LA - Mickey Shunick, 21, Lafayette, 19 May 2012 - #1

[CCK]

The Henderson/Cecelia levee area comes to mind. As a lifelong resident of Lafayette, I know that's a well-known, secluded, heavily wooded, easy-to-dump-anything location. I've not seen or heard mention of that area but, to my mind, if a person were needing a deserted area that would be a very likely candidate.

I dont know if they have checked there yet.

I think I read yesterday some people were going to check out Lake Martin, though. They've found a few bodies there within the last year.

 

[wfgodot]

I think carnies are sort of getting a bad rap here (though I understand completely why we can't avoid the possibility of involvement by a transient element). First, if they move around quite a bit, they certainly wouldn't be as familiar with Lafayette as a local perp would be, and that would hamper their options re: having taken Mickey, what to do next. And, second, these are not as a group automatically suspicious people: a couple of my friends and I got mugged after exiting a small carnival in my hometown once, when we were kids - but wait, here comes the cavalry! Carnies appeared and saw off the muggers with a nice show of force, thereby winning my lifelong admiration.

 

[EBR]

Look at BW's instagram feed. Half of them are pics of MS and the other half, for some strange reason, are of food he's either eaten or about to eat. Food and MS. This guy I'm telling you is in love with this woman. Yes, they've been friends forever and "they're only friends" blah blah blah. Remember this fact of life so eloquently put by Harry in "When Harry Met Sally":

Harry: We could never be friends.
Sally: Why?
Harry: Because no man can be friends with a woman that he finds attractive. He always wants to have sex with her.
Sally: So, you're saying that a man can be friends with a woman he finds unattractive?
Harry Burns: No. You pretty much want to nail them too.

I've been in the Friend Zone. Not a fun place to be. Maybe after all these years he made one more push to be de-friended and be be-boyfriended and got rejected.

This whole theory is blown out of the water if he's on the pink team.

 

[Schmidty]

I dont know if they have checked there yet.

I think I read yesterday some people were going to check out Lake Martin, though. They've found a few bodies there within the last year.

Yes, that was another area I'd wondered about. I've seen mention of Abbeville, Duson, Broussard, Milton, Youngsville areas but the levee/swamp area needs a close looking at also.

 

[Unscripted]

Lafayette traffic cams:

http://www.lafayettela.gov/trafficcameras/Traffic_Cameras.aspx

 

[WideOpen]

The Henderson/Cecelia levee area comes to mind. As a lifelong resident of Lafayette, I know that's a well-known, secluded, heavily wooded, easy-to-dump-anything location. I've not seen or heard mention of that area but, to my mind, if a person were needing a deserted area that would be a very likely candidate.

:welcome: To all the newbies and locals


I am lease: for Mickey

The bike missing nags at me and the way another local described the area there would be plenty of water to dump it in.


Why are we not hearing anything from LE?
This is also getting to my last nerve today.
I am getting even more worried as the days go by.
JMO

 

[Woe.be.gone]

That's a great idea! I wonder how we could go about seeing if this carnival was in town when some of the other girls that were mentioned went missing. I looked on their site, but all they show is current and upcoming dates, not previous dates.

https://www.oaba.org/resources-lists/carnivals-by-state/

When I found the above list, I thought :woohoo:,
then I saw that the list is under construction. :banghead:

The carnival industry is huge - they publish a magazine and there seems to be many umbrellas in the business. There is a current hurdle in the industry regarding rules for hiring tempory workers and foreign workers. Seems as if it would be easy for a serial killer to slip into the system as a small business carnival worker maybe even changing who they work for from season to season. The person could return to their own country during off-season.

https://www.oaba.org/u-s-reforms-summer-work-travel-visa-rules-against-abuses/

 

[CCK]

Yes, that was another area I'd wondered about. I've seen mention of Abbeville, Duson, Broussard, Milton, Youngsville areas but the levee/swamp area needs a close looking at also.

Not a bad idea. I wonder if anyone checked it out or even mentioned it to them.

Not to keep talking about him but when Derek Todd Lee was active, he dumped his victims both in BR, and along the basin exits. He dumped two at the Whiskey Bay Bridge area.

So its worth being checked out.

 

[Schmidty]

Look at BW's instagram feed. Half of them are pics of MS and the other half, for some strange reason, are of food he's either eaten or about to eat. Food and MS. This guy I'm telling you is in love with this woman. Yes, they've been friends forever and "they're only friends" blah blah blah. Remember this fact of life so eloquently put by Harry in "When Harry Met Sally":

I've been in the Friend Zone. Not a fun place to be. Maybe after all these years he made one more push to be de-friended and be be-boyfriended and got rejected.

