My thoughts are that Shane was either run over by LE or was beaten up by them for some reason and he died. The young couple know this and have tried to erase all evidence of events to protect themselves because they were witness to nefarious or accidental missteps by LE.
I think the shoe was overlooked in the cleaning up/nervousness of those involved.
No one came out to get the shoe because they knew there was no missing person.
Worst horror of all is that this happened. I wish ANYTHING that we could come up with something that shows this is not the case. But how can the cover-up by all non-related family be explained? If this terrible thing happened, it could explain the woman witness' breakdown.
After the young couple leaves, maybe they were still in the area at a close enough distance to see or hear the following:
I have this image of poor Shane all shaken up, nervous, and he tells LE, "My brothers' coming to get me." And some "Robocop" LE official(s) says/say, you can't stay here, your drunk." (Or making Shane out to be some kind of fugitive criminal or something.) The cop may have demanded that Shane take a breathalyzer, Shane got angrier, the cops got angrier. The couple sees or hears the arguing and see something terrible happen to Shane. They are so traumatized that they are forced to put it out of their minds or remove anything from them as witnesses to the case. That includes not talking.
After the horrible thing happens to Shane, draw your own conclusions what that could be, LE swears each other to secrecy, orders each other not to talk. The Chief of Police agrees to the need to protect those responsible, and the poor family has been suffering for it ever since.
I just think that even if Shane had a buzz on him, I don't think he was breaking the law. If a person gets angry with a cop and lets say users profanity to a cop, is that considered breaking a law? Shane may have used profanity and in the heat of anger, the fight got too out of hand and a tragic situation occurred. If the cops had followed the law, and Shane WAS obviously injured, but was belligerent and profane to them, what should LE have done?
I am just trying to think at what point was LE protocol broken in their conversations with Shane? Note that I am ASSUMING that there was police misconduct because of a fight between Shane and LE, or Shane got run over by LE. We still don't know what really happened. All we know for sure is that Shane is still missing, LE has not helped the family in any way, and the reports show confusing and contradictory information.
I think it's a very strong FACT that LE did NOT follow proper police procedures in this case.
Satch