It's good that you bring up the Slater affidavit! I have a few questions wrt his statement. Firstly, I wonder what his affidavit really proves. It's hard to prove a negative. I mean, if Slater said he saw the bodies there at 5:30, that would proof that the bodies were there. However, the fact that he didn't see the bodies doesn't necessarily mean that the bodies weren't there, IMO. Especially since the bodies were submerged, and the clothes were pushed down in the mud with a stick. Secondly, why didn't Slater speak to the investigators? He himself admits that he never talked to the detectives. Also, why didn't lt. Boskey make an affidavit?
In short, I believe that Slater believes that the bodies weren't there at 05:30. However, I'm not sure if I believe that the bodies weren't there at that time. But let's say for the sake of argument that Slater is absolutely correct and that the bodies weren't there at 05:30-06:00. That would mean that the bodies were moved there in broad daylight. That's an extremely risky thing to do. I'm not sure about who was searching where on the morning of the 6th, but I think someone would notice a man moving bodies to the Robin Hood Hills.
Yup, completely agree Lethalmatthew. I do not believe the bodies were moved there in the daylight at or even dawn: way, way too risky.
I like the manhole theory; I think it's one of the best theories out there, but one has to wonder how possible it would have been to transfer three bodies via this sewer system. Someone on another board once posted a photo of the manhole and the tube that travels from Weaver Elementary to the discovery site. The tube wasn't very big; any adult would have to crouch, if not be on his knees, when traversing this tube. Another thing one has to consider is, how would one actually pull a body (let alone three) through these tubes? As I said, the height of the tube would not have allowed the killer to carry a body. He couldn't drag the bodies because they would have got scraped up and left a ton of evidence behind. I once supposed that perhaps the killer had a "creeper seat" (that thing mechanics use to slide underneath cars when they're working on them) and he just pulled that (with the bodies on top), but again, that would be quite difficult to use -- and the bindings would make that method harder than if they were just piled one on top of the other.
One also has to consider, where is the starting point (where these bodies were originally)?
Back to the original point though, I believe the bodies were in the water when these two cops searched -- they simply just missed them. Having flashlights wouldn't have helped the situation much. I mean, multiple people who were searching the creek in broad daylight still couldn't see through the incredibly murky water to locate the boys. Part of me makes me think that the cops either a) did a half-assed job searching and didn't want to admit it, or b) were embarrassed that they were the first ones responsible for thoroughly searching this area, and they missed them.