I am confident that more insights eventually will be available here or elsewhere, but one should not expect to be spoon-fed a plausible explanation. Not every detail will be crystal clear or perfectly cohesive. Some aspects must be obscured deliberately to protect the tender feelings of the faultless and to safe keep the faithful who solitarily sleuth the truth against remnant dangers, real or perceived. Frustrating? Yes. Cryptic, teasing even? Perhaps, but that is why you possess logic, reason, a heart and a brain. Continue to connect the dots. Dont overthink things.
Of course, perhaps a different, less challenging task would better suit some who lurk here. After all, when you want to trace your roots, you find a good genealogist. When your drain is clogged with roots, you find a good plumber, unless you can manage the job yourself. And if perchance one is simply a knot head befuddled by the bumps on ones own head, one should find a qualified phrenologist (who might provide a few more lumps, just for good measure!).
But how does one untie a mystery that is 25 years old? What skill, talent, tool or instrument is of any use? Some knots are bound so tight that they cannot be undone. Occasionally, however, with the passage of much time, some strands will relax, and some strings will loosen. Even then, it may require a delicate, persistent, and fearless touch to reach a denouement. Once undone, the truth surfaces.
Remember what former Minnesota FBI agent and US Marshal Allen Garber observed on the 20th anniversary of this case: Its the investigatornot the computerthats going to find the kid or the kidnapper . . . Sometimes it takes them a long, long time, but eventually somebody talks and thats the way that crimes are solved.
*
Until then, be patient, walk softly, and carry a big pipe wrench . . .
*Without a Trace by Beth Hawkins, Minnesota Monthly, October 2009: http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/October-2009/Without-a-Trace/
Prov. 11:14
