Ok, so I'm going to post everything I can. Like I said, I didn't take many pictures but the ones I do have will either create more questions or cement your belief. I am exhausted, physically and mentally so please bear with me. I'm sure this post will be disjointed. This was my first search...
www.websleuths.com
Ok, so I'm going to post everything I can. Like I said, I didn't take many pictures but the ones I do have will either create more questions or cement your belief. I am exhausted, physically and mentally so please bear with me. I'm sure this post will be disjointed. This was my first search ever, much less coordinated, so I know I'm a newbie wuss but I'm also old and decrepit
First of all, my husband and I got there an hour early. Search Dogs 24/7 (hereafter referred to as SD lol) called and said they would be late. Since they had told me they would coordinate things, I was, as usual unprepared. We got there and sent over maps that we could mark off areas in grids so everything was searched. No clue on how many people to expect. Could be 2, could be 20. Well, it was more than 2 but WAY LESS than 20. We set out and immediately got good suggestions from homeless people. Teams were sent out in those areas as well as her last knowns.
When the dog arrived, the handler set her down at the door of GW and gave her a scent article. I know that dogs are fallible but after today, man I am a true believer. This dog was phenomenal. Yes, I took that video (forgive the really poor cell phone quality but my iphone is in the shop (joke)).
Katrina (the dog) IMMEDIATELY took that scent and just booked it. She stuck her nose in the 99 Cent Store and Payless and gave negatives (That is why you see her sticking her head in and coming right back out). However when she got to Jon's, she gave a definite indicator. The handler feels like Maricela left the GW and walked directly to Jon's and entered the store.
Here is where things get kind of tricky and I am so mad that I did not take pictures. I will try to retrace her steps via video tomorrow so you can see. I am going to explain it the best I can.
The strip mall opens to two sides. You can walk in the south door and exit due north from any store. Parking lots on both sides. The door the girls went in is on Sherman Way. It is highly populated. It was INCREDIBLY busy today with people walking down the sidewalk, driving, just crazy. But, it is populated and I would venture to say even at night is relatively safe if you are in a group. (The whole neighborhood is shady. Behind and to the left of GW is a homeless camp and methadone clinic). The BACK side is scarier. There were a lot of needles and trash back there and a LOT of homeless people wandering around.
So, we are not sure which door she went out of at Jon's.
The dog hit in both parking lots. In the back lot, we found an item believed to be Maricela's. It indicates that she was there at least for a minute or two, not running/walking through. We don't KNOW this to be Mari's as none of the items have been processed, but we believe it to be. (I am getting to the church in a second, but we are not sure if she went out to the front door of Jon's to the church then behind the strip or behind the strip then the church). However, AWAY from the church,
directly behind GW, like in the mud right at the base of a dumpster (looked like someone meant to throw it in but missed) was a phone. The phone was shattered and had the battery and sim card removed. The brother was certain it was her phone The police of course haven't said yet. If it was Mari's it bodes very badly. The dog trailed her scent to the area...but again we don't know when in the overall course of things that was.
So, from Jon's. She either goes out the back door into the scary parking lot, or out the front door. The next stop was the church.
The handler had not been given any information about the sighting beforehand. Katrina took her straight from Jon's directly INTO the church. (I had wondered if those sightings were to be believed. They are)
Not just into the church, but into several rooms. Mari's scent was all over the building. More significant, Katrina went directly to the pew located immediately next to that side door (remember that discussion) jumped in the pew and sat. The handler said this was a definite that Mari sat at that spot in the pew. She didn't know how long but long enough to leave a really solid scent.
Maricela left the pew and went out the side door immediately adjacent (This was confirmed by the two women). She went into the back parking lot (it is large and it is dark). Then, she either walked to the back of the fence, cut through and ended up in the far back behind Jon's...OR she went right out of the parking lot onto Lindley, which runs North and South. After Mari exited the parking lot onto Lindley, she went north for maybe half a block. Up that street, there is nothing. Some residences, some closed buildings. No activity on a Saturday afternoon. After she went north, she backtracked. When she got to the intersection of Sherman Way and Lindley (if she had come back out of the front door of the church and turned left, away from GW, she would have immediately come to this intersection), She DIAGONALLY cut across. She went from the NW corner of the intersection directly to the SE. It did not seem that she crossed where she should have, at the light.
The handler was pretty confident that Maricela bypassed the traffic laws and cut across the street that way. In the SW corner, directly across from the church and the side of the street Mari was on, is the 711, bank, etc. On the SE corner is a large Kaiser medical building. This building leaves their doors open until 1000 PM at night. Katrina indicated that Mari made it to that corner of the intersection and went directly up to the door of Kaiser. There is like an indention there, a "hidey hole" if you will. The dog indicated Mari hid there, or stopped there or whatever you want to call it. It appears that she then went in that door and straight out back. In the back, and this is the only pictures I have so again, forgive me, her scent continued to the far back corner, to the dumpster. There were also multiple "hits" in this parking lot as if Maricela ran to several exits/corners/walls/whatever. In the corner, behind the dumpster, we located another potential item of maricela's and the police came and picked it up. Again, it was not for sure but again, the family was certain.
