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A Case for Murder

November 15, 2009 5:00 AM

In Full: A young man is found dead from multiple stab wounds. His family searches for the killer, but was it suicide? Maureen Maher reports.

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by nina059 November 22, 2009 1:24 PM EST
i thought the same he was stabbed outside and got inside for safty and colllapsed before he could get phone,if it was someone he new he could of been in shock or denial that it was done to him,maybe he thought hed only been punched
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by kristinb24 November 21, 2009 9:13 PM EST
?On the coffee table in the front room was a bloody open lap top computer and notebook, devoid of apparent blood, with the following two sentences on the visible page: ?learn as if you were to live forever? and ?live as if you were to die tomorrow,? the investigator?s report stated.

?The decedent?s ex-fiance, who lives in New York, reports that she ended their several year relationship in January of this year,? the report continues. ?She says he became depressed and began drinking more and using cocaine, and she became concerned that he might hurt himself, but he denied suicidal ideations when she asked him.?

Another investigator noted that he called de la Plaza?s doctor ?to inquire specifically about depression,? but the doctor had no independent recollection of the patient.

From http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2009/06/vigil_for_hugues_de_la_plaza.html




SO....maybe the ex-girlfriend is so involved because she feels sooo guilty. If she admits it was suicide, she would blame herself. Ideas?
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by lucanvillage November 21, 2009 4:32 AM EST
Something is not right here. I am going to go with my intuition on this. The SFPD need to investigate Melissa. There is something not right with that woman. Firstly she is obsessive about the victim. Too obsessive. I found myself halfway through the program saying outloud "Move on Melissa, Hugue (sp?) obviously did". There are slight obsessive traits I see in Melissa that scare me a bit. Has anyone noticed her manner of dress? Very French. Very very French. Not only in the past photos of her with the victim, but also her present dress. I live in Europe and a Frenchwomans dress will stand out immediately, there is a quirky understatement to the way they dress. Melissa even after all this time has adopted this manner of dress. In fact it would appear she has studied it. Obsessively studied it in my opinion. In addition, look in her eyes, it is subtle, but towards the end of the broadcast when she is hugging someone and they show a frontal face view of her. There was something in her eyes. A knowing is all I can describe it as. This may all be incorrect on my part. I may be pointing fingers incorrectly but I have such a nagging feeling when I watch her, such a nagging intuition that Melissa is involved. She is too close, too involved, to obsessive. My theory is Melissa was dumped by the victim, obviously never got over him, obsessed over the fact that he was sleeping with many different women without a thought to her feelings, and killed him in a rage of passion. And I think she planned to kill him and planned every detail very well. And then in killing the man she couldn't have she has weedled herself into his parents lives and become finally the most important woman in the victims life which is what she wanted to be all along and couldn't be when he was alive.
I am sure the victim had many lovers, many past girlfriends; yet none of them have come forward in such an insanely obsessive way. This Melissa is making herself much more important a person in the victims life than the victim ever made her. I would have liked if the interviewer had asked Melissa point blank "Did you kill Hugue (sp)? I would have liked to have seen her reaction. If I were the victims parents, if I were the SFPD I would investigate Melissa. I would polygraph Melissa. I would probably bet in the end they would find their killer. This is all my intuitive feeling but I really feel Melissa is guilty.
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by lucianoromeo1 November 20, 2009 4:56 PM EST
This is an obvious murder. I have a criminal justice degree, and have studied crime scenes, and what I see is simple. Lets start by ruling out suicide. Psychologically its unfounded: A man who craves the attention of women, and has the pride of his name, and is sexually successful is too narcissistic to consider suicide. He may be depressed from time to time, but never to that limit. Physically, it may be POSSIBLE that he couldve stabbed himself three times, but a person doesnt do that. Suicide is a private thing. A person feels alone in the world, and wants to end it peacefully. If they were to use a knife they would use it in the most efficient painless manor, usually wrists. A man who comes from the club and says hes going to go get with a woman and go motorcycling tomorrow isnt going to kill himself that night. People commonly leave a suicide letter behind stating their last peace. Heres what I think happened. He walked home. Got to his door when someone got out their car, sitting in it waiting for him to show up. Saw him and approached him. Someone he knew and trusted. MOST likely a female, because he was promiscuous. Motive? Maybe she got an STD from him. Thats a possibility. It had to be someone he was intimate enough to LET within stabbing range. I think the female likely came up they started talking. He greeted her warmly, maybe a hug on the stoop? Likely during the hug she stabbed him right there. First in the side as they hugged, probably looking him in the eye when she did it, cursing him for whatever it was he did that she didnt like. Either it was the ex who had her heart trampled on or a one-nighter that got an STD. Motive could vary, but the ex had the largest motive. Second stab wound, down and in on neck, while he was still facing her pushing away--weakened by the stab-wound. He became sluggish and wanted to faint, using all his energy to stay awake. He turned to get to the door, third stab wound came into the chest. He shoved her away--and she ran off. He was