FL - Somer Thompson, 7, Orange Park, 19 Oct 2009 #38

[Dee10]

Somer, 7, disappeared while walking home from school on Oct. 19. Sheriff Rick Beseler credited a detective with coming to him early the next morning and suggesting that Dumpsters and trash trucks be searched for her body and items she was carrying.

Beseler assigned detectives to follow the trucks. The search at Rosemary Hill began about 9 a.m. on Oct. 20. Trash already transferred to Folkston was also searched.

So they started following the OP trucks? But some of those had already dumped at Rosemary Hill and the trash been brought to Folkston and she was not found in that garbage?

But then they stopped searching Rosemary Hill and just searched as the garbage was brought to Folkston and then they found her?


I apologize ... I don't know why this trash process confuses me so. I should really just stop the trash talk. I am hopeless when it comes to following the chain of events. But I still am under the impression that if they had continues the search at Rosemary Hill, they would have found her there.

ITA that is the way I interpreted it & I hope the reporter is wrong; because it is heartbreaking from an evidence standpoint.

 

[angelswatchoverthem]

Catching up on my reading here! I still have a thought, and does anyone think it all possible that Somer's body may have been directly dumped at the Georgia landfill, and not placed anywhere else in any dumpster prior to that? Perhaps if they had of used cadaver dogs early on, they may have hit on a dumpster to determine which one she could possibly have been in? That is if she was even put in a dumpster?

 

[Dr.Fessel]

Catching up on my reading here! I still have a thought, and does anyone think it all possible that Somer's body may have been directly dumped at the Georgia landfill, and not placed anywhere else in any dumpster prior to that? Perhaps if they had of used cadaver dogs early on, they may have hit on a dumpster to determine which one she could possibly have been in? That is if she was even put in a dumpster?

BBM
I don't.



Too many dumpster, not enough dogs or time.

 

[Dr.Fessel]

ITA that is the way I interpreted it & I hope the reporter is wrong; because it is heartbreaking from an evidence standpoint.

I am sure the overtime that would have to paid to the truck drivers figured into the equation of why to continue the search at the Georgia dump. After all they were acting on a long shot.

 

[Noway]

But it's part of the CART protocol. So I don't think the overtime would be an issue. JMO

 

[Kimberlyd125]

But it's part of the CART protocol. So I don't think the overtime would be an issue. JMO

Checking truck by truck is protocol?

I thought the protocol was checking landfills. Following the trucks was a hunch I thought.

 

[Dr.Fessel]

But it's part of the CART protocol. So I don't think the overtime would be an issue. JMO

The transfer station would have it's own protocol and budget and department. Just because the police have a protocol does not mean they can force it on other departments in the government.

 

[Noway]

Checking truck by truck is protocol?

I thought the protocol was checking landfills. Following the trucks was a hunch I thought.

Checking the landfill is part of the protocol. But maybe it is only protocol during regular work hours.

 

[Noway]

The transfer station would have it's own protocol and budget and department. Just because the police have a protocol does not mean they can force it on other departments in the government.

If a missing child does not qualify as a reason for overtime ... God help us all.

JMO

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

There was no guarantee that Somer was even in the trash at that point, she may have been taken in a car, held in a house, buried, countless scenarios.

Altman estimated it would be another 8 to 10 hours to search the 20 waiting loads and that the transfer building at Rosemary Hill was not big enough to hold them all at once.

With 20 loads waiting, there'd be 20 drivers pissed off, and 20 neighborhoods waiting for pickup, getting a day behind for 20 trucks, etc, etc.

In his position, I'd have called it off too, since there was no real tip, just a hunch.

 

[Dr.Fessel]

If a missing child does not qualify as a reason for overtime ... God help us all.

JMO

It was a long shot she was in the garbage. Odds would probably dictate that money could have been spent in better ways then paying truck drivers overtime to wait all night while they searched.

 

[Noway]

She had been missing 18 hours at that point.

Did they really still think she was alive?

ETA
never mind ... misunderstood

eta2
Answered own question. Yes they did or cadaver dogs would have been used.

 

[Dee10]

The transfer station would have it's own protocol and budget and department. Just because the police have a protocol does not mean they can force it on other departments in the government.

I was wondering about that as well, how that would work? If say, there was a murder at a store the police could shut the store down & have jurisdiction over the crime scene, in this case it was not known. They probably could have kept going if they had a warrant, but would a Judge sign for it??? I wish they had used cadaver dogs to search each truck as well, maybe they did and we just didn't hear about it from the press.

 

[Noway]

They said the next step would have been cadaver dogs. I think it was on interview w/Owens.

 

[Dr.Fessel]

It cost the Garbage department money to have drivers sitting there doing nothing.

The police probably could have said hey or department will cover the cost.

The police could have put more people searching the garbage at the station to speed up things.

It was a logistics, cost, and time spent and money and resources and man hours spent decision.

After all they were still looking for an alive Somer at this time too.

They had to decide the best course to take.

I think they chose the best and most logical avenue.

True it was not the best one for evidence but at the time they would have known it was a long shot.

 

[angelswatchoverthem]

I think cadaver dogs could have been used initially in the search, that could have been what you would call a "hunch" too on L'E's part. A "just in case" type scenario! I am sure L.E. have a pretty good idea on these cases, they seem to have to deal with enough of them. Then if this had of had a happier outcome, it wouldn't have mattered they used the dogs IMO. A "nothing lost, nothing gained", if Somer had turned up alive, but in not using them initially, well, maybe vital clues were lost too, also JMO.

 

[angelswatchoverthem]

By the "long shot", they acted on in locating Somer, they actually found her.

 

[Dr.Fessel]

I think cadaver dogs could have been used initially in the search, that could have been what you would call a "hunch" too on L'E's part. A "just in case" type scenario! I am sure L.E. have a pretty good idea on these cases, they seem to have to deal with enough of them. Then if this had of had a happier outcome, it wouldn't have mattered they used the dogs IMO. A "nothing lost, nothing gained", if Somer had turned up alive, but in not using them initially, well, maybe vital clues were lost too, also JMO.

How would they have used them. They only had a very short window before the garbage was collected.

 

[Dr.Fessel]

By the "long shot", they acted on in locating Somer, they actually found her.

Yes. And it was a long shot still no matter what. Odds are you will not find a missing child in the garbage.

 

[angelswatchoverthem]

How would they have used them. They only had a very short window before the garbage was collected.

How short of a window?