LA - Mickey Shunick, 21, Lafayette, 19 May 2012 - #17

[fleurdenola]

And do we know whether or not Shunick had access to a vehicle other than her bike? I don't recall having read any stories that reference that.

Yes, I read an article where they were talking to her mother and she said something to the effect of Mickey has a car but just loved cycling so much she often opted for that instead. I will try to locate the article and will post the link here.

 

[justwannahelp]

I don't know. Experienced runners do it all the time. It may have been a factor in Sherry Arnold's abduction and she was running right on a road.

I could see that if it were a daytime ride on campus, but not a 5 mile ride in the wee hours of the morning. For a pretty 21 year old girl, that would be really stupid. You need to have your wits about you for such a bike ride. All 5 senses working, ya know. Her decision to bike this ride was a brave sort of crazy one in my opinion, but to ride it with earphones in would just be stupid. She wasn't just going for an afternoon stroll in the park!

 

[Schmidty]

Assume this, for speculation purposes:

1. That is a vehicle coming up in the far distance behind Mickey in the Versailles shot.

2. Mickey is stopped, right foot down, in the Versailles shot.

3. The photoshopped part of the surveillance photo on Versailles has cropped out a vehicle

4. Mickey was stopped to speak to the occupant(s) of the car.

5. After stopping, Mickey continued to the intersection with St John and turned right.

6. The far-off shadowy vehicle behind her came along and saw the car parked there.

7. The far off shadowy figure behind Mickey is the white truck captured on cam heading in the direction of Mickey

8. Assume the vehicle that was parked on the side of Cathedral Carmel is the perp.

9. The reason LE may want the driver of that truck is so they may question him about the vehicle parked on the side of Cathedral Carmel that he passed right next to.

 

[wfgodot]

I'm feeling it, too. Not a drop in urgency, but I sense the community is growing weary of the rollercoaster, lack of developments, the heat.... Big hits to morale. I know I'm frustrated.

I'm concerned about Lafayette, too. No doubt this is changing us all, thus the city. What a tremendous loss this has been!

Yes, this is, in a sense, the Holly Bobo case writ large. She disappeared from a very small town and at first there was much action and involvement. But it can't be sustained, no matter how many good people there are or in what size of town it takes place.

Once the tip line slows and the initial volunteer searches are done, as you say, frustration and weariness set in. It's a natural consequence. But, as I've said before, the people of Lafayette and the area have been magnificent. No need to hang your heads. Celebrate that you came together. That will last.

National-news-wise, the last real action centered around the Lauren Spierer case and the likelihood the two share a common abductor. When that fizzled out (quickly) there's been a drop-off, at least in what I see whilst googling about.

 

[liltexans]

I could see that if it were a daytime ride on campus, but not a 5 mile ride in the wee hours of the morning. For a pretty 21 year old girl, that would be really stupid. You need to have your wits about you for such a bike ride. All 5 senses working, ya know. Her decision to bike this ride was a brave sort of crazy one in my opinion, but to ride it with earphones in would just be stupid. She wasn't just going for an afternoon stroll in the park!

Stupid only for a pretty 21 year old girl?

 

[Woe.be.gone]

But this is so contrary to what we have been told by natives. We have been told that there is a huge cycling community and they are very close. Bikers are seen regularly traveling to and from school, work, clubs and home.

Yes I noticed there seems to be a big interest in promoting biking and helping to improve paths for doing so within Lafayette. Not much has been discussed as to what MS had been up to on May 18, what time she came into town, etc.

There is bicycle club in Lafayette, they have a webside 'bicyclelafayette.org' and from there I found out that May 18 was Bike to Work Day as well as the 14th-18th of May being bike to work week. On Friday the 18th they held an event called 'Bike Corral at Downtown Alive' between the hours of 5:30 to 8:30PM. Along with these events they offered 'free valet parking' for bikes and offered that on May 4, 11, 18 and 25 as well.

Did MS spend the afternoon downtown prior to attending the show at Artmosphere? The performance the night of the 18th featured the bands, Imagine I AM and Christine Pierce and the Pits. It was FREE to get in that night (as a poster previously pointed out).