afraid and scrambled to a safe haven. He went inside and locked the door. Eyes blurred from crying, near to passing out, he could barely walk at all, and slowly walked around crying. Afraid he was going to die. He couldnt see his phone and he began walking through the house...slowly, because his body was shutting down--did you notice the blood on the laptop right next to the untouched cell? He was likely knocking things over, falling over them, TRYING to stay on his feet. A man who wants to commit suicide doesnt commonly walk around trying to stay on his feet. He will sit and accept what he has done to himself. This man staggers about looking for his phone--"wheres my phone, I...cant find it--in the kitchen--where is it? Cant breath, choking, cant even speak...my throat...its stabbed...Im drowning in my own blood..." I couldnt ask for help if I wanted it. Maybe the person who stabbed him had said something to make him feel guilty like he deserved this...these are all possibilities...maybe it was someone he loved and it was breaking his heart to see this. But the knife disappearing is CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE! The person who stabbed him TOOK IT WITH THEM! I would think the ex did it. She has the most motive "I loved him! When you share love with someone, you always love them!" Her statements. She was mad that he had left her and moved on, and wouldnt date her anymore. She was mad that he would rather be with a random woman than her. And why would she pursue the case? Because she wanted to control the evidence and see what they knew, and contort their views. Her statement "did he stab himself in the side? thats what he would do." She was leading their investigation with false information. Even if he wanted to "commit hari kari" as she suggested. He wouldve sat quitely and slit across his belly from one side to the other, and thats it--not the chest--not the neck. He wouldnt have walked over and cleaned the knife after--if he was a clean freak that would do that--he wouldnt leave blood everywhere and knock over his tv, besides Hari Kari is done by soldiers as a death with honor--"to spill one guts" for their actions. They NEVER stab themselves in the neck or chest. Why else would she stay involved in the investigation? Well! What is the most common reaction from a criminal that gets away with something? An urge to get caught--raise the stakes, keep the chase close, but not throw the game. It makes it more exciting to the criminal that they can be right in front of the cops and outsmart them all. You cant outsmart me--this is murder. Its that easy...
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by cegrace15 November 20, 2009 10:54 AM EST
this makes no sense.. when you are losing that much amount of blood... you can become disoriented and not call 911?also you will not be running but walking very slowly.. also if you see the trace of blood it begins lightly from the front door to heavily once inside.. this happened outside?.. the only thing I need to know.. is where is the camera pointing? was it actually pointing to the front of his house with every second running..?
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by circe81 November 18, 2009 1:59 PM EST
the ex girlfriend... not that I suspect her, but I wanted to point out it didn't seem like the victim really cared for her as much I she did (and does) for him.
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by zagadki November 18, 2009 4:35 AM EST
Linden Street is somewhat scary even during the day. It's very narrow and quiet, I can see how somebody could commit a murder without being noticed or heard. I think the father' theory that Hugues was killed outside makes sense, therefore no DNA inside, no other footsteps in the bloody hallway. It could be a former acquaintance (who planned a pre-meditated murder), but it would take a lot of hatred and determination for a woman to go out there at night and kill in the street. I think it was rather a mysterious and random hookup that he found online that night. Too bad the episode did not disclose anything about browsing history on Hugues' computer that night (why? yet, another lead that was not investigated?). As we heard he dated numerous women for sex only, maybe he went for one of those Craiglist-like ads for one-night stands (or something similar) which turned out wrong. He waits, opens the door expecting his date, things go bad, he gets stabbed and manages to get into the house locking the door behind him. Shocked, he staggers inside until he dies. It seems likely that he was so confused and weakened by the wounds that he failed to call 911 for help.
I also wondered if he was a smoker. Hugues could have gone outside for a last smoke before going to bed, maybe he saw some drifter in the street or other strange type, said something or did something that angered the person and got stabbed. Considering this SF area, I would take into account a random unplanned stabbing too. I hope this case gets solved.
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by lubcbsnj November 18, 2009 1:39 AM EST
all good comments. let me just throw this one out there. for some reason, i do not get a warm feeling from Melissa, an ex-girlfriend that had/has an insanely passionate love for this young man. the 'show' the she is putting on is just a creative way (reverse psychology) to throw the investigation off of pointing the fingers at her. he knew the murderer. hence why he opened the door voluntarily, walked several feet towards the stairs before getting stabbed three times. also remember, she initially concluded/assisted Castilla (SFPD) in her interview to conclude the case as a suicide stating that he was into some kind of Japanese practice and suicidal. i would really look into Melissa.
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by godsfiddler November 17, 2009 4:34 PM EST
Wonder if Uv(or however it's spelled) slept with the medical examiner before and she's not calling it a homicide because she felt jilted? Many other medical examiners called things homicides with no weapon, no witnesses, etc, and were correct.
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by blue_nino November 16, 2009 7:32 PM EST
