Australia Claremont Serial Killer, 1996 - 1997, Perth, Western Australia - #5

[Bartholemeus]

I reckon she (JR) might have whipped his *advertiser censored*

Not sure what it is but my gut instinct tells me the CSK may have come out on top. Can never be sure though.

 

[CSK?]

Quick question, I noticed the mention of CG being hit with a fire poker a lot in recent posts, is it confirmed that the fire poker is what struck her or is this info just the merging of different facts by the community (cg with head wound and LW's parents missing a fire poker combined to form cg hit in head with a fire poker)?

Another theory as to why CG wasn't raped is that with many serial killers as the death toll rises raping a victim is no longer the stimulus act, this act is replaced by terrorizing the victims, or some killers use body mutilation as a method of replacing intercourse as being the driving force behind the attack. These guys are like junkies, always chasing the thrill of the first kill, they never get it so they resort to more violent and sadistic acts as each murder takes place.

As for the blitz attack theory I had mentioned much earlier in these threads about an American serial killer (unable to find his name) who would abduct women simply by pulling up beside them, flashing a hunting knife and demanding they get in his car, he successfully abducted and murdered 3 women with this method, and a 4th whom managed to escape from his kill site. You would be amazed at how easily controlled some people are using nothing more than fear itself, he may not have had too physically force them to enter his car at all. From a witness standpoint all you see is a women talking to a driver and then 1 - 2 minutes later getting in to his car, nothing suss about that, it is much more brazen and risky to physically abduct and force her in to his car which is something that would be clearly noticeable to potential witnesses.

Another thing I'd love clarification on is how the police determined that the dump sites were not the kill site. was it due to lack of blood (if the women did have throats cut) or just a lack of other physical evidence at the scene or the minimal disturbance of the scene. my point being... as an example lets say the victims were strangled, then there is nothing stopping the dump site being the same as the kill site by simply using your car as the place to strangle and/or rape the victim which would stop evidence contaminating the dump site. This in turn eliminates the risks of transporting a body to and from the kill site to the dump site.

 

[Bartholemeus]

is it confirmed that the fire poker is what struck her

Unconfirmed.

As for the blitz attack theory I had mentioned much earlier in these threads about an American serial killer (unable to find his name) who would abduct women simply by pulling up beside them, flashing a hunting knife and demanding they get in his car, he successfully abducted and murdered 3 women with this method, and a 4th whom managed to escape from his kill site.

I'm sure it's worked before as you say, but it's a low percentage play for an SK. By the time he got around to CG the media were all over it. Even though CG had just got back into Perth from an extended trip overseas, her mother did warn her and she would have realised pretty quick that a guy with a knife demanding she get in his car was the CSK and if she got it she definitely wouldn't be coming home.

Another thing I'd love clarification on is how the police determined that the dump sites were not the kill site. was it due to lack of blood (if the women did have throats cut) or just a lack of other physical evidence at the scene or the minimal disturbance of the scene. my point being... as an example lets say the victims were strangled, then there is nothing stopping the dump site being the same as the kill site by simply using your car as the place to strangle and/or rape the victim which would stop evidence contaminating the dump site. This in turn eliminates the risks of transporting a body to and from the kill site to the dump site.

Lack of blood and other evidence would be my guess.

 

[Elwood_1]

If anger was an issue the CSK would probably have hit the girls repeatedly, and potentially he may not have been an organised killer. I'd say it's more likely his main motivation is he's a rapist and gets off on domination and control.

Let's make sure we keep our eyes and minds open. I'm a fan of LW but that doesn't mean it's him. There's other worthy suspects who are in the public domain and possibly some that are not.

Bart, I wonder about that domination and control thing. You would think that if our boy was really into that he would want to take the time to sit back and have a bit of fun with it. Did you ever see Law Abiding Citizen? IMHO anyone who had built up that much of a head of steam would want to make the most of his opportunities, and REALLY get into it. But he seems to have made a fast snatch, kill, and disposal. There wouldn't be a lot of gratification in that considering the effort and risk that went into it. But maybe he has a really short fuse, and 30 seconds was all he needed/could manage. No candles and champagne for these dates.

