And this knee jerk reaction to the possibility of multiple sickos working together often hurts cases like this IMO.
Sexual crimes perpetrated by groups of deranged people are well documented. The pedo site "Childsplay" ( run by the international authorities for over a year as part of a sting operation) had almost a million members when it was eventually taken down. Members would often invite each other over their homes to partake in sexually assaulting minors, including the owner of the site. This is well documented....a very tight knit group of perverts who cover and look out for each other.
I don't want to stray too far off topic, but my point is that ALL scenarios must be considered, regardless of how uncomfortable they make us feel.
I'm still struck by the lack of a digital footprint concerning a millennial who used fitbit, snapchat, and most likely instagram and facebook ( all of which have location tracking options). Almost 0 digital footprint from a 20 year old girl, in a town with 1400 people, is not the work of a random pig farmer.