Found Deceased KS - Marilane Carter, 36, Overland Park, enroute to Birmingham, 1 Aug, call from Memphis, 2 Aug 2020

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I would like to know what she could have been doing between the time she refueled in West Memphis (about 5 pm) and when she had her last phone call with her mother and reported that she was driving on some dirt road under Route 55 (about 8 pm). The distance between the gas station and Bridgeport Rd is negligible. What could she have been doing for three hours?
 
happyday said:
Apparently she used to work at that hospital as a chaplain and maybe because her family lives there she just felt more comfortable? Also some have speculated that being in the public eye as a pastor’s wife might make it less comfortable to get treatment there.
I do think that the circumstances are strange enough that everything needs to be checked out and suicide shouldn’t just be assumed.
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That would be the most plausible reason, I agree. The questions that keeps nagging me about that is...if that's true, what was her expectation of this treatment? Meaning a short-term or more chronic type of situation. If she was expecting to see a doctor she is familiar with, maybe even knows her history, that makes me think she was looking for it to be a shorter term type of situation and maybe it wasn't to the point of her being suicidal. If the alternative is true, if she was expecting it to be longer term, what was her ultimate plan for continued treatment?

Honestly, I'm probably reading too much into this part of the narrative. Sleep deprivation is also a variable that should not be ignored regarding her mental state. But, for whatever reason, I keep coming back to it. I think it could help to understand a bit more about her mental state.
 
I have a problem with LE speculating to the media about her cod and mod before the ME has even identified her remains. They shouldn't be saying anything until they can give a reasonable explanaton in a press release. "Didn't think to search them" omfg. Arkansas LE is truly something to behold. It will be a miracle if we ever get the truth.
 
If suicide was her initial intent, why would she have her family in Alabama expecting her arrival? And, why find somewhere so secluded to carry this plan out knowing she may not be found for a significant amount of time? Knowing how much worse that would impact her family. Even in the deepest depths of mental health conditions, the love for one's family members does not change. It's hard for me to believe she would knowingly allow her family to suffer more than they already would from her death alone. Even in the midst of a psychotic break that's hard for me to imagine.
 
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Vail said:
I have a problem with LE speculating to the media about her cod and mod before the ME has even identified her remains. They shouldn't be saying anything until they can give a reasonable explanaton in a press release. "Didn't think to search them" omfg. Arkansas LE is truly something to behold. It will be a miracle if we ever get the truth.
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I know right?! I mean, West Memphis, AR LE aren’t exactly known for their stellar investigative skills (cough, WM3, cough) but still...
 
Goldengreen said:
If suicide was her initial intent, why would she have her family in Alabama expecting her arrival? And, why find somewhere so secluded to carry this plan out knowing she may not be found for a significant amount of time? Knowing how that much worse that would impact her family. Even in the deepest depths of mental health conditions, the love for one's family members does not change. It's hard for me to believe she would knowingly allow her family to suffer more than they already would from her death alone. Even in the midst of a psychotic break that's hard for me to imagine.
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I really wonder if it was some sort of break and subsequent accident. I can make more sense of that (not that suicide ever seems sensical to others).
If it’s carbon monoxide poisoning, like others have said, we may never know.
 
jeni25 said:
Wasn’t it said she felt drones were following her in an article?
Trying to find with no lunch. If so, she may have felt the need to hide. MOO
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Now that you mention it, there used to be crop dusters in that area (I haven't been to that area in a long time but there used to be) ... could she have thought a crop duster was targeting her? They fly so low it can look that way (like in North by Northwest)
 
killarney rose said:
Just found this informative article.

Sheriff: Carbon monoxide poisoning likely in death of Marilane Carter
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Thank you.
When I reread the article, I see where the sheriff gave his opinion as to her death probably being due to carbon dioxide based on his seeing no trauma, although how he could know that with the decomposition present. But he isn't the coroner and he probably shouldn't have put that opinion out because it isn't the official cause of death with means and manner described by the coroner after an autopsy.
 
Vail said:
I have a problem with LE speculating to the media about her cod and mod before the ME has even identified her remains. They shouldn't be saying anything until they can give a reasonable explanaton in a press release. "Didn't think to search them" omfg. Arkansas LE is truly something to behold. It will be a miracle if we ever get the truth.
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It’s likely you will never get the truth. It happens often in cases of self-harm. If I were the family, I wouldn’t want details released to the general public.
 
I tend to believe it was an accident. I think she was lost in that rural area and either confused by GPS and/or the area in general, her mental state. It’s been documented and reported she hadn’t slept. She has essentially been on the road for an entire 24 hours (stressful in and of itself).

Its so illogical she would enter into a shipping container -of all things- in the middle of the field. I believe the lack of sleep and stressors she had in life led to a break with reality. A break that in her mind - that entering a shipping container would be a safe place. At that point she likely believed she was being followed and perhaps she found the ideal spot (in her mind) where she couldn’t be seen. She last spoke to her husband and mom (her mom outside of the car). It’s plausible they spoke with her right up until she entered the container. I’m assuming she felt compelled to go out the back hatch and somewhat close the doors. I can’t fathom she would be able to pick up a cell signal after being inside the container. It’s likely akin to being in an elevator. I hope she felt safe at that time. She might not have even realized the risk she was placing herself in via carbon monoxide poisoning in the state she was in.

