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Saturday, December 11, 2004
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TOO RESEARCH-ACTIVE
" ONLINE SEARCH CITED Slaying suspect's computer used in researching 'perfect murder' By Tim Carpenter The Capital-Journal LAWRENCE -- In the month before Carmin Ross-Murray was slain, research on "how to murder someone and not get caught" was performed on a computer owned by the man accused of killing her, a prosecution witness testified Thursday. Thomas Murray, professor of English at Kansas State University, is charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 13, 2003, beating and stabbing death of his ex-wife, Ross-Murray. The preliminary hearing in Douglas County District Court to determine whether Murray stands trial for murder is expected to conclude today. Detective Dean Brown, a forensic computer expert with the Lawrence Police Department, said dozens of searches associated with causing physical harm were conducted on computers in Murray's home in Manhattan or in his faculty office at K-State. Other phrases typed into search engines on his computers between Oct. 17, 2003, and Nov. 12, 2003, were "murder for hire," "perfect murder," "how to make a bomb," "best way to kill someone," "drug overdose" and "eye drops and murder." Searches for information extended to odorless and tasteless toxic substances capable of being lethal to an adult, Brown testified. There were searches that led to a page on Jack the Ripper and a drug tied to instances of date rape, Brown said on the fourth day of the preliminary hearing. He said that on Nov. 12, 2003 -- 24 hours prior to the time prosecutors believe Ross-Murray died -- a search on a computer in Murray's possession was done to find a map of highways connecting Manhattan, Topeka and the Kansas City area. Ross-Murray, 40, was living in a farmhouse northwest of Lawrence at the time of her death. Murray, 48, lived in Manhattan. " |