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I am a motel manager. We require ID and tag info but others may not. I am not aware that either or both are required by law (in SC.) We issue breakfast tickets for the free breakfast. No ticket...no food.
I am a motel manager. We require ID and tag info but others may not. I am not aware that either or both are required by law (in SC.) We issue breakfast tickets for the free breakfast. No ticket...no food.
He didn't have to be staying in the hotel. Sad that I can actually say this, but when I was much younger I left home and became homeless for a while. There were a few hotels that I knew of that placed the breakfast near the entrances of the hotel and I would get breakfast there a few days a week -- it was the only one offered for free. Banners on the hotels helped me know which ones were serving.
He didn't have to be checked in to the hotel.
Why didn't this lady come forward years ago?
Staying in a hotel makes sense though. Sleeping in a tent after midnight (having to pitch a tent in the dark is difficult, especially with two kids) in the cold is not feasible to me. He must have stayed in the hotel and used another name. JMO
We're not giving no food away!! I stayed in NJ a couple of times and had to have my ticket.
By law you have to have an ID and car license plate I believe.
I'm another one who has never been asked for an ID at check in and also has never needed a ticket for breakfast. Within the past year I've stayed in California, Florida and Ohio. Always at chains that offer the free breakfast.
I agree that the person who works the breakfast area would have no idea whether or not a person is a registered guest. One article I read said Powell and the boys were already sitting in the breakfast area when she arrived for work at 6:30 am. Don't know what the physical layout is at this particular hotel, but I've stayed at some where you do not have to pass the front desk to get to the breakfast area.
If he did do this, it was dumb of him. Because a man alone with two little kids being there in the breakfast area before the help have even arrived is kind of memorable.
Hearing these stories doesn't increase one's faith in tip lines, does it?
I don't know why this tip wasn't followed up but I can think of a few reasons. In a descending order of probability (IMHO):
One reason might be that the tip line received multiple tips from multiple people who thought they saw JP and the boys that morning or day and there was nothing about this particular tip that made it seem more believable than other tips they'd received.
Another reason might be that LE *did* follow up the tip but not in time to secure the surveillance video. If LE was following up on lots of tips, well, that takes time.
Yet another possible reason is that LE already had evidence that made it unlikely that the man in question was actually JP (for instance, maybe his cell phone pinged elsewhere at 6:30 am that morning).
I don't know why this tip wasn't followed up but I can think of a few reasons. In a descending order of probability (IMHO):
One reason might be that the tip line received multiple tips from multiple people who thought they saw JP and the boys that morning or day and there was nothing about this particular tip that made it seem more believable than other tips they'd received.
Another reason might be that LE *did* follow up the tip but not in time to secure the surveillance video. If LE was following up on lots of tips, well, that takes time.
Yet another possible reason is that LE already had evidence that made it unlikely that the man in question was actually JP (for instance, maybe his cell phone pinged elsewhere at 6:30 am that morning).
Around ten miles. Below is a map showing one of the ways home. The other way would have been through a bunch of small towns in Tooele County. But that would make the stop in Sandy way out of his way. Then I wonder, what did he do and where did he go all day until the friend got ahold of him that afternoon?
http://g.co/maps/t2qhs
Something about this story bothers me. Not sure I'm buying it entirely, it could be just an attention-seeker.