I've read the first page and pages 5 & 6 of this thread. The poll question "Do you feel all search areas of interest are(were) really cleared?" - I did not vote.
(Maybe my post doesn't belong on this thread, mods if you feel it doesn't then I am sorry for creating work for you if you have to move it.)
I am not sure if the poll question is about the number of areas that TM said were cleared or if it's a general question. But my thought is
maybe we are expecting more than we should from searchers who are human and are out there giving of themselves because they are good people, in conditions that from what I heard were almost too much to bear.
It's been so many months since I've seen TM on TV answering questions so I will not claim to quote him. What I do remember, either reading or hearing is that TES will come and search only if the family requests them to help. I remember hearing that someone urged CA to phone TES. And that she finally acquiesced, IMO once she realized that it would look very bad for her to refuse and also b/c she found out they also look for the living. She probably thought she could order TM to search where she wanted him to only. We all remember the different versions of events that floated around regarding Caylee's "kidnapping" in the first few weeks & months? from the A camp.
Can you imagine how confused TM was after speaking with LE, CA & GA, KC?(maybe?), LA, LP, FBI, etc. LE/FBI at that time probably told TM that they believed Caylee to be deceased(dog hits, trunk death smell, all lies from KC, no nanny, on and on and on) but that they hadn't completely ruled out the
slim possibility of her still being alive. Then we have the A parents. From what we know now, telling TM they believed Caylee to be alive and wanted him searching for her where an alive person would be, not in woods, fields, swamps, etc. I also distinctly remember CA saying on NG that
she did not want people to show up to help TES search as they were looking for a dead Caylee! We've all heard that CA refused to give TES an article of clothing to help the dogs locate Caylee. I don't know if TM ever actually spoke to KC, but I do remember TM saying that while he was in the A home, speaking with CA, that KC would every now and again come into the LR and listen, with a nonchalant, detached attitude. Since TM has worked for years and spoken with hundreds of relatives (mothers, fathers, siblings, GM's & GFs, etc.--I am sure TM is familiar with the most common emotions of a relative who is worried sick about their missing loved one(invisinannynapped according to KC). He himself has endured this nightmare of a missing young daughter, later to be found murdered. He would be able to recognize correctly the bottomless anxiety, distress and suffering of any person experiencing this. I believe he listened to all sides, used his years of experience in searching, working with LE, sympathizing/working with families of the missing and he made a judgement call on who he believed was most credible, most reasonable and who was most likely telling the truth. LE.
I believe the search for Caylee, for TES & TM personally, was unlike anything he had come across before. I believe TM, like most of us, found CA to be an unnecessary hindrance to his work. Causing him to fall into her trap of responding to her nonsense. I don't think he had ever come across a person like her and being a good and decent man tried to deal with her in an honorable way. But treating CA in an honorable way IMO gets you nowhere but deeper into her BS game. I believe if TES handled this search in a scattered or disordered way, I think that was CA's goal. To rattle TM, to make having to deal with CA become so unbearable that he'd want to get as far away from her (and Caylee's search) as fast as he could. Let's face it, she attacked him. Why would she do that? That is my question. I'll keep my answer to myself for now.
But back to the poll question. I looked up missing deceased persons who were searched for extensively but missed, only to be found later in the very areas they were originally searched for. It happens. People can search an area and miss a deceased body. I think one article I read said LE did ground, helicopter, sonar, infrared and could not find this person. He was later found in the same area. It is obviously possible to have the best, or just common every day folks who care and want to help, search an area and miss a body. I don't think, even if JB is able to claim that the remains area was searched and no body was found(don't think he can prove it myself), that this will be any problem for the prosecution. Bodies have been missed before and the prosecution will be able to prove that. moo
Here are a couple articles I found, I only looked for a few, I'm sure there are many many more out there.
http://blogs.app.com/saywhat/2009/04/07/body-discovered-hanging-in-tree-after-29-years/
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/identity_of_body_found_on_mass.html
http://www.dlncoalition.org/missing_two_crow2.htm