I’ve been wondering too about whether LE knew they had a SK from day one. I’m sorry if this has already been discussed but the DTH podcast emphasized DC’s statement in the 2/23/17 presser (11 minute mark) where DC seems to be addressing the killer and I’m paraphrasing... “Who’s next?, I’d give my life not to ask that question. I know you have asked yourself that very question.” This sounds to me like they thought they had a SK on their hands.
Referencing the April 19 presser: DC says that “...something was right in the search early on...
They had national billboards. 100s of fbi were there those first few months. -maybe the ‘something right’ was believing he was a SK. Something about that CS had to indicate organized/SK early on for DC to ask to Who’s next?” Maybe something in that CS led them to believe he was going to strike again? MOO