First post.
Im from Australia but, as a fellow runner, have been following this case and the tragic Karina Vetrano case that occurred just days prior.
Like everyone, I am horrified and disgusted that these women had their lives cut short in such a brutal way their last moments on this earth would have been terrifying
My thoughts are that Vanessas killer is a local who may have been inspired by the Vetrano killing and thought: Who canI target at a local level?
Perhaps hes seen Vanessa (or other young females) running down this road before on a Sunday afternoon?
He knows the area and knows that if he can just get her into the bush, nobody will hear or see
and she wont get any help
He figures that as he is a local, he might come under suspicion or get asked for a DNA sample hence the burning of the body and taking her clothes
He was also very organized, and had a bag or (less likely) a car to carry her clothes off with, as well as equipment to start a fire
To get her into the bush without her screaming being heard from nearby houses, says to me he was also strong
He knew the area well, and felt comfortable in the environment he was prepared for this
I also think any suggestion that she was killed somewhere else and dumped where she was found is flawed. That her shoe was recovered close by where she was found makes it highly unlikely she was killed at another location. If she was killed and stripped naked somewhere else, then she would have been taken naked to the location where she was found and her shoe would therefore not have been located there.
Welcome Joshua:
Great post. I agree with just about everything you have posted, with the exception of a few thoughts that I have.
I am not convinced that the perp connected VM with this crime. I think that it was more the law of average, being the middle of summer, thousands of women their ages out jogging etc.If he did get the idea from the VM crime, he only had 5 days to think about it and plan it out. enough time I guess but I think MSM focused too much on that they may be connected. In fact, I think they were wondering of these two murders were also connected with another woman jogger in Mi. that was shot in the back around the same time frame.
I am not sure if the perp took her clothes. Correct me if I am wrong, but I didn't hear MSM /LE say anything about where her clothes were, with the exception of the burnt shoe. He may have burned them, and when the shoe didn't burn all the way, he may have thrown it. LE could also have them.
I agree 100% that the crime happened there. I think there was a scenario where he picked her up, got upset, killed her but didn't mean to, then when he did, he wanted to make the scene look staged, so he risked himself being caught by driving back to the secondary scene, parked where his vehicle could be seen, dragged her into the woods, just happened to have a blow torch with him, tested out the flame from the torch on the logs leaving soot marks 3 or 4 feet long, burned her, all in less than 2 hours? Flawed.
Go back and look at the soot marks on the log. I was caused by soot and not from the log itself burning. That soot was caused by unburned hydrocarbons ... either smoke from wood burning, or from a accelerant like gasoline, or diesel fuel etc. Torches burn clean. I am not convinced any accelerant was used at all. All he needed was a bic lighter, or a match. There was plenty of dry wood around to build a fire.
I have, from the beginning, thought he was on a bicycle, carried it into the woods ahead of VM, not leaving any tracks, knowing the time she went jogging/walking, and waited for her. I agree it was planned. If an liquid accelarant was used, maybe he had it in his water bottle?
This is all a wild guess as to what happened. Due to the lack of clues, anything is possible. At this point in time, I think LE is chasing rainbows. JMO.