 

[TheBigV]

Since joining 2 weeksor so ago. One thing has been playing on my mind. I'm interested in sensible replies, not trolls.
With the mention of the blitz attack, is there any chance the car had every door except the drivers one with the child lock mechanism in place? May tie in with that lady that escaped before the Claremont murders, by jumping out of the car. Maybe this was the CSK's way of minimizing risk and learning from a previous mistake.

Bart and Co, what do you think of this line of thinking? Only reason I ask is because it played on my mind.
And in addition with not being able to escape through the windows it could be because the window handles were disabled.
I'm not 100% sure but after some feedback etc.

 

[GreenDevil]

Bart and Co, what do you think of this line of thinking? Only reason I ask is because it played on my mind.
And in addition with not being able to escape through the windows it could be because the window handles were disabled.
I'm not 100% sure but after some feedback etc.

Yes, it's a definite possibility, however it probably wasn't necessary as I think it's more realistic that the girls were threatened and controlled either by a large knife, gun or other weaponary. I'm not a fan of the blitz attack theory, too much can go wrong and the CSK would have to have been certain no one else was around or watching which is almost impossible. Yes, the CSK blitz attacked the 95 rape victim but I think that was more opportunistic than anything else. I think SS, CG and JR got into the wrong vehicle which cost them their lives. Once in the vehicle they were controlled with a large edged weapon.

 

[GreenDevil]

Here's my theory on the CSK at time of murders.

The CSK is a male between 20-40 years of age.
He is a loner type
He appears normal average guy that's neat in appearance
He comes across as charming and harmless
Holds a professional job with a career which pays an above average wage
He is socially apt, but hangs back from the crowd
He would have lots of acquaintances but no close friends
If approached he could hold a conversation which appears normal
He is of above average intelligence
He has a domineering person in his life (mother)
He has experienced some sort of inconsistent discipline in childhood
He has a somewhat hidden obsessive compulsive personality that may involve being a tidy/clean freak
He would have a bad temper, that when pressed may snap and produce a violent outburst
Importantly, he appears Mr Average from the outset and completely harmless.

I'm going to post my theories step by step of what happened to each girl later today. I'll start with SS. These theories are based upon my knowledge of serial killers, my experience as an investigator, my knowledge of the case and most important educated assumptions based upon what is likely, possible, and possible but unlikely.

 

[silver tongue]

IN THE WEST AUSTRALIAN TODAY
is this for real , police had a secret camera installed in claremont \ bay view terrace after the second victim of the CSK goes missing, they fail to identify the number plates of vehicles captured on 8 hours of footage, then overlooked the footage till now ,i wonder what else has been OVERLOOKED ?

 

[elastic]

Yes, here is the link to the article:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/31476482/cops-overlooked-serial-killer-clues/

There is a video too from The West about the video too on the page..

[h=1]Cops overlooked serial killer clues[/h]

Grant Taylor - The West Australian on April 30, 2016, 1:00 am

VIDEO Update on Claremont serial killer inquiry
Potentially vital clues that could help identify the Claremont serial killer were overlooked by police almost 20 years ago and are being examined urgently in the hope a breakthrough can still be made.
The Weekend West has learnt that police had a secret camera set up on Bay View Terrace in Claremont on the night the killer’s third victim Ciara Glennon vanished about midnight on March 14, 1997.
The camera is believed to have captured up to eight hours of high-quality vision that clearly shows the licence plates of hundreds of vehicles moving through the area before and after her disappearance.
The vision was watched by police at the time but for unknown reasons they never checked to see who owned the vehicles in the footage, or why they were in Claremont on the night.






