IA IA - David Schultz, 53, Wall Lake, 21 November 2023 #2

[cutter99]

Do you mean 12.30AM....00.30h...as in, just after midnight?

Yes, and it would not let me edit.

 

[Facinatingtimes]

The road the truck was found on doesn't have shoulders to pull off onto. It's a narrow paved road with grass and ditches at either side. IMO if you drove onto the grass there's a good chance the truck would become stuck in the mud and not drive out again. It might even topple over.

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This! I don’t think anyone would be comfortable pulling a trailer loaded with piggies off the road - even a little. Whether it was an experienced driver like David, or someone who had no clue how to drive it.

 

[StarRemy8]

He didn’t even pull the truck “off” the road, though. That seems to me the weirdest piece. If he met foul play, you’d think the “perps” would have not wanted to draw attention by leaving the truck and potential crime scene right in the middle of the road! And it makes no sense short of medical catastrophe that David would himself leave it stopped in the roadway.
So strange. Prayers for his safe return. All MOO

This is Hwy 71 just north of 20 where they have said the truck was found. Based on the images of the road the truck was found on there isn't really much of a shoulder to even pull over on per se it's just a small amount of gravel. It looks like it might be the width of only one truck tire and would still be basically blocking the entire lane. IMO he images to me just suggest there isn't any space to even pull off the road let alone enough that the truck would appear to be pulled over.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

Based on the images of the road the truck was found on there isn't really much of a shoulder to even pull over on per se it's just a small amount of gravel. It looks like it might be the width of only one truck tire and would still be basically blocking the entire lane. IMO he images to me just suggest there isn't any space to even pull off the road let alone enough that the truck would appear to be pulled over.

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Exactly. Veering off past that gravel "strip" you're in an incline and will tip. So yes it's odd he or someone parked there when there are side streets they could have turned into, which are probably less traveled than N14.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

DBM - double post due to site issue

 

[crhedBngr]

The road the truck was found on doesn't have shoulders to pull off onto. It's a narrow paved road with grass and ditches at either side. IMO if you drove onto the grass there's a good chance the truck would become stuck in the mud and not drive out again. It might even topple over.

View attachment 467632

This^^^^

I was born and raised in an Upper Midwestern state. The rural roads often had narrow shoulders (roughly 2 - 3 feet wide on each side) that could be paved, granite, crushed stone or earth (as the above photo shows).

Per the below-linked article (Page 8 of 54):

The Iowa DOT has recently revised its paved shoulder policy for National Highway System(NHS) roads to provide a two-foot paved shoulder on new two-lane construction and 3Rprojects. Iowa rural freeways and expressways provide for a two-foot paved right shoulder but no paved shoulder on the left side. However, if the average daily traffic (ADT) is greater than10,000 vehicles per day (vpd), full-width paved shoulders are considered.

https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/19000/19100/19183/PB2002104903.pdf

Semi trucks are roughly 8.5 feet wide; there is no way to pull one completely off a rural road like the one above and park.

Per the link below:

When it comes to semi truck dimensions, there’s a bit of variety. On average, semi trucks in the United States are around 72 feet long, 8.5 feet wide, and 13.5 feet tall. They can have a gross weight of up to 80,000 pounds.

https://www.internationalusedtrucks.com/semi-truck-dimensions/#:~:text=When it comes to semi,of up to 80,000 pounds.

JMVHO.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

I still wonder if the friend who passed the truck at 5:30am has any relevance.

Not because I think the friend is involved, but because whoever left the truck there might have thought it would be found by the friend just a few hours later.

 

[LC2]

Very early on in this case, Sarah said in interviews that she thought DS' semi must have been sitting in the road from around 3:30 am until they found it the next day. I know this has been asked before, but how did she come up with that time (knowing what we know now about the pings)? Certainly the operation in EG would have given her the load time by then. I wonder if that's the time DS' boss got notified he didn't show up with the load. Again, this is just me trying to make sense of everything. JMO

 

[charminglane]

I wonder if there has been a road count of cars that pass by where the truck was left on any given day.
To get an average.
Kind of after the fact, but could be a helpful statistic.
For cell triangulation purposes.

