Thank you, Zacha, but that's "reporting," and I still have no evidence of the police asking the question.

Quote Originally Posted by Ravine View Post
Let's examine this pairing of statement with interrogative.

"Police are stumped. Why was Groat walking three blocks from the casino?"

The source of the report has stated that the police are stumped.
While, probably, we can believe that statement to be true, the source of the report has followed the statement with a question which may, or may not, have been asked by the cops.
By following the statement with that question, the source of the report has conjured up the implication that it is the police who were scratching their heads over that one when, in fact, the reader has no just cause for believing any such thing.
The cops, I am certain, can think of several reasons why the victim was where he was. They may wish to know, for sure, why, but I truly doubt that they said anything about being "stumped" by that part of the incident.
Reporters, these days, are a stupid, half-literate, and sneaky lot; it's best to not infer something just because they implied it.