I looked up the info about the band (not easy to find btw) because I want to clear up a statement I posted earlier. I thought I had read that it was a charity event so I assumed one would have to pay so the money would be given to a charity. That discussion took place because somebody had asked if wristbands were used at Artmosphere.

If MS had gone downtown on her bike earlier in the day, many people would have known about her plans to be in town on her bike and they would also know that she would eventually have to bike the four plus miles home.

 

[JoCoKSEyes]

A morbid thought, but are alligators known to consume human flesh if it is placed in a certain way? Might explain the bike and no body.

 

[fleurdenola]

Here's the article about Mickey having a car, but preferring her bike as her form of transport: Mickey Shunick Missing As Police, Family Search For Louisiana College Student

It is a Huff Post article, which I think Huff Post is taken with a grain of salt there. But, this was written very early on (May 21) and quotes her mother, and all other references of the quote by other agencies quote it as her mother told the Huffington Post.

"She has a car but she likes to rides her bike," Nancy Shunick said. "She rides her bicycle everywhere, and the route she would have taken Saturday is not a bad area. It is one residential neighborhood after another."

 

[JurysOut]

Assume this, for speculation purposes:

1. That is a vehicle coming up in the far distance behind Mickey in the Versailles shot.

2. Mickey is stopped, right foot down, in the Versailles shot.

3. The photoshopped part of the surveillance photo on Versailles has cropped out a vehicle

4. Mickey was stopped to speak to the occupant(s) of the car.

5. After stopping, Mickey continued to the intersection with St John and turned right.

6. The far-off shadowy vehicle behind her came along and saw the car parked there.

7. The far off shadowy figure behind Mickey is the white truck captured on cam heading in the direction of Mickey

8. Assume the vehicle that was parked on the side of Cathedral Carmel is the perp.

9. The reason LE may want the driver of that truck is so they may question him about the vehicle parked on the side of Cathedral Carmel that he passed right next to.

I really think the vague light at the top of the photo is headlights. It's very low to the ground and looks like two lights, maybe.

I'm mostly convinced that there's a person's head coming out of the parked car.

The angle of the bicyclist hints at a possible leg down, but she could still have been in motion, skimming the blacktop with her left foot.

It shouldn't be difficult for LE to identify the parked car.

The quality of these images is maddening.

I hope someday we get to see everything.

 

[HouDat]

What if the blurred-out vehicle is part of an under-cover operation, un-related to the MS case?

Or, as someone mentioned, what if it's an LPD or LPSO cruiser?

In either case (especially the latter), LE could wind up with egg on their face if this crime took place right under their nose...thus creating a need to conceal such a thing.

 

[KateB]

Just got exact location of bike from someone who saw it:

Hi [chicken fried],

The bike was not found by the boat ramp, it was on the other side of State Route
975. It would be right below where you have Pilot Channel marked on the map.

Basically, when you are on State Route 975, heading toward I-10 from the exit
ramp, you can either turn right or left. If you go right, you end up at the boat
ramp. If you turn left, you are just in a gravel area without any kind of ramp.
It’s on that side where the bike was found and that's the area where all of the
police were working last Sunday.

I was back out there yesterday and got a better look. It's a good 15- to 20-foot
dropoff from the land to where the water is -- very steep and very rocky. It
makes it easier to see why police are not 100 percent sure whether the damage to
the bike came from a hit-and-run or something else. Just my personal opinion,
but it definitely looks possible that a bicycle could get damaged if someone
threw it in that terrain and that distance. But I don't have any other
information or details, that's just a personal observation.
------

Here's the map I sent the source, referenced in the above.

This information has me leaning more away from the bicycle dumped by boat theory.

 

[wfgodot]

A morbid thought, but are alligators known to consume human flesh if it is placed in a certain way? Might explain the bike and no body.

A macabre thought indeed, but a question that should be asked.

I lived in San Antonio for eight years and this area case is probably the most infamous of "alligator crimes." (Actually, it's the only one I can think of.)

(Link is Wiki)

 

[ktgirl]

I'm feeling it, too. Not a drop in urgency, but I sense the community is growing weary of the rollercoaster, lack of developments, the heat.... Big hits to morale. I know I'm frustrated.

I'm concerned about Lafayette, too. No doubt this is changing us all, thus the city. What a tremendous loss this has been!

Yep.
Sad....
I was hoping that if she's passed the rumor of the drunk driving accident thing would pan out just so we could find her and bring justice to the person responsible. Now we may have a Mickey that's passed in an abduction by a sicko who's gotten away with it once and I worry will do it again. Justice for Mickey is justice for all women in Lafayette and the area who'd be potential victims. We have to find her and bring her home (either way) and the perp.

I'm disgusted that the best case scenario is that he's holding her a la Jaycee Duggard, but it seems that's all we can hope for now...

 

[GulfCoastKAT]

Assume this, for speculation purposes:

1. That is a vehicle coming up in the far distance behind Mickey in the Versailles shot.

2. Mickey is stopped, right foot down, in the Versailles shot.

3. The photoshopped part of the surveillance photo on Versailles has cropped out a vehicle

4. Mickey was stopped to speak to the occupant(s) of the car.

5. After stopping, Mickey continued to the intersection with St John and turned right.

6. The far-off shadowy vehicle behind her came along and saw the car parked there.

7. The far off shadowy figure behind Mickey is the white truck captured on cam heading in the direction of Mickey

8. Assume the vehicle that was parked on the side of Cathedral Carmel is the perp.

9. The reason LE may want the driver of that truck is so they may question him about the vehicle parked on the side of Cathedral Carmel that he passed right next to.

This is a good theory. My only issue would be that the perp would park in that area- it seems very well lit by the night photo a sleuther posted. There are other places in the dark the perp could have parked.

 

[mamamia54]

What if the blurred-out vehicle is part of an under-cover operation, un-related to the MS case?

Or, as someone mentioned, what if it's an LPD or LPSO cruiser?

In either case (especially the latter), LE could wind up with egg on their face if this crime took place right under their nose...thus creating a need to conceal such a thing.

I think they would have blurred out the vehicle if it was a LPD or LPSO cruiser, but, they chose instead to blur out what was on the other side of the street, and it really could be people walking, as someone above said.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

Since many posters on these threads know MS or her family, does anybody know the initial, only the initial, of the last name of Mickey's friend, Ashley? Ashley supposedly was the last person to speak with MS via cell phone.

Ashley _?__. only initial. ty

 

[princesspjs]

Here is a negative of that car on the side of the road on Versailles, and hopefully you'll see whatever that is, in the upper right hand corner better, hope this works.

(I'm not directing this comment at you, just jumping off your post since I don't know who started circulating this picture.

The problem is that since this is a NEGATIVE image....the "white truck" would be at least a "dark colored truck" in order to show as white in a negative image.

This image is now being labeled as the "picture of the white truck" - when in fact it is a negative image. VERY misleading if not, rumor provoking.

IMO, JMO, MOO

 

[pjcitizen]

Since many posters on these threads know MS or her family, does anybody know the last initial, only the initial, of Mickey's friend Ashley last name?
Ashley supposedly was the last person to speak with MS via cell phone.

Ashley _?__. only initial. ty

I am not a family friend but it is S.

 

[liltexans]

A macabre thought indeed, but a question that should be asked.

I lived in San Antonio for eight years and this area case is probably the most infamous of "alligator crimes." (Actually, it's the only one I can think of.)

(Link is Wiki)

Thanks. That makes me extra proud to live in San Antonio, lol.

I have been wondering about alligators getting to Mickey if she's in a swamp, but didn't really want to ask.

 

[fleurdenola]

Since many posters on these threads know MS or her family, does anybody know the last initial, only the initial, of Mickey's friend Ashley last name?
Ashley supposedly was the last person to speak with MS via cell phone.

Ashley _?__. only initial. ty

Ashley S.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/21/mickey-shunick-missing_n_1533388.html