Bill where would they have disposed of the knife? Knowing enough about DNA from watching CSI, they would have washed the knife and then poured bleach on it and then washed it again and then left it in hot soapy water. I would be confident that the DNA would not be there.
Most of you here believe that Rudy took the knife that left the print and took it to Germany where he disposed of it. At some point that would mean that he had it in his place and cleaned it.
The idea that it would be easy to dispose of the knife just isn't well thought out. They would have just been involved in this violent murder. They would want to make sure they weren't connected to one of the murder knives. If the knife were found without a complete clean they would be caught for sure. They would think that every window had someone watching as they threw it or put somewhere that wouldn't be found.
I default to people like John Douglas. Douglas learned through interviewing the perps themselves that it is useless to speculate all the possibilities that exist out there.
I wish his book was in electronic format, because I'd copy and paste. The long and the short of it is that the actual perps report the same sorts of things about how they do it, and what their actions are afterward.
As it says in the Wiki article on "Offender profiling", Douglas made a career out of taking a shortcut to limit who police might want to look for... creating these limits or "typologies" from what the offenders themselves told him at interview after they'd been caught.
John Douglas and Robert Ressler became pillars of offender profiling in the FBI. They spent much time studying convicted sex murderers and interviewing them, creating organized and disorganized typology, which is still in use today. Ressler was also responsible for the founding of the National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) and at least partially responsible for the establishment of VICAP. Their studies provide more information on the behavioral patterns, traits and characteristics of criminals which can then be added to the offender profiling program.
Now if you're going to go for all the ifs, ands, and buts you could be correct - indeed anything, actually, IS possible.....
But Douglas looks at this and (although he doesn't specifically make mention of this one item) the thought that ANY perp would participate with others and then have BOTH agree to take the knife with them - particularly after doing a world-class clean-up to mask things at the scene - is taking credulity to the stratosphere.
Your scenario has them thinking about television programs, and seeking a remedy of cleaning and returning the knife. Whereas you will take me to task for assuming the probable - that they'd toss it in the nearest river, or heave it as far as they could into the forest right by the cottage.....
.... I would similarly take you to task for showing how this sort of cleaning and returning of a murder weapon (that they'd continue to cook with) is anything resembling the "typology" of known offenders.
I have no idea what Rudy did with the real murder weapon.... in fact, the typology of heading to Germany and the weapon being never seen again IS the typical behaviour.... ask Steve Moore. Read John Douglas's Law and Disorder.
What you'll find is his description of how horrible this crime is, but that it is also horribly typical - it simply does not need all this hoopla to explain things - in fact, to include all the hoopla has been the problem from the start.
John Douglas also says something else. He says that this tragic murder was a career case for most, if not all, in the PLE. To Douglas, though, this was simply another day at the office because he worked in the USA.
Guilters vilify Steve Moore.... good for them. I've never really seen a guilter lay into John Douglas. I wonder why?
Face it - ANY perp returning a murder weapon in this horrible saga back to normal use is beyond absurd.
