LA - ***ARREST*** Mickey Shunick, 21, Lafayette, 19 May 2012 #39

[justwannahelp]

I need to phrase my statement more carefully.

What I meant by "LE's silence caught him" was that their silence about telling things to the public after getting the tip caught him.

We both saw people here clamoring for LE's head because they were being quiet. They demanded to be fed and banged their forks and knives on the table.

That LE silence, that so upset some posters here, IS what caught him.

Would it have caught him to broadcast on the TV beforehand that LE was looking hard at Brandon Scott Lavergne?

Just like now.... people are insisting that all the details be released and published here - jury pool be damned.

Their silence now can help protect against unnecessary tainting.

That's what I meant. Obviously, I know it is a fact that a woman called in a tip that resulted in his arrest.

i just want to make it clear, that since this is the first missing case that i've followed very closely, i was upset with LE for being so silent in the weeks before the arrest. but it wasn't so much that i wanted to know details or information, i just wanted them to come forward and say we are still working on the case there is nothing new to report. i felt the need to be reassured. i also wanted this so that the media could put her face on the news again. it would have given them something "new" to report - they were all refusing to do a subsequent story on her since there was nothing "new"

HOWEVER, now that i know that they were onto him at that time, I guess coming out and saying "we are still hard at work, but there is nothing new" would have been a lie. maybe they could have come out and said only "we are still hard at work"

either way, I know now that if things go silent in that eery way in a missing case, then they are most likely onto someone

i couldn't help but feel hopeless at that time of silence being that i wasn't familiar with this "silence is good" scenario

 

[chicken fried]

I'm sorry if I missed it, but has LE said when BSL was placed at WB? I've always wondered if it was on the 19th or some other day and never saw anything in the media that said exactly when.

Good catch.

No, they never said when he was there. They said they believe the bike was dumped the night of the disappearance.

By inference, we can posit that if they think BSL dumped the bike, then it was then. But not 100% certain, of course.

 

[Cajun_Girl]

Good catch.

No, they never said when he was there. They said they believe the bike was dumped the night of the disappearance.

By inference, we can posit that if they think BSL dumped the bike, then it was then. But not 100% certain, of course.

Thanks! I don't even remember them saying they thought it was the night of the disappearance, but I'm having a hard time remembering all the details from LE and CajunNet.

 

[chicken fried]

i just want to make it clear, that since this is the first missing case that i've followed very closely, i was upset with LE for being so silent in the weeks before the arrest. but it wasn't so much that i wanted to know details or information, i just wanted them to come forward and say we are still working on the case there is nothing new to report. i felt the need to be reassured. i also wanted this so that the media could put her face on the news again. it would have given them something "new" to report - they were all refusing to do a subsequent story on her since there was nothing "new"

HOWEVER, now that i know that they were onto him at that time, I guess coming out and saying "we are still hard at work, but there is nothing new" would have been a lie. maybe they could have come out and said only "we are still hard at work"

either way, I know now that if things go silent in that eery way in a missing case, then they are most likely onto someone

i couldn't help but feel hopeless at that time of silence being that i wasn't familiar with this "silence is good" scenario

I know the feeling. I wasn't familiar with it, either. What finally clued me in were the family's actions,... how they seemed to stop calling for help. A week before BSL's arrest, I called CS and told her I had what I considered a pretty good tip (and we knew each other beforehand, so I wasn't a stranger cold-calling) and she wasn't interested in hearing what the tip was, and pleaded that she was busy, and then never called me back. That's when I realized that they were onto something we weren't privy to. That was when I knew for sure that they had their perp, and so I had to sit back and wait like everyone else and bite my tongue.

 

[Cajun_Girl]

Good catch.

No, they never said when he was there. They said they believe the bike was dumped the night of the disappearance.

By inference, we can posit that if they think BSL dumped the bike, then it was then. But not 100% certain, of course.

Hmm, if they said they BELIEVE it was the night of the disappearance then this doesn't make me feel very confident that they have unrefutable evidence of him being at WB. So frustrating!

 

[chicken fried]

Hmm, if they said they BELIEVE it was the night of the disappearance then this doesn't make me feel very confident that they have unrefutable evidence of him being at WB. So frustrating!

