A Tragic Thriller Explained

I've heard about the Cindy James case 2 years ago in a 30 minute video that left me very confused. This podcast took a deep dive into the case with perspective from friends, family, colleagues, and law enforcement. Although nobody who was involved in this case can agree on any conclusions, this podcast does paint a picture as to the life and final years of Xibday James as well as plausible theories as to what could have possibly caused her demise. iIf you are interested in this case, this podcast will not disappoint

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Excellent

In every way. A complete masterpiece that I'd recommend to anyone who asked for a great listen.

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Pamela Aldon is brilliant!

This was so good to listen to. Very sad story . I LOVE the narrator, she has an amazing voice. Love everything she does.

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what a story

love the way this series is structured. so many twists and turns! must listen for sure!

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Fascinating

I am not a regular podcast listener, but this one was fascinating. I binge-listened to all the episodes and have since highly recommended it to friends.

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Very interesting

This was an extremely interesting story, so many twist and turns and was very well told!

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very engaging

I'm left with the same questions as everyone else involved. Is is possible she did it herself?

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Grabs you and doesn't let go. Very recommended!

First of all, I love the narrator's voice!! She sounds a lot like Leah Remini.

Secondly, this was really great unbiased information. It seems great lengths were taken to look into any side of the story of what could have happened, and no gentle steering toward one theory being more plausible than another seemed to happen either.


Everything below is a spoiler:

*No matter what happened, whoever was responsible was both lucky & incredibly intelligent. Think about it. If it was Cindy, she's lucky she was never caught in any way. The knots in the stockings around her neck all those times, and hands, would have been done in a sufficient way to be believable that someone else did it... the hidden video cam that was blocked by the plant leaf was in her favor... and numerous other things you can see throughout the podcast. If it was her (now ex) husband, he's lucky he and/or the people he hired to do these things to her, were never caught in any way, or seen by others; and the same goes if it was some other unknown person who kept this up for years for who knows what reason. If it was the doctor, he's lucky neither Cindy nor anyone else he might have brainwashed, never was able to pin these actions on him.

*I don't think we will ever know what happened. There's some evidence to suggest she really did do this to herself. The tool in Pat's toolbox, which he'd recently cleaned, he showed to someone had obviously been used and in fact had matching wire filaments and pieces on it, and no one really had access to the box but Cindy. UNLESS some extremely intelligent person who wanted to leave that evidence behind, used his tool on purpose to cut those wires so it would be discovered and blamed on her (very very long shot.) It was also pointed out early on in the podcast, how unlikely it was someone threw a lit paper into such a small 6" crack in a window 8-9 feet off the ground and it would actually land in there and stay lighted AND actually start a fire. That is what made the one female investigator suspicious right from the start, and IMO with good reason. I don't believe she consciously did this though. If anything she was dissociating and forgetting, terrifying herself.

*Any way you look at this, it's tragic. Her sister pointed out at the end that Cindy wasn't living, she was just surviving, muddling through in fear. In that respect it doesn't even matter what the reason behind it was-- it's just a loss all around. :-( Poor Cindy. Not to mention all the man hours and money that was put into the investigation of all the events.

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6 people found this helpful

Well done, but I still disagree …

I was immediately intrigued by this story when I first heard it on the Casefile Podcast, although a much deeper dive was taken here. I did manage to get a hold of one of the books written about the case called Who Killed Cindy James, which wasn’t easy as it is out of print (as is The Death of Cindy James, which I haven’t been able to get). Based on all that I have heard and read, I believe Cindy was a victim of herself. And while the story is very sad on many levels, I disagree strongly with the notion that Cindy was failed by the police and the doctors who attempted to treat her. The harassment she claims to have suffered lasted almost a decade. At the start or it, the police responded to every call, and took all of her allegations seriously IMO. Aside from Officer McBride, who was clearly a bad apple, she received a lot more attention from the police than I think someone who wasn’t white, blonde and “fragile” would have. They tapped her phones and set up round the clock surveillance for her - and not a single shred of tangible evidence was ever found. It would have to have been a criminal of the most sophisticated level to be able to outsmart the police, her neighbors, a private investigator, her ex-husband and her family at every single turn. People have criticized the female officer’s attitude toward Cindy, but I would have done the same - there was clearly something amiss in this case. The question becomes how much of the responsibility falls to the police when handling cases such as this? They are not psychiatrists or even medical doctors - they have a duty to serve and protect the public, and cannot focus all manpower and resources on one individual who is making what amounted to unprovable claims. Cindy DID have access to psychiatric care - she worked for a facility herself! One would argue she had access to more resources than most. She admittedly was not completely forthcoming with her family on the incidents, and I would argue that if anyone had a true “responsibility” to getting Cindy the care she needed it was her family. None of them moved to be near her or really participated much in trying to help her - other than Doug and Melanie, but even that seemed very limited. This is not a case of victim blaming. PLENTY of people stuck out their necks to help and protect Cindy, whether her attacker was real or not. Ultimately, there comes a point when only those who want to help themselves can be helped. This is just an unfortunate case all around and a very intriguing mystery. But I would not cast blame on the police or doctors in this case. And I definitely don’t believe that some crazed cabal of sadistic psychiatrists had anything to do with it. I think this podcast gives too much credence to far-fetched alternate theories and is desperate to blame someone, anyone, for this sad case. Sometimes there just aren’t any clear cut answers, and sometimes it’s nobody’s fault.

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1 person found this helpful

good listen

i want more content like this on audible! interesting true crime story with lots of twists and turns

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