Nearly two decades on, detectives are working to fix that mistake, tracking down the vehicle owners to see if a killer could be among them.


The failure to check the registrations was discovered by a new team of cold-case detectives who took over the Macro inquiry last year.

Click for more..

 

[elastic]

The article goes on to state that tracking down the movements of each vehicles driver would be problematic as most would not remember who was driving that night if they took their parents/family/friends/borrowed vehicles because to much time has passed (19 years)

Very sad to see even more incompetence coming out. It seems bizarre that things like this werent investigating. I do wonder exactly who may have been in the area if the cops failed to investigate the registrations. Was this deliberate, do they know something sinister may have happened from one of their own and have identified that vehicle and since refused to run the registrations of all the vehicle to cover this up. Could a cop car have been roaming the area over and over and Ciara made the fatal decision to get in a Police vehicle thinking it would be safe?

Maybe it ws not a Police car, but when you see incompetence like this over and over you have to start asking questions. First the fibres go missing after being identified as being a vital clue, they identify the car (make model and series including colour Holden Commodore VS Series 1, White), they were never tested and go missing untill being tested in 2008. You have to be kidding me. How can the investigation be that incompetent when a review determined the fibres to be critical, and then they are lost immediately after

Then we find out critical footage taken from the very night in high quality, the quality good enough to identify each and ever car registration (8 hours worth) and yet they fail to bother to check who was in these cars? What is Australia's most expensive investigation of all time being spent on if they are not following up vital clues that may identify the very car the killer was driving. This whole case has some very serious questions to answer, I can understand one major stuff up when identifying the car, but with this many reviews (albeit tiny fractions of information got reviewed in pieces rather than a comprehensive case review which in itself was a sham and reeked of cover up) you would think it would have been impossible to not have followed up this lead after 19 years of spending a fortune of tax payers money getting nowhere..

The case raises more questions about its conduct than answers.

 

[elastic]

So in 2004 they knew the fibers may spark a breakthrough, these fibers found on Jane in 1996 were lost around this time then found again in 2004. The Scramm reviews say the evidence will lead to a break though. They are then lost and found again in 2011, then finally tested and that determined the Make/colour/type of vehicle (Holden Commodore Series 1 , White), wow! How could that possibly be!

Then we find out a video with the registrations of vehicles driving up and down Bay View Tce which was exceptional quality and had 8 hours of footage around the time Ciara Glennon vanished was never investigated thoroughly and has been left for 19 years without anyone bothering to check who was driving up and down this road during the time Ciara dissapeared and the hours prior and after. Absolutely bizarre when this also could have lead to clues about the Vehicle.

Two massive pieces of evidence that could identify the vehicle were conveniently lost, very suspicious. Now it may be impossible to determine the driver of the vehicle, convenient.

Then

Two new clues to serial killer, Dec 12, 2015:

In addition, fibers found on Jane Rimmer's naked body in 1996 that were "lost" and then rediscovered in 2011 were found to match the upholstery of a Holden VS Commodore, which was near-new at the time she was abducted...

...Fifty fibers lifted with adhesive tape from Jane Rimmer's body lay in a file until 2004 when [the Schramm Review] discovered that the fibers had never been tested against other crimes or vehicles...Detective Schramm described the discovery as exciting...

...Two years later [from 2008/2009], the untested fibers were re-discovered when the Chemistry Centre moved buildings.

Cops overlooked serial killer clues



Grant Taylor - The West Australian on April 30, 2016, 1:00 am


But the job of now identifying a suspect from the vision is likely to have been compromised by the 19-year delay.As well as tracking down the owners of the vehicles, investigators need to establish who was using the cars on the night, or who could have had access to a vehicle such as family members, partners or even employees.
Some former owners will no doubt have forgotten those details, while others may be dead or living overseas.
WA Police have refused to say why the registrations were not checked earlier or if their current inquiries were bearing fruit. But a spokesman said solving the case was still a priority for police and claimed media speculation could prove harmful to the inquiry.