I don't read it the same way. They say they can place him at Whiskey Bay... they said the word "believe" when they found the bike, before they had a suspect. It referred to the bike, only.

 

[Cajun_Girl]

I don't read it the same way. They say they can place him at Whiskey Bay... they said the word "believe" when they found the bike, before they had a suspect. It referred to the bike, only.

Now I MUST find the link where LE discusses this. Guess its time to go browse through all the media reports. If you have a link handy, I'd love it. TIA

 

[justwannahelp]

a good question i saw on a site that i was lurking: since we THINK there was something in the trailer connecting BSL to LP's murder, where do you suppose he hid his "souvenirs" while he was in Jail for 8 years? a safety deposit box? but if a safety deposit box, then why weren't his momentos in a safety deposit box recently? we don't know that LE didn't empty a SD Box of his recently, however it seems like most things were found in his trailer.

how did he find the time to hide well his souvenirs before being arrested in 2000? would he have had "notice" before being arrested for the rape?

is it possible that his mom packed up his place at Fort Polk and just didn't go THROUGH any of his things? so that when he got out in 2008, his box of things was all packed up safely for him undisturbed?

 

[justwannahelp]

I know the feeling. I wasn't familiar with it, either. What finally clued me in were the family's actions,... how they seemed to stop calling for help. A week before BSL's arrest, I called CS and told her I had what I considered a pretty good tip (and we knew each other beforehand, so I wasn't a stranger cold-calling) and she wasn't interested in hearing what the tip was, and pleaded that she was busy, and then never called me back. That's when I realized that they were onto something we weren't privy to. That was when I knew for sure that they had their perp, and so I had to sit back and wait like everyone else and bite my tongue.

interesting. it also explains why Nancy said "foolish" to do the radio show or was that before they were onto him? i think they were just onto him at that time

 

[justwannahelp]

I don't read it the same way. They say they can place him at Whiskey Bay... they said the word "believe" when they found the bike, before they had a suspect. It referred to the bike, only.

i think that when they found the bike, they said they believed it to have been placed there the early morning of MS disappearance. they didn't say why they believed this.

then when they arrested BL, they said they had a link that placed him at WB at the time the bike was placed there

at least that is how i understood it. the wording wasn't very precise and left room for different interpretations, but i think that is what they were trying to get across

 

[fittzi]

I doubt body parts would be brought out in paper bags, IMO.

At least I hope not.

I'll preface this by saying that I'm not new here, but I am new to this thread.

My suspicion is that LE has photographic evidence, possibly collected from the trailer, that leads them to believe that MS is no longer living. There seems to be quite a bit of speculation and rumor about BSL keeping memorabilia, and photographs (likely digital from his phone or computer) would fit that MO.

 

[justwannahelp]

I know the feeling. I wasn't familiar with it, either. What finally clued me in were the family's actions,... how they seemed to stop calling for help. A week before BSL's arrest, I called CS and told her I had what I considered a pretty good tip (and we knew each other beforehand, so I wasn't a stranger cold-calling) and she wasn't interested in hearing what the tip was, and pleaded that she was busy, and then never called me back. That's when I realized that they were onto something we weren't privy to. That was when I knew for sure that they had their perp, and so I had to sit back and wait like everyone else and bite my tongue.

i kind of remember you trying to reassure everyone that they must be onto someone, but we were still in a tizzy about the silence. it was really hard not to be.

 

[Cajun_Girl]

i think that when they found the bike, they said they believed it to have been placed there the early morning of MS disappearance. they didn't say why they believed this.

then when they arrested BL, they said they had a linked that placed him at WB at the time the bike was placed there

at least that is how i understood it. the wording wasn't very precise and left room for different interpretations, but i think that is what they were trying to get across

I went back and read a bunch and that's how I understand it too.

I'm new here and haven't figured out how to link from my IPad so I'll just include the quotes from KATC's website.

