Lucky1's encounter sounds so much like the encounter my husband I had on June 4th or 5th 2011(see post # 263). When you mentioned that he asked if you dog was a pug a chill went through me. We have a pug and I have seen a picture of him with a pug.
Bringing vtmeme's post forward:
I believe that my husband and i may have encountered Keyes on the morning of June 4th or 5th 2011. We live in Essex Jct Vt and were working in our garden that is part of a community garden, when we were approached by a man with a back pack and a heavy jacket. He asked if we needed help with the garden and said that he was staying with his aunt who lived near by and that he had been "down on his luck". He talked for about five minutes and left. My husband remarked that there was something about the guy that made him uncomfortable. A few days later we heard the Curriers were missing. My husband immediately said "Its the guy from the garden" Several months late Keyes' picture was posted in connection to the Curriers and he said again he looks the the guy from the garden. He was right he did look like the same guy. I know it was said that he arrived here on June 7th but we wonder if LE are sure that is when he did arrive or is that just when he checked into Handys. The Curriers lived close by. The garden is in an old tree farm that is somewhat isolated. There was another person in the garden but we are unsure if he was there when we talked to the man. On the other side of the "tree farm" is RT 15 then a park that would lead to where the Curriers lived. We both really believe that it was him and he was here before the 7th. We did contact the FBI and haven't heard anything so maybe they do have proof that he wasn't here then. Sorry if I rambled but I'm kind of freaked that we could have been victims.
Yes vtmeme, I remember reading your account and thinking that sounded very like the encounter I had with him. I really think we met him on the trail in April of 2009 but can't prove it, and that he broke into my house in June of 2011 but the dates published do not support it. So all in all I could be completely full of caca but I really don't think so. And once I started thinking about it all, and putting together all the weird things that had happened over the years I started to go hmmmmmmmmm. I think we were either both very lucky or he simply wasn't ready for us at that point. Still playing his cat and mouse games.
Knowing that the Curriers had bought a gun two days previous really gives me the willeys. I don't know if we were on the agenda for that 2011 trip or not or if my beer bottle door alarms did anything at all besides get his rocks off.
I had had an appointment the Friday before for someone to look at the house and had a very strong feeling that we were being watched. The following Monday the door was standing open. In fact, that was what allowed my DH to write the event off; He thought we had opened that door and not gotten it shut properly.
Given how many miles he would clock on these trips, and the fact that it was only 300 - 325 miles (round trip) between our homes, he could have been bouncing back and forth between my place and Essex Jct. IMHO, toying with all of us at the same time.
In fact, how do we know the FBI has ALL his rental car records??
I will say that I saw a small, compact white car pass my home several times during this period and my walks often took me down to that abandoned home. At one point I am certain I saw a small white car with an Enterprise-Rent-A-Car sticker on the back of it parked behind that house. And yes, Enterprise has a location in Conway, in fact, on the street where I used to work.....
http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/deeplinkmap.do?cnty=US&gpbr=10P4&bid=004
What if he was renting multiple vehicles with fictitious names and paying with cash? Fly into a city, rent a car in his name, drive to one of his stalking victims, rent another car in another name, use stolen vehicles part of the time (as we know he did)......how could any of what the FBI has released as mileage possibly be accurate?
IMHO he could have been almost anywhere doing all kinds of mayhem.