I watched it, and to be honest- was extremely disappointed in the show. But I sure hope it brings in some leads.
The bike path I believe was close to a rural roadway- a couple of yards of grass and dirt between bike bath and road. So it's possible her abductor was in a vehicle, imvho. I wonder if there were not two people present in a vehicle, with one on the passenger side that had easier access to getting out and then back in.
Are they really all connected? It seems likely that HollyP and Molly B are related to me. If only because of the brothers.
I was disappointed in the show as well, Oriah. Too much energy, imo, was focused on "Raven" and what it was like to be a serial killer. I am thrilled for Janice's case, however. Publicity is good stuff for sure.
I spent quite a bit of time watching the show this morning. I have a few questions about Janice's disappearance that might already be in the thread here:
1.) Was the butterfly still under the rock when Janice's mom and sister went looking for her?
2.) Was there some kind of public vehicle access road near where she went missing? Because from the show it looked like it was just a bike path which means her abductor was on foot. Being on foot had to have limited him as to where he brought her after he kidnapped her.
As for the Molly Bish tie in-Molly was so much older than the other girls...was her letter to Lisa's mom ever published?
The other aspect that confused me was all of the representations of the brothers covered in blood, which implies a crime very different from the one committed against Holly.
But I wonder if Holly and Molly's bodies were discovered because the search for the two was so big and so fast on the heels of their disappearance?
sister-how quickly were law enforcement called? That has to factor in on where Janice is.
These are good questions. I'd really like to know about the butterfly too.
I was also intrigued by how similar Stanger and Pouliet looked - especially if you are trying to judge by going off the sketch from the Bish case. The sketch could be either of them IMHO.
I'm also not sure that all four cases are related but it was significant to me that the girls all seemed to have been taken in or taken into wooded areas during the abductions. But is that only a factor because the areas in which they lived tended to have alot of woods or forrest around or is that actually a useful clue to the abductor's methods? Does anyone know what the general area was like in all of the cases at the time? It wasn't really clear at all in the Dark Minds episode and I would think it important to know that information in order to establish that this was part of an MO.
In some of the cases it seemed to me to be possibly more likely that someone living very close to the girls committed the crimes because then they would have been able to surveil the girls movements and lie in wait for them. (The Bish killer IMHO definitely did watch her and wait for an opportunity to grab her.) In other words was the area more rural and off the beaten path making it less likely that they were abducted by someone just looking to grab a child at random? (That said however I can name several cases where that's exactly what did happen - a total stranger driving back roads and looking for an opportunity.)
I also think linking the cases might be doing a disservice in the sense that the details from one case might lead you to wrongly think about scenarios and suspects in another case. For instance - in the Bish case I think it likely that the killer watched her first - possibly for days - to learn her movements so that he could find an opportunity to grab her. I think the guy was a planner. But also quite bold and confident. He grabbed her from a public area where people could be showing up at any minute, in broad daylight in the space of about ten minutes. He possibly even allowed himself to be seen by Molly's mother that morning. Most striking to me is that he didn't try to "get away" with Molly by throwing her into his car. Instead he dragged her up that slope and into the woods and assaulted and killed her right there. To me that is very risky behavior. Remember that people could have been showing up at the lake at any minute and either seen the abduction or even heard what was going on. The killer must have been quite sure of himself. Not a first time killer IMHO.
Conversely in Janice's case there was no evidence that the assault took place at or even near the site of the abduction. Her body has not been found so if she was murdered it also seems likely that it didn't happen on site. So someone had to have taken her away either on foot or by car. I'd have to have more details about the site of the abduction and the general area but from what I have to go on now I think it less likely that roaming stranger saw a random opportunity and grabbed her and took off with her in a car. But I also think it unlikely that the perp surveilled and planned this for any lengthy time in advance. The abduction site plus the habits and movements of Janice don't add up to a possibility for that type of planning IMHO. (Unless we find out that the sisters always walked that path at a specific time of day or always played in that area etc.) To me it seems more likely that someone living in that area - probably in that neighborhood - saw the girls come out of the woods and then saw Janice go back later on her own. I think she was taken on foot to a site (like a home) close to the abduction site that the perp could get to quickly and without being seen - maybe a home backs up onto the wooded area there? So I see Janice's case as being more of an opportunity abduction but done by someone who had someplace private to take her nearby.
So it seems like the perps in those cases are of differing offender types. Unless of course you consider that Janice was an early victim and the offender grew more sophisticated and cunning over time - entirely possible as well.
I think we just don't have enough specific details to link the cases and not really enough details about each case individually either.
I thought about this as well Nocturnal lady. But his later victims, Holly P and Molly Bish, were found. So I would wonder if we are looking at a time factor...you know, the alarm went up so they couldnt be completely hidden, or some different offenders committed the crimes.
I will make no sense whatsoever I am sure by saying Janice's crime feels different to me. I am sure there is a good reason why LE thinks they are all related, so I dont know.
The offender who grabbed Janice had to be watching for a while. Like Oriah posted, maybe even from the moment they put the butterfly under the rock. Maybe he was the source of the butterfly.
I was only 6 when Janice disappeared; she was 7. I don't remember a whole lot from that day. I do know that we went grocery shopping that day, and I remember my mother was putting away groceries and Janice and I were fighting over our new toothbrushes. Shortly after that Janice left to ride her bike up to the dirt road near our house to retrieve a butterfly she had hidden under a rock a couple of days earlier during a walk we had taken. I think it was the first time my mother ever let her go anywhere by herself. I remember going with my mother to look for Janice and seeing her bike standing up by the side of the road (the fact that it was standing up makes me think that she was probably coaxed off her bike rather than grabbed off it). I remember that I didn't realize how serious the situation was until the next day when I saw my grandfather crying.
I feel like I don't remember a lot about Janice. I wish I could remember her more. I remember we used to fight a lot. And we used to sneak into each others bedrooms at night, just to see if we could get away with it.
I think my parents thought they were protecting me by not talking about Janice a lot, or maybe they just couldn't.
The police believe Janice was taken somewhere. There was such a massive search when she disappeared that if there were any clues nearby they would have been found.
I believe I was molested by a neighbor when I lived in Tolland. Everybody said he was my best friend, a grown man. We used to ride bikes together. I am guessing that Janice disappeared very soon after we moved to Dallas. She and I do have similar facial structure, both had shorter brown hair and were the same age. I remember him driving a heating oil truck, so he would be very familiar with the area and wouldn't cause suspicion. She may have recognized him if he had made oil deliveries to your house. I often wonder if he may have happened upon her and was reminded of me. What do you think? Am I making sense?