Deep Dive back into the PCA
While the PCA isn't the only important document, it is the one that that got the ball rolling so to speak in terms of an arrest. As trial speedily approaches, it's helpful to refresh memories as to what was said, what was not, and how things may be viewed a little differently now that we've seen subsequent filings.
I've re-typed the section of the PCA below dealing with RA's initial interview with Dan Dulin - Conservation Officer, numbering each sentence [ ] then providing MOO commentary at bottom. Based on the last sentence dealing with "Follow-Up" I believe MOO this interview was conducted the morning of Feb 14, 2017 at a time period the girls were still considered Missing (perhaps an hour or so within the bodies being found). Full transparency - I am undecided on RA's guilt but have shifted a tad towards at least some guilt in the last week.
Probable Cause Affidavit, page 4 of 8
"[1] Investigators reviewing prior tips encountered a tip narrative from an officer who interviewed Richard M. Allen in 2017. [2] That narrative stated:
[3] Mr. Allen was on trail between 1330-1530. [4] He parked at the old Farm Bureau building and walked to the new Freedom Bridge. [5] While at the Freedom Bridge he saw three females. [6] He noted one was taller and had brown or black hair. [7] He did not remember description nor did he speak with them. [8] He walked from the Freedom Bridge to the High Bridge. [9] He did not see anybody, although he stated he was watching a stock ticker on his phone as he walked. [10] He stated there were vehicles parked at the High Bridge trail head, however did not pay attention to them. [11] He did not take any photos or videos.
[12] His cell phone did not list an IMEI but did have the following:
[13] MEID-256 691 463 100 153 495
MEIDHEX-9900247025797
[14] Potential follow up information: Who were the three girls walking in the area of Freedom Bridge?"
MOO
[overall] - I waffle on whether the account above was the full and exact wording that DD recorded - or whether the above per PCA was only a part of DD's notes and perhaps paraphrased by the P above. The problems are:
--If full and exact it's a downright horrible interview: the subject's full name, address, nor phone number are recorded, there is no date/time/place of the interview recorded, nor are the circumstances logged (e.g. he was tipped in, he volunteered based on LE general callout, etc) which resulted in this meeting. Plus things mentioned individually below.
--If partial and/or paraphrased - we're left with a cherry-pick version that suits the P but leaves out helpful notes toward the D. (just like the D's criticized FM)
[1] - this was written by the P, not DD. It claims a recent re-discovery of a prior tip. No mention of any newly discovered evidence from 2017-22, nor any new tips. Why would the P have not been more specific than saying only "in 2017" - Whether this was the day after (2/14) or was November 2017 seems to be a substantial difference and would've taken only a few more characters to give a lot more clarity.
[2] - this seems straightforward (That stated
that what we're reading is a full and verbatim version. The Search Warrant affidavit is worded slightly different but with about the same straightforward meaning (As follows
I would've expected words like "included" or "alluded to" if this was a partial or paraphrased version.
[3] just goes into "Mr.Allen" as though every reader including LE and the tipline knows who this is talking about. Could the D in desperation say this isn't even the right Mr. Allen without a full name, home address, or any other identifying information. "He was on the trail" - to me that is a confirming response to a question "Were you on the trail?" and Interviewee answers Yes. "Between 1330-1530" - again to me this seems most like a confirming response to a question "Was it between 1:30 and 3:30?" and Interviewee again answers Yes, About that time, Part of that time, or similar. The better more comprehensive questions would've been "what time did you first enter the trail(s), what time did you last exit the trail(s), and how many/which trail parts were you on at what times to the best of your memory? While the P later in the P specifically states RA was present
from 1:30 to 3:30, I think it's ambiguous based on these Notes that's what RA actually said. It's interesting that the 2019 Press Conference, DC encourages folks to tip in any info on vehicles parked at the CPS bldg
between noon and 5pm. No one reads this "between" language as meaning cars that arrived at noon and departed at 5:00, but it's the same "between" language used with RA, not a from/to format, even though that wouldn't have taken much more effort to record with a lot more clarification. RA's later time range of 1200-130 is not a conflict to him earlier saying Yes to 130-330 if it is literally read "between"
[4] Quite strange that DD notes where RA claims to have parked but does not record the color/age/make/model of the vehicle in question! DD either thinks he knows what RA is talking about in regards to old Farm Bureau building (even though nothing named that apparently existed) or for whatever reason doesn't press RA to provide more detail as to where that is. (causing LE to make some unconfirmed presumptions later). DD also doesn't inquire the arrival/departure of the car, which could be different than the time on the trails depending on how far off the trails RA had parked before entering onto the trails at the 130-330 comment. I.e. perhaps RA parked at 1:00 and walked the backroads for 1/2 hour before coming onto the trail system...
[5] At the Freedom Bridge [not exactly east of the Freedom bridge as per the Girls' version but probably close enough) RA says he saw 3 females. In later filings we find out the group claiming to see a man was actually a group of 4. And RA doesn't say here that he passed them (which the group of 4 does state), just that he
saw 3 females. It's confusing whether DD asked for their ages or not. In the Follow-Up section DD later calls them "girls" but this section only says females - and apparently no inquiry as to how far away did RA see these females.
[6] Surely this could've been confirmed via school/medical records, maybe even photos - but I don't recall seeing it ever confirmed, or not, that this description that one of the females "was taller" would be accurate as to this group is the same one who claims to see a man elsewhere in the PCA. Again it would've been helpful with a bit more detail as to whether RA was implying taller in general for females, taller than the others in the group whether 3 or 4, or taller than him. Some of us speculated way back that it may have been a 17-yr old babysitter walking with toddlers or pre-teens - but nonetheless this seems like an investigative gap unless I missed something. If there was a taller one, did the taller one actually have dark hair?
[7] it's odd if you're trying to scribble down things fast, like it seems hurriedly in other places, that you'd take the time to write down "he did not remember description" when the previous sentence RA provides a height and hair color description of one of them. Though recording him not speaking to them is reasonable.
[8] "He did not see anybody" is helpful to know, and implies that if BB truly saw him, he was unaware of that or lying here. We covered way back near the beginning that on 2/13/17 the Dow Jones Index passed a previous all-time high so I've always found MOO it perfectly reasonable that he as an innocent man could've been interested in a stock ticker as many people want to see how much money they're making on a day the market is up. As a guilty man about to kill 2 people, it seems like your mind would be elsewhere than a stock ticker?? Again it was helpful to see that noted as it does pin down the factor of phone usage and identification.
[9] RA states there were other vehicle(S) parked at the High Bridge trail head. I believe this would be the same lot known as 'across from Mears' but can't say that positively. If we're to go with LE's timeline, BB pulls up only 3-4 minutes after RA would've crossed this parking area and she said she was the only car in the lot. Hard to believe plural vehicles pulled out in that short time, so someone's lying or their recollection is off. Did LE ever identify any cars in/out of this parking area within minutes of BB's arrival? Perhaps the timeline is not quite dead-on accurate either.
[11-13] good inquiries
[14] I gather that DD wondered if 2 of the 3 girls at Freedom Bridge were A&L.. however since A&L were reasonably the same height, the 3rd female would had to have been the "abductor" or last one to see them. (just still missing at this time is the assumption). However DD does not ask the pertinent questions such as: Would you have recognized Abby, Libby, or both from prior contact if you'd gotten a close look at them? or Did 2 of those 3 girls appear to be 13-14 years old or were they much younger or much older than that?
[overall] These important things IMO were missing from this interview?
--DD asking why was RA at the trails in the first place (for documentation)
--DD asking which return route did RA take to get back to his vehicle? and given it would only take 15-ish minutes at a decent pace to walk from Freedom to MHB, what did he do the remainder of the time there? obviously he'd been here and gone in no more than 35 minutes if he'd only walked out and back.
--how did this tip (reportedly) get mis-filed under "Whiteman" (RA's home address) when, if this is the full and complete version of notes, the word Whiteman never appears above.
--is
noteworthy that in this conversation RA does not describe his clothing worn, nor was he apparently asked. At this juncture it would've been safer for RA to have disclosed that, before the video became known, than when he
apparently did disclose his attire 5 years later after the video had long been out there.
-- also
noteworthy that RA did not disclose he went to Platform 1 or onto the bridge at all during this interview. For LE to have matched RA's 2022 claim of fish watching to BB's interview claimed sighting, either BB's interview was earlier and LE was waiting for someone to claim they went to the first platform on that day, or BB's interview (like RA's was also) was 5 years after the occurrence when memories are less reliable.
Again, the latter part is all MOO. If I have the time, I'd like to cover several other parts of the PCA similarly.
Thoughts?