My apologies for not reading every single post. Since there seems to be quite a bit of contention about the suspects photo and audio released by LE, I figured I'd give my two cents on those particular issues first.
So first, as far as the photo itself goes, I see a Caucasian male, approx. 37-44 years old. They appear to have a light amount of light brown facial hair, more than scruff but potentially not a fully grown out beard. This individual appears to have their left hand in their left front jeans pants pocket. Their right hand appears to be in their right brown hoodie pocket, which hangs down below the rigidity of what appears to be some type of more heavy duty, blue utility jacket/work coat. His overall look sort of reminds me of fishermen here in Montana in the fall and spring. They appear to be carrying something of some consequence either inside their jacket on the right hand side or perhaps in the right hand coat pocket itself. Though the photo is somewhat pixelated, I do not believe that the suspect gives off the typical homeless/drifter vibe. The colors in the blue coat and blue jeans suggest, reasonably well kept well laundered. Not something you'd expect to see on a typical drifter/transient. I believe we see the top of the head and I do not see any significant male pattern baldness.
As for the audio loop that was released, I think it is pretty clear that the suspect says "Get down the hill" not just "Down the hill" I have listened to the clip particularly closely. A few thoughts on the audio. I listened to the audio repeatedly and thought that the person on the audio sounds somewhat younger than I was expecting to hear based on the photo. I do not believe that the person on audio is older than early 40's and I would say late 30's to 40 is probably more likely. I sensed in the suspects voice that they were experiencing stress. Likely fear of being heard, fear of being seen, potentially fear of one or both of the captors being insubordinate. I do not get the sense that the suspect is a typically commanding person. I would guess that this is a typically somewhat soft spoken individual in their day to day life with occasional anger outbursts. They likely are introverted but still rather acclimated into the community. I do not believe that this was a random act. I believe that these girls were targeted. I also believe that we will come to find out that this individual has abducted, raped or murdered before. This wasn't an isolated incident for them as a crime of opportunity. This was a case of stalking and or setting these victims up somehow online or simply following their social media footprints until he knew he could strike. I believe this person is local or at least semi-local, likely lives within 15-35 miles of the crime. They would have been familiar with this area and particularly these trails in the past, recently or both.
People should be thinking back about noticing someone matching this description walking these trails in the two weeks previous to this event. This person would absolutely been through this area recently, possibly as recently as the previous few days preceding February 13th.They would have had a plan already in place and mentally rehearsed this before they went through with the crime itself. I believe that this person acted alone in the crimes.
That's roughly my opinion so far based on what I know.
That's a very nice post, Mophebius, logical and well tought out. I agree with you on almost all points. I hear "g'down the hill", as in "go down the hill", not simply "down the hill". And I don't find his voice menacing. He sounds like any average person instructing a child or even a pet dog. His calm demeanor, and the horrible outcome, is what makes the audio chilling, and difficult to listen to.
Like you, I believe he's 35-45, but closer to the younger end. Neither do I get the impression that he's a homeless drifter. Of course, we have only the snippet of video to work with, but in it, he's walks with purpose, not aimlessly wandering. IMO. His motivation might have come from his intent to approach the girls, of course, or something else. Either way, he seems to have a sense of purpose, an intended destination. JMO
That said, I find his stance is peculiar. In a word, he's lopsided, burdened down by who-knows-what he's carrying. I think it's something heavy, and it's throwing off his posture. A local mentioned -- and I apologize that I've forgotten the name -- that there is a liquor store near the tracks on the side from which he's approaching. It also appears in the photos that he has a white plastic grocery bag under his jacket, with the tied ends sticking out. So that makes me wonder if he'd picked up a couple of bottles, and was heading somewhere to drink, maybe to meet up with someone? If there is a liquor store, the employees would know if he'd stopped in, but LE would not release that info. But if he were going to meet a buddy, he'd know the suspect bever showed up. Or did he?
It's hard to surmise, when the territory is unfamiliarr to me, despite all the photos and input from locals, but I wonder if he would use that bridge to get home, or to another person's residence? Or if he was going to meet someone in the woods to hang out and drink? Some favorite meet up spot?
Because crimes,of opportunity are prevalent, especially in cases like this one, I'm not convinved the girls were targeted before he happened to see them that day on, or approaching, the trail. From that point, they would have been on his radar, but not previously, IMO only. And to add, if Libby and Abby had an inkling someone was stalking or harassing them, I doubt they would have gone out on the trail alone that day.
These are just some of the ideas that have come from ruminating for over a week, and I might be way off base. Therefore, I reserve the right to change my mind as LE releases additional infirmation.