 

[StarRemy8]

I’ve thought that sense I came to understand the truck was just stopped in the driving lane of the highway! How did LE not get many calls about it, considering there were no safety cones, flares, etc., set out as if the truck couldn’t be moved for a mechanical reason.

It seems to me since the truck was there late at night into the early morning hours there'd be very little traffic on that rural road at that time as most people are likely asleep. But if other truckers were on the road and saw it I'd think they would have for sure checked on the situation or at least radioed in as you might suspect something was wrong and if they had would have called it in. If someone other than a fellow trucker came up on that I'd think they'd assume a possible mechanical issue the driver was already handling and just drive around it not thinking it's anything nefarious MOO.

 

[Sillybilly]

@Sillybilly The link you included takes you to an intersection that is near Prescott IA, which is in southern Iowa just north of the Missouri boarder.

Here is the intersection you want: Google Maps

If you pan to the left a little you will even see a truck with a cattle trailer coming towards the intersection. David's truck was found about .2 miles further north of this intersection.

Hmm, it seems they paved all the roads since I posted earlier today

Thank you Joe Friday. I have snipped my earlier post so as not to confuse.

 

[stickb0y7]

North of D15 is only paved for 3 miles and then is gravel. Having grown up in rural Iowa on gravel roads, they're usually not used as through-roads. If you live on gravel, you take the shortest route to a paved road and then continue - you have to (or should) drive much slower on gravel and it's dusty. I lost control on gravel when I was a dumb high schooler driving too fast and wrecked my dad's car.

That makes N14 north of D15 way less travelled than the southern side, so the truck was left in a place almost equivalent to a side street anyway.

The only traffic would have been the few farms nearby going to work that morning, and if you see a truck out in the country, you usually assume they're doing something farm related anyway and just go around them, it wouldn't have been unusual enough to report, so the friend probably didn't think of it until info came out about where it was found.

 

[annpats]

It's interesting to note there doesn't seem to be any skid marks or tire marks anywhere on the road, from the photos we have seen posted.

That probably indicates a chase, erratic driving, or harsh speeding and braking wasn't part of this truck incident.

So, it was driven to its place at a normal speed, and stopped safely, in a straight line on the road, no funny angles.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

It's interesting to note there doesn't seem to be any skid marks or tire marks anywhere on the road, from the photos we have seen posted.

That probably indicates a chase, erratic driving, or harsh speeding and braking wasn't part of this truck incident.

So, it was driven to its place at a normal speed, and stopped safely, in a straight line on the road, no funny angles.

BBM.

It doesn't appear to have been driven quickly or erratically, but the truck did potentially take a bit longer than expected to travel from Hwy 20 to where it was found. It possibly took 22 minutes (from 12:18am to 12:40am) to travel just a few miles along a quiet rural road.

It isn't confirmed, but it's possible the truck might have been driven *more slowly* than would be considered normal.

 

[B4igo2it]

MSM continuously states the semi/loaded trailer was located on 71 "North", this is not true (that exit is further west near Early, IA). Hwy 71 goes north and south, and from Hwy 20, the south exit is prior to the north exit

After loading a trailer of hogs in Eagle Grove Iowa, DS reached Hwy 20 and made a stop at "126 Marker," gas pumps/convenience store. After 16 minutes, the rig & loaded hog trailercontinued traveling west on Hwy 20, likely last spotted by the Coalville iDOT camera, and correctly took the 71 South exit towards Sac City for drop-off.

This is when the problem arose with the direction of travel at the 71 South exit junction. The rig & loaded hog trailer traveled North and no longer remained on the designated route; traveling in the opposite direction on a less traveled secondary road. The semi & loaded trailer were abandoned 4 miles north, shortly before the secondary road became a gravel road. There is no logical reason for DS to be in this location.

 

[geevee]

BBM.

