Wednesday, July 8, 2020

The Murder of Amber Gaddis: Colin Ector





Daniel Gaddis
by Colin Ector 

Amber Gaddis was found killed in Jacksonville on the morning of Saturday 20th June. Her husband Daniel called 911 to report he had been kidnapped and robbed by three men in a dark vehicle, but was later let go near his home.
Daniel says he believes the same men went to his house and tried to rob Amber. Her body was found at neighbor’s house where she had purportedly tried to seek help after the attack. Other neighbors reported hearing three gun-shots early Saturday.

Daniel Gaddis gave a short interview to First Coast News.  His language is concerning.

“She was perfect man, she was a great person just with a big heart, she loved everyone and cared about everyone,” 
“I loved Amber with all my heart man. She was like the air in my lungs,”

First of all, it is noted that the subject (Daniel) refers to his deceased wife as a gender neutral person rather than a woman.  This could be an indication that he does not see her as a woman anymore or is no longer attracted to her.

Where was Amber shot?  Was she shot through the lungs?  If Daniel has guilty knowledge in the death of his wife could this have produced this language?  We do not know this yet.  This is a question to be answered.

Daniel Gaddis says he left his house willingly with acquaintances then was dropped off at an apartment complex where he was robbed.
He believes those men went back to his home and tried to rob his wife.

“She opened the door because it was someone she knew, and then they tried to rob her again and steal electronics and I wasn’t there,” 

This is an important sentence.  The subject has the need to tell us why his wife opened the door.  This is the highest level of sensitivity. 
He also has the unnecessary need to tell us he wasn’t there.

This sentence alone is unexpected and concerning coming from the husband of a woman who has just been shot and killed.

“When I came back all I noticed was my flat screen TV was in the road.

When a subject tells us what they noticed it is often an indication that they were consciously looking for something.  Here, it is “all” the subject noticed and he takes possession of it. It is his flat screen TV.  

Why is it the only thing he noticed and was likely looking for?
Why does he have the need to take possession of it? Why is not “the TV”.
Why does he have the need to tell us it is a “flat screen”?  This should not be important at this time, but it is important to him.
Did the subject and Amber have an argument about his flat screen TV?  We do not know but his language leads us to the question.

 I came back to the house and I couldn’t find my wife. I went inside and couldn’t find my wife. I told police I can’t find my wife. I think she was kidnapped,” Gaddis told First Coast News.

Her name is more expected here rather than “my wife”.  Is she more possession than person?

Does he have a need to persuade us that he didn’t know where she was?  He has said it three times in succession.

Police and Daniel Gaddis searched the area and found Amber Gaddis dead at a neighbor’s home.
Daniel Gaddis is now focused on consoling their children and is hoping that police find the men who did this.

“I wasn’t kidnapped, it was planned. It was like a setup. They planned it out, came to the house. Their intention was to rob us,” Gaddis said.

The subject is pushing a conclusion to the media.

“Now I’m just waiting on justice and I’m just waiting on justice to happen”

He is not telling us he wants the men found and charged.  

There is not enough language to make a solid conclusion yet, but Daniels language to this point, is unexpected and should be carefully investigated. 

Substance abuse may have played a role in this case. 

If you wish to study deception detection, please visit Hyatt Analysis Services 

15 comments:

General P. Malaise said...

“Now I’m just waiting on justice and I’m just waiting on justice to happen”

I believe the subject is telling the truth, he is "waiting on justice to happen".

the subject likely knows he will be caught, is this leakage of guilt?

Note the linguistic disposition towards the kidnappers/murderers is neutral where negative is expected. Neutral in context is "positive", there is no fence to sit on in this scenario. there is no neutral.

the linguistic disposition toward one-self is usually not negative. this is often seen in hoaxes where the subject is involved and does not use negative language towards the "supposed" perpetrators.

sonjay said...

What has struck me about this case from the beginning is how much is missing from the husband's account.

He says the 3 (3, of course) people were acquaintances, but he doesn't tell us anything about who they were. Name? Where he knew them from? Were they neighbors, co-workers, regulars at the corner bar, or what? He doesn't tell us what, if anything, they said to him. What they were driving. Absolutely nothing about them. Acquaintances are, by definition, people that one knows, at least by sight, but there's zero information about these acquaintances that he wants to share.

