<modsnip: quoted post was removed>
It always comes back to that dang bike, doesn’t it? We don’t know who found the bike. We don’t know the condition it was in. We don’t know that SM rode it to where it was found. BM’s derisive comments about how LE bungled the scene as stated in the TD tape to me are very interesting. Throwing that out there the way he did could mask his fear that, by finding no evidence at the scene, LE could rule out contributors such as mountain lion attack, accident, or abduction. This would make LE look a little closer at BM. He, himself, is attempting to put all those possibilities back into play during his conversation with TD despite evidence to the contrary.
By his admission on TD’s tape, he returned home at 9:00 p.m. on May 10th. Sunset was about 8:05 that night and twilight ended at about 8:34 so it was very dark when BM arrived home. The nephew TN let the cat out of the bag when he revealed the bike was found Sunday night. Was it found before BM got home? How much could he see on this dark, unpaved road? Who told him that x amount of people trampled the scene and destroyed possible evidence? The early presumption was that she disappeared on a bike ride because that was what LE was told by the neighbor who made the report. If they were sweeping the roadsides where SM normally rode and spotted the bike, allegedly down a hill, the first response by searchers/rescuers would be to scramble down that hill to see if they could render aid. Remember, preservation of life always supersedes preservation of evidence.
I also found it interesting how BM described the position of the bike when it was found. First he said he was going to show TD where it happened. After he began to describe how it was down the hill, wheels up, he stopped and seemed to catch himself. How did he have this knowledge?
So again,
@Jimbythelake, we can agree to disagree.
P.s. I would like to add that it is possible that evidence may have been inadvertently destroyed during the bike recovery. Hopefully it was not due to carelessness.