I haven't posted on here for a while because, frankly, I had nothing to say. But this weekend I was in Orlando for another occasion. I live only an hour and a half away, and have been there many times since I moved to FL in 2011, but this was the first time I ventured over to Mosaic and the Huntingdon apartments, just to get a feel for them. Just some observations from being there . . .
1. I was there on Saturday night around 9pm? 930pm? Something like that. I was really struck my how dark that area is. No, I wasn't able to go into Mosaic because it's gated . . . now. But despite it being somewhat of an upper scale complex, from the outside its streets look fairly dark. Likewise, the street out front--Conroy--that goes from Mosaic down to the Huntingdon location is very dark. There are street lights but few and far between. In addition, on the west side of the street, there is a ditch between the street and the sidewalk. At that time of the night, even with the street lights, a person could be on the sidewalk and drivers would barely be able to tell if the person is a man or woman, and probably not even what race they are. So, 10 years ago when this all happened, I'd imagine that these areas were even less well-lit than now.
2. There is certainly a stark contrast between Mosaic and Huntingdon. The former is definitely upscale and the latter is definitely downscale, despite them being not that far from each other. When I was there Huntingdon's parking lot was pretty packed, with cars several cars going in and out in those minutes. It kind of led me to believe that at least someone within the complex had to have seen the driver of Jennifer's car that day. However, regarding that . . .
3. The pool complex is not as big as I imagined. On the video it looks like the driver is like 100ft. away. But it's really only like 40 or 50ft. I know you can deduce this from satellite photos but to be there definitely adds a new element to it. However, I noted while I was there that there were traffic cameras and other businesses with cameras out front. I don't know if they all existed 10 years ago but it did lead me to suspect at least one of those cameras could've caught the driver walking out on the street after he/she dumped the car. However, the public has never seen those videos if that is the case.
4. The entrance to Mosaic sits well off Conroy--like 300ft. So, if you have to drive down a kind of driveway to get to the gate. And on each side as you drive in there are walls with apartment buildings on the other side of them. Meaning, when you go in the gate, you're already kind of "in the middle" of the complex. I bring this up because if stand at where that driveway starts--right at Conroy--and you look north, at night you can see the lights of the Millennia Mall. NOT the glimmer of them in the sky. But the actual bulbs from parking lots lights or whatever. THAT'S how close the Mall is to Mosaic. And that's where Jennifer's ex-bf was that night when she was talking on the phone before going to bed . . . allegedly. He was right down the street. I mean, the mall is way closer to Mosaic than Huntingdon is. And I go back to how dark that area is. Somebody could easily walk from the mall to Mosaic without ever being seen, despite being on the sidewalk next to the street.
5. As I was driving around that night something else struck me. Why didn't the driver just dump the car in one of the many lakes or canals around the area? I mean, people are driving into these by accident all the time. Why not put the car in the water on purpose? This strikes me as being the work of a rank amateur--somebody who was willing to park the car and risk evidence being found--maybe out of convenience, than put the car in the water and make it almost impossible to find. That's a point I'm gonna have to dwell on for a while.
Summation: If any of you have read my earlier posts, you know I'm a person who subscribes to the idea that Jennifer was kidnapped/attacked/murdered the night before, not the morning after. Given the environment I saw that Saturday night and how dark it was, this lends even more credence to that. Also, given the location of where the car ended up--given that it could've been parked anywhere else in Orlando, I firmly believe that the driver was trying to return the car to Mosaic but got there right after Jennifer's family did that day, saw them, and reversed course out of Mosaic. Putting the car back where it was would certainly stump the family and the police. However, because of the family being there, the backup plan became parking the car down the street. This was the reason the car wasn't dumped in a lake--because the driver needed to act fast.
