Thank you Singularity, that is a very intriguing and honestly possible theory. My only issue is I don't know if teenage kids would be able to pull this off. Maybe if they had some help from persons more sophisticated then they were.
It doesn't require sophistication.
I agree that multiple people likely involved but we don't need expert criminals pulling off a perfect crime. All we need are people capable of getting them out of the house....and this also leans towards people they knew. Its also not a Jimmy Hoffa type case. There are countless areas in MO, especially in this region of the state, to dump bodies and by blind luck they simply are never found....or 50 years from now some hunter or farmer discovers bones.
Its also possible that their bodies were simply dumped in the water and were never found.
I lived in Southern Missouri growing up, hell, we couldn't even pull off throwing a keg party in a field without getting caught LOL.
I was 17 at the time and lived in Anderson, MO(small town near Joplin). I could easily imagine someone taking them out in the middle of nowhere and dumping them....and that's exactly what I think happened.
By the time all the 'friends' came over and did spring cleaning and finally Stacy's mom and LE got involved, it was already over. *advertiser censored* covering became the name of the game at that point.
The moment they started pushing the serial killer/stalker angle, it basically ruined the case and the killer(s) could breathe a hugh sigh of relief.
Teenagers would talk, I believe. Word would get around.
Yeah...maybe. In some cases that does happen. Its human nature to talk. In other cases, they're smart and keep their mouths shut. All parties involved might have had equal culpability(at least from their perspective) and they decided on "friends til the end", a 'blood pact', or whatever you'd call such a thing nowadays.
Something else that shouldn't be overlooked concerning 'gossip' is how this case exploded. It went national(global) and was a top story the summer of 92. In Missouri the case discussion was incessant...temporarily anyways. It made it appear even bigger than it was and everyone involved would've wanted to double down on their silence...especially with the feds sniffing around a bit and its unfortunate they were not handed the case.
I believe there was some level of sophistication involved here.
I disagree. This case was completely botched day one and never recovered. I see a hell of a lot more police incompetence, psychic malarkey, and red herrings(the mythical van, restaurant) than I do sophistication.
If you mean that there was 1 or 2 people in their early/mid 20s involved, I'd agree that its likely.
Having said that, maybe the teens involved had family members or associates who were more mature and evil than them.
IMO it was a group thing. I think something dramatic happened at one of these parties, examples would be a sexual assault, a minor drug deal gone wrong, walking in on a crime in progress, drama over guys, etc. and the girls drove back to Suzie's house.... likely intoxicated. In the interim time between the girls' arrival home and the disappearance, emotions on high and they're overreacting and this leads to quickly hatched plans.
I'd also wager that family members would 'vouch' for these friends and give them an alibi. Happens all the time.
Have you ever been involved in drama that involves a bunch of young people? Everyone acts like the world is ending, a minor incident an act of betrayal, lines in the sand are drawn, you're either with us or against us, and usually the worst thing that happens is heated arguments or a fist fight, usually with a few egging it on?
IMO that's what happened here...only difference being its one of those times it went beyond arguing/fighting and instead led to murder.
The plans kept evolving. Am I wrong, but weren't they originally supposed to get a hotel room?
This point has always been overlooked. You can count on the fingers of one hand how many people would've known they were going home that night. Every movement the girls made that night went against their initial plans and they were making it up as they went along. Not uncommon of course but when murder happens, you've got an extremely small list of suspects, at least until LE start talking to every psychic between here and Timbuktu and cant imagine friends doing it so start listing serial killers.
That fact alone rules out random serial killers IMO. Dont even need to take into consideration the spring cleaning, deleted phone calls, general indifference from friends, going out for a swim when three people have vanished, etc.
LIke I said, the case was botched.
I think the McCall's disapproved.
Absolutely and I don't think its a coincidence that they were kept out of the loop for as long as possible.