I don't know, honestly. I'm not a sleuther so I wouldn't even know where to begin. I do know that no one including the cops believed a word of his story. It would be amazing if we could bring this cold case back to life and nail this
for what he has gotten away with scot free for the last 20 years.
I do wonder how it would affect her family, though. I am sure they would give anything to have answers but if this didn't produce any it would be like re-opening an old wound. When the Pappini case started getting attention "amateur detectives" started comparing Tera and Sherri and really trying to run with the theory that Sherri is Tera or that the same person who took Tera took Sherri, which is crap. We all know who took Tera and what he did to her. I heard some rumors that as a result of this discussion it really upset the family, which I completely understand.
They own a local mini-golf course/play center and for the longest time when she went missing they had a huge billboard alongside the free way about her disappearance. There was also something along the lines of "Where is Tera? Zink knows" on a billboard. I don't recall if it was the same one or another one they put up.
As I mentioned before, my dad was is retired LE. He worked homicide, and while he didn't catch this case, it's a small enough department everyone was involved whether it was looking for her, discussing the case, running down leads, etc. We talked about this about 6 or 7 years ago and he told me there was never *any* doubt in any of their minds that Zink murdered her. There just wasn't a shred of evidence to prove it. Short of planting evidence at the time, there was nothing that could be done. I remember telling him that day I could understand why someone would want to do that, especially when you know someone is about to get away with murder. He scolded me and told me that is against the oath they take and no decent detetcive would do such a thing. Of course I completely agree, I have little regard for police offers who do that. But on a case like Tera's, I completely understand why someone would.
It would be really amazing if this thread started drumming up some conversation and some of the really knowledge sleuthers that participate on this site were able to find anything that could help bring Tera's family answers. I hesitate to use the word closure, as Jacob Weterling's mother said knowing what happened to him did not bring her closure. It gave them answers, that was all. Her son was still ripped out of their lives, nothing would ever bring them closure.
