seemed like a cool dude, you just can't get drunk and walk the streets that time of night, you can't defend yourself at that point. What a waste of humanity.

[Tyger0919]

I too immediately thought of the case 48 Hours produced about the father who was stabbed/shot and emptied the dishwasher and such. Remember how she said "well, I asked a couple of surgeons if this would be possible?" She said it in a very condascending, I could-not-care-less, "is this interview almost done, you're wasting my time and I'm not admiting to anything anyway" tone. As a coroner, even though your patients are not living, that is something you would KNOW as it a function of the human body. As far as Hugue's not using the phone, he was in shock and who knows, maybe not seeing clearly or could not remember where he left it; half the time I don't remember where I left my cell phone and that is when I'm wide awake and feeling normal.

I believe this was a murder; the report stated that Hugue was online trying to hook up. I believe he found someone online and invited them over and that person killed him. It may just have been someone doing it for the thrill of it, or someone that does not like people who just hook up with strangers and decided they would teach him a lesson. It also could have been the boyfriend/husband of someone Hugue hooked up with. He had random sex with many women and eventually he would have found a woman's husband/boyfriend that was mad enough to get even. It would be interesting if any homicides of females occured around that time (presumably the husband/boyfriend killed her too).

The coroner is hiding something, that is obvious. Who decides to commit suicide and not only makes themselves a meal beforehand but keeps their shoes on or puts them back on?

[75michael75]

There was a show in prime time relating this case today on channel france 2.
It appears your solving percentage of murder case is 30 percent in san francisco ,
in France we are around 80 percent .

I understand better why you never arrested the zodiac.

[efh123]

I don't know if any of you saw the 48 Hours on the case where the University of Rochester student drove to his parent's house in Albany and brutally stabbed them. The father survived for a short time and the detectives were able to piece together from the blood droplets that the father went out onto the front porch and then went into the kitchen to empty the dishwasher. He was going through his morning routine. He was in shock. Sadly he didn't survive. I think it's possible that Hugues was stabbed outside, went into shock, was able to get into his apartment and lock the door, but that for whatever reason did not get to his phone to call for help.

[rsmik]

apparently the medical examiner in SF didn't watch that one

[six1seven]

John_Merritt--

Like I said, to me, the locked apartment is not a big mystery. He was stabbed outside and then retreated inside to lock the door. The attacker did not pursue him inside. That explains the blood on the stoop of his house. He may not have realized how badly he was injured and so did not call police. Due to blood loss he collapsed and then died.

[rsmik]

Overworked homicide detective plus undertrained medical examiner equals case closed due to lack of inclination

[guest173]

the police seem to have changed their tune after France got involved and issued an intelligent report. I think california's horrible budget balancing acts are really affecting the judicial system even more if that police are just going to rule suspicious deaths as suicide to close case loads without feeling bad, california needs to stop following the Bush plan for failing economics

[trcooper3]

If not a jealous lover homicide, then MORE THAN LIKELY A GANG INITIATION MURDER. Gang initiations have been known to take place in Berkley, Oakland ares.

[sisBob]

Unbelievable! Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Venus Azar needs to get a new line of work. She made mistakes and she should admit that. The arrogance of all these people involved in messing this case up is what makes it all so much worse. What on earth is wrong with these people? It is a shame what they have put his poor family threw. To not even try to make contact with them and then to just be lazy and call it a suicide. All I can say is Wow!

[six1seven]

Just finished watching this segment. Unfortunately the suicide vs. homicide questions obfuscates the real story- clearly he was murdered. Is there a coverup going on? Unlikely. Just typical figure pointing and obviously garden variety city homicide department not being thorough enough.

If I were to take an absolute shot in the dark at this here is what I would say. Random crime/attack with robbery a motive or perhaps due to an insult. Hugues was walking home relatively drunk. Someone passed him on the street or saw him and attempted to rob him ("yo, you got an ipod Give me all your sh*T!"). He says no, a brief struggle ensues, and the attacker stabbed him. The attacker fled on foot, (panicking because Hugues did not go down immediately) and did not bother to actually take anything because it was difficult or because it wasn't worth it. Or perhaps insults or words were exchanged on the street and resulted in the stabbing. Either way, Hugues stumbles inside and locks the door. This makes perfect sense. It is not uncommon for things to get violent quickly during an attempted robbery and result in nothing actually taken.

I used to live very close by. In my mind, not an overly dangerous neighborhood but not very safe at this time of night. My roommate was robbed at knifepoint a few blocks away 6 years ago. I also witnessed the aftermath of a drive-by shooting in the lower Haight. Public housing nearby and certainly petty drug dealers and common street criminals in that area. This story was sensationalized because this guy liked to party and chase women, but it seems like he probably had no real enemies. Random street crime that had a tragic outcome. His charisma and personality added to the mystery but I doubt this was personal.

[John_Merritt]

You are missing the one glaring point. He was inside the house, and the doors were dead bolted from the inside. You might think someone attacked him and went out a window? Or perhaps an attic crawl space? A vent?

But the fact remains there are large amounts of blood on the outside with no trail. I did not see the video's just going by the descriptions. Did someone collect the blood and then pour it outside in various spots? How did they get in the hallway from inside the house and still the deadbolts are engaged?

Interesting case, would love to see the pictures of the crime scene to get a clearer picture. From my elementary station I would have to say he died at the hands of another. Sad story to a guy too young for that to happen. I am always saddened when people use others for their own gain and don't think there is a cause and effect of their actions.