Who killed Robert Rainey?
Who killed chiropractor Robert Rainey, early in the morning of May 31, at his Culver City office? Who is the shadow of a man seen with a pipe or a bat at the strip mall (9200 block of West Venice Boulevard in Palms) that morning? Did Robert Rainey know his assailant? What was the motive of the killer in the brutal bludgeoning of the kind-hearted chiropractor? Was it mere robbery?
I saw the story on Nancy Grace (with Rita Cosby substituting) last Friday. It looked like an important case, so I hit the record button on my remote. I look at a lot of cases, but the observable elements in this one are rather unusual. No one is aware of Robert having any enemies. Some speculation has it that possibly a jealous spouse of one of Robert Rainey’s patients was seeking revenge on him for flirting with his wife.
Lots of Legwork!
Nothing concrete on this lead, but a worthwhile avenue of investigation. This would entail a great deal of digging, on the part of detectives (working there in Los Angeles), having to interview all of Rainey’s current and former patients in pursuit of a hidden jealousy angle. Lots of legwork! Yet there are other possibilities? Could it have been a homeless person?
We hear that the chiropractor was often friendly with the local homeless people and was generous in giving them his money. I don’t know just how much he gave them, but with this in mind, this could have put a notion in the mind of one of them with a more criminal bent, and he puts a plan into effect. But why such a brutal, personal beating? This doesn’t seem to fit with a wider motive of robbery, do you think?
Another Wrench in The Works
And then another wrench in the works is that the only thing stolen from the office was Robert Rainey’s wallet. There was plenty of expensive medical equipment that the perpetrator could have confiscated, but he chose to ignore these items. So the argument that robbery was the primary motive is a little hard to make. Rather, the personal nature of the emotionally charged attack favors my first option postulated earlier.
And how’d this mystery man get into Robert’s office? Did Robert willingly let him in sometime after 7 AM? Wouldn’t the bat or pipe be visible to the chiropractor? I think it would, unless it was hidden under his jacket or shirt. So maybe he had left the door unlocked? Maybe he was followed as he left his car, climbs the stairs of the strip mall (his business is in the middle of a busy shopping area, just above a Blockbuster’s), and unknowingly enters his business, with a shadow lurking behind him.
Robert Rainey Enemies?
Obviously, it was premeditated. A weapon had been brought along and a definite plan of how’d he do it had been hatched. Once again, we keep hearing (when reading these stale, two-month-old news reports) that Robert Rainey didn’t have any known enemies. Well, he must have had one! The idea that this was a random robbery, that turned into a homicide, is harder to accept, than it was strictly a personal killing.
Retribution for some perceived wrong, where a motive that’s been around for millions of years rears its ugly head? I mean old-fashioned, age-old JEALOUSY! Unfortunately, I don’t have any proof to back up my convincing theory. Perhaps, even as I write, those LA detectives are developing some viable clues (that back me up).