This whole theory is blown out of the water if he's on the pink team.

EBR, I have to sort-of go along with you on the Harry/Sally thing, although I tend to lean towards the batting-for-the-other-side theory of BW. However:

the first time I saw him, speaking on the first video, he says something as though he is speaking directly to whoever took her, using "you" (can't remember the direct quote, something like "how could you do this!"), as thought he is already holding in his mind a defined "you" ... and my very first thought (and one I still hold) was that if indeed he is involved the "you" he was speaking to would be the "bad side" of himself. (It would fit if there is any splitting of his pysche.)

 

[CCK]

Lafayette traffic cams:

http://www.lafayettela.gov/trafficcameras/Traffic_Cameras.aspx

If she had made it to Congress from the Cajundome area, there shouldve been at least 3 cameras that would've seen her.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

I forgot about cutting through downtown.....I was picturing going from Ryan to Johnston and continuing on as it turns into Louisiana Ave, and getting off on Surrey, then to 9th.
:blushing:

Do you recall hearing about a bike being found leaning up at a Walgreen's store that may have been the one MS was riding?
There's a 24 hour Walgreens on Johnston.

If Mickey had stopped in there, well . . . (was there a bike? where did I hear that?)

 

[bekind]

I think carnies are sort of getting a bad rap here (though I understand completely why we can't avoid the possibility of involvement by a transient element). First, if they move around quite a bit, they certainly wouldn't be as familiar with Lafayette as a local perp would be, and that would hamper their options re: having taken Mickey, what to do next. And, second, these are not as a group automatically suspicious people: a couple of my friends and I got mugged after exiting a small carnival in my hometown once, when we were kids - but wait, here comes the cavalry! Carnies appeared and saw off the muggers with a nice show of force, thereby winning my lifelong admiration.

I do agree, I don't like to judge all because of some bad eggs, but I personally have had some experience with the cajun heartland state fair workers a few years back when living off of saint mary (on opposite side of cajun dome) And I dont know if there are any that come each year or not. A few years back me and my mom were walking in the neighborhood through the side streets and everything while there was an odd purple truck with a suspicious man staring at us. He would ride by real slow and try to stay behind us but we kept looking back. We finally went to a neighbors house and asked to use the phone and they said dont worry ive already called, this guy has been prowling the area all week. We did see the same truck the next year. Could be a coincidence, not sure. Also, through another incident another year we called the police and a swat member came out. He was glad he wasnt responding to a disturbance about a carnie from the fair. He said they kept getting all kinds of calls because supposedly they are paid at the beginning of the job and start drinking at night and start fights. They were tired of the calls and said they turned it over to the University Police because it was their jurisdiction. Now I know this may not take place each year, I dont keep up. And they cant all very well be sketchy people, but with my experience, it does worry me and I do feel like they should be thuroughly looked in to, just in case. I would imagine the police have paid this some attention.

 

[LanieCoz]

I think carnies are sort of getting a bad rap here (though I understand completely why we can't avoid the possibility of involvement by a transient element). First, if they move around quite a bit, they certainly wouldn't be as familiar with Lafayette as a local perp would be, and that would hamper their options re: having taken Mickey, what to do next. And, second, these are not as a group automatically suspicious people: a couple of my friends and I got mugged after exiting a small carnival in my hometown once, when we were kids - but wait, here comes the cavalry! Carnies appeared and saw off the muggers with a nice show of force, thereby winning my lifelong admiration.

I can only speak for myself, but it's not that I think all carnies are bad, just as I don't think all people are bad; however, I feel a sense of urgency when it comes to figuring out if any of the employees of the carnival could be involved simply because they will only be in town for another week and a half.

I don't think they are all bad, as I said, in fact none of them may be bad or unlawful, but this isn't a situation where anyone should get the benifit of the doubt. No offense. I hope you understand my point.

 

[Schmidty]

:welcome: To all the newbies and locals

Thank you for the welcome, WideOpen. This is a wonderful site, one I found while digging for info other than mainstream.

I have a son and a daughter in Mickey's age group; my son is active in the cycling group in town. These kids, they grew up with one notion in their head of Lafayette as a safe, small-town, close-knit community. All of that changed after Katrina and the influx of a really bad element from New Orleans but the kids never really adjusted to accommodate that reality. It's never been the same since.

 

[wfgodot]

I can only speak for myself, but it's not that I think all carnies are bad, just as I don't think all people are bad; however, I feel a sense of urgency when it comes to figuring out if any of the employees of the carnival could be involved simply because they will only be in town for another week and a half.

