Statement Analysis by Mark McClish

The Answer

There are several points of deception in this story.


"Decide to go for a walk. Got out there. Um stood for a few moments and a received a page from home. Something was going on at home. Let's go back and make a phone call and see what's going on.

Got approached by a gentleman asking for money. When I addressed him I was struck in the rear, knocked to the ground. Struggled with him. There was a shot that went off. Struggled with him and there was another shot that went off. That was the shot that hit me.

Got my gun out of the car. Tried to fire at them. Turned back called for her and just looked and she wasn't there. I, I, I had no idea she had been shot at that point. I got rid of my gun. I stepped over the top of her you know shook her a little bit. Tried to figure out you know, you know 'Patty, Patty talk to me.' She didn't respond to me."


"Decide to go for a walk. Got out there."

The subject begins his story without using any pronouns. Who went for a walk? He left himself out of the story by not saying "I" or "we" went for a walk. We see the same thing when he says, "Got out there." We do not interpret. We only believe what people tell us. This lack of pronouns shows a lack of commitment to his story.

The subject is supposed to be telling us what happened that night. Therefore, he should be speaking in the past tense. Using language in the present tense is an indication of deception.


"Let's go back and make a phone call and see what's going on."

The presence of the word "phone" in a story is an indication of deception. It usually means the person is tied to the crime scene. It is true that most people do make phone calls throughout the day. If we ask them to tell us everything they did, they may tell us about making a telephone call or receiving a call. But they will do more than just mention it. They may tell us whom they called, what they talked about, or how long the call lasted.

In a deceptive story, the person is leaving out incriminating information. Therefore, he will look for things to put into his story to replace the information he does not want to share. Sometimes he may do this by saying that he made a telephone call. However, he will neglect to tell us whom he called or what they talked about. Talking about a phone may also be a stall tactic to give him time to think about what else to put into his story.


"Got approached by a gentleman asking for money. When I addressed him I was struck in the rear, knocked to the ground. Struggled with him. There was a shot that went off. Struggled with him and there was another shot that went off. That was the shot that hit me."

The officer shows deception by using passive language. Again the pronoun "I" is missing. "Got approached............Struggle with him."Who got approached? Who struggled with him? We do not take it for granted that it was an attacker. He should have said "I or "we" got approached."

The use of the word "gentleman" is a very polite term for someone who killed your wife. We would expect him to refer to the attacker as a "man" or perhaps even use harsh language to describe him.

The word "asking" is soft language. Again he is being polite in describing the attacker. Robbers do not ask for money. They "demand" it which is stronger language.

We also see passive language when he talks about the gun being fired. He only tells us that it "went off." Guns do not discharge by themselves. When people use passive language they are hiding someone's identity. If he pulled the trigger and shot his wife, he is not going to tell us that. Telling us that a robber shot him would be a lie. Since people do not want to lie, he uses passive language which is the truth. A shot was fired.


"Got my gun out of the car. Tried to fire at them. Turned back called for her and just looked and she wasn't there."

Again we have the missing "I." "Got my gun.......Turned back."

The word "tried" means he did not do it. He only attempted. What does he mean when he says, "Tried to fire at them"? Did his gun misfire? If he wants us to believe that he shot at them but did not hit them, then that is what he should have said.

He starts of his story talking about the gentleman asking for money using the pronoun "him." Here he uses the pronoun "them." Changing pronouns is an indication of deception. He does tell us that he was "struck in the rear." This would account for the second person. However, when he was knocked to the ground he states that he struggled with "him." Once he introduced the second person, we would expect him to start using plural pronouns at that point in his story and not until the end of his story to use the pronoun "them."


I, I, I had no idea she had been shot at that point. I got rid of my gun. I stepped over the top of her you know shook her a little bit. Tried to figure out you know, you know 'Patty, Patty talk to me.' She didn't respond to me."

We see that he stutters when telling us that he did not know his wife had been shot. "I, I, I had no idea she had been shot." If he normally does not stutter, then this is an indication of stress at this point in his story.

"I got rid of my gun." We would want to find out what he means by this. Most people would tell us what they did with their gun. Why would a police officer who had just been attacked get rid of his gun?

Some people have the habit of using the phrase "you know" throughout their story. However, if it only appears a few times, then the person may be expecting us to take for granted what happened. "....you know shook her a little bit...." The person is not telling us that he did it. He just wants us to believe he did it. We take nothing for granted. We believe what people tell us.


It turned out that this decorated officer went to a park with his wife and shot her at point blank range. He then shot himself in such a way that he would survive. He then made up the story about being robbed.

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