Murder of Sir Jack Drummond

Murder of Sir Jack Drummond

The missing pieces

Just like with other unsolved crimes in the murder of Sir Jack Drummond, there are missing bits of information that make the case, on one hand, interesting, but on the other, in practice unsolvable.

Why that spot?
Drummond did choose a strange spot to spend the night. Even though the meeting place theory seems unlikely, why would they spend the night on the roadside and not find some place further away from the traffic?

Why that weapon?
The M-1 carbine was widely used by the American army in World War 2 (also in Europe), so it wasn’t surprising that it can be found in France just a few years after the war, but it is too loud and too difficult to hide, so any professional killer would choose it. It suggests that the killer used what he had available - an old war souvenir.

Who was the main target?
If we knew in what order the adults were killed, this might provide some information about whom the main target was. Guessing from the location of the bodies, it would seem logical that Ann was killed first, then Jack and Elizabeth as last, but if Jack was killed first, the two other murders would have entirely different meaning.

Why was Elizabeth killed?
Elizabeth was killed last, and it appears that the killer panicked when she was running away. But the answer to the question of why was she killed would put a lot of information. First of all, she might have been killed because she knew the person who killed her parents. A similar reason could be that she saw the person who killed her parents. There is another aspect - if the killer chased her, he was more afraid that she would tell anyone who he was rather than being seen by some of the neighbours (after all, it was after everyone around heard the shots).

Could this be a random killing?
The way the weapon was dropped into the river suggests that the killer was not concerned with leaving it behind, which suggests that he knew he couldn’t be linked to it. If he was local, someone might have seen it before. This would point to someone from the outside or someone who can be sure that no one will point his finger at him. The random killer most probably would not chase Elizabeth, would rather try to escape as fast as he can.

What did the neighbours hear?
We know that Dominici did hear the shots, but did they hear anything else? Did they hear a car driving away, the sound of brakes or tires, any screams or other sounds?

What was the motive?
Police managed to rule out money and sex as motives, it does not seem like professional killing, death of Elizabeth rather rules out random killing, so we only know what the motives were not, but we’re not any closer to solving the mystery of the reasons why Drummonds were killed. The messy killings of adults, the murder of Elizabeth with elements of anger and panic, the careless way of disposing of the weapon - all of these points to someone who obviously didn’t plan this and might have been acting on an impulse.

Was the killer insane?
Nothing in the crime scene suggests that it was a professional killing, but could this be another case of people being in the wrong time and wrong place? After all, there were examples in the past of insane killers attacking people in the public places for the thrill of killing (like Texarkana Moonlight Murders, Monster of Florence or Francis Heaulme).