 

[GreenDevil]

The article goes on to state that tracking down the movements of each vehicles driver would be problematic as most would not remember who was driving that night if they took their parents/family/friends/borrowed vehicles because to much time has passed (19 years)

Very sad to see even more incompetence coming out. It seems bizarre that things like this werent investigating. I do wonder exactly who may have been in the area if the cops failed to investigate the registrations. Was this deliberate, do they know something sinister may have happened from one of their own and have identified that vehicle and since refused to run the registrations of all the vehicle to cover this up. Could a cop car have been roaming the area over and over and Ciara made the fatal decision to get in a Police vehicle thinking it would be safe?

Maybe it ws not a Police car, but when you see incompetence like this over and over you have to start asking questions. First the fibres go missing after being identified as being a vital clue, they identify the car (make model and series including colour Holden Commodore VS Series 1, White), they were never tested and go missing untill being tested in 2008. You have to be kidding me. How can the investigation be that incompetent when a review determined the fibres to be critical, and then they are lost immediately after

Then we find out critical footage taken from the very night in high quality, the quality good enough to identify each and ever car registration (8 hours worth) and yet they fail to bother to check who was in these cars? What is Australia's most expensive investigation of all time being spent on if they are not following up vital clues that may identify the very car the killer was driving. This whole case has some very serious questions to answer, I can understand one major stuff up when identifying the car, but with this many reviews (albeit tiny fractions of information got reviewed in pieces rather than a comprehensive case review which in itself was a sham and reeked of cover up) you would think it would have been impossible to not have followed up this lead after 19 years of spending a fortune of tax payers money getting nowhere..

The case raises more questions about its conduct than answers.

You have to look at this with a realistic perspective. The footage was reviewed at the time and priority vehicle/s were identified and followed up, this lead to LW being identified as a POI. As far as I'm aware his vehicle was the only one identified doing laps of Claremont. The key times were between midnight and 2am, what's the point in reviewing 8 hours of footage? Maybe it cold be widened to 2200 to 0200 just to make sure but reviewing 8 hours of footage and identifying all vehicles, owners and drivers is a huge amount of police work, more then someone outside of the police line of work would realise.

At best, this footage could provide a POI vehicle that warranted further surveillance, which is what occurred with LW. But I think the CSK worked the fringes of Claremont, preying on victims that strayed from Claremont alone. It depends where this camera was positioned as to how useful it may / may not be.

 

[Parkie]

Someone messaged me on FB telling me of todays video & I presume its in the West paper as well. They certainly are talking their time re this video. That won`t help.

Nice to see you are still biting into this case Barth. It looks like the cops have been for a while looking into all the number plates in this video. I hope mm turns up in there too cause I still hold onto that footage & recon he might still be involved. Never know maybe he was from interstate visiting,& still does not know of himself being in it

 

[elastic]

You have to look at this with a realistic perspective. The footage was reviewed at the time and priority vehicle/s were identified and followed up, this lead to LW being identified as a POI. As far as I'm aware his vehicle was the only one identified doing laps of Claremont. The key times were between midnight and 2am, what's the point in reviewing 8 hours of footage? Maybe it cold be widened to 2200 to 0200 just to make sure but reviewing 8 hours of footage and identifying all vehicles, owners and drivers is a huge amount of police work, more then someone outside of the police line of work would realise.

At best, this footage could provide a POI vehicle that warranted further surveillance, which is what occurred with LW. But I think the CSK worked the fringes of Claremont, preying on victims that strayed from Claremont alone. It depends where this camera was positioned as to how useful it may / may not be.

Totally disagree, I can understand your reasoning for any other night other than the night of the abduction. The very night Ciara was abducted and if they had 8 hours of high quality footage of this very night then it would be reasonable to follow up all the leads/ registration plates, especially given the high profile nature of the case, I mean its not like you get a serial killer every other day of the week running rampant, or in this case a serial rapist/killer.