"Investigators believe the bike was dropped off and not thrown from the bridge. Also, they believe the bike was dumped the morning Shunick went missing. Mouton says hopefully a forensic examination at the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab will provide more specific information. Besides the bike, police have gathered other "items of interest," but are not naming those items"

"During a news conference, Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said evidence shows Brandon Scott Lavergne's truck was in the Whiskey Bay area where Mickey Shunick's bicycle was found on May 26. "

 

[NewYork625]

My sister and I were discussing how MS could have been the one to stab BSL just last night. As much as I don't believe his story about a mugging, I just couldn't see how MS could have done it, especially if her box cutter was in her bag (if she even had one).

My sister, who used a bike as her only form of transportation in college, used to ride that exact bike route all the time especially late at night because it is the safest way to avoid drunk drivers at 2 am. She said that there are really just a couple places around there that aren't right in someone's front yard and if BSL followed MS long enough for her to get into the less populated areas that she would have known she was being followed. Having her explain what a cyclists thinks when they are traveling down those roads really made it makes sense to me. She thinks Mickey would have known something was "off" and had a chance to arm herself a much as possible for a conflict. Just some thoughts my sister and I were tossing around last night.

I keep thinking about the girl he orally raped. He blindfolded her, so she didn't see a knife, but she said she felt something sharp in her side that she assumed was a knife. That is what makes me think it might have been BSL's own knife that Mickey used against him after spraying him with the mace. I also think he might have cut his finger badly when he was trying to get it back. He would have been temporarily blinded by the mace and might have, in the struggle, grabbed the wrong end of the knife.

 

[JurysOut]

Regarding tire tracks alone being what placed him at Whiskey Bay:

Extremely unlikely. It was reported by LE that he did a very good arson job - burned the heck out of his truck. To me, this would mean that his tires burned. Tires are pretty flammable, and once started, very hard to extinguish.

Between the time he allegedly visited WB and the time bike was found, other vehicles undoubtedly crossed his tracks, and there was a hard rain.

IF they got good tracks, they would only be able to match them to a type of vehicle - not BSL's specific wear and tread pattern, because the matching set would have been burned up in the fire.

This would provide substantiating evidence, yes, but not primary evidence that he was there. There are a lot of DWTs on the road, and it could have been any of them that made the tracks.

Unless they had tire tracks at the scene of the truck burning. The truck had to be driven to where it was burned.

But I don't think it's just tire tracks either.

 

[JurysOut]

I'll preface this by saying that I'm not new here, but I am new to this thread.

My suspicion is that LE has photographic evidence, possibly collected from the trailer, that leads them to believe that MS is no longer living. There seems to be quite a bit of speculation and rumor about BSL keeping memorabilia, and photographs (likely digital from his phone or computer) would fit that MO.

I agree 100%. I think photos will be key to the prosecution's case. I've always felt photos were part of the puzzle.

 

[wanthib]

"Investigators believe the bike was dropped off and not thrown from the bridge. Also, they believe the bike was dumped the morning Shunick went missing. Mouton says hopefully a forensic examination at the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab will provide more specific information. Besides the bike, police have gathered other "items of interest," but are not naming those items"

The other items of interest could be the evidence that shows that BSL's truck was in the area of Whiskey Bay where the bike was found.

 

[megmono]

im just going off moo, but i believe the video from the advertiser must have the bike in the truck or mickey. i believe that someone can place him at whiskey bay as well. whatever was found at the trailer, i believe is the nail in the coffin. the hospital reports are great too bc they show struggle and if true, poison ivy.

 

[NewYork625]

"Investigators believe the bike was dropped off and not thrown from the bridge. Also, they believe the bike was dumped the morning Shunick went missing. Mouton says hopefully a forensic examination at the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab will provide more specific information. Besides the bike, police have gathered other "items of interest," but are not naming those items"

The other items of interest could be the evidence that shows that BSL's truck was in the area of Whiskey Bay where the bike was found.

Maybe there is a photo on BSL's phone he took of himself, showing the Whiskey Bay area in the background? That could be dated to the time he placed the bike there.

 

[JurysOut]

I don't read it the same way. They say they can place him at Whiskey Bay... they said the word "believe" when they found the bike, before they had a suspect. It referred to the bike, only.

I remember that distinctly: "place him at Whiskey Bay"