The words of the guilty - Part one: Karen Matthews

Could we have known at the time?

Over the next four weeks, I will publish a series of posts featuring the words of guilty people, but at the time were trying to show innocence.

Can we look at their words and see if there were indications that they were not telling the truth at the time? I’ll show which techniques we can use to get behind the words that are being said and discover what is going on underneath them.

I’m going to start with two posts on Karen Matthews. In 2008, she faked the disappearance of her 9-year-old daughter Shannon, motivated by the thought of it bringing money her way.

The very first words she spoke publicly about this were when she made a call to emergency services. What signs were there in that call that she wasn’t being truthful?

Let’s break it down

Operator: Police emergency

Karen: Hiya, I’d like to report my daughter as missing please

In her very first words, there is a flag raised that something here is off. There is no plea for help, she doesn’t say “my daughter is missing”, express any urgency or express any concern for Shannon’s welfare.

Instead, she shows her priority, making sure that people know Shannon is missing. Hence, her words, “I’d like to report my daughter as missing”. In other words, she wants it to be known her daughter is missing, that is what is most important to her.

The absence of urgency, emotion, or concern is not an outright indicator of deception. The world is made up of all kinds of people. However, it’s a data point to remember.

There are also two indicators of friendly politeness in the first line, with “hiya” and “please”. People with an urgent emergency will generally have more critical things on their mind than politeness. People who need to have the emergency services on their side and believing what they say will tend to me more polite and friendly than genuine callers.

One line in and two flags raised as to possible deception.

Truthful

Op: Right, how old is she?

Karen: Nine

This is a basic question that requires a factual answer, which is provided in a straightforward way. Karen has nothing to lose by telling the truth here, so it’s a good example of how she uses words when she is being honest.

Op: Nine? When did you last see her?

Karen: She went to school this morning

This should be another factual answer, but Karen doesn’t directly answer the question. She is asked WHEN she last saw Shannon, but Karen doesn’t say when, she says what Shannon was doing.

This is likely because Karen has rehearsed her story beforehand so that she doesn’t slip up when she tells her lies. Before calling the police, she would be confident she could answer all the questions and instead of listening to what was asked, she’s taken a cue from the question and provided an answer from her prepared words.

I now make that three flags raised to possible deception.

Op: Have there been any arguments or..

Karen: No, none at all

Karen interrupts the operator to answer this question. This might be a question she anticipated when she was rehearsing the call in her head, so she doesn’t feel the need to wait for the end of the question to answer.

Another mismatch

Op: No. Have you been in touch with any of her friends or anybody like that?

Karen: I’ve been everywhere I can think of friends-wise and family and everything

Once more, Karen’s answer doesn’t match the question asked. The operator asks if she’s been in touch with friends, and Karen says she has been to places.

Karen says she’s been EVERYWHERE and thought of EVERYTHING. She’s very keen to show how hard she’s tried to locate Shannon.

Op: Have you been in touch with the school, can they confirm whether she’s been at school?

Karen: (interrupting) She left school at the normal time, ten past three.

For the third time, Karen gives an answer that doesn’t match the question. She doesn’t confirm she’s been in touch with the school, or whether they’ve confirmed Shannon was at school. She throws out the “fact” that she left school at ten-past three.

Karen says this was the “normal” time. People who are being deceptive and trying to construct or hide events often say that what happened was “normal”. They try too hard to convince us that nothing unusual happened.

Here, Karen says “normal” before she says the time, indicating that it’s highly important that she gets across that everything was normal.

Op: Right…. what do you call her?

Karen: Shannon Matthews

Op: Has she been missing before?

Karen: No, it’s first time

Two easy questions with factual answers, which Karen is happy to answer truthfully. Her answers to both are direct and straightforward.

Conclusion

In this very short exchange, there are numerous indicators that Karen is not telling the entire truth. I don’t know what the police did at the time. If they had studied the words she used during her call, they should have been alert to the fact there was more to her story than she was saying.

In the next post, I’ll look at some of the words that Karen used when she was making pleas for Shannon’s return.

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