It is impossible (for me) to try to figure out this perp until we know if he is really linked to the abduction attempt in May. That would be a totally different type of perp, IMO, from what I am thinking of as someone who would abduct a child from a suburban street, which seems like fulfilling a sick impulse, something he has longed to do and can no longer resist.
If the two are linked, seems more like a violent predator with no particular type, just the need to inflict harm.
Just hit me, and this may have been suggested already, as I can't even begin to keep up with all these threads.
What if the guy who attempted the earlier abduction of the jogger left DNA on or with her when she was fighting him off? Maybe she scratched him or a small portion of his clothing tore off. Something that gave LE at least a partial DNA profile. Maybe even transferred from the cloth he put over her face.
One that brought back no matching hits in databases. But matched to what they got from Jessica or her backpack. It would certainly explain why the hyperjump from a 22-yr-old(?) jogger to a 10-yr-old girl and the pretty general physical description provided when they released photos of the cross and somehow connected that to the attempted abduction by the lake.
IIRC from a previous thread, that jogger, or maybe the earlier 2010 attempt, the lady was very petite and looked much younger than her actual age. But I was still left with a "huh? what's the link?" feeling.
DNA match, or maybe that very small cross was on a bracelet and with hand in front of face, the jogger saw it and "small wood cross" was one of the identifying features that stuck in her head.
DNA or no, cross in common or no, if it's the same guy, it's about attacking those he sees as small and weak. Not a 5-6, 140-lb type of victimology. Just like the sick SOBs that torture and kill animals. They do it because they are smaller and weaker and therefor can.