Independent investigators: Seth Rich likely killed by ‘hired killer’ or ‘serial murderer’

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Key Findings of the Profiling Project Report:

  • Seth’s death does not appear to be a random homicide.
  • Seth’s death does not appear to be a robbery gone bad.
  • Seth[‘s] death was more likely committed by a hired killer or serial murderer.
  • There may be additional video surveillance of the crime and crime scene.
  • The resolution of prosecuting the individual(s) responsible appears to be hindered both actively and passively.
  • Seth’s killer(s) most likely remains free with the community.

An independent, nonpartisan and all-volunteer group of forensic experts and George Washington University graduate students investigating the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich just punched some major holes in the official story of the young man’s untimely demise.
The group, working under the moniker The Profiling Project, released the results of its investigation of the Rich murder on Tuesday.
In its report, the group outlines how it used standard investigative practices accepted by the nations biggest law enforcement agencies and whatever information it was able to ascertain to produce a thorough profile of the victim and investigate possible motives for his homicide.
From the report: “The goal of PP was to create as strong a profile of Seth Rich as possible. That profile would then be compared to the various profiles of the theories surrounding Seth’s death. PP understood that the bulk of our information would be second and third-hand accounts, reporting’s and statements. To assess validity of such information, PP established a weighted tool to give value to the credibility, reliability and validity of the statements and information reviewed. We conducted statement validity assessments for any statements or information we were presented.”
Based on what the group learned about Rich’s personal history and lifestyle, the group determined that the former DNC staffer had a “low-to-moderate” risk of victimization.
Included under the “Victim Risk Assessment” section of the report, PP includes this statement about Rich’s Facebook profile: “Reportedly, in his last Facebook posting prior being shot, Seth posted ‘I have family and friends on both sides of the law’ which may indicate an understanding of the criminal system.”
The group noted that Rich’s murder is one of the few recent non African-American homicides to occur in the area, raising the possibility that he was the victim of a racially motivated attack. But the care taken to avoid leaving evidence behind at the crime scene, PP contends, doesn’t support the theory.
The investigative team’s analysis of the crime scene, including the location and care taken to leave no evidence behind, provides some of the most intriguing background on the cold case provided to date.
From the report:

With an unknown offender and very limited crime-scene information, a through profile of the offender is not possible. However, based on the following assumptions, we find the following:
If the CCTV cameras PP observed on May 4, 2017 around the crime are consistent with the CCTV cameras on July 10, 2016, the offender could successfully remain unrecorded in approaching, engaging and withdrawing from the crime-scene.
Offender brought a most likely unregistered firearm to the crime-scene, utilized the firearm and most likely carried the firearm away from the crime-scene with them post-commission. This is a bold behavior in D.C., which has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.
The act of killing is one of the most extreme human behaviors. The offender had already accepted that the use of a firearm was an option, indicating that offender had either previously killed, or a significant amount of preparation had gone into planning for this kill. Additionally, offender could elude police from the commission of the crime to present.
That the crime-scene appeared to be almost sanitized (no firearms casings were reported to be found, no physical evidence was reported) and that there does not appear to be excessive use of force (as only two shots were reported), the offender does not appear to be psychotic. Offender did not display excessive emotion at the crime scene, did not appear to act from hate, anger, fear, gain, jealousy or revenge, all motivations for murder.

The group determined that the most likely perpetrator profile is that of a serial killer.
But it’s examination of the evidence it gathered also leaves room for some stomach-turning questions. For instance, the group discounted the likelihood of scenarios involving a possible contract killing carried out by a professional assassin only because investigators have not yet released toxicology reports that could indicate whether a poison was released into Rich’s body.
A professional murderer, PP contends, would not have left the scene with Rich still alive and, according to reports, still conscious and able to speak with first responders.
A theory PP describes a potentially valid is that the crime scene was initially ignored by arriving officers because: “The full-scope of Seth’s injuries were not recognized initially as life-threatening.”
“As such, Seth was not urgently transported to a hospital and the crime scene was not given the attention that a murder crime scene would receive,” the group continued.
Barring the release of information pertaining to Rich’s official cause of death and a full toxicology screening– there’s no way to know for sure that the two gun shot wounds to his back were what actually killed the staffer.
Mainstream media and the political establishment has declared that any questions about motives behind the Rich killing that veer from the official botched robbery explanation are wild conspiracy theories. And the denigration continued Tuesday, with MSM focusing less on the details of the PP’s report than on the fact that the group is funded in part by GOP lobbyist Jack Burkman.
Despite his success in D.C., MSM outlets have lampooned Burkman as a wild-eyed conspiracy theorist… part of that vast, right-wing group that’s been hounding the Clintons for years.

But as we endure a national nightmare centered on investigating high ranking politicians for all manner of insane alleged crimes ahead of the 2016 election, what’s one more. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has already suggested that Rich had something to do with the massive leak that harmed Clinton’s campaign. And Assange’s cryptic assertion is no less shaky than the handfuls of leaks and unnamed sources that sparked the Russia/Trump/obstruction circus.
That’s not to say Hillary Clinton is responsible for Rich’s murder, nor that she was involved in any of the other strange deaths over the years some Americans can’t help but wonder about. For more on that, check out “Act Three” of this episode of This American Life from way back in 1997.
But at a time when MSM is content to examine every single possible angle of the Trump ordeal, isn’t it even worth considering the possibility that a powerful person could be capable of terrible things, in addition to connected enough to be assured they’d never be caught?

Here are a few important dates to remember: 

September 2015: The Russia hacked the DNC meme begins after an FBI special agent contacts DNC headquarters to report that its databases had been compromised.
March 17, 2016: Then top Trump endorser Jeff Sessions says: “I think an argument can be made there is no reason for the U.S. and Russia to be at this loggerheads. Somehow, someway we ought to be able to break that logjam. Strategically it’s not justified for either country.”
In the following months, Trump would advocate renewed relations with Russia in the interest of targeting international terror while rebuking the Clinton doctrine that would put the U.S. at odds with the nation by hammering down on Syria (seen the news lately?). He would also praise Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s leadership on more than one occasion.
April 2016: DNC IT officials notice more suspicious activity on computer networks.
May 2016: Clinton-connected IT firm ClowdStrike declares that the DNC intrusions are the work of highly sophisticated Russian hackers.
June 15, 2016:  A mysterious online persona going by the name “Guccifer 2.0” begins releasing  DNC documents online and claiming responsibility for the attack. CrowdStrike repudiates the claims, still blaming Russia. The hacker would subsequently release donor reports (June 18), a damning dossier on Clinton (June 21).
June 22-June 30, 2016– “Guccifer 2.0” begins giving backstory. Says: “I can only tell you that I was born in Eastern Europe. I won’t answer where I am now.”
Also, the hacker mocks the blame Russia story from Clinton and the DNC: “It seems the guys from CrowdStrike and the DNC would say I’m a Russian bear even if I were a catholic nun in fact. At first I was annoyed and disappointed. But now I realize they have nothing else to say. There’s no other way to justify their incompetence and failure. It’s much easier for them to accuse powerful foreign special services.

“They just fucked up! They can prove nothing! All I hear is blah-blah-blah, unfounded theories and somebody’s estimates.”

July 5, 2016: Comey gives press conference on the Clinton email “matter” after being coached by Attorney General Loretta Lynch to minimize it’s importance.
July 6, 2016: More damning DNC documents surface thanks to “Guccifer 2.0.” They include DNC’s plan for a counter convention during the RNC. “Guccifer 2.o” also notes: “This pack was announced two days ago but I had to keep you waiting for some security reasons. I suffered two attacks on my wp account.”
July 10, 2016: Seth Rich is murdered.
July 14, 2016: A new batch of DNC documents is released on the “Guccifer 2.0” website– but this time the information is about donors during way back in 2007 and Democratic opposition research on Sarah Palin.
The Guccifer 2.0 leaks continued to roll out in the months following– but the main trove of documents were released by WikiLeaks, as promised on the Guccifer 2.0 website with the initial round of releases: “The main part of the papers, thousands of files and mails, I gave to Wikileaks. They will publish them soon.”
The point here is that whether Clinton was elected or not, an effort to accuse Russia of attempting to undermine U.S. democracy was in the cards as early as 2015.
There were scattered reports that “Guccifer 2.0” named a person known as “Seth” as the leaker and others that that Rich may have been in the process of making contacts within the FBI to come clean at the time of his murder. The reports are unverified, mere conspiracy theories.
But is it really more believable that a billionaire sold out the American people to Russia as he ran for president than that a woman who’s spent her entire life seeking political power would have one lowly staffer murdered to keep him from becoming a squeaky wheel in the press– or worse, the key to dismantling the entire Russia hacking story before it got teeth.
Trump’s gamble, from cushy life as a billionaire to President Russian Stooge, certainly seems like an exercise in diminishing returns. Killing a staffer to protect a budding meme that would be used to ensure that Clinton’s backers got their foreign policy wishes even if the voting public gave her a cold shoulder really doesn’t.
But, hey, there aren’t any powerful media interests or folks at the FBI, CIA, NSA, and various other alphabet soup bureaucracies that would withhold information from the American public to protect a clandestine agenda. Right?