I would have investigators dot down the number plates of every single vehicle, run each and everyone through the database, then go to each and every house and ask the car owner if he was driving the night of Ciara's disappearance and the reason for being in the area. I would file this all on record just incase a name came up later on in the investigation and this same person was also in the area on the night of the disappearance. This is not rocket science, just good investigative work. What else do you spend all the money on, this case is Australia's most expensive investigation, what do they use that money for? obviously not following up one of the most critical leads they had.

Can you confirm Lane Williams was caught on camera on the night of Ciara's disappearance? I thought he was observed in the area during the other random nights? I have never heard any suggestion he was in Claremont when any of the girls disappeared so this is news to be, can you please confirm how you know this? selectively investigating particular cars from the footage taken during Ciara's disappearance would be totally idiotic. How would you profile the vehicles from looking at them, a number of POI's could have been narrowed down later on if all owners and drivers were identified and kept in a file. This was a high profile case and I doubt the resources you expect to have been used to gather this information would have been anywhere near the 20 years they have wasted on this case without a resolution, despite all the corruption.

 

[Bartholemeus]

Bart, I wonder about that domination and control thing. You would think that if our boy was really into that he would want to take the time to sit back and have a bit of fun with it. Did you ever see Law Abiding Citizen? IMHO anyone who had built up that much of a head of steam would want to make the most of his opportunities, and REALLY get into it. But he seems to have made a fast snatch, kill, and disposal. There wouldn't be a lot of gratification in that considering the effort and risk that went into it. But maybe he has a really short fuse, and 30 seconds was all he needed/could manage. No candles and champagne for these dates.

This is way beyond my understanding of the psychology of FUI's/SK's.

I imagine it's more of a "having sex" thing. If you go on the internet there's quite a demand for slap movies amongst all sorts of curiosities. A slap movie is a *advertiser censored* movie where the guy treats the girl like s*** and slaps her about a bit. I assume the guys who watch this stuff and are stimulated by it would like to behave that way when having sex. I also assume there's a market for rape simulation *advertiser censored* on the internet. So this guy could just be a "I like raping women when I have sex" because it's that specific act that allows him control. So he may not be a "I get off on control so I'll abduct someone and keep them in my basement in Brussels for 8 years" but a "I get off on having sex forcibly with a girl who doesn't want to have sex" type.

Also remember that SS was 2am and the next two were 12am. He shifted his abduction time 2 hours forward. It could just be there's more opportunities earlier in the night, or it could be on the first night no one presented until 2am, or it could be because he needed longer to perform his ritual (whatever that was, most likely rape).

 

[GreenDevil]

Totally disagree, I can understand your reasoning for any other night other than the night of the abduction. The very night Ciara was abducted and if they had 8 hours of high quality footage of this very night then it would be reasonable to follow up all the leads/ registration plates, especially given the high profile nature of the case, I mean its not like you get a serial killer every other day of the week running rampant, or in this case a serial rapist/killer.

I would have investigators dot down the number plates of every single vehicle, run each and everyone through the database, then go to each and every house and ask the car owner if he was driving the night of Ciara's disappearance and the reason for being in the area. I would file this all on record just incase a name came up later on in the investigation and this same person was also in the area on the night of the disappearance. This is not rocket science, just good investigative work. What else do you spend all the money on, this case is Australia's most expensive investigation, what do they use that money for? obviously not following up one of the most critical leads they had.

Can you confirm Lane Williams was caught on camera on the night of Ciara's disappearance? I thought he was observed in the area during the other random nights? I have never heard any suggestion he was in Claremont when any of the girls disappeared so this is news to be, can you please confirm how you know this? selectively investigating particular cars from the footage taken during Ciara's disappearance would be totally idiotic. How would you profile the vehicles from looking at them, a number of POI's could have been narrowed down later on if all owners and drivers were identified and kept in a file. This was a high profile case and I doubt the resources you expect to have been used to gather this information would have been anywhere near the 20 years they have wasted on this case without a resolution, despite all the corruption.

