Good evening - earlier today I took a trip to Brooklyn, WC's, Deep River and Guernsey ( I live on the IL side of the IA/IL border - about 1.5 hours east of Brooklyn) and thought I'd share it with you all (please note - I tried posting this earlier but got a "database error" and wasn't able to).
Observations as follows: (certainly some of what I'm going to write can be gleaned from a map on the Internet, but to me there's nothing like going there and observing things first hand).
Turning north from interstate 80 - there are NO Mising Mollie signs on the side of the road leading to Brooklyn (approx. 2 miles to the south edge of town) - struck me as odd.
However - virtually all of the businesses in Brooklyn have a small missing poster in their windows, and there are maybe a couple dozen or so yards that have a missing sign - I didn't drive every road in town - but it wouldn't take long to do.
Most of the cars along the road that DJ's house is on have a sign on them!
There is no sign in DJ's yard; but there's one on the corner directly to the west.
MT's mothers house is in what looks to be the newest and most affluent part of town.
Town is split into a north and south section via the railroad track that runs east to west.
The north side appears to be more affluent, roads have curbs, houses (with a few exceptions) are kept up very well.
Drove by the fire station - about ten cars there; no one was visible outside - nothing seemed odd.
Curbs have the name of the street embossed in them - I've been to forty US states and eight other countries and have never noticed that anywhere - unique - to me at least.
Very few people were out on a warm Summer afternoon; a few kids on bikes, about ten people were downtown - seemed to be a family outing or something - varying ages - and all seemed to be headed to or already in the shade to beat the heat.
Seems to me this is a very sleepy town - and very small!
The south side of town seems to be unincorporated - as it's technically not connected to the north side and the streets have no curbs and the houses for the most part - aren't nearly as nice nor kept up like those to the north.
Everywhere I went, if people were out, they waved - as previously noted - that's small town Midwest life.
I drive a red Cadillac suv and to me it seemed to be out of place - but no one gave me the stink eye, etc.
One older gent was driving his golf cart around. - and waved.
My point to all of that verbiage is that this is like a Mayberry type of a town - no graffiti, etc.
CONCLUSION - if a young girl was abducted, etc. - someone saw something!!!
Next I headed to WC's location.
Upon turning down his gravel road (from the hard road) I noticed three small suv's parked in the entrance to the hog farm/confinement that you come across first as you travel east to west.
None of the suv's had any markings on them; they were all nondescript (one of them had a younger woman/girl at the wheel with dark hair - not LE or Media vehicles - unless they were trying to be inconspicuous? - which was impossible given where and how they were parked - kind of haphazardly).
I traveled past WC's and noticed no vehicles outside, no people either - about a dozen cattle were in the barn/small feedlot in front of barn) that was adjacent to or most likely a part of WC's on the east side of the property.
I drove about a mile past and turned around to take another look - passed by many other farms/homesteads along the way.
Driving past WC's the second time - I noticed an older car (1990's) backed into one of two garage stalls - and the other stall was empty.
Place was tidy; seemed like a normal homestead.
No wow factor in any way.
Driving east now back towards the paved road - I got another look at the three suv's - each had plates from different local states - IA, IL and NE - hmmmmmmm???
I then headed to Deep River and it's a tiny place, very old; missing Mollie posters were in the windows of the bank and post office - which also looked like the only viable businesses in town - from a retail perspective that is.
I then headed to Guernsey on my way home - also a tiny place and I couldn't ascertain if there was even one viable businesses there - looked to be a true "bedroom community ".
I mention those two towns as I rembered reading that WC stated in an interview that he never traveled to Brooklyn - well these two places I mentioned have virtually nothing to offer - in terms of buying much of anything- so my guess is he does business in What Cheer.
Also - to me - interstate 80 seemed like a line/border that once I crossed it and was in WC's area - it felt more normal/made sense to me - that if I lived where WC does - I'd probably go to What Cheer - unless I was raised to patronize the businesses in Brooklyn.
Appreciate anyone that's read thus far and I apologize for the length of this post!
IN SUMMARY - Abduction is where my head goes; and it happened during the jog - as the house didn't show signs of a struggle (if I remember that correctly?).
Please Note : I also live alone, am a private person and I can guarantee you I would never, ever allow anyone access to my house and cell phone - and I've never committed a crime beyond a speeding ticket!
Thus - for WC to turn over his cell phone (and overnight to boot), allow his house and property to be searched AND answer questions for two hours - tells me A LOT!!!
Also - one of my Uncles and Grandfathers were both police officers in the small town my mother grew up (in Western Iowa) and I would never, ever take a lie detector test either - to me, it has a HUGE downside and a Miniscule Upside!
Thanks again, take care and I hope Mollie is found safe and sound!