Also, he never does say that the acquaintances are the people who allegedly robbed him. He was "dropped off" at an apartment complex, where he was robbed. When this story first broke, I was confused because I thought he meant that he went for a ride with 3 acquaintances, then he was dropped off, then some other person or people robbed him. It's telling that he does not say the acquaintances robbed him, even though he obviously wants us to believe that they did. If he won't say it, I certainly won't say it for him.

frommindtomatter said...

“She opened the door [because] it was someone she knew, and then they [tried] to rob her [again] and steal electronics and [I wasn’t there],”

It’s interesting he says “again”, in connection to robbery. That’s not something someone would purposefully plant in a statement. It would have been included without his knowledge by his brain in milliseconds. If we believe in its veracity, then we can conclude she did know the people he talks about (alleged abductors), and that they had tried to rob her before.

“I wasn’t there” – could be guilt from being unable to help her. If they tried to rob her before it is possible he was there then, and managed to stop it last time.

Later he said:

““I wasn’t kidnapped, it was planned. It was [like] a setup. They planned it out, came to the house. Their intention was to rob [us],”

He includes himself in unity with his wife (”us”), in relation to the robbery. He could have said “her”, but he automatically picked the pronoun “us” which is strong in this case.

I need to look at this more to get more context. More statements would be good.

Adrian.

Hey Jude said...

There are conflicting reports -early on it was reported that Daniel Gaddis was kidnapped by three men in a dark car.

“According to the Jacksonville County Sheriff's Office, Daniel told investigators that three unknown men traveling in a dark-colored vehicle had abducted and robbed him, then dropped him off near his home. “ Mail Online

More recently it is reported that he left willingly with three acquaintances.

There isn’t much by way of statement from Gaddis.

————

Here is a little from Albert Ives, described as the room mate of Amber Gaddis. It’s bits from an interview - unfortunately the reporter just summarised the rest of it.

Albert Ives: Everyone was like hey, here, she’s not here, and we gotta find her, and the tv was in the road because he didn’t know because they just got done robbing him.”

Albert Ives: ....Dropped him off...

Interviewer: What d’they take from him?

Albert Ives: Twenty bucks, his shoes.

Interviewer: What’s the relationship between Amber and your neighbours house? Do you know each other?

Albert Ives: Um, I don’t know if she knows them or not - I think she really just went over there to try to get help.

Albert Ives: She was a good person, she had a great heart, she always helped anybody out if they needed help, she didn’t have any enemies.

Video here:

https://cbs12.com/news/local/florida-woman-found-dead-at-neighbors-home-after-husband-says-he-was-kidnapped-robbed

——

It sounds as if Albert has been primed to say these things - by Daniel, as he says pretty much the same as Daniel.

Were Daniel and Amber separated? - Albert is described only as Amber’s roommate.

Did Daniel attempt to rob Amber previously, and again?

Daniel can’t get his story straight. Interestingly, he mentions the tv before his wife - he saw the tv, yet not also the trail of blood across the road until after he looked inside the house.

Statement Analysis Blog said...

My concern with the article's quotes is the heavy editing and the disjointed quotes. I cannot tell if he is responding to a specific question or not.

This is why it is important, as Colin demonstrates, to use restraint.

Longer quotes are easier, even when stand alone.

It is also difficult to discern if guilt is actual (specific to the crime) or attendant, such as drug purchasing/using/trafficking.

Peter

Habundia said...

It's been a long time ago since I posted here, but I came upon an "Unsolved Mysteries" episode on a Netflix serie and one of those episode set of all my alarm bells!

Patrice Endres, 38, went missing (supposedly abducted) about noon April 15, 2004, from her hair salon, Tamber's Trim 'N Tan on Matt Highway. On December 6, 2005, her skeletal remains were found less then 10 miles away, in woods behind Lebanon Baptist Church off Kelly Bridge Road in Dawson County. She has a son who was 15 at the time of her getting missing, Pistol. He deserves closure! Just like her father. Both are broken by the loss of their daughter and mother.

(Pistol tells in his interview that he sometimes saw them fight and tried to avoid Rob to avoid issues. He also tells how his mother had told him weeks before about wanting to divorce Rob.Pistol tells in his interview how the day after his mom went missing Rob had changed all the locks and didn't let Pistol in to get clothes or any pictures of his mom. He went to stay with his father and never got anything from his mom from Rob.
Pistol clearly suspects Rob and wants justice for his mom. “Rob is seeking closure.” = what is suggested when seeing what ‘the media’ says. Let’s see what Rob himself says.)


I'd transcriped the interview of Rob, Patrice’s husband, 20 years her senior. They had met when Rob visited the hairsalon and they started dating.

"Seven years with Patrice, they were the best years of my life. I just remember the hightlights, and the beauty and the warmth and the love."


"The day that Patrice went missing I was at work. It was probably around 14:00 - 15:00 in the afternoon. In a situation like that, you don't think the worst and the - and the... even the remote concept that she had been murdered was not something I was thinking about.”


"When I got to Patrice's salon they started talking to me and said (clicks teeth) 'and we'll see you at the Forsyth County Sheriff's Department to interview you (laughs)', "Okay" (Rob said)

"I didn't get the bracelets. I didn't feel like a suspect, but yeah, I get it. I have a degree in criminology (laughs). I am Patrice's husband and a lot of times husbands are guilty of killing their wives. So you - you know, you get to do this."

"Patrice and I didn't argue. We never argued. There's no point at arguing, all that does is drive divisions in a - in a relationship. I think Pistol was enormously....jealous, for a lack of a different term, about the closeness of Patrice's and my relationship."

"One of the things that we struggled with is, she didn't discipline him and he just ran crazy. I just didn't see any future in him when I was with him to tell you the truth." (shakes head)

"Patrice planning.....to divorce me is new information. We - she never made that comment to me. Sometimes there were issues, but I don't remember the issues. I care not to remember the issues and um, yeah, I'd expected to live with her....forever. We had a whole entire live ahead of us."

“After Patrice went missing vast as a precautionary measure, I believe I changed all the locks in the house."
(It would be interesting to know who’s name the house was on)


"I didn't want Pistol in the house because the...you know....I didn't like him. And just to be on the safe side. Just to stay somewhere else. And I'll know I am not gonna have this constant mental drag on me and that you're here and I have to put up with your stuff."

Habundia said...

It's been a long time ago since I posted here, but I came upon an "Unsolved Mysteries" episode on a Netflix serie and one of those episode set of all my alarm bells!

Patrice Endres, 38, went missing (supposedly abducted) about noon April 15, 2004, from her hair salon, Tamber's Trim 'N Tan on Matt Highway. On December 6, 2005, her skeletal remains were found less then 10 miles away, in woods behind Lebanon Baptist Church off Kelly Bridge Road in Dawson County. She has a son who was 15 at the time of her getting missing, Pistol. He deserves closure! Just like her father. Both are broken by the loss of their daughter and mother.

(Pistol tells in his interview that he sometimes saw them fight and tried to avoid Rob to avoid issues. He also tells how his mother had told him weeks before about wanting to divorce Rob.Pistol tells in his interview how the day after his mom went missing Rob had changed all the locks and didn't let Pistol in to get clothes or any pictures of his mom. He went to stay with his father and never got anything from his mom from Rob.
Pistol clearly suspects Rob and wants justice for his mom. “Rob is seeking closure.” = what is suggested when seeing what ‘the media’ says. Let’s see what Rob himself says.)


I'd transcriped the interview of Rob, Patrice’s husband, 20 years her senior. They had met when Rob visited the hairsalon and they started dating.

"Seven years with Patrice, they were the best years of my life. I just remember the hightlights, and the beauty and the warmth and the love."


"The day that Patrice went missing I was at work. It was probably around 14:00 - 15:00 in the afternoon. In a situation like that, you don't think the worst and the - and the... even the remote concept that she had been murdered was not something I was thinking about.”


"When I got to Patrice's salon they started talking to me and said (clicks teeth) 'and we'll see you at the Forsyth County Sheriff's Department to interview you (laughs)', "Okay" (Rob said)

"I didn't get the bracelets. I didn't feel like a suspect, but yeah, I get it. I have a degree in criminology (laughs). I am Patrice's husband and a lot of times husbands are guilty of killing their wives. So you - you know, you get to do this."

"Patrice and I didn't argue. We never argued. There's no point at arguing, all that does is drive divisions in a - in a relationship. I think Pistol was enormously....jealous, for a lack of a different term, about the closeness of Patrice's and my relationship."

