It's entirely consistent with much of what has been speculated here. If LE had no conclusive evidence that NO was harmed at the house, and had not yet learned about the fa rm, then NO getting away, or being alive somewhere is a viable theory.
Let's face it... Why would anyone remove the bodies, just to move them to a ditch or field? You risk being seen, contaminating your vehicle and belongings with DNA, and it's a lot of extra, tedious work. It's safe to assume the plan, most likely, was to completely destroy and dispose of the bodies. LE themselves said volunteer searchers don't know what they are looking for. There has been a lot of talk of chemicals, but not so much of machinery, or custom made machinery. If we assume that whatever process was used to destroy the bodies wasn't cleaned up properly, or didn't work successfully, then LE would have found evidence of the victims bodies at the location they we taken to, be it tissue, bone, dust, fluids or any combination of such. They could then conclude all 3 were deceased, especially if it were something like bone, teeth, or brain matter.
However, it doesn't prove WHERE all 3 died. All 3 may have perished at the house, but if one were hypothetically strangled, leaving little or no evidence behind, but something was found at a different location, then they can conclude that one is deceased. They can't prove a kidnapping, and can't conclusively specify where they died.
