No there wasn't.
Evansdale LE followed CARP perfectly!
I'm including the link to CARP. It is the
only blueprint for investigating missing children, most of whom go missing for perfectly innocent(ish) reasons.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/51536616/FBI-Child-Abduction-Response-Plan
Finding a missing child is literally like finding a needle in a haystack. They are very small and the world is very big.
Think of it this way - if you don't have kids - your dog has run away and you need help to find it.
Where do you start?
Remember, LE cannot find something that has been purposely hidden.
So where exactly do you expect them to look? In all the obvious places first, right?
Obvious places meaning Draining The Lake, in L&L's case.
Not only did they start draining, they also started searching - FBI, Evansdale, BHCSO, volunteers. They doorknocked and searched houses (at least the ones they were allowed into), they checked local RSOs, they searched ponds and woods and don't forget the 100 house sweep in October.
They have begged over and over for more information from the good folk of Evansdale, most of whom couldn't be bothered even attending a public meeting about it.
Like you said, it takes a village.
So who's to blame for not finding your dog if it's not there to be found, or no one is answering their door when you knock to ask? :banghead:
If I recall correctly, it took approximately four hours before LE began treating this case as a 'possible' abduction ... most of whom go missing for perfectly innocent-ordinary reasons.
Several things were flags imho.
Two of them. One kid lost and cant be found is one thing - two kids lost and cant be found in a reasonable amount of time should set off an alarm. Where are they going to go in this small town given their grandmother's admonition and the past history ... to Escanaba!?
Third, there is the particular history of one of the families involved.
Four, there were witnesses in every venue the girls had been in but either saw nothing unusual, heard nothing unusual, had neither seen or heard any evidence of a drowning or the girls in trouble, and yet the girls vanish! That points to some anomaly, something suspicious. Two girls dont just vanish in the presence of other people and nobody sees or hears anything!
Five, after four long hours in this small town the girls don;t appear on their own!
With all respect to CARP, officers have to use discretion and their instincts vs "the book" when making judgements. Several officers knew these girls and their families. Personal judgements sometimes go a long way in a case like this.
lease: