ITA, Otto. This is exactly where I am in my thinking. Considering the humidity, I think they would have been at least sweating and active enough to leave a definitive amount of rafts/scent/whatever for the dogs to follow if they had actually been there, especially considering that the search was the same day/within hours of the girls disappearance. But since Abben said he couldn't be sure the girls were even there, that leads me to believe that he was told that a thicker/better scent trail, etc., should have been there if they were (JMOO). A quick rinse off at the shoreline (hands/shoes) would also help ensure any remaining scent from handling the girls and their things would stop there. For me, this reinforces my theory that we have two killers because they could have ridden the bikes into the park, then walked out and not looked out of place at all.
When I was looking into scent dogs during our discussion of them last week, I ran across an interview where a dog handler was talking about a case where they found a unknown girl's bike on the side of the road. They gave the dog a scent pad from the bike pedal and the dog followed her footsteps a few feet or so until they stopped. Turns out the girl had gotten tired and called her mother to come get her. She walked just far enough to get in her mother's vehicle. They found this out later that day when the girl and her mother returned to the scene in a bigger vehicle to retrieve the bike. That said, if a dog can track a girl from just her bike pedal than surely these dogs would have been able to follow E&L if they had walked out, even under duress, considering the dogs were given shoes for scent articles.
But then I waffle back to the girls actually being there because why choose that place of all places to stash the bikes and purse, and yet dispose of the girls in a totally different place? So if they were there but didn't actually walk out (bc they were tasered or chloroformed), that would still require two people , one to carry each girl off the ground and/or a very, very close vehicle to carry them to. But I would think the friction of the initial struggle and being carried away would still shed enough rafts for a dog to follow a weak trail. GrainneDhu, correct me if I'm mistaken about any of my scent dog statements.
Finally, I hate to bring up the paddle boat but what if they really were at the lake and were baited with a ride on the paddle boat? And maybe the purse/phone were left by Elizabeth purposely so as to not get them wet on the ride. Then they were paddled to the other side and promised a car ride back to their bikes via Maiden Lane, but instead the killer kept driving? That would explain the bikes being on the trail and the purse being left near the shore where they got in the boat, why they still had their shoes on (your feet don't get wet on a paddle boat), the lack of a return trail/track being detected by the dogs, why they asked for the paddle boater to come forward and why LE was checking cars/trunks in the area. Maybe the dogs also hit on one of the docks that they removed (where they got out of paddle boat)...I know they thought they might be under it but what if they removed it for further forensic testing as well? I know we haven't heard definitively about the paddle boat or a sighting of the girls actually at the lake but something must have made LE mention it to begin with.
Sorry for the LONG rambling. It's just my way of thinking things through.
:furious: except his father didnt live with us when he raped him! The other person was someone that worked at the same place as me, & we were not friends nor aquainted! He was following me afterwork, found out where i lived, was watching my home apparently because he went to my house 2 hours before i got off work, told my 9 yr old son that my car broke down and i sent him to pick him up and my son believed him & went with him even tho my son had NEVER seen nor met him before! :furious:
