OK, been away for a while, but wanted to jump in with some thoughts. IMO of course.
The creek- someone posted some new pictures of the creek a few pages back. It made it appear far more treacherous than the video shown earlier in the investigation. I'm wondering when the new pictures were taken. Was that after a recent rain? Early in spring when snow is melting? Or around the same general time as the news video? (I think it was from the news, but it's been a while since I've watched it.) I guess what I'm getting at is a creek can have huge variations from day to day, season to season, year to year. I'd expect it to be pretty shallow and not moving too quickly in July and August unless there had been recent rains. Of course, I haven't seen the creek in person and have only seen small portions of it online, so it could be a completely different beast.
I also think it's possible that the initial arrival date of Friday was a misunderstanding, not necessarily an omission, but assumption based on information given. Or maybe they just didn't ask the right questions. Maybe LE simply asked "what time did you guys get here today?" Everyone assumes they mean what time did they get back to camp. If Deorr truly wandered off, as a parent, I cannot imagine thinking our arrival yesterday is important since my child went missing today and I saw them today and I know they were at camp after we got back from the store.
I don't think IR is responsible for the disappearance. Yeah, he's got a criminal record. But it's a pretty big leap to murderer of a stranger's child. He'd have to know his record would make him guilty if they found Deorr. Even if he had been missing an hour, it would be pretty hard to kill a child and somehow hide a child where he wouldn't be found for 5 weeks, especially without 3 other people noticing. I think, if anything, his semi-nude interview and his record rule him out.
Regarding the Sheriff's interview. I don't know why he chose two different words to describe IR's vs other 3's cooperation with the investigation. I realize IR was singled out from the rest, but why not just say he's cooperating along with everyone else who was at camp? To me, using two different words means there are two different perceptions. Truthful seems to stress LE believe he is being honest, where as cooperating sounds much more, I don't know, forced? Questionable? Cooperation just doesn't sound as positive. Maybe I'm reading into it far too much.
I still don't understand how many times the story has changed. And maybe that's why IR's been seen as truthful. Maybe his story has been consistent from day one. It just really bugs me that we've got a missing kid and 4 people can't get the story straight. Someone's fishing, someone's hiking, someone's watching a kid, someone's not watching a kid, someone's 50 yds away, someone's 10 minutes away, somone's 150 yds away. Deorr's missing 1 hour, missing 10 minutes, missing 4 minutes. He can't walk well, he gets around pretty well, his boots are falling off, his boots are just too big.
I also don't understand why LE can't make up their minds. Not abducted, not eaten by a predator, no foul play, just wandered off, possibly drown, possibly in the wilderness, remote possibility he was never even there. Yet we have a crime scene and evidence. I'm excited to see what the FBI can do to add to the confusion.