Ever since the a_shots release, I have had to rethink everything I'd concluded up to that point, including theories I had dismissed (catfishing, SM, father/son, LE knowing who the suspect is, etc.), which I'd dismissed in part because of things LE said.
The two sketches were confusing, the statements DC made about the sketches were confusing, the entire April 2019 PC was confusing. And so few details were released, much to the public's dismay, all in the name of "protecting the integrity of the case."
Now I sort of wonder if it wasn't just the double-murder case LE was protecting, but also the CSAM case. Maybe the FBI stated the Peru house residents were not involved in the murders for one reason...to keep the CSAM stuff under wraps. Maybe LE and RI said there was no SM link because they didn't want anyone to know that the biggest CSAM investigation in state history was going on simultaneously, and possibly connected to the murders. Maybe LE couldn't come out asking for specific a_shots tips while the CSAM case was fresh.
Pre-2019, LE had two sketches, one of which was a composite made by multiple people who LE felt had seen the same man on the trails that day. Sketch one, older man. They also already had sketch two, younger man, in their possession, but early on, perhaps they didn't yet know of any connections between these two men. During their two years investigating, they found the a_shots communications with L, they sifted through almost three years of underage messaging and images, tracked down IP addresses, Vegas communications, and put together a picture of CSAM and grooming, including of L. But LE's evidence is digital, like devices and wifi, which leads to a home shared by two individuals. Analysts say the communications appear to be from two different users. Two people had regular access to the same devices over the course of years. The same two people had access to the devices in Vegas. Maybe by April 2019, the younger sketch had more significance than before, and served to connect the double-murders and CSAM cases together, although not publicly. First sketch became secondary, not disregarded entirely. Were these two men connected? Where did LE want to put the most pressure?
Suddenly, and maybe incorrectly, I feel like all the confusion is starting to make sense. Two sketches, a combination of two sketches, two men seen by witnesses, two men with access to the same devices, two men going to Vegas and planning a trip to the Bunny Ranch (and other prostitution) together, two authors (users), two creators of the a_shots account (as suggested by LE in the 2020 interview), emilyanne talking about being with two men at the same time, "my daddy" stuff, two men with Monday afternoons off, two men lying for each other...