I am now thinking the partially wrapped present is highly significant. Here's what has been widely reported about the present:
"During his search of the house, Keith says he found a partially wrapped present addressed to him from his wife and two kids. “She must have been wrapping her presents,” he says. “It is like an American flag pillow that she more than likely she made it. It wasn’t here when I left, so I know that she must have been working on that.”
There are several sources for this, here's one, for example:
LINK.
Some observations:
- He says "she more than likely she made it." Sherri often does crafts it seems, and I can see how an American flag pillow looks crafty, but the truth is they are widely commercially available, and not very expensive. There's a good chance she didn't make it. Just an observation.
- I initially thought it was hidden, because it says it was found during a search. However, "It wasn't here when I left," does tend to indicate it was left out. (Thanks, Tuliptiptoe, for pointing that out in the previous thread.)
So this has me thinking: who would go anywhere and leave out a partially wrapped present, which was meant for their husband, when he could possibly come home for lunch? You just wouldn't do that. It does tend to indicate she was taken from the home.
However, that raises a couple of questions. Why no signs of a struggle? And why was the phone found a mile away from the home?
One possibility is that the perp brought the phone to misdirect on where the crime scene was. And of course it's possible she was subdued without a struggle.
It's puzzling. How else can the partially wrapped present be explained? Even if she ran out of supplies, she would not have left it out and left the house. That just makes no sense to me.