Mr. S: What is his purpose?

The strangeness of this episode, I feel, cannot be understated. It is reasonable to assume that, when a man under strange circumstances reports finding a dead body in a park known for harboring dead bodies, that man will come under suspicion as the killer. The fact that that man, Mr. S, is a man of rather unsavory habits, does not help his case particularly. But here, I feel that conclusions are being jumped to far too readily. Despite all the search going into Mr. S's past to see if he might be the killer, or have some part in this mystery, nothing incriminating is pulled up. 

And so this brings us to question the very need for this episode. Why even talk about Mr. S? It would be a lot easier to spend a couple minutes talking about him, giving a brief intro on his habits, and finish it off by saying that for these reasons he is no longer considered suspect. Yet here, he is given an entire half an hour, a full episode, in investigating into his case. Is it to demonstrate certain quirks? Is it to make sure that all ends are fully covered? Or is it simply a way to build suspense for the next episode?

This once again brings back the ethics question of doing this entire podcast. It is of course an incredibly delicate affair to broadcast on a nationwide scale the events that 15 years later are still traumatic for all involved. Yet now, more outsiders such as Mr. S, people who would rather be left alone, are also being brought into play. Now, if this was relevant in furthering the plot in the form of a lead or some other mechanism, it might be allowed. But it seems as if these continued details add no furtherance to the story, no continuing leads or conclusions pertinent to the trial as a whole. Perhaps it is a set up for later episodes, or perhaps these serve some higher purpose. But it seems as if the Mr. S chapter, read and broadcasted thoroughly from cover to cover, has been closed with no intent of opening it again, simply because it had nothing useful to offer to the case at hand.