I want you guys to think of this (the U-turn topic)
Bullman .... the neighbor who saw both vehicles leave the hayfield .... which is on Book Road .... also said they crossed Trinity and continued West on Book Road
.... I am wondering if it was down Book road where the U-Turn happened (that Mark mentioned)
.... that would fit with Bullman testimony
.... that would fit with SS video of them eventually heading north on Trinity
.... that would fit with MS saying they made a U-Turn somewhere
I puzzled over that, too -- the fact that Bullman reported they crossed Trinity and continued west on Book Rd.
I
don't think they made any "U turns" over there, though. The road is not well lit, they would have to make 3-point turns, or use a driveway to back in and turn around. The Yukon might make a U-turn, the RAM, I don't think so. Pretty risky, as there are ditches along both sides of the road. That's why I don't pull over to use the phone over there!
So I wondered if Bullman might simply have been mistaken, and if so, why? Where he was walking his dog was east of the entrance to the field (opposite direction from Trinity Rd.), and depending where exactly he was standing, he might not have had a clear view of the intersection and beyond. The property is fairly heavily treed, especially the lot to the west of his house (he might own that lot, I don't know, but it's not a clear lawn like his front yard is). He saw them pull out of the entrance to the field and turn towards Trinity, where there's a stop sign. Traffic is variable, but I'm sure they stopped, as cross traffic can be very fast-moving (country wanna-be dragsters abound).
Now, good drivers would be signalling a turn if they wanted to go north on Trinity. I don't think we automatically lump DM and MS into the "good driver" category. So if they stopped at the interesection, and did not signal a turn, Bullman might have assumed, without much conscious thought, that they were continuing west on Book, and he may not have been able to see the actual turn if he was blocked by trees.
I did wonder, earlier on, if in fact they went west on Book and turned around down there someplace and came back, but I don't think that even if they did this, it was the U-turn that MS was referring to. Also, if they were bumbling around in the dark on a side road, this would have made TB suspicious, or at least worried they were going to run his truck into a ditch.
If MS's story is correct, I think the U-turn had to occur on Book Rd. east of Trinity, in the field entrance/flattened out area, or if the entrance didn't have a chain across it, no reason the RAM couldn't have pulled all the way in and turned around and come out, perhaps with the Yukon following, and their exit was what Bullman saw.