"One of the things that we struggled with is, she didn't discipline him and he just ran crazy. I just didn't see any future in him when I was with him to tell you the truth." (shakes head)

"Patrice planning.....to divorce me is new information. We - she never made that comment to me. Sometimes there were issues, but I don't remember the issues. I care not to remember the issues and um, yeah, I'd expected to live with her....forever. We had a whole entire live ahead of us."

“After Patrice went missing vast as a precautionary measure, I believe I changed all the locks in the house."
(It would be interesting to know who’s name the house was on)


"I didn't want Pistol in the house because the...you know....I didn't like him. And just to be on the safe side. Just to stay somewhere else. And I'll know I am not gonna have this constant mental drag on me and that you're here and I have to put up with your stuff."

Habundia said...

Part 2:
(I suppose he is asked what he thinks about people who think he has killed Patrice)

"I have no comment for people who think that I killed Patrice, because I don't talk to those people. Because I know I didn't. Patrice knows I didn't. And it's physically impossible time-wise for me to have been involved in it. Think what you like.

The day Patrice went missing, I was at home. Before I went to work I got gas for my car. I had a receipt. The receipt is time-stamped.(laughs) Her shop is probably a 45 min drive from where I was in Woodstock getting gas. They have when I went to work through the turnstile at work...so they have the clock sitting there. It's physically impossible for me to go to Patrice's shop and get back and get gas.”

“In my mind’s eye why I think somebody who knew Patrice’s routine was involved, somebody that she knew, because the place wasn’t disheveled, wasn’t beat up, nothing turned over, supposedly. Who’s to say it was one person to carry her? Was she kept, uh captive for a while? Was…you know, I hate to say this, but was she somebody’s….toy for a while? Who know when she was put out there or how? Did someone take a wheelbarrow and haul her out there? I don’t know”

“I asked the people who took care of Patrice’s remains: ‘What I like you to do, as a last farewell (tears up). I don’t know if that’s how I termed it….is reassemble her’. (a light smile appears on his face) Lay her out for me. I wanna see her.”
(The remains as received were placed as best as possible in a correct anatomical position by the coroner and Rob was given time alone in the room with them)

“I picked up her skeleton, I mean her head, and carried it around for a while. Put her back, kissed her goodbye. I thanked Mr. Caldwell and I left. He asked me if I was okay to drive. I was. (sniffles) That’s the last time I saw Patrice anywhere near intact.”(sniffs)

“Probably for a year or longer, after Patrice was returned to me, her ashes…..she stayed in my bed. I slept with her. It’s something that I typically don’t share with people…….but she was like my teddy bear. Cause that’s how we used to sleep, snuggled together. Just brought back good memories. And yes, I am protective of Patrice. And I have her. That’s a good thing.”

So then Rob walks towards a closet

“Should be in here” (sighs)

Opens the closet door (grunts softly) he pulls out a carton board box from the corner bottom of the closet.

“Here’s her ashes”

Puts the box on the table.

“You can see how beat up this box is.”

Opens the box and in it is another leather look box.

“I kept it in the box. I didn’t take it out.”

He takes the leather look box out of the box and cuts it open with a pocketknife. Takes out a plastic bag filled with ashes.

“And there’s Patrice.”

Lays the bag on the table, and tabs on it a couple times with his hand.

“This…..small……one pound bag…”

He slightly takes it of the table and slightly throws it back on the table.

“are the remains of Patrice.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen this bag. It’s somewhat emotional, actually (breath trembling) Sor - - Sorry. I’d never share these ashes with anybody. Particularly Pistol.”(sniffs)

These statements seem to have so many red flags, so many unexpected words, yet not one word about 'FINDING THE PERSON(S) WHO DID THIS TO PATRICE", it is only Pistol (and other closed ones) who did say they are looking for closure, Rob never does.

This case seems to be solvable but for detectives to FIND evidence they have to SEARCH for evidence. Not wait till evidence knocks on their door.......or till someone else went to SEARCH for evidence and FOUND it, to bring it to their desk. It's their job to SEARCH it and FIND it.....and this case seems at least to have a suspect who is knocking on their door after this interview, who screams to be explored!

Sob123 said...

“Who’s to say it was one person to carry her?” Might be a sensitive statement. Did he have someone to do his dirty work for him ?

Sob123 said...

“Who’s to say it was one person to carry her?” Did he have somebody to do his dirty work?

Anonymous said...

@Habundia— “Who’s to say it was one person to carry her? “ did he have help ? Someone knows something

Habundia said...