It doesn't appear to have been driven quickly or erratically, but the truck did potentially take a bit longer than expected to travel from Hwy 20 to where it was found. It possibly took 22 minutes (from 12:18am to 12:40am) to travel just a few miles along a quiet rural road.

It isn't confirmed, but it's possible the truck might have been driven *more slowly* than would be considered normal.

Maybe 'more slowly' because someone was behind the wheel who was unfamiliar with driving a big rig?

Mooo

 

[Limecat]

It seems to me since the truck was there late at night into the early morning hours there'd be very little traffic on that rural road at that time as most people are likely asleep. But if other truckers were on the road and saw it I'd think they would have for sure checked on the situation or at least radioed in as you might suspect something was wrong and if they had would have called it in. If someone other than a fellow trucker came up on that I'd think they'd assume a possible mechanical issue the driver was already handling and just drive around it not thinking it's anything nefarious MOO.

All good points. I hadn‘t figured in the time of night now that you mention it, etc. I just don’t recall ever encountering a large truck just stopped in a lane of traffic without flashers, cones, etc. It keeps me hung up on the part about if it was something/someone nefarious, they’d try to make the scene as low key as possible. But being so rural/at night I think that changes things, like you suggested!

 

[Limecat]

This is Hwy 71 just north of 20 where they have said the truck was found. Based on the images of the road the truck was found on there isn't really much of a shoulder to even pull over on per se it's just a small amount of gravel. It looks like it might be the width of only one truck tire and would still be basically blocking the entire lane. IMO he images to me just suggest there isn't any space to even pull off the road let alone enough that the truck would appear to be pulled over.

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Thanks so much for the handy images and good points. I was clearly picturing an actual shoulder on a highway.

 

[tarabull]

Just bring this 411 over from thread 1 FWIW

Thanks to Knox

IA - IA - David Schultz, 53, Wall Lake, 21 November 2023

I wondered that myself, but there's the blue sign indicating D15 crossing from left to right, so it's presumably the correct road. Unless it's not N14... Yeah... it doesn't seem to match up at all. In this 2021 shot, there are no trees and no farm on the left up ahead. Even the power lines are...

www.websleuths.com

https://www.facebook.com/saccountysheriff/posts/pfbid027tKhqnuDrDzNMX2AW9RBnfa7QkVyusBb5sYV5xSpCoQskXA8q6HmkBLkZpYuRXUKl

Thanks to stickb0y7

IA - IA - David Schultz, 53, Wall Lake, 21 November 2023

I put the timeline from the press release onto a google map with points marked for each position along with the times and probable route: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=11vRHFqrdK_MrYTFWB2nfF4ryZEGVfF4&usp=sharing

www.websleuths.com

David Schultz Timeline - Google My Maps

Timeline based entirely on 12/9/23 Sac County Sheriff's Office Press Release Video or personal confirmed locations are Green Negative footage is Red Cell-only locations are Orange

www.google.com

ETA: B4igo2it IS THIS MAP above correct??? If not, can you drop us a pin where the truck was found and hopefully stickb0y7 can make the adjustment...or we need a new map, hoping for the best,
mucho gracias all around.

 

[flossieflo]

North of D15 is only paved for 3 miles and then is gravel. Having grown up in rural Iowa on gravel roads, they're usually not used as through-roads. If you live on gravel, you take the shortest route to a paved road and then continue - you have to (or should) drive much slower on gravel and it's dusty. I lost control on gravel when I was a dumb high schooler driving too fast and wrecked my dad's car.

That makes N14 north of D15 way less travelled than the southern side, so the truck was left in a place almost equivalent to a side street anyway.

The only traffic would have been the few farms nearby going to work that morning, and if you see a truck out in the country, you usually assume they're doing something farm related anyway and just go around them, it wouldn't have been unusual enough to report, so the friend probably didn't think of it until info came out about where it was found.

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I live somewhat near a road just like you describe - the southern portion is paved while the north turns to gravel. It’s a through road, so actually “heavily” trafficked for gravel, but most people wouldn’t question passing a parked semi on their way to work. Farm semi use is much different than commercial semi use, at least in my experiences in this part of Iowa.