I feel like Elijah was born under a dark star and I'm so angry that, as far as I can see, there was no safety net for him, not the state, not county/city or federal, despite his mother receiving disability aid. I don't know why she had custody of either of her children, given her difficulties as we know them. Not even the extended family seems to have been able to intervene. To me - and it's JMO - this little boy was already lost, just not gone yet.
Following up on my continuing obsession with Elijah's blanket, since the news of it being found came out.
Sidebar: It has not yet been proven an impossibility that Elijah was abducted, at least not to me. I know it seems unlikely, allegedly triple-locked apartment door and all, but that does not make it impossible, not yet. The location of the blanket only increases my wondering in that regard.
People often walk their dogs using the same route. I realize Two Rivers is a small town in a largely rural area, but even so, it can be common to walk your dog the same way every day. Do we know
when Elijah's blanket ended up in the place - not far off Goodwin road, near a dirt path - where the dog-walking woman spotted it the weekend after he was reported missing? We don't know. If she walked her dog the same route everyday, did she just miss it? Even if she walked a new route that day and that's why she spotted it, that doesn't tell us how long it had been there.
Given that the blanket was found within 4 miles of JV's apartment, I have to believe that that area, like all areas within at least a 5-10 mile radius of the apartment, had been searched intensively, probably more than once, during the previous 4 or 5 days. Maybe there was snow cover, sure, but maybe Elijah's banket wasn't there until the day before or the day of discovery and that's why it wasn't found sooner.
If the blanket wasn't there on day 1, then JV and/or KB couldn't have placed it there beause they were both in jail.
I now know, thanks to
@WI Vigilante, that it was JV who told the police about Elijah's blanket. I still can't wrap my mind around why he would have said a word about it if he actually knew where it was. I know some people theorize that he deliberately placed it along Goodwin Road in hopes of diverting/misleading investigators, and then intentionally mentioned it to the police to further that deception but I just don't see where he has the smarts for that kind of play.
Others think he realized he'd forgotten about the blanket after disposing of poor Elijah and hastily pulled over to toss it before going home - either between 2:00 and 9:00 p.m. in the now-impounded Nissan sedan the day before or between 8:00 and 11:00 a.m. the day of - before finally reporting him missing. In this second example, it's even more improbable to me that he'd tell the police about it. The only way that's even remotely viable, IMO, is if KB had no idea JV killed her boy, whether by accident or design, and JV was afraid she might mention Elijah's blankie to the police.
There were much better ways to destroy that blanket, too, if you think about it.
This part of Wisconsin has some notorious history. Not far north in Manitowoc County, for example, is Avery Auto Salvage, made world famous because of the incredible 2015 docu-series Making A Murderer, about Steven Avery. I mention that only because murderers are among us, pretty much everywhere. Pedophiles are among us, pretty much everywhere. Both sometimes roam distances, looking for prey. Both recognize opportunity when it presents itself. A three-year-old child, wandering alone for even just a few dozen yards, can absolutely attract the wrong kind of attention. They do. Every day.
I guess what I'm thinking is that, if Elijah was grabbed, say 50 yards from Vang's apartment, then the predator wouldn't know where he "lived," if you can call it that. Could have been the night before, could have been the morning of the day he was reported missing. Take the kid, head off to wherever you intend to do your depraved thing, and if that kid's little blanket smells like poop, then just pull over quick along some country road, dump it and keep on driving. In that scenario, Elijah's blanket may have been there all along, which leaves me mystified why it wasn't found sooner.
I can't stand that he has not been found yet. I think he could be anywhere, but I don't think he's alive. I truly hope he's not reduced to being just the one bit of currency these two people plan to spend for a plea deal.
All JMO