So now that we have this kind of nailed down in regard to timing. Even if we just go with the billboard that BG was last seen at 2:30 and we go with the belief that time comes from Libby's phone. What can we come up with as far as the timing to:
1) go down the hill. 2) cross the creek. 3) commit the murder (in what fashion we don't know). 4) Leave the crime scene and be clear of the area
Of course this all plays on the theory that he had them go down the hill at the south side of the bridge and cross the creek and up into RLs property. I'm not all that convinced that is how it happened though.
What I'm trying to get at is how long would it have taken to kill the girls and get back up to the trailhead area or the road? I know its a wild guessing game but the timing is so important when we compare it to the known"s about the case. For instance the time Derrick arrives at the pick up point at what....3:14?
2:30 BG last seen per the billboard...Derrick at pick up point at 3:14. There is approximately 45 minutes right there. Lets also take into consideration the times that Derrick started calling Libby's phone as he approached the area and calls were going to voicemail and phone had not yet gone dead.
Did her phone just run out of battery life between the time Derrick first started calling and the other family members started showing up. Or did something happen to her phone in that short time period that caused it to shut down.
Okay. There's a general rule to figuring out how long it will take to hike a certain distance:
Naismith's rule - Wikipedia
Basically, if walking at normal pace, on fairly even terrain, it should take 20-30 minutes to walk a mile. A mile is 5280 feet. To figure out the time for any distance, I use this formula: if x = the number of feet walked, the formula for 20 minutes/mile would be: x(20)/5280. For 30 minutes/mile would be x(30)/5280. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong. A math wiz I am not.
It's right about 2000 ft. from where the girls were dropped off to the SC photo spot on the bridge. 2000(20)/5280=~
7.6 min. Going slower - 2000(30)/5280=~
11.4 min. This does
NOT reflect time the girls may have spent taking pictures, dawdling, whatever. And that's important to remember. It's speculation for us. LE probably has this information.
In any case, even if they got on the trail at 1:45pm (and it could have been earlier), it took them over 20 minutes to get to that spot on the bridge, according to the infamous 2:07 SC time. That's double the time it would take on the long end of the range of a normal hike.
Part of me thinks they could have messed around and wasted that much time. Part of me thinks not. Part of me wonders if they hiked the trail below the bridge or to Freedom Bridge first. And part of me wonders if something slowed them down before getting to the high bridge, like an early encounter with BG or something. Who knows.
If you go with the idea that 2:30 is the bridge video time, and assume he engaged them then and there and led them across the creek, I'd say they were easily to the CS by 2:40 or 2:45. That gives ample time to traverse hills and cross the creek (a total of only around 700 feet). I don't know...
I'll let you do some math figuring out the other distances.
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