LA - Mickey Shunick, 21, Lafayette, 19 May 2012 - #16

[chicken fried]

If you'ce checked it on StreetView, I trust it. but there were trucks everywhere that day. Maybe those trucks were searching the east end.

From all the reports, can you tell me definitely at which end of the area the bike was found?

Sorry - read you wrong. We just went in a circle. Let's keep it simple - my theory is that those trucks are near the Pilot Channel launch. Is that your opinion?

 

[pjcitizen]

True. I am a local and have been looking at every white Z71 and supprisingly I haven't seen one yet with this detail. Narrows the search.

The truck with the visible chrome gas cover has been ruled out. If the z71 we are looking for has a chrome gas cover, it is not visible in the picture released by LE.

 

[Cazzie]

Her bike, the Schwinn Cutter, has a back wheel that can be used one way as a fixed gear and flipped around if you want to freewheel. Basically that means...if it's in fixed gear mode the pedals always turn when the back wheel does, this is not like a normal bike which can freewheel.

If you don't have a rear brake then you are most likely riding as a fixed gear so you do what is called a skid stop. It involves picking the back wheel up off the ground (just a little bit) so the wheel stops turning then putting it back down, holding the pedals so it doesn't turn and skidding to a stop. It sounds complicated but good fixie riders do it easily.

Here's a better description:

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Stop_a_Fixed_Gear_Bicycle

How does one pick the back wheel up off the ground (while riding)? By leaning forward with all one's weight (just guessing)?

I'm familiar with picking the front wheel up (motorcycle) via the handlebars, and leaning one's weight back, to jump obstacles.

 

[mahmoo]

Here's another view (screen cap). I'm totally disoriented as to the location ... maybe someone is familiar with where LE/search is at. The view above on I-10 appears as though the cars are about to go across the Pilot Channel due to upward incline:waitasec::

Source: http://www.kplctv.com/story/18635312/mickey-shunikcs-bicycle-found-near-whiskey-bay

 

[chicken fried]

OK, I'm going to step back and address the reporter. We've taken the Pilot Channel theory as far as we can w/o a verified bike location. Anyone joining late, if you have questions for now, go back to page 33 and read forward a few to see the theory I've been discussing about how the bike got there. I've posted lots and lots of links to maps. It's all there.

 

[Chili Fries]

Here in Sacramento a lot of guys build fixed gear bikes and use no brakes at all. The rear hubs are called fixed gear because they don't freewheel when you stop pedaling. These guys don't stop for stop signs. They just keep going as much as possible. Sometimes that causes problems.

On the "Find Mickey Now" website, there is a picture of her on the bike and you can see the brake calipers and levers.

http://findmickeynow.com/

Yeah she does have a back brake lever and it looks like she has a caliper on the rear wheel. So she might have not been riding as a fixed gear after all, the Cutter can be ridden as a fixed gear or as a normal freewheel.

 

[HouDat]

If you'ce checked it on StreetView, I trust it. but there were trucks everywhere that day. Maybe those trucks were searching the east end.

From all the reports, can you tell me definitely at which end of the area the bike was found?

I cannot say with certainty. But it would seem to me that if they were searching the area near the Work Canal launch (over 2500' away, by my calculations), they'd have parked in the immediate vicinity of that launch.

But given that numerous vehicles (including the mobile forensics unit) were parked in the closest spot reachable by paved road to the east bank of WBPC, I am left to believe that they found the bike there.

Also - and this is more circumstantial than anything - all the media shots seem to focus on that area, rather than the Work Canal boat launch area.

JMO, YMMV, member FDIC, 1-800-ABC-DEFG, and all that BS.

 

[crzimmer]

Exactly my idea. It would sink more slowly, and cover less horizontal distance, the less the resistance offered by the bike structure. The more resistance - the farther it travels before it sinks - my theory as to how it got near enough the bank to be found......

