I wonder if we can find out somehow. In the theory that has popped up in this thread sometimes that one of the girls had a stalker, maybe it wasn't a random school kid at all but an adult. I think that was possible all along, since it being a small town and all would have meant the girls would have been acquainted with a lot of people outside of just classmates and family. However, JB having a job could lead to some insight. Someone who worked with her or came into her workplace often (to visit a colleague of hers, or perhaps to take care of paperwork, depending on what the place was). Maybe even someone who worked in the same building or street, or if part of her routine involved eating or having coffee at a nearby place then someone who worked there or went there, and so on.
Coworkers of both girls should be and probably was looked at pretty hard. I think if this was some type of obsessive psychopath enamored enough by one of the girls to commit murder he would stand out like a sore thumb. Also the fact that we have two girls murdered and not just the one that would have drove the obsession to me adds another layer which makes this scenario a little less likely imo.
Something else I ran across the other day that left me wondering about things.
IN another article a few days after the crimes it had this paragraph,
"police have two high school students - both described as "bubbly
and friendly" and hospital volunteers - shot in a cold-blooded, deliberate
way. Investigators said it did not appear that they were assaulted or
robbed."
I guess you could read this either way one or both but the author makes it sound as if both were hospital volunteers. I remember Tracie being mentioned as a HV but wasn't aware JB did the same if she in fact did.
It could have been damage to the bottom of the car also or perhaps inside the car. A bit like how one of the dangers of climbing sidewalks with a car is that the sidewalk edge might bump into the bottom of the car or how driving in rough terrain with a car that isn't equipped for that might damage something inside it (I don't quite know the specifics, I'm not a car expert).
Knowing what kind of damage it was could provide some clues. For example, the kind of damage that would come from driving in rough terrain could tell us the perp had gone off the road with the car or that perhaps the girls did.
I'm wondering if they think this damage happened that night. I would like to believe if they did they would better describe the damage or if they think the car struck another vehicle and any paint transfer that might have happened, that info be put out early on in the chance someone discovered some property damage somewhere. Maybe they did, I don't remember. The wanted poster has three pictures of the car (if it is the car) with no view of the front. It could be like you say something underneath like a muffler drug off or something, without knowing what the damage was we're left speculating.
I've suggested before that maybe the mud on their jeans (and on the car too IIRC) and the ID out of the wallet as well as the rolled down window could have been because they accidentally trespassed on someone's property and that person, probably the perp, showed up and said something like, who are you, why are you trespassing, I might have to call the cops. Kind of as a way to stall and get them to come out of the car and of trying to find out who they were.
Well, what about this similar scenario: the girls are driving and get into a minor accident, probably with the perp. Maybe he set things up on purpose or maybe it was all accidental and he just saw an opportunity. If they had bumped into the perp's car or something of the kind, he would have been able to convince them to show them their ID, ask them questions and even get them to come out. He could have pretended he needed to know that info for insurance purposes and that he needed them to sign things and get their contact information so they could take care of that paperwork.
Both of these scenarios and especially the second one could also have allowed the perp to lure them away somewhere else. He could easily have told them they all needed to get a phone or go somewhere to get the police or a towing service. Even calling an accomplice could be done this way, he could have said a nearby house would allow them to use the phone and take them to visit an accomplice if he had one.
The trespassing angle I've always had a hard time with, I guess because well, how does a random trespassing escalate to a double murder of two teenage girls. And then comes along the event that happened right down the road from Ozark a couple summers ago when the guy shoots the bus driver and takes a little boy off the bus and they hold up in his underground bunker for several days. Although this wasn't a random trespass it does show us that these psychopaths are out there and when that something clicks and the opportunity is there these things do happen.
A staged auto accident is a good theory probably one of the most common in this case,
especially if they did wind up in Ozark by accident. The scenarios are certainly plausible.
If I were to Critique a little here for the purposes of a healthy exchange thoughts. I would say that surely by the time it would have taken for the accident to happen, a few words exchanged standing by the side of the road in the middle of town, between 11:30-12:00 on a Saturday night in the middle of summer with imo other motorist passing by, someone, probably multiple people would have witnessed something. I'm not sure the perp would have went ahead with the murders if even one witness had passed. All this assuming they were on one of two main roads leading back to dothan from the store, a side street would make more sense.
They also would have to have been clearly seen somewhere previous in order for the perp to know exactly who was in the car, like the store, a red light etc. I feel the placement of the vehicle in relation to where they were last seen is the biggest clue in this case.
I'm not familiar with this footage, was it taken before the police examined the car? Because if not then perhaps it was rolled all the way down by LE examining the crime scene.
I think it being rolled all the way down would be odd if they were just handing over ID. Something like it being to hot so they opened one of the windows, or having to have a conversation with the perp, or even the perp doing it himself would seem more likely to me IMO. Were prints ever taken for the window handle thing and the window panes? I assume
here's the video, DimeDetective posted it a couple pages back.
http://www.wtvy.com/news/crimes/headlines/Family-and-Friends--217839491.html
Looking at the video again I see no manual window handles on the inside of the door so without the keys the windows would have been left as they were when it was parked there. I can't see LE rolling them up or down without first checking for prints. There's about 4-6 inches of glass sticking out of the drivers side door so not quite all the way down.
Talk of the windows reminds me of the temp that day, It was over 100 degrees and still very warm and muggy by the time they left Tracie's that night according to the historical weather data. For some reason I want to say both girls were wearing long pants, maybe their clothing was described at some point or it might be the Haunting evidence episode that gave me that impression. Point being, it might just be the way they always dressed or perhaps it lends to the notion that they actually were planning on attending the field party and wanted to dress accordingly.