@sob123..........Maybe he hired someone......there isn't anyone specific that could be pointed as a possible helper.....but I have thought of that too.

Anonymous said...

“I picked up her skeleton, I mean her head, and carried it around for a while. Put her back, kissed her goodbye. I thanked Mr. Caldwell and I left. He asked me if I was okay to drive. I was. (sniffles) That’s the last time I saw Patrice anywhere near intact.”(sniffs)

Ok. That seems super extremely creepy.

Hey Jude said...

Re: Netflix Unsolved Mysteries - Thirteen Minutes

Rob’s a strange character. He said the last time he saw his wife “intact” was as a skeleton, in the funeral home, when he picked up and cradled her skull. In the year following he slept with Patrice’s cremains “like a teddy bear”, but now he keeps them in a closet.

He’s possessive of his wife, in death as in life - controlling, even. It might be his way of showing love, but it doesn’t seem too respecting to the observer. His interest in the skeleton might be related to his interest in criminology - they didn’t ask why he wanted to view the bones - maybe he was hoping to find something the pathologist missed? That he won’t bury or share the cremains, or give Pistol, Patrice’s son, photographs of his mother, appears cruel, unless Rob believes that Pistol is responsible for her death, which he might, considering he changed all the house locks the same day Patrice disappeared, “just in case”. Pistol should stay somewhere else, so he would be “safe”, and just in case. Safe from what, or from whom, and just in case what? This is a tease, as no clarification is sought.

Pistol was only fifteen. He seemed a wild child, though, and probably spoiled - his mother had seemed somewhat controlling of him - they’d argued that morning.

Rob said Patrice and he didn’t argue, he also said they struggled about Pistol, because she didn’t discipline him, and he ran wild.

Rob and Pistol both seem to have solid alibis, and a strong mutual dislike of each other. Each was jealous of the attention given by the victim to the other.

You’d be inclined to look at Rob with more suspicion because his behaviour is so macabre, also because Pistol said that shortly before her disappearance, his mother had said that she wanted a divorce, but there’s only Pistol’s word for that. Patrice had a lot of friends, so one might wonder if she would confide such to her young son, yet not to any of her friends or other family.

Rob’s strange, for sure, but I’d like to hear more about the suspect who liked to rob salons at lunchtime, and who confessed to the murder, and also drew the layout of the cars accurately depicting Patrice’s in a place that wasn’t her usual spot. How could he know that? The detective said he had other information that he was surprised he knew, too. Whether he could have obtained that information from anywhere without committing the crime was not explored.

Hey Jude said...

The trouble with the dialogue is you don’t know what is spoken in the free editing process, what is an answer to a question, or what the question was, or how any of it has been cut and edited. I think the intention is to cast Rob as the likely culprit because he was jealous of all Patrice’s relationships, behaved in a macabre way and is so cold towards Pistol. Call a kid Pistol, and you might invite him to be a troublesome kid. It all makes for great intrigue. They both loved Patrice - I don’t think loving someone is a motive for murder - in this half-told story it’s not clear if anyone had any motive to murder Patrice. It would have been good if they had explored more of that morning - Rob said he was at home that morning, and that he was at work that morning - Pistol said he and his mother had argued (at home?) that morning.

He said he last had spoken to his mother when she dropped him off at school, but that’s not the same as saying that was the last time he saw her. What was the question, though? When was the last time you spoke to your mother - or when was the last time you saw her?

Still, they both have alibis - work and school, and Patrice was definitely in her salon at the time she was abducted.

When did Rob have all the locks changed - was he not expecting Patrice might be able to return home? There were lots of clarifying questions which weren’t asked - it creates extra mystery.

Rob is suspicious, Pistol could have had a motive, but the suspect who liked to rob salons seems to me a more likely candidate - Patrice was abducted from her salon, her wedding ring and cash were missing, and there were two independent eye witnesses, one of hands on contact outside the salon.

—-

Elf, very creepy to hold and kiss the skull, have not heard anything like it. Could be like revisiting the scene of a crime? Total ownership and control - he still has Patrice’s remains in a closet.

Why, if Rob, did he not kill her at home, drive somewhere to dispose more conveniently of the body? More chance of witnesses at the salon - indeed there were witnesses, though they didn’t know what they were witnessing. That’s partly why I think it was opportunistic - though why do they think Patrice was dead before she was taken into the woods? I thought she was more likely to have been killed in the area where she was found.