I just spent the last two hours immersed in this thread, and so appreciate all of the discussion from my fellow WS'rs.
Am I correct in believing that the OS from JB stated that they both went out the front door together, ICA going to the left and GA going to the right (where there is a gate that is impossible to enter because a shed was placed right there at the entrance to prevent entry from that side)?
IF the front door had a triple lock and was closed and locked, wouldn't the prudent assumption be that Caylee could not have gotten out that way and they would run to the other points of exit?
I am the mother of an autistic child who is a "runner". Believe me, this light of my life LOOKS for ways to get out because to him, wandering is a compulsion.
FROM EXPERIENCE, (I would bet my life that plenty of WS members can bak me up on this one), if your small child was in your home and then you suddenly realize they are missing, you DO NOT look under beds, you MAY run and open closets eventually (especially if they are in the potty-training mode, mine would like to hide and "do the deed" in their training pants while in their closet sometimes), but the FIRST thing ANY parent, caretaker, grandparent does is look to the entry and exit points of their house: IE the DOORS.
You run to the doors and VERY quickly surmise which is unlocked and which is locked. You run to the front door, triple locked. Not an exit point. You run to the back doors and quickly determine which one is unlocked or locked. I would venture to say that many young 2-3 year olds would not care to close the door, or close it fully. But this is speculation.
Really, which doors were locked, which were open? Did JB ever point out which were unlocked? This is the exit point (should his argument be believed). Caylee didn't open a door and it locked itself back again from the inside.
IIRC, he didn't mention an unlocked door at all, but rather a flustered GA and ICA playing "who's on first" running around the house, checking under beds, looking in closets, behind toasters, you get the idea.
Then they run to the triple locked FRONT DOOR, and open all of the locks (they were locked, weren't they? Did JB say they were all unlocked?) and GA runs to the small patch of yard and to the gate blocked by the shed to get to the back? WHY?
If your home is secure and the FRONT DOOR, most obvious point of escape for a toddler, is closed and TRIPLE LOCKED, you immediately head to the back to check those doors and only THEN, when you are sure all doors are locked from the inside, do you make the time-consuming house sweep.
I spent the day with my sister's three year old daughter. She is a gorgeous, small little thing, about 40 pounds. SOOOO tiny and delicate compared to my 3 boys that age, and OH so attached to her mother and father. Even if CA was wrong about the weight of Caylee, there is NO way that little girl woke up, opened and closed the doors (which locked behind her) and hoisted herself into that pool. This was a precocious, very verbal little young girl who was absolutely doted on by her grandparents. When I watched my niece today, such a little chatterbox to her mother but was also quite shy and used to being "babied" with the pool and the water and eating and everything else, I cannot imagine a self-sufficient hardy Caylee who did this all on her own without waking GA or ICA or letting GA know that she was going to go potty or that it was time for their breakfast.
This last question stands: Did JB question GA about finding doors unlocked on the initial runthrough of the house before the timely, detailed sweep? If not, the DT theory holds NO weight with me.