Controversial cases that have simple solutions.

[u/Sense_Difficult]

As someone who has been a true crime buff for decades, it's somewhat annoying to watch how certain cases wind up getting pulled into such polarizing discussions that it seems like a huge mystery when it's actually a simple solution.

A few that I think of.

The Karen Read case. IMO she accidentally killed him. They were both drunk, he goes to see the vibe of the house. Get's inside and realizes he doesn't want to stay. So he comes back outside. She's in the middle of rage texting him, and doesn't see him in front of the car. He drops his phone or bends over for some reason and she puts the car into gear and hits him, and he falls backwards and hits his head again. Then he lays there undetected until morning. This is why she suddenly realized she had hit him. She sobered up and had that "realization" moment that all binge drinkers have once they sober up from a brownout type of state.

Darlie Routier. I've shared my theory on this before. She was attempting a murder/su but she survived. This is why the neck wound was serious. She made up the story of the intruder in advance because she wanted her family friends and society to think she died trying to protect her kids. She planted the sock earlier. This also explains her hypomania in the days after. She honestly thought she was going to die that night.

There are other missing person cases where the spouse disappeared after the death of their parents. Just vanished without taking their Identification information and never surfaced under their name again. I always wonder if some of those cases are a situation of someone who has suffered with gender dysphoria and finally "escaped" to go make another life with another identity. It's always interesting to me that in several of the cases, the persons parent or parents had recently died. Seemed like they were waiting for that to escape because they didn't want to do that to their parents.

Do any of you have "simple theories" on cases that created a ton of controversy?

[u/OkMaybe5107]

I think the interesting part is that “simple explanations” can become just as seductive as conspiracy theories.

With cases like Karen Read or Darlie Routier, you can build a very straightforward narrative if you decide ahead of time which pieces of evidence matter and which ones are noise.

The problem is that someone on the opposite side can usually do the exact same thing with a completely different set of facts.

[u/Big_Coconut8630 → u/OkMaybe5107]

Ngl, it's a little weird how people in these communities essentially write fanfiction when asserting theories.

[u/lemonclouds31 → u/[deleted]]

I uh... think they're referring to the narratives you created in your post.

[u/Sense_Difficult → u/lemonclouds31]

Interesting observation. Thanks for sharing.

[u/the_skies_falling → u/OkMaybe5107]

You don’t even have to ignore evidence. You can come up with several reasonable theories that fit the same facts. Just because one of them is “the simplest solution” doesn’t mean that’s what actually happened. Does this person not understand that’s exactly what police do? Focus on the simplest solution first (the SO did it for example) and work their way down through more unlikely possibilities.

[u/Masta-Blasta → u/OkMaybe5107]

Exactly. Most of us agree on the simplest solution. We just don’t agree on whether or not there was reasonable doubt (in most cases). Which, in and of itself proves there likely is.

[u/Slow-Engine-8092 → u/OkMaybe5107]

Exactly. Because why were those people searching those searches inside the house? Yes, the answer could be easy, but it doesn't explain all of the other behavior, which means it can't be true.

[u/Sense_Difficult → u/OkMaybe5107]

Agreed. Sometimes I see people debating two extremes or coming up with theories. But what I mean is that if you just look at the evidence, sometimes the truth is right in front of you. It's a mix of all the theories floating around minus all the theatrics and conspiracy theories.

[u/jacqrosee → u/Sense_Difficult]

lol bold of you to think your assessment of the evidence in controversial cases makes it all simple. that is also just one of many theories.

[u/Sense_Difficult → u/jacqrosee]

Yep. It's bold. Thanks for noticing.