If this was a targeted killing, you really have to look at the possibility that the girls(or one of them) were lured to a specific location. We have evidence of this because they were talking specifically of meeting "some boys" "somewhere". Also, we have those hand drawn maps. Just something to think about.
Yeah, I've been noodling around this, and the real sticking point in this idea is the phone call. It doesn't totally contradict the theory that they got lured there, but I think it does reduce it's likelihood somewhat.
So if they were lured there, here are the options as I see them:
1) They made contact with whoever they were seeing before the phone call. They left there feeling fine, stopped to call without visibly being followed, left the BL and then were intercepted by whoever lured them out there. Possible, by why would you let them leave, only to hope to catch up with them later, especially since it's possible they weren't 100% sure what directions they should be taking themselves? Why wouldn't you take care of business before they left, or intercept them immediately upon leaving the meeting site. Why give up a situation you are 100% sure of, to try to pick them up and do them in later? Letting them leave hoping to be able to catch them later on in their journey seems reckless.
2) They made contact with whoever had lured them AFTER the call. This doesn't seem likely to me, since they said they were on their way home, but it's not impossible. It's possible that they made the call knowing Tracie's mom would be satisfied to hear from her daughter and fall asleep, buying them a little more time. That still seems like a risky gambit for a teenager...she's already going to be late and it doesn't sound like it's a huge deal...why tell your mother you're going to be home sooner than you are? That's just a recipe for trouble...why not just say you have to stop for gas, or something to be somewhat accurate...if you care enough to make the phone call, I just don't buy her telling her mom she's on her way home when she really plans to go to a party or hook up with some boys.
3) They never connected with them at all. They headed out that way to potentially meet someone, or look for a party, or whatever, and then once they got there couldn't find it, changed their mind or whatever. In this scenario, if the murderer lured them, he somehow knew where the could intercept them, or by dumb luck ran across them soon after they left the BL.
None of those scenarios really ring true for me. I don't have a problem believing they were out in Ozark for some reason...it could have been firm plans, or it could have been "remember those guys we met? They said they'd be out partying in Ozark tonight, want to see if we can find them?" Being a teenager before the ubiquity of cell phones and texting, this kind of thing was common, sometimes you found the party/people, sometimes you didn't, and it wasn't a big deal.
But if the premise was that the killer lured them out there specifically....the call at the BL is a problem to me...it really doesn't fit the killer's plans that they were allowed to make that call.
Again, that doesn't mean that it didn't happen...perhaps one reason this has been so unsolvable is that maybe one aspect is totally inexplicable...maybe they changed their mind on a whim after calling...maybe the killer was out driving when they didn't meet up and just crossed their paths by dumb luck...
But if you're counting on everything being fairly logical and rational...I just can't synthesize the stop at the BL and the call with a planned luring of the girls to their own execution.
I still find it a bit more logical that it was a crime of opportunity.
But if they weren't random targets, I feel like it would be more likely that they were followed to Ozark by the killer than that they were lured to Ozark by the killer. Which raises another question...what if they were targeted (for any of the possible motives), and the killer spent the evening following them? And then decided after the stop at BL that they were likely on their way home and decided to strike. I've seen various motives suggested, and some of those might very well lend themselves to the killer wanting to know who else the girls were seeing that night before striking.
So question for those who know the area...how possible would it be to follow the girls undetected for a couple hours in that area at night? Considering these are teenage girls that wouldn't be "looking for a tail", would they be able to? Of course the big question would be how someone following them would stay out of site while they stopped at the BL.