My prayer is that whatever happened (and how another poster had mentioned) her break with reality shielded her from what all was truly happening and extreme panic. I pray she “accidentally” drifted off to sleep, forever. Leaving so many to mourn her, including myself, who didn’t even know her. This case has impacted me and I’m sure so many others.

I pray her life is one that will demonstrate no one is perfect, no was is infallible to mental illness and reduce the stigma to those in church leadership and beyond to be able to seek mental health in the community they reside - not running halfway across the country as not to tarnish the good name of her church and husbands career. I’m sure if he had to do it all over again he would insist she sought treatment locally.

With all that being said, I still hope LE examines this will all the manpower available to them, not simply the local Arkansas agencies who missed searching the container. Despite the fact no one has classified this as a “criminal case.” She deserves that as does her family. MOO!!!!
 
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Granna10 said:
Am just tuning in to all these threads on WS. A bit off topic, I know, but I keep going back to the gas station stop where a woman claims she gave Marilane cash because her card was declined. (Or, like I've sometimes done, inserted it improperly?) I question why it was declined--did someone put a Stop Payment on it? Later, however, she stops at a hotel and, presumably, pays beforehand? Someone in my family took his own life, which is why I can't get this family and those precious kids off my mind. Lifelong repercussions . . . :-(
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The tip about her getting gas in Mississippi (where someone gave her cash to pay for it) was unconfirmed. I think LE have decided it was an incorrect sighting. Her phone pings showed she never got any further than West Memphis Arkansas.
 
Help-find said:
I tend to believe it was an accident. I think she was lost in that rural area and either confused by GPS and/or the area in general, her mental state. It’s been documented and reported she hadn’t slept. She has essentially been on the road for an entire 24 hours (stressful in and of itself).

Its so illogical she would enter into a shipping container -of all things- in the middle of the field. I believe the lack of sleep and stressors she had in life led to a break with reality. A break that in her mind - that entering a shipping container would be a safe place. At that point she likely believed she was being followed and perhaps she found the ideal spot (in her mind) where she couldn’t be seen. She last spoke to her husband and mom (her mom outside of the car). It’s plausible they spoke with her right up until she entered the container. I’m assuming she felt compelled to go out the back hatch and somewhat close the doors. I can’t fathom she would be able to pick up a cell signal after being inside the container. It’s likely akin to being in an elevator. I hope she felt safe at that time. She might not have even realized the risk she was placing herself in via carbon monoxide poisoning in the state she was in.

My prayer is that whatever happened (and how another poster had mentioned) her break with reality shielded her from what all was truly happening and extreme panic. I pray she “accidentally” drifted off to sleep, forever. Leaving so many to mourn her, including myself, who didn’t even know her. This case has impacted me and I’m sure so many others.

I pray her life is one that will demonstrate no one is perfect, no was is infallible to mental illness and reduce the stigma to those in church leadership and beyond to be able to seek mental health in the community they reside - not running halfway across the country as not to tarnish the good name of her church and husbands career. I’m sure if he had to do it all over again he would insist she sought treatment locally.

With all that being said, I still hope LE examines this will all the manpower available to them, not simply the local Arkansas agencies who missed searching the container. Despite the fact no one has classified this as a “criminal case.” She deserves that as does her family. MOO!!!!
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Well said!
 
Kacyarina said:
I would like to know what she could have been doing between the time she refueled in West Memphis (about 5 pm) and when she had her last phone call with her mother and reported that she was driving on some dirt road under Route 55 (about 8 pm). The distance between the gas station and Bridgeport Rd is negligible. What could she have been doing for three hours?
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She was looking for a suitable place to do whatever she was planning to do, whether that's getting back on the highway but getting lost, looking for a place to hide, or looking for a place to take her life. People have asked "how did she know the containers we're back there." She didn't. They took her 3 hours to find.
 
Vail said:
I have a problem with LE speculating to the media about her cod and mod before the ME has even identified her remains. They shouldn't be saying anything until they can give a reasonable explanaton in a press release. "Didn't think to search them" omfg. Arkansas LE is truly something to behold. It will be a miracle if we ever get the truth.
Click to expand...

For the record, the family had seen the containers during previous searches as well, and didn't think to look. This was not the uncle's first trip to that area, but he finally decided to look. There are people in these threads that know her car was found in there and still don't believe she drove herself in there. The same thought process makes someone not go and check.

And since this is brought often, the container she was in is not one of the two in most aerial shots. It is a third one whose doors face away from the fields that were being searched and into the woods. So even if the doors were open, the SUV would not have been seen from the search area.
 
ThickBeardedDude said:
For the record, the family had seen the containers during previous searches as well, and didn't think to look. This was not the uncle's first trip to that area, but he finally decided to look. There are people in these threads that know her car was found in there and still don't believe she drove herself in there. The same thought process makes someone not go and check.

And since this is brought often, the container she was in is not one of the two in most aerial shots. It is a third one whose doors face away from the fields that were being searched and into the woods. So even if the doors were open, the SUV would not have been seen from the search area.
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Therefore making it even less likely that Marilane saw it and easily backed in.
 
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