This is why you aren't a Police officer and have no idea of the amount of Police work it would involve. It's not a matter of simply jotting down registration numbers, running them through a database and asking them if they are were driving their car that night. You could potentially get 800 odd rego numbers and what do you want to do, investigative every single person? This is madness and idiotic, the footage was already reviewed and priority vehicles would have been selected and followed up.

Suggesting that 8 hours of footage and hundreds of cars and people be investigated with nothing further to go on than asking "where you in Claremont and why?" is just dumb. Macro at it's height, had about 80-90 detectives, and you won't to consume every single one of them following up car regos? There's competing priorities and a magnitude of other leads that were being followed up at the same time.

The correct and only response is to review the key period before CG's abduction, around 2200 to 0200 and obtain registration plates in that period that drove past the camera more then once. Then follow up those vehicles/people as a priority. There's no point in reviewing footage prior to even CG arriving in Claremont for drinks after work, lol.

 

[Bartholemeus]

So in 2004 they knew the fibers may spark a breakthrough, these fibers found on Jane in 1996 were lost around this time then found again in 2004. The Scramm reviews say the evidence will lead to a break though. They are then lost and found again in 2011, then finally tested and that determined the Make/colour/type of vehicle (Holden Commodore Series 1 , White), wow! How could that possibly be!

This is a real issue for me. It just doesn't seem conceivable that they could lose high priority evidence twice.

I read somewhere that Macro/WAPOL's evidence collection and storage process was seriously flawed. This could explain why the fibres were lost,especially considering there were 10s of 1000s of bit's of evidence/information/leads etc (still demonstrates major incompetence). But then to find them in 2004 when there were no more than a handful of pieces of new evidence - how could they possibly misplace it? It's like going prospecting and finding your first nugget of gold in 5 years and then forgetting where you put it. Surely that new found evidence gets #1 priority and has a team working on it from the get go. So how could it possibly be lost? It just doesn't ring true.

Question

I believe there were 8 reviews of this case. Police were cleared of any incompetence every single time. How come not one review picked up that the footage from the might CG went missing had never been investigated? Like GreenDevil, I believe the CSK lurked on the perimeter of Claremont on the nights so probably nothing in it. But surely this must have popped up on the priority TTD list over the last 20 years?

 

[Bartholemeus]

Question 2

Why is this in the public domain?

Apparently a new team of investigators are on the case and discovered it. I can't see the leak coming from anyone outside the new teams which suggests that maybe it was intended to be leaked. If so, why? What's the angle? Let's assume GD is correct in saying it's more than reasonable not to investigate every car and they would have investigated high priority cars. If it's standard police work then why has it been presented to the media as if police have been incompetent? Good to see someone other than BC is reporting on the case.

 

[elastic]

This is why you aren't a Police officer and have no idea of the amount of Police work it would involve. It's not a matter of simply jotting down registration numbers, running them through a database and asking them if they are were driving their car that night. You could potentially get 800 odd rego numbers and what do you want to do, investigative every single person? This is madness and idiotic, the footage was already reviewed and priority vehicles would have been selected and followed up.

Suggesting that 8 hours of footage and hundreds of cars and people be investigated with nothing further to go on than asking "where you in Claremont and why?" is just dumb. Macro at it's height, had about 80-90 detectives, and you won't to consume every single one of them following up car regos? There's competing priorities and a magnitude of other leads that were being followed up at the same time.

The correct and only response is to review the key period before CG's abduction, around 2200 to 0200 and obtain registration plates in that period that drove past the camera more then once. Then follow up those vehicles/people as a priority. There's no point in reviewing footage prior to even CG arriving in Claremont for drinks after work, lol.

