I have no idea what happened to Gannon and no particular theory. This case is strange.
I also don’t have a need to give her passes or the benefit of the doubt re: possible stress, unhealthy mental status, etc. She has been obstinately and arrogantly deceptive from the get go, and not once, it appears, has any empathy for Gannon, or his suffering parents, kicked in to override her self-preserving behaviors. In fact, a lot of things are Gannon’s fault if we listen to her carefully.
I’ve said in previous threads that I don’t necessarily see her as the crazed rage-fueled psychopath chasing Gannon around the garage with a cleaver, or spiking his orange juice with a deadly substance, or whatever. On the other hand, I also would not be surprised if we learn that she committed a callous murder. People with this little compassion for a child gone missing, particularly on their watch, who aren’t focused on the welfare on the child and actively doing something meaningful to contribute to finding him, are, in my view, potentially capable of anything.
Yes, I think it’s possible that something escalated, perhaps only in her own mind and emotional world, and Gannon was on the receiving end of abuse or neglect. And then....
But it’s the ‘and then’ part that I can’t reconcile. I can understand ‘losing it’, I can understand (as in intellectually grasp it) causing harm, or engaging in dismissive behavior regarding an unfolding medical event, etc. But I’m having a hard time believing that a child who could smile while hiking the previous day, had no known acute illness, was not laboring under a chronic condition (as in daily distress and debilitation), just suddenly became very ill with the symptoms she describes. And even if he did, that’s when the both of you stay home and he receives care. And Dad and Mom are both notified that Gannon is sick. None of that happened. We’ve heard nothing from Gannon’s parents about an unfolding acute ailment of flu or escalation of any chronic gastrointestinal problem.
So I don’t know what or how or why. But I think she is angry and callous enough, and her deception is deep and wide enough, that this could range from an ‘oops’ in the most disturbing sense, to something more sinister. I don’t profess to have insight into the details. However, I’m comfortable in concluding that he’s where she put him for selfish purposes that exceed panic at failing as a stressed or self-absorbed caretaker. Her resentment toward his mother, toward Gannon himself, and her crass remarks about him his symptoms and carrying a his own bag for any vomiting he might have, while she drove around, allegedly did (nonsense) shopping, and just happened to get lost where there’s now an evidence/body search, is not (merely) a panic response. I believe it’s an extension of thought and behavior that was present before she needed a disposal site. People don’t just wake up one day lacking empathy to this degree, are not suddenly this confused about basic honesty and personal integrity, and didn’t just one morning develop the ability to sustain such a cruel deception for over a month about a missing child’s status and location. JMO