MovieChat Forums > Cold Case (2003) Discussion > Question about the murder in The Letter

Question about the murder in The Letter

posted 10 years ago by number9-4
5 replies | jump to latest

This was one of the first episodes I ever saw, and I always wondered: Did Sadie's lover/murderer kill her because he was ashamed to admit he was with her, to silence her screaming, so it was actually an accident, or to put her out of her misery because she was being gang-raped and he was in on it? I might have missed something, but it seemed kind of unclear, to me. They just show him remorsefully putting his hand over her mouth, and it seems like he would feel guilty from any of the three scenarios above. Plus, he was portrayed mostly as a good guy, and I'm sure Sadie wouldn't have wanted to leave her daughter, even if she did have to deal with the trauma of being raped/betrayed. So I think a supposed mercy-kill would have been really stupid and shortsighted of him.

Was it supposed to be open to interpretation, or did I miss a line that revealed why he did it?

[–] christianturba4 10 years ago

i really don't know..

[–] miss_november85 10 years ago

Seems like an accident to me, Jonesy was too afraid to help her and stand up to his "friends" but he couldnt handle to hear her screams so he covered her mouth and nose accidentaly killing her, they all seemed pretty suprised when she wasnt moving so i dont think they went there to kill her, just to rape her i guess....

"I'm Not Crazy.... The Rest Of The World Is"

[–] number9-4 10 years ago

Ah, see, I couldn't remember the context. Was he surprised she wasn't breathing? Because if not, it still could have been that he was trying to put her out of her misery.

[–] laxxx028 10 years ago

Personally I saw it as both and act of mercy and as a way to avoid the shame afterwards. I mean he stood there and watch his friends rape her, yet he didn't say or do anything to stop it. How was he supposed to look at her afterwards? He loved her but also failed her so badly

[–] Left_back 9 years ago

Further to your point, he was ashamed he couldn't do anything to prevent the rape, but also he was ashamed he loved the girl but that his promise to raise her child as his own was flawed when he realized how much of colour the child was. More than simple 'put her out of her misery' was at play here.

Something that struck me as short-sighted and it may have been just the premise of the writing, why just concentrate on the killer and not go after the 5th Day gang that helped rape the poor girl? Much like murder, rape does not have a statute of limitation. The discovery and denouement of the killer in the early episodes seems to be the raison d'être, but true justice (with the appearance of the victims as justification/satisfaction at end) isn't truly complete without going after the gang that influenced the killer's participation and final act.

Perhaps it was enough to acknowledge the overt racism of the time without getting too deep, or perhaps many of the 5th Day gang were deceased by then (the current day of the episode). But it wasn't as satisfying just getting the killer without the rest.