It was in this parking lot that they believe Maricela got into a car...or, there is one other option.
So, I know dogs are fallible. I know sometimes dogs miss people that are literally right under their noses. I know this was my first experience and i don't deny being "star-struck." But I know what I saw and I believe what I was told. This team was just incredible. They came out to help with nothing to go on, no media interest, just a real desire to help. That dog was amazing and the team was, well, I can't say enough. They did NOT give their opinion or "guess" what happened. They simply told us where Maricela had been and where she had not. They also gave us an indication of her pattern of movement. So what I am about to say is my own (and Mr. Mistivon's) interpretation. This is based on a number of things. What we saw, what we found, the people we talked to and the dog's movements. This is MY OPINION. And I am still somewhat on the fence...I am not in the 100% abduction camp...well...here, just let me explain.
There are two things about the church. With the whole upset behavior the days before and the "secret" then going to the church, it sounded like maybe Mari had planned to leave her sister. Maybe she went to "confess" or talk to someone or God about what she was about to do. When we first got the information about the "hiding" or "ducking and hiding" (as it was described, or also as movements of a person being chased), we thought maybe Mari had spotted Sarah at the 711 or walking around looking for her and maybe she was hiding from Sarah. Waiting for someone to pick her up or whatever. BUT, when at the very end of the day, I finished at the church (and believe me, there is NOTHING there. I went through every single pew, every slot behind every pew and thumbed through every book in every pew..and there were a lot a lootttt of books) and went to see where they scented her at kaiser, my thinking changed and my stomach dropped.
When you first walk out the back door of the building (and because the police never looked at security footage, we can't be sure she ever entered the building. If she went back down the front steps and around the building, she could have entered the back parking lot from the side), it is a MASSIVE MASSIVE parking lot. Mr Mistivon estimates it at three football fields side by side. Well, the dumpster where her scent was, was at the very back, very far corner. Against the building, there were "walls" of bushes. IF someone were hiding, those were perfect. You can squeeze in between the hedges then they like close over you but the space back there is open. Like a fort. There is absolutely.no.reason.for.anyone to run all that distance across an open parking lot to a dumpster then literally, literally be cornered. IF the item is hers and IF the scent is correct, she was not back there willingly. No way. No how. If you are going to jump in a car for a quick whatever, or have someone pick you up...no single girl is gonna say, "Yeah, hey, meet me in the very back of this huge parking lot in the corner behind the dumpster." Hell no. IF you wouldn't meet right in front of GW, you'd meet behind the church...you can't see one from the other. And IF you were going to get picked up across the street at Kaiser, you'd have someone do it right inside the gate. Not all the way in the back.
So, once I thought like that...it kinda changed my mind on the church.
It seems to me now that maybe Mari went in the front door seeking solace, safety, whatever. She sat in a front pew immediately next to the side door. I think she already knew someone was stalking, creeping, following, whatever her, and when she saw the front door open and the person walk in, she darted quickly out the side door. Remember, she was in a hurry and looked upset. IDK if anyone thought to ask the two women if anyone else had come in. Then I think she went to run up Lindley but there was nothing there. She doubled back and IDK why she went to Kaiser...maybe she knew there was security in there. Maybe that felt safer than 711. I don't know. I just think whatever happened in that back parking lot was bad.
And I'm scared. And I really hope I've just read too many stories and watched too many horror movies. I hope she texted someone to meet her and she jumped in the car and is off doing her thing with no clue this is going on (or no care). I know I'm probably way off base here but I wanted to lay everything out as best I could without compromising certain things. I know there is probably something in front of my face I'm not seeing, questions I didn't ask, obviously pictures I didn't take. Please, poke holes in my theory. Ask questions. If I don't have the answer, I will get it.
I'm going to post the pictures of the back parking lot. Unfortunately, these were taken from the angle of the dumpsters instead of from her viewpoint. I'm frustrated about that but it is what it is. You can still see the distance and i will get better pictures tomorrow.
Until this last piece of info, until I saw this lot, ESPECIALLY after we heard she had gone into the church and sat in a pew...I really thought maybe she was voluntarily missing after all. Please look at these pictures and tell me how she can still be.
Wow, what a book. Hope I don't put anyone to sleep
I'm so sorry but it's hard to explain what I want to in a short story...hence why I don't tweet
Also...NO, NO footage from ANY of these places has been obtained. NO interviews have been done. LAPD or whoever came out and collected the items. They searched the car (not even with forensics, pretty sure) and saw the footage from GW and the 99 Cent Store. Nothing else. Not even the Kaiser or church footage.They.are.not.interested.
I'm about to finally post a couple of pictures from the parking lot where her scent ended. I also have a picture of her car in the parking lot but the dog did not even glance over there. I promise I will get more pictures tomorrow. I want you all to see what I am trying to explain and I know it's pretty impossible.
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