Among the endless array of things the digital world has brought us are, for better or worse, Internet sleuths. Too often, these are armchair experts, who may be innocuous or otherwise unhelpful to the investigation and the people involved. In this case, we have a real professional expert on murder cases who decided to share “some of [his] observations” on TikTok.
David Betras, a licensed lawyer in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, has nearly four decades of experience in criminal law, having worked on numerous murder trials. Considering the fact that he’s a father of three – who does give off a bit of ‘dad energy’ which adds a little fatherly charm – it wouldn’t be too surprising to learn that his children may have had a hand in motivating the older gentleman to join a social media platform that is known for being mostly populated by Gen Z and Millennials.
Regardless of the reason why he joined the platform at the beginning of 2024, Mr. Betras has some interesting and insightful takes to impart, particularly and in this case, concerning the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Thirty-nine years of criminal law experience talking
“I’m no conspiracy theorist, that’s for sure,” is the opening line to David Betras’ analysis of Brian Thompson’s killing. Not every conspiracy theory is built the same – some have significantly more kernels of truth than others. And, for thousands of netizens in the comment section of Betras’ video, the attorney’s reasoning sounds solid.
The experienced lawyer discusses how “we never saw the actual shooter’s face,” as the now-infamous security footage shows the cameras only caught the killer from the back as he shot. Then, Betras adds many other factors as to why this was a cold, cautious, and minutely calculated murder. His theory ultimately boils down to his deducing that this suspect wouldn’t have been “sloppy” enough to allow himself to be seen unmasked and by witnesses at both a Starbucks and a hostel, meaning, there were multiple people involved and their purpose in wearing the same clothes and being seen at different places was all to throw investigators off-track.
“You’re creating reasonable doubt;” one netizen wrote, “I love it.” Replying to another commenter who considers that there were multiple people involved, Betras said, “Well, all I can say, I said it many times the more people involved in conspiracy the greater the likelihood they solve it.” The likelihood can increase with the more people involved because there are more evidence trails to follow, and the higher the probability that at least one person will screw up and, quite possibly, drag everyone else down with them.
In a subsequent video, Betras addressed a commenter who disagreed with him on one of his videos about this notorious and recent murder case:
“There’s a motive here,” Betras says, “you just gotta get the proof against the person who was most motivated to kill him.” According to the senior attorney, if this person happened to make a mistake, in this era of digital footprints and high-tech investigative technology, the FBI will surely detect said mistake. However, as Betras concludes: “If they have enough proof is the next question,” a question that so far, as many others in this stunning case, remains to be answered.
Published: Dec 9, 2024 10:10 am