JMO, if the scent ended 20 yards in, what happened? They searched the area and didn't find his body. If the dogs were able to track his scent, and it sounds like they were able, it sounds like he backtracked to the parking lot, got into another vehicle and left. I'm not an expert in this field, but from following other cases, a scent disappears when someone goes into water, gets into an automobile or is removed from the scene in some other way. Humans don't suddenly stop leaving a scent trail.
Absolutely agreed. And it looks like the place the scent trail ends wasn't the edge of a body of water, so unless he was capable of levitating or teleporting - and he doesn't look Kryptonian to me - he probably got in a car. And I think that tells us something.
I'll avoid doxxing the guy but I'll say his home address at the time isn't extremely difficult to find. We can trace an approximate route from his home, to the Shell station, to the traffic camera. He's at the Shell station at 09:19, the traffic camera at 09:23, his neighbor says they think they probably saw his Range Rover leaving his home around noon (I believe the neighbor says they're 60 to 70 percent sure, which isn't conclusive but it's something), then that's all. If the neighbor is wrong, then Jake probably hopped onto 83 after passing the traffic camera, drove down it to Waterfall Glen, then vanished. If the neighbor is right, Jake drove away from the Shell station then did
something for two and a half hours that ended with him back at his house, then left his house, then presumably headed for Waterfall Glen, then vanished.
He left his devices at home. His bank accounts and credit cards have been inspected. No mention of charges from a rideshare service or calls to anyone. He had mentioned wanting to go off the grid previously. I suspect the devices were left at home instead of in the car because he didn't want to be tracked between his house and the preserve. Otherwise he'd have left them in the car - that would look more normal than leaving home without your phone or smartwatch.
I lean slightly in the direction of thinking the neighbor is right. If Jake were driving a car he planned to abandon (which is how it looks), I'd expect him to drive directly to the spot. Route 83 picks up right next to his house. He could have driven straight there. Instead, he went a little out of his way to a Shell station near his house, then set off. And if he'd been low on gas, why fill it up just to drive to the preserve? What did sixty bucks get him that five or ten wouldn't, unless he had more driving to do before abandoning the vehicle?
Also, rideshares and taxis would have mandated masks in August of 2020. He had one hanging off the steering wheel. The convenience of location suggests that was the closest and easiest mask to hand, but he left the car without it. I suspect the driver of that car was someone he knew pretty well.
I think he had a pre-arranged pickup with someone. Those two and a half hours are probably when he made some final preparations. I suspect this person knew when to go get him, rather than having him call them to pick him up once he arrived. How far in advance that was arranged, I couldn't say. Whomever that person is, they know where Jake Cefolia is now, alive or dead (I'm not positive which, but if he's alive then he's somewhere within the US, probably somewhere with low-ish population density and I suspect somewhere mountainous). Because here's what I
am fairly confident about: The balance of probability indicates he got out of his car and then into someone else's, and no one has come forward to admit to being that person. No indication has been found of him arranging that pickup, yet he plainly did and it plainly happened. Evidence suggests he did not want to be tracked between his house and that pickup spot. He abandoned his car at a place he knew well, a place where there weren't cameras. A warrant was executed at his home the previous day, and it appears tied to an ongoing investigation, and his behavior later that night was of someone very stressed out. Whatever happened the next day on August 7th, I think he did it intentionally.