I think a key factor is how deep was the water where the bike was found at the time that it arrived there. If the current delivered the bike to its resting spot, you would think it would have to be fairly deep. The shallower it gets, the less likely I see river currents moving it there.

How high were the water levels for the weekend after the disappearance?

If levels dropped in the following week, that might make the bike more visible to fishermen in the area.

 

[HouDat]

Sorry - read you wrong. We just went in a circle. Let's keep it simple - my theory is that those trucks are near the Pilot Channel launch. Is that your opinion?

Yes it is.

 

[chicken fried]

Here's another view (screen cap). I'm totally disoriented as to the location ... maybe someone is familiar with where LE/search is at. The view above on I-10 appears as though the cars are about to go across the Pilot Channel due to upward incline:waitasec::

Source: http://www.kplctv.com/story/18635312/mickey-shunikcs-bicycle-found-near-whiskey-bay

You are looking at the east end of the Whiskey Bay bridge as it declines and rejoins the Basin bridge. you are looking south. The Pilot Channel is directly to the right.

The Advertiser IDed the location as under the Basin bridge. I think the reported misIDed it. If found on the bank of the Pilot Channel, it was found under the WB bridge.

This is the location that would support my bike-drift theory.

 

[chicken fried]

Yes it is.

I agree wth you.

 

[Chili Fries]

How does one pick the back wheel up off the ground (while riding)? By leaning forward with all one's weight (just guessing)?

I'm familiar with picking the front wheel up (motorcycle) via the handlebars, and leaning one's weight back, to jump obstacles.

Yes you lean forward and if you have your shoes fastened into the pedals (with clips or cleats) you can pick up the back wheel by pulling up on the pedals. A bike is a lot lighter than a motorcycle. But it may not matter in Mickey's case because she may not have been riding a fixed gear and it looks like she had a back brake.

 

[Amster]

Did not LE instruct people to call the family PI with info on the VOI? Calling LE would be a waste of time, I guess. Seems that part of the investigation has been turned over to family PI......which leads me to believe that the VOI is not that important. Just busy work for the family and sleuthers.....

 

[mamamia54]

I'm really inclined to believe that the perp drove right down there, and dumped the bike. Simple is still best. And had their been friggin cams down there, we would already possibly have this................whatever he is, monster!

 

[Cazzie]

Just an FYI...page# in a thread is not precise...users can configure their "Options" to # of posts per page (or just the default)...

It's more precise to reference a post#.

 

[Amster]

What difference does it make exactly where the bike was found? LE knows where it was found. Family PI probably does, also. Is it to determine if the bike was dropped from the bridge or placed there from the boat ramp?

 

[chicken fried]

I'm really inclined to believe that the perp drove right down there, and dumped the bike. Simple is still best. And had their been friggin cams down there, we would already possibly have this................whatever he is, monster!

Yes, simple is best. He would have had to really heaved it out there. Looking for a strong dude.

My theory is one that incorporates his disposing of ALL the evidence on the same trip......

I hate to put myself in the mind of the perp, but I can't think of a more perfect disposal than to dump everything upstream of the bridge....... and deflate the back tire.

It is much more risky to do it from land. Much higher chance of being seen, and leaving tire tracks. If the perp was smart and careful, he used a boat. As I said, i would have put in at Butte la Rose and no one would have been the wiser.

 

[chicken fried]

Put it this way... if the bike's not found, you've got a perfect crime.

 

[mamamia54]

Let me just say this, locals, look to the skies, if you see flocks of vultures, circling on land, go check the area. Please.

 

[chicken fried]

What difference does it make exactly where the bike was found? LE knows where it was found. Family PI probably does, also. Is it to determine if the bike was dropped from the bridge or placed there from the boat ramp?

If the bike were found washed up from the Pilot Channel, it makes a simultaneous bike/victim dump viable. Then you start checking on boats that went out of Butte la Rose a day or two later

If the bike were off the Work Canal, she would have been found already, or wasnt put there.