to me its a murder of course ..but i want to know how he was murdered ....they said he always wore his watch & it was found under his body so it means that there was a struggle with someone but was it inside or outside his apartment..its confusing cause they didnt find anybody's DNA inside his apartment
i agree with the idea that he went home safely & used his laptop but they should search for who he talked to online & i dont think its that hard cause many cases were solved this way
the idea that killed himself is absurd
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by godsfiddler November 16, 2009 5:49 PM EST
His father was wrong on one issue. When someone is intent on committing suicide, the family usually has NO idea. They don't want to ever be talked out of it, so they make SURE they don't drop ANY clues.
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by Itshottoday November 16, 2009 10:53 AM EST
Poor guy... The girl looks like a really nice person, too.
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by seaview123 November 16, 2009 5:31 AM EST
of cos there is a murder weapon
the sfpd lost it
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by fluffallergic November 16, 2009 1:08 AM EST
well, they know he went online for awhile before his death. Who did he contact ? I wonder how long you have to follow an internet trail ? It seems like if he wanted to get laid every day in every way that maybe he made a late night date and when he opened the door they stabbed him and he logically staggered back inside and expired before he could figure out what to do...The crazy notion that he committed suicide is just bizarre and even more bizarre is that a suicidal person would wash off the knife or hide it outside is just....well crazy!! What kind of police work comes up w/ that idea ? I think it must be a simple case of CYA [ cover your ass] . They screwed it up and now they are going to try and get the family to forget about it. I think the key is in who he was online with. I guess it's possible a jilted lover paid him a visit. And he would answer the door of course.. Man, you really have to watch out who you sleep with. I feel very sad for the family and friends and sorry for Hughes as well.
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by mudagoos November 15, 2009 11:19 PM EST
Sounds to me like they aren't going to let this case go anywhere because they have reason to keep it that way. SFPD are not idiots and usually do a very good job, so there's something quite strange about this case.
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by mudagoos November 15, 2009 11:18 PM EST
Sounds to me like they aren't going to let this case go anywhere because they have reason to keep it that way. SFPD are not idiots and usually do a very good job, so there's something quite strange about this case.
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by 4TheTruth November 15, 2009 11:15 PM EST
My son passed away in San Francisco 6 months ago and under rather suspicious circumstances. He was there visiting and was due to leave 48 hours before he died. Since his passing, I've written letters and called the police department, Chief of Police, Homicide department, medical examiner and district attorney office, but to no avail. Even with 2 text messages from my son stating it was not safe for him to be there, the police believe there is no reason to investigate his death. I have texts, emails and pages of information which proves there is reason to investigate, but I may have to really fight to get the SFPD to even begin an investigation if they are so willing to believe this man's death was a suicide. Yup, in the eyes of the SFPD, the Medical Examiner can do no wrong and what their ruling is on the cause of death is the absolute gospel truth. As if a parent of a child who has died under suspicious circumstances is going to stop in their search for the truth. I know I never will. There are none so blind as those who will not see. Wonder what it would take to get these people to open their eyes and do their jobs that we, the taxpayers, are paying them to do?
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by 4TheTruth November 15, 2009 11:14 PM EST
My son passed away in San Francisco 6 months ago and under rather suspicious circumstances. He was there visiting was was due to leave 48 hours before he died. Since his passing, I've written letters and called the police department, Chief of Police, Homicide department, medical examiner and district attorney office, but to no avail. Even with 2 text messages from my son stating it was not safe for him to be there, the police believe there is no reason to investigate his death. I have texts, emails and pages of information which proves there is reason to investigate, but I may have to really fight to get the SFPD to even begin an investigation if they are so willing to believe this man's death was a suicide. Yup, in the eyes of the SFPD, the Medical Examiner can do no wrong and what their ruling is on the cause of death is the absolute gospel truth. As if a parent of a child who has died under suspicious circumstances is going to stop in their search for the truth. I know I never will. There are none so blind as those who will not see. Wonder what it would take to get these people to open their eyes and do their jobs that we, the taxpayers, are paying them to do?
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by kein12 November 15, 2009 8:19 PM EST
The medical examiner recalled her first lesson in medical school... never admit a mistake you made, it's very rare for a doctor to do so
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by marine1957 November 15, 2009 7:16 PM EST
The one thing that stands out to me in this case is that the knife has never been found. I can not comprehend how a mortally wounded person would be able hide it. I agree with the outside examiners in that a mortally wounded person would be in such shock that they would not be able to think logically. I am upset that the program did not specify the location in which the body was found. How long did it take him to die? Simply run a test. Trace each step and walk through them using a stop-watch. Even so, if the knife is not there, it would take another person to remove it.
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