What do you mean? This was the highest priority case of the last 20 years and at the time had enormous publicity and resources thrown behind it. This was as big a case as you will ever get. Do you honestly think after having this evidence for a whole 19 years that its not inconceivable to think the Police were nothing but totally incompetent not to investigate this more thoroughly. They put so much money and resources into this they could have easily had a few officers working on this avenue for a moderate period of time (6 Months should be more than enough time). All you need to do is identify a time line (I agree the whole 8 hrs is not 100% necessary) however if they didn't need 8 hrs of footage then why record for the FULL 8 HRS, why not just record for 4 hrs if the 8 hr timeline is not significant. Again you are not making complete sense here when determining 4 hrs being adequate, The police obviously had some reason to record for 8 hrs! and then once you have agreed on the time line to take the registrations then take a record of each number, run each number through the database, identify vehicle owner, go to each owner ask why they were in Claremont and whether they were driving, if they were seek evidence, eg. a receipt, or a credit card statement, a bank statement witness etc etc. If they arent the vehicle owner who was driving then follow up and investigate who was driving that night, more than likely the owner would know who drove their car/ or had access, then investigate and query that driver. Single out any suspicious characters and investigate further. Something to do with that individual might come up down the track and woalla, you have a critical lead and POI/suspect.

This is basic police work, especially when you have evidence that has sat for 19 years, there is not much to go on so why just leave vital critical evidence and not follow it through with the utmost degree.

The media are reporting this as incompetence, that is what it is, this and the Fibers which lead directly to identifying the car, and in this case, another lead that would most definitely identify the car if it indead did drive down Bay View Tce that night.

The Police have really stuffed up, or are hiding something and its becoming more and more obvious.

This video is taken from the NIGHT of Ciara's disappearance, and not from the nights surrounding the abduction night, literally the actual night, it deserved the utmost attention. Its unfathomable to think what has happened has happened especially given the high profile nature of the case

Can you post your evidence that Lance was identified on the night please? or are you spreading misinformation again? please dont derail the thread with your opinion presented as fact.

I agree with Bart, its great another Journalist is reporting on this case, hopefully more do. I think the media are realising this case wasnt the professionally run case its been put forward as by WAPOL, its been an incompetent corrupt shambles from the get go with no focus and a corrupt idiot at the helm steering the wheel (David Caporn). I hope they work out why such critical leads have not been followed.

 

[CSK?]

A possible explanation for evidence being overlooked at the time is it did not support a theory that had already been created by the task force. Off the top of my head I'm not sure when LW first become a suspect in relation to this video evidence being obtained by the police but I will use him for my example.

If a theory is built up around LW being the CSK then you would review the 8 hours of footage in an attempt to find a link to LW, if something stands out like dog balls in the recordings this may be noted and investigated but basic good detective work is thrown out the window in an attempt to build on an all ready established theory. The police are solving a puzzle, instead of taking a good hard look at all the puzzle pieces in an attempt to work out the picture they form their own idea of what the picture should be and then try and make the puzzle pieces fit. I had read some where that every time the case has been reviewed that not all evidence was available to that review team and that they were only given a portion of evidence to review, almost like "here is our theory, here is some evidence that supports it and ignore the rest because it doesn't fit" and see if you can make what we have stick. This is an absurd way to review a case. If you applied this level of incompetence to any other profession you would not have a career for very long.

Now specifically in regards to the video footage, IMO the full 8 hours should be reviewed with EVERY license plate being noted, this could be done within a day or two with even 1 detective. it's not the process of gathering the information that will be costly and timely, it is how you determine to use this information. There would be no need to question every single driver but you could narrow down a very manageable list by prioritizing vehicle type, frequency of times a vehicle was seen on camera, number of passengers e.t.c and then interview this list, but as others have stated you MUST at the very least account for every vehicle even if it is only a license plate/name match up to be cross referenced at any other point of the investigation against potential POI's.