I don't think they are all bad, as I said, in fact none of them may be bad or unlawful, but this isn't a situation where anyone should get the benifit of the doubt. No offense. I hope you understand my point.

I understand (and also with bekind's equally excellent post above yours). I certainly hope that, if any carnival worker has picked up and gone following Mickey's disappearance, that LE will be - has been - informed and will pursue that angle until it either produces a solution or proves to be a red herring. I guess my main point is that carnies wouldn't have as much geographical savvy, as would permanent residents, to keep Mickey captive or - difficult to say - to hide their crime.

 

[OldSteve]

Trying to catch up this am... has LE said anything about seeing her on an cameras? Anyone report seeing her?
I know LE likes to hold back, would help knowing approx location of where she was...
As for carni people... how many nights prior to her going missing have then been there setting up? Odd favor someone how see she rides late at night.. would think she rides fast that if someone saw her first time, she'd be gone by the time they could act. Someone who follows her in a car would give he a bit of time to get to location where others are...

 

[Woe.be.gone]

I think carnies are sort of getting a bad rap here (though I understand completely why we can't avoid the possibility of involvement by a transient element). First, if they move around quite a bit, they certainly wouldn't be as familiar with Lafayette as a local perp would be, and that would hamper their options re: having taken Mickey, what to do next. And, second, these are not as a group automatically suspicious people: a couple of my friends and I got mugged after exiting a small carnival in my hometown once, when we were kids - but wait, here comes the cavalry! Carnies appeared and saw off the muggers with a nice show of force, thereby winning my lifelong admiration.

True but it would only take one deviant with the intent to hunt their prey who hides within the carnival setting thus giving him a reason to be in town.

The number/list of young petite blond victims who look amazingly alike is growing. None of these girls have been found - now here's another one - seemingly plucked out of thin air.

OMG, a terrible thought. Are there animals at a carnival that would eat a person? Sorry.

 

[LanieCoz]

Trying to catch up this am... has LE said anything about seeing her on an cameras? Anyone report seeing her?
I know LE likes to hold back, would help knowing approx location of where she was...
As for carni people... how many nights prior to her going missing have then been there setting up? Odd favor someone how see she rides late at night.. would think she rides fast that if someone saw her first time, she'd be gone by the time they could act. Someone who follows her in a car would give he a bit of time to get to location where others are...

I'm not sure if LE has made an official statement or not, but her sister has made a couple of statements saying they have no leads, no confirmed sightings of her nor have they located anything. No leads per her sister.

 

[wfgodot]

OMG, a terrible thought. Are there animals at a carnival that would eat a person? Sorry.

snip

Thanks, Woe.be.gone! I guess I won't be finishing the sandwich I was having for lunch now!

Carnivals can have animal shows (pig races are fun) but it would take some time for animals to (gack) eat a body.

(And once more a reminder that if something new comes up - names, locations, etc. - to add it to #tags below. I'm all out of tag-adding-capacity.)

 

[CCK]

So, um, I was reading the JVM transcript from last night, and I have to ask...was Chief Craft being...well...less than honest?? I dont want to call it lying or anything, but...well, you can read it.

>>VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. So I understand you`re now checking businesses for video. I have to say, Chief, that Mickey`s father has been somewhat critical, saying that he felt police waited too long to get started. He said, quote, "None of the video cameras got checked over the weekend, because the managers weren`t in and waited two days to check the video cameras. If somebody has abducted her and taken her on the interstate or something, they got a two-day head start."

Chief, I want to give you a chance to -- to respond to that.

CRAFT: Well, the timeline of events is that she was reported missing some 16 hours after she most likely disappeared. When she was reported missing, we followed our standard protocol.

You know, there`s a myth that you have to wait 24 hours. That`s not true. She was immediately entered into the national database as a missing person.

Patrol officers were given her description and a description of her bicycle and began conducting searches on -- that was done throughout Saturday night.

On Sunday morning we called out an investigative team to begin looking for her and checking businesses. And for the businesses that were open we were able to -- to look at video.

So there`s a lot of misinformation with people, you know, having bits and pieces of information being put out there. But, you know, we have a timeline of events. And the department has responded with -- I guess right now, for a city our size, we`re only a department of about 260 officers.


So from what I remembered AND what I could find online- the LPD didnt officially document her as a missing person until Monday.

I'm not saying they didnt enter her name into a database, I'm not saying I know what time she was reported missing (16 hrs after 2 am would be 6 PM...I swear I had started to see info on FB before 6 PM on Saturday...) but it seems that it was reported that the police were officially calling her a missing person on MONDAY. But Craft seems to say that they considered her a missing person on Saturday night.

Anyone else find that strange?