Hi everyone, I am new to the group. It's taken me a LONG time to catch up on this thread but I've always wondered what happened to them from Day 1. I knew both JB and Tracie, I had several classes with both of them throughout the years and I went to church with Tracie. We weren't in the same social circles but they were both very sweet girls. I was in church the morning they found the car and Tracie's mom started crying. I remember thinking "this can't be real". Tracie was very sweet and would go out of her way to help someone. She had recovered from an auto accident during school (I think it was our Soph or Jr year.. cant remember for sure). Her and some friends left campus at lunch to ride up 431 to Mcdonalds for lunch (we weren't supposed to leave campus) and in turning back into school parking lot was broadsided on 431. I know Tracie had some head trauma and was out of school several months recovering. I didn't know JB as well but from a little time in class with her, she was also very sweet to most people, she had spunk but I wouldn't say she was manipulative at all, she would stand up for what she believed in. And yes, as far as her living with her dance instructor Patti that is true b/c of issues with her mom. I still see Tracie's mom from time to time, I no longer go to the same church, nor do I really see many people from school that would be in their circles. I moved out of Dothan early 2001 to attend school in Mobile. I returned late fall of that year and got married and moved to Abbeville.
I can remember back then most of us at Northview had cell phones, they were huge but we had them. I have followed this case from the beginning and I've heard so many rumors it's unreal. I started driving the beginning of my Soph year and can remember only driving to school, library, grocery stores and the mall. I know I wouldn't go anywhere, esp in the dark, without knowing where I was. Even one night on my way home from my co-op job at the civic center (JB was in my class for FBLA/co-op but I dont know where she worked for the class) I was on 231 near the little nursery garden across from Montana St when I ran over a brake drum from an 18-wheeler. I pulled off to the side of the road in a parking lot of a deer processing place and was freaking out. It was dark, I hit something that I heard go under my car, and didn't know if I did any damage to my vehicle. I called my parents and was on the phone with them when a guy knocked on my window scaring the crap out of me. I was taught to keep my doors locked and stay in the car, especially at night. The guy started saying "get out of the car, you're leaking gas" and repeated it over and over.. I didn't know if I should believe him or not and I told my parents what the guy was saying and they told me to get out. Thankfully he was a guy from the nursery garden locking up when he saw i was in trouble and came to help. But that was our frame of mind back then, be leary of anyone and keep your doors locked. I still tend to stick to that school of thought to this day. Tracie's parents lived about 5minutes from 431. If the party was in Haleburg as some reports say, they would have gone North on 431 to headland and turned right (across the street from the gas station they were spotted at). If they decided to continue on to the party why did they turn left instead of right? The intersection is well lit and the road signs were visable. County road 99 (to the right as you are going North on 431) would have led them to Tumbleton then once veered off there straight to Haleburg. Going left (as you are going North on 431) is 173 or 134 both of which lead away from Haleburg but further into Headland, Midland City and beyond. If they were lost and decided to just return home, why would they not turn around and go back the way they came on 431? It's a straight shot and even if they were not familiar with the area as i would not have been, I would be able to find 431, especially if I had just travelled on it.
I think about those two all of the time, even though I wasn't really close to them... this case is always on my mind and I pray for it to be solved.