Thinking of the families of Abby and Libby. This Christmas has to be so difficult for them.
As for the timeline, we don't know if the perp was still in the woods when Libby's Dad arrived, or when the searching began. We don't know that he had wet clothes on. He could have been parked nearby, or had a change of clothes if he did get wet. We just don't know.
After watching numerous videos about that bridge, I do not believe he led them back across that long bridge. I think the risk would have been too high for someone else coming onto the bridge, a situation he couldn't control. While the crime itself appears so high risk to begin with, abducting TWO girls in the middle of the day, with people all on the trails...what would have been a possible plan had he encountered an adult couple on that bridge while he was abducting the girls? I just don't think it happened that way.
The video that woman and her husband did, walking across the bridge to the private property, down that hill, and that creek was there quickly. On maps it looks like it's so far away, and too steep, etc. But it wasn't. It wasn't a strenuous walk for the couple that did that video. They didn't walk far, and the creek with that 'island' in the middle was right there, and then the crime scene right across. I think that probably was the way he led them.
"IF" the girls were immediately killed at that creek, or at the site they were found, then I think I'm changing my view on this. Any reason at all that someone had a grudge against either family or a family member in either family? Could it be a hit, whether professional, gang, or someone with a grudge wanting to get even, or make whoever comply with their terms? Is that far fetch thinking? I don't know. We've all heard the saying "Snitches get stitches" and the saying that people will kill a loved one of the person that are pissed at when it involves drugs or debt due, or gangs.
Yes people have killed just to kill for the thrill. But this crime was in a narrow timeline, how much thrill could it have been? I guess I'll never understand that. I wonder if it was someone high on drugs, and like in the Holly Bobo case, they abducted her from her house, and then raped and killed her. And supposively she was a stranger to them, though her Mom had taught at least some of the perps in school. Whether they knew of Holly or not, they weren't buddies.
Just so darn sad, and frustrating.