I was a classmate of Erin's, we both studied Theatre together at HSU. I am not buying APD's "suicide" theory. Erin had a car that she was capable of driving despite her leg injury, if she wanted to commit suicide, why would she not drive to Elephant rock and then jump? This was in the Winter, Arcata is rainy and freezing especially at that time of year, why would she choose to suffer through walking (with an injured leg and on a knee scooter) in that weather when she could arrive at Elephant rock faster considering she had a car to get herself there if she wanted to? Her apartment was on Samoa Blvd in Arcata, which is a 26-minute drive to Elephant rock or MUCH longer walk there (we are talking hours which likely would take Erin longer considering her injured leg). If she did not commit suicide and maybe accidentally did slip and fall off, how did she get to that location on her own? Why was her knee scooter not found with her body? Her body was found in a small ravine under Elephant rock that was not visible from the highway and her knee scooter was found by a CalTrans employee working along the highway, if her scooter was near her body it would not have been found where it was (I provided an article stating these things below). It is possible that maybe she took the bus but the buses stop running in Arcata around 10 pm, and she did not have her student ID with her (our HSU student ID cards serve us as a bus pass, if you have one, you ride for free), yeah she could have paid cash but the buses did not run past 10 pm. I personally knew her roommates and they mentioned that the night before she went missing, one of them passed by her bedroom door and although the door was shut her, roommate stated that she was definitely awake late at night (roughly 12am or so), I did not ask how she knew but it sounded like she either heard her talking (possibly on the phone) or maybe just moving things around/organizing her room, or listening to music but it was clear that she was awake and in her room with the door closed and most likely with the bedroom light on which means it makes sense that she may have left the apartment shortly after or maybe even a few hours later in the early morning while her roommates were sleeping which explains why they don't know exactly what time she left or how she left the apartment but this also makes it unlikely that she took the bus due to the time of her being home/last heard from in her residence is past the time of the buses running. I have seen a few comments saying it is suspicious that her roommates did not report her missing for 5 days since they had seen her, I do want to point out that from my experience living in Arcata as a young college girl, it is not rare for roommates to go days without seeing each other, sometimes we have opposite schedules to those that we live with due to school, work, rehearsal (i don't believe she was working on a play at the time with HSU but it is possible that she may have with a local theatre but I can't say I'm 100% sure on that), or sometimes just going out and it being so late that you spend the night at a friend's house. I know my own roommate would be gone for days at a time but I and her were very close that we always texted each other to check up, not everyone is that close with their roommates though however, Erin and two of her roommates were good friends (as far as I'm concerned, at least it seemed that way from my POV) and they did mention that they texted her but she did not respond but figured she was busy and therefore forgot to reply to their texts. Keep in mind that these girls were also full-time students with jobs and involved with the theatre so they did not have much free time themselves and could have resulted in not thinking about it too much, getting home late and tired and assuming Erin was in bed and asleep or working on something late. They knew something was very wrong when it had been days of not hearing from her, getting no response back to their texts, and her missing a doctor's appointment where she was supposed to get the cast/brace off of her leg. Maybe they do know more but it is also very possible they have been completely truthful. It is very sketchy (to say the least) that her phone, wallet, car, and keys were all left behind, these are things that people do not just leave their house without unless they are running a very quick task such as grabbing the newspaper off your driveway, quickly checking the mail, grabbing a mail package from your curb, etc. Another disturbing detail is the similarities between Erin and the women who are part of the 'Humboldt missing five'. I will attach an article link that goes more into detail about these women but most of them are from out of state (just like Erin who was from Wyoming), some of them were also blond, and most of them were tall and thin white women. If you compare her picture to some of them, they also share similar features which could be a total coincidence and be unrelated but is something to maybe consider. Some of these women disappeared in similar fashions of leaving everything behind and never being seen again. Erin's case has always disturbed me and at it had irritated me how much everyone around her (classmates (especially those in the theatre department) as well as HSU students, friends, and professors) were very quick to accept the whole suicide theory because clearly foul play is the most logical explanation to what really happened. Maybe people just accepted this because they do not want to imagine that someone could or would ever want to cause Erin harm but we also need to face the facts and accept that this whole case has foul play written all over it and APD is known for not taking action when people go missing, searches were conducted by students and professors but I heard nothing about it being conducted by local authorities, Arcata PD is lazy, corrupt, and incompetent, this can be seen how they handle many cases such as the Josiah Lawson murder case from the Spring of 2017. I hope Erin can rest in peace and I pray that one day we can find out what really happened and put anyone responsible behind bars.
Humboldt Mysteries: Are 5 missing women in a California county connected?
UPDATE: Police Chief Says Missing HSU Student Apparently Died from Fall
