NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - #19

[kjliss]

Did a call come in on his cell phone at the church christmas party the night he left abruptly?

 

[jodeen86]

What are the chances he left on his own? Does anyone else find it odd that he bought Christmas presents 3 weeks early and left them in the car? Also I read somewhere they were ornaments and a bib one place and somewhere it said they were cookies, does anyone know for sure which it was.

 

[believe09]

What are the chances he left on his own? Does anyone else find it odd that he bought Christmas presents 3 weeks early and left them in the car? Also I read somewhere they were ornaments and a bib one place and somewhere it said they were cookies, does anyone know for sure which it was.

Welcome Jodeen86!!!!

I recall the ornaments and bib, but not the cookies fwiw. I think he left on his own.

However, I wonder if he is aware his father died.

 

[marcyjoy]

I have always had trouble with the "left on his own" theory. I can't imagine what he would be running from. No kids, no wife. And if it was financial, then leaving would be even more difficult because (if he intended not to be found) his options for work and housing are really limited without using any social security number.

I agree he was in a bad place. But leaving would only put him in a bad place without any family, church or community. Suicide would seem like the most likely theory, but I can't get my arms around the how or the where. Seems he'd be found by now.

 

[OldSteve]

*Snipped* I was just wondering what is considered late? How long would it take to walk around the corner to one of those houses? A minute? Too late but also too early might give a bad impression at an interview. IMO he was just making sure not to come too early.

What I wonder about is if he was going to one of the houses, why not park in front of it? It would save time....
Unless:
He doesn't want to give whomever is in the house an easy view of his car license plate#...
He doesn't want to be seen going to that house..
Whomever is in the house doesn't want neighbors seeing Steven entering his house and that person has instructed Steven to park where he did.

All of the above points to something suspicious - but it's just a guess on my part.

If he was meeting someone in a car, then he would park where he did, as it's mentioned, because it wouldn't be in front of anyone's house... but that would be a odd place to meet another and drive off from there....

 

[OldSteve]

I have always had trouble with the "left on his own" theory. I can't imagine what he would be running from. No kids, no wife. And if it was financial, then leaving would be even more difficult because (if he intended not to be found) his options for work and housing are really limited without using any social security number.

I agree he was in a bad place. But leaving would only put him in a bad place without any family, church or community. Suicide would seem like the most likely theory, but I can't get my arms around the how or the where. Seems he'd be found by now.

I just cannot see suicide.
Leaving - don't see that either. I think he would have first begun to distance himself from friends and religion - and how could he hurt those parents... The emotions his father shown on the show really got to me!
Even though he came from a large family, that did not diminish in any way the love his parents have for him - very touching!

 

[lieber32]

I just cannot see suicide.
Leaving - don't see that either. I think he would have first begun to distance himself from friends and religion - and how could he hurt those parents... The emotions his father shown on the show really got to me!
Even though he came from a large family, that did not diminish in any way the love his parents have for him - very touching!

This case for me raises many questions. I don't even know where to begin. Who holds interviews on a Sunday (I think that is what I read). If you are going to an interview you want to be early so why wait a few minutes in car to show up right on time? His travel plans prior to his disappeance really stump me. Wondering about labtop and who searched it. Did LE (I work for LE and know what they look for and the qualified people they employ to do a search on one). My brother is a computer progammer and I hate having to give him my laptop to fix because he always finds something to drill me about. I've even given him my laptop when the hard drive crashed and he was able to find something to question me on, mind you I live a fairly boring life. I applaud the family on their efforts and hope that they get an answer. Wonder if in his Linklin account it showed any networking with a potential employer or they turned up anything showing resumes sent to this area on any other job website such as monster, careerbuilder or even craigslist for the area he was found.

 

[lieber32]

I have always had trouble with the "left on his own" theory. I can't imagine what he would be running from. No kids, no wife. And if it was financial, then leaving would be even more difficult because (if he intended not to be found) his options for work and housing are really limited without using any social security number.

I agree he was in a bad place. But leaving would only put him in a bad place without any family, church or community. Suicide would seem like the most likely theory, but I can't get my arms around the how or the where. Seems he'd be found by now.

I run background checks and sell police police reports for a living and wonder why you think he would not be able to get housing or employment. I don't see what crime he has committed that would bar him from either. Its not a crime for an adult to go missing, have had two NCIC hits for adults and went to my superviser and she told me that I still had to do background check and to just strongly encourage them to let LE know they were not missing and mention that they did not have to have LE disclose their location. Neither of these two had criminal backgrounds and I told them what my supervisor told me and gave them a record check stamped with no convictions. I believe that if Steve Koecher came in to have a background check it would be the same. We don't do credit checks and a lot of housing and employment don't but if they did maybe but you can find plenty of employers and housing officials that don't.

