I'm not sure on the rules of this so if this is a no-no mods can delete.
Wylma Cook lives literally a block from where this attempted abduction happened.
You know, I don't recall a timeline ever having been done
I guess I don't remember that at all. I never heard of them searching that area.Let's not forget the raid on the house that Ollipop mentioned here:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...vansdale-13-July-2012-8&p=8199600#post8199600
I can't remember, would the direction they were riding have taken them to the lake? It's been a long time but it seems to me there would have been some difficulty or obstacle getting from their grandmothers to the lake.The family has always been adamant that the girls didn't and wouldn't go to the lake, the timeline to get there is tight, and the reports from people around the lake are ambiguous. Those are the main reasons why I've always felt that the abduction took place not far from Wylma's house, not long after the video showed them riding. The bikes and purse could have been discarded later -- I kind of think intentionally staged to make it look like the girls were at the lake, but possibly just dumped a distance from the crime scene(s).
I can't remember, would the direction they were riding have taken them to the lake? It's been a long time but it seems to me there would have been some difficulty or obstacle getting from their grandmothers to the lake.
You make a compelling argument. I guess it's more likely the bikes and the purse were dumped there to take to take attention away from the real crime scene.From where they were caught on surveillance video? Either direction would take them to the lake from that street (which is in front of the Collins' house, not Wylma's house). They were riding perpendicular to any route leading to the lake but they were in the city, so all they would have had to do was turn south towards the lake when they got to a street corner. There would have been the ordinary sort of obstacles of street lights and stop signs but I think an 8 year old and 10 year old would be capable of navigating them.
The problems with the girls being at the lake, so far as I can see:
1) Both families adamant that the girls would never have ridden their bikes so far away without permission;
2) Unclear whether the girls knew how to get to the lake and lack of obvious motive to go there;
3) Tight time frame, particularly if you believe the cyclist's report of avoiding the bicycles a minute or two before 12:40 pm; and
4) Lack of credible witnesses who saw the girls at any point after they were caught on surveillance video.
Whether the girls were abducted from Meyer's Lake or not, it is clear that whoever abducted them was familiar with the one spot around the lake that was not easy to see from a distance. You actually had to be on the bike path and turn the corner in order to see that one little stretch where the bicycles were found, due to the fences and lush summer vegetation in the area.
To me, that speaks of more familiarity than Seven Bridges. I think anyone with bad intent could find Seven Bridges if they had enough time and gas money to keep cruising the area. That one little spot at Meyer's Lake, though, you just about had to have been there to know it was there.
From where they were caught on surveillance video? Either direction would take them to the lake from that street (which is in front of the Collins' house, not Wylma's house). They were riding perpendicular to any route leading to the lake but they were in the city, so all they would have had to do was turn south towards the lake when they got to a street corner. There would have been the ordinary sort of obstacles of street lights and stop signs but I think an 8 year old and 10 year old would be capable of navigating them.
The problems with the girls being at the lake, so far as I can see:
1) Both families adamant that the girls would never have ridden their bikes so far away without permission;
2) Unclear whether the girls knew how to get to the lake and lack of obvious motive to go there;
3) Tight time frame, particularly if you believe the cyclist's report of avoiding the bicycles a minute or two before 12:40 pm; and
4) Lack of credible witnesses who saw the girls at any point after they were caught on surveillance video.
Whether the girls were abducted from Meyer's Lake or not, it is clear that whoever abducted them was familiar with the one spot around the lake that was not easy to see from a distance. You actually had to be on the bike path and turn the corner in order to see that one little stretch where the bicycles were found, due to the fences and lush summer vegetation in the area.
To me, that speaks of more familiarity than Seven Bridges. I think anyone with bad intent could find Seven Bridges if they had enough time and gas money to keep cruising the area. That one little spot at Meyer's Lake, though, you just about had to have been there to know it was there.
You make a compelling argument. I guess it's more likely the bikes and the purse were dumped there to take to take attention away from the real crime scene.
SBM
I have felt since very close to the beginning that the perp is a stranger or, at most, very distant acquaintance whose name would not necessarily be known to either family (for example, someone that worked at a store one or both families used).
On WS, there were posters who felt that it would be too difficult for one perp to control two young girls but I have always felt that it would be easier. Just get one girl under physical control and the other would go right along out of terror, love and loyalty to her cousin. There were also several posts on WS by people who had been accosted by a stranger with a weapon as children and, as I recall, every single one of those posters were compliant out of terror. Didn't matter if they had been previously instructed to run or not.