 

[dreamweaver]

I still feel Steven never left that day. IMO.
He arrived at noon for an appointment.
It could have been for a job. Maybe there was something morally wrong with it and he didn't want to follow through.
It could have been to counsel someone from the church.

Whatever went on, I think he was killed there.

I think Steven loved his family, loved his church and would never have willingly left them.

He did buy some little Christmas presents, things he could afford with his limited income.
He bought a bib for the baby and Christmas cookies, wrapped, for the small children.

It's just me, but I don't attach that much importance to his trip to Northern NV.

If I correctly remember the information given at the beginning of his disappearance, he could not park on the street. He parked in one of those visitor parking spaces that a lot of suburban streets, etc have.
To me, he strides down the street heading to whomever he was going to meet.

Who knows what could have prompted someone to want to get rid of a seemingly very nice, unassuming man like Steven?

 

[dreamweaver]

Welcome Jodeen86!!!!

I recall the ornaments and bib, but not the cookies fwiw. I think he left on his own.

However, I wonder if he is aware his father died.

believe09:
It is one of those agree to disagree moments...

I think Steven arrived in heaven before his dad and welcomed him with open arms when he arrived.

 

[laytonian]

I still feel Steven never left that day. IMO.
He arrived at noon for an appointment.
It could have been for a job. Maybe there was something morally wrong with it and he didn't want to follow through.
It could have been to counsel someone from the church.

Whatever went on, I think he was killed there.

I think Steven loved his family, loved his church and would never have willingly left them.

He did buy some little Christmas presents, things he could afford with his limited income.
He bought a bib for the baby and Christmas cookies, wrapped, for the small children.

It's just me, but I don't attach that much importance to his trip to Northern NV.

If I correctly remember the information given at the beginning of his disappearance, he could not park on the street. He parked in one of those visitor parking spaces that a lot of suburban streets, etc have.
To me, he strides down the street heading to whomever he was going to meet.

Who knows what could have prompted someone to want to get rid of a seemingly very nice, unassuming man like Steven?

Welcome back!

To me, the Christmas presents left in the car, are what say "goodbye". Why buy them on Dec 12th, when he told his family he'd be home for Christmas in Bountiful on the 23rd?

But it wasn't a visitor parking place; it was actually no different than any other no-parking area in the subdivision (where people park only for short times). That's why the car was ticketed by the parking patrol.

 

[laytonian]

I run background checks and sell police police reports for a living and wonder why you think he would not be able to get housing or employment. I don't see what crime he has committed that would bar him from either. Its not a crime for an adult to go missing, have had two NCIC hits for adults and went to my superviser and she told me that I still had to do background check and to just strongly encourage them to let LE know they were not missing and mention that they did not have to have LE disclose their location. Neither of these two had criminal backgrounds and I told them what my supervisor told me and gave them a record check stamped with no convictions. I believe that if Steve Koecher came in to have a background check it would be the same. We don't do credit checks and a lot of housing and employment don't but if they did maybe but you can find plenty of employers and housing officials that don't.

Very true. It's not illegal to disappear

But....remember if he did get a job under his own name, he'd likely show his own SSN. That would generate a W-2 at the end of the year -- and that would have arrived at his parent's home (his official address).

Credit checks have been done; there's no activity.

From your other post:

Who holds interviews on a Sunday (I think that is what I read). If you are going to an interview you want to be early so why wait a few minutes in car to show up right on time?

The "interview" is just speculation; there's no proof that anyone was holding interviews that day....and if they were, where were all the other job applicants? There'd have been other vehicle traffic, strange cars on the street, etc. The videos have been reviewed, and nothing suspicious was spotted.

To me, IF he went to an SCA address, all that makes sense is that he'd been there before (maybe just the day before) and was told to come back "about noon tomorrow".

 

[Fairy1]

This case for me raises many questions. I don't even know where to begin. Who holds interviews on a Sunday (I think that is what I read). If you are going to an interview you want to be early so why wait a few minutes in car to show up right on time? His travel plans prior to his disappeance really stump me. Wondering about labtop and who searched it. Did LE (I work for LE and know what they look for and the qualified people they employ to do a search on one). My brother is a computer progammer and I hate having to give him my laptop to fix because he always finds something to drill me about. I've even given him my laptop when the hard drive crashed and he was able to find something to question me on, mind you I live a fairly boring life. I applaud the family on their efforts and hope that they get an answer. Wonder if in his Linklin account it showed any networking with a potential employer or they turned up anything showing resumes sent to this area on any other job website such as monster, careerbuilder or even craigslist for the area he was found.

It is our understanding that Steven's computer was thoroughly searched and that nothing of interest was found. We do know that he sometimes used the library computers which were never searched. If there was any computer trail to what he was doing, it wasn't on his own computer.

We also do not know that Steven was in Henderson for an interview - that is only one of many theories. Steven's Mother has been fairly adamant that Steven would not have skipped church on a Sunday for a job interview. Of course, that doesn't mean that he didn't.

One thing that has been on my mind regarding the timing of Steven's visit to the SCA neighborhood; if someone had lured him there to harm him or if he was on some nefarious mission, why would either choose high noon on a Sunday to meet? Wouldn't the likelihood of him being seen be much higher in the middle of the afternoon than after dark?

 

[laytonian]

Welcome Jodeen86!!!!

I recall the ornaments and bib, but not the cookies fwiw. I think he left on his own.

However, I wonder if he is aware his father died.

The ornaments were apparently decorative cookies.

 

[Fairy1]

I still feel Steven never left that day. IMO.
He arrived at noon for an appointment.
It could have been for a job. Maybe there was something morally wrong with it and he didn't want to follow through.
It could have been to counsel someone from the church.

Whatever went on, I think he was killed there.

I think Steven loved his family, loved his church and would never have willingly left them.

He did buy some little Christmas presents, things he could afford with his limited income.
He bought a bib for the baby and Christmas cookies, wrapped, for the small children.

It's just me, but I don't attach that much importance to his trip to Northern NV.

If I correctly remember the information given at the beginning of his disappearance, he could not park on the street. He parked in one of those visitor parking spaces that a lot of suburban streets, etc have.
To me, he strides down the street heading to whomever he was going to meet.

Who knows what could have prompted someone to want to get rid of a seemingly very nice, unassuming man like Steven?

But if he was killed there, why would the killer just leave his car there for days? Steven had his keys on him when he went wherever he went. Wouldn't the murderer have moved it to a location that didn't lead to them?

 

[laytonian]

One thing that has been on my mind regarding the timing of Steven's visit to the SCA neighborhood; if someone had lured him there to harm him or if he was on some nefarious mission, why would either choose high noon on a Sunday to meet? Wouldn't the likelihood of him being seen be much higher in the middle of the afternoon than after dark?

Bingo.
Broad daylight, in a home so close to the neighbors', that they almost touch.

If anything, I believe he got into someone's car - and was either driven, or drove away himself. (One possibility, as I've speculated before, was a job driving someone else's car or RV cross-country -- a fairly common job.)

 

[laytonian]

What I wonder about is if he was going to one of the houses, why not park in front of it? It would save time....
Unless:
He doesn't want to give whomever is in the house an easy view of his car license plate#...
He doesn't want to be seen going to that house..
Whomever is in the house doesn't want neighbors seeing Steven entering his house and that person has instructed Steven to park where he did.

All of the above points to something suspicious - but it's just a guess on my part.

If he was meeting someone in a car, then he would park where he did, as it's mentioned, because it wouldn't be in front of anyone's house... but that would be a odd place to meet another and drive off from there....

It's an odd, but perfect place. It's the only cul de sac in all of SCA, that doesn't have homes around it. (Have you seen the satellite view, on the timeline?)

People only park on the street in SCA, for short times. All of SCA is basically "no parking on the street" (the streets are very narrow, everything's close together).

Speculation: one would park there, if they believed they'd be leaving their car for a period of time. Otherwise, they'd dart in and out of a house - and leave.

 

[laytonian]

I absolutely agree they should be considered suspicious. I don't think I made my point very well. I have sleep deprived baby brain. I have a strong suspicion he could have had a voice mail from someone he knew telling him an address perhaps. That's my theory anyway.

The voicemails were still in the system, and were retrieved.

Source: His mother, DeAnne Koecher to [URL="http://www.8newsnow.com/story/11852528/where-is-steven-koecher?redirected=true]Las Vegas 8 News Now, January 2010[/URL]: ""We have no idea why he was there. We've checked text messages and voicemail messages. No calls were tied to this," said Koecher's mother, Deanne."

 

[laytonian]

Does anyone know if you get charged minutes if you don't answer your phone but it goes strait to voice mail? Are there phone records that show which calls were answered and which ones went to voice mail?

Yes, the detailed phone records have been reviewed.
Have you seen the map of his Las Vegas "cell tower hits"? It's on the timeline page.

As for billing: his plan (actually, a joint family plan) billed "one minute" for every segment under one minute (even a couple of seconds). It's just the typical "rounded up to the next minute" billing used by most companies.

 

[Fairy1]

Bingo.
Broad daylight, in a home so close to the neighbors', that they almost touch.

If anything, I believe he got into someone's car - and was either driven, or drove away himself. (One possibility, as I've speculated before, was a job driving someone else's car or RV cross-country -- a fairly common job.)

I'm beginning to think the same thing. But even at that, it's a strange place to meet up to be whisked away in another car.

I wonder if, when they reviewed the surveillance tapes, they ever really focused on the other cars passing by. Of course, the other car may never have made it to Evening Lights. It could have been waiting on Portsmouth Creek (?) and never passed within camera range at all.