The conspiracy theories regarding the Franklin scandal and the John Gosch case are ridiculous. The people who first put out the allegations have been proven over and over to be liars, mentally ill and disreputable. Any attention spent toward those allegations is attention taken away from believable theories and an insult to the victims and the victims families.
I have studied this case in detail and it is very obvious that Jacob was taken by what law enforcement authorities call a Grabber. When the victim is a child, the Grabber is usually a lone fixated pedophile. These types of pedophiles target a very specific type of child regarding age, gender and appearance. The Grabber is usually a male between the ages of 25-45, lives alone, has a menial type job and low self esteem. The low self esteem trait is important because it differentiates the perp from pedophiles who have the self esteem and patience to groom their victims over a long period of time and thus know their victims and are known by their victims. Pedophile Grabbers almost always act alone. The incidents in history of Pedophile Grabbers acting with another perp is almost unheard of. Known incidents of Pedophile Grabbers acting with another person almost always involve a person who is under the control of the Grabber and is not themselves a pedophile.
This type of Pedophile Grabber often trolls for victims in his vehicle. The trolling usually takes place within 20 miles of his home and simply involves riding up and down streets looking for his perfect target. He may have previously seen his victim but does not know the victim.
It seems clear to me that the following is what happened that night:
The Perp had been trolling much of the day in Jacobss town. He has a portable police scanner in his vehicle so he knows if anyone has called the police regarding a suspicious vehicle in the area. He may have previously seen Jacob and/or his friends on a previous day or he may not have. He may have noticed during prior trolling in this area that children often walk or ride their bikes to the Tom Thumb store. The perp had probably parked his car near the Tom Thumb store and was about to give up for the evening. From his location he suddenly noticed light from a flash light and reflections coming from down the street. It appeared to him to be someone on bikes. As the boys got nearer the Tom Thumb store the perp could now clearly see the children. Since he was parked with his lights off the children took no notice of him. Once the children entered the store he clearly deduced that they would be returning down the street from which they came. He started up his vehicle and headed down the road. Seeing a dirt road on his left and not realizing it was a private drive way, he turns off his head light and heads down the dirt driveway, does a u-turn and parks behind the trees to his right. He turns off his vehicle, removes a gun and mask from under his seat or the glove box and exits the vehicle. He had long ago removed the doom light bulb from his vehicle so no light can be seen when he opens the door. He now walks to the end of the tree line, gets ready to put on his mask and waits for the boys. If someone does happen to drive by and stops to ask him what he is doing, he will claim he is just stopped to relieve himself. Eventually the boys head back down the street when the perp suddenly appears. Because he does not know the boys and is looking for a very specific type of boy, he looks closely at each boys face and asks them their ages. He chooses Jacob and lets the other two boys run away. The perp takes Jacob down the dark driveway and forces him into his vehicle. When the boys stop to look back, they see nothing because the area and the car are dark. Once the boys turn down another street, the perp starts his vehicle and in less than 5 minutes is on a major highway never to be discovered.
In my opinion, it is highly probable that the perp is the same man who abducted and assaulted a 12 year old boy months earlier a few miles away. The modus operandi is not almost identical, it is identical. The only difference is that in the prior incident there were no witnesses and the perp felt confident he had time to assault the boy and release him before anyone knew the boy was missing and called the police. In the incident with Jacob, there were two witnesses and the perp knew that the police would be notified in a matter of minutes forcing him to flee with Jacob out of the immediate area. He probably had a police scanner and was well aware that a huge search was under way and that many law enforcement agencies were involved.
I know that many people suspect DR. But it is highly unlikely that he was involved. Yes he could have seen the boys on their way to the store and returned to his house to get a mask and gun. But abducting a child at the end of your own driveway in front of two witnesses would not only have been brazen, it would be insane. And then to minutes later call the local police to ask what is going on? He would now have no alibi that he was not at home. What would he have done with Jacob? He would have to assume that the police would come knocking on the door of a house so close to an abduction site. (I know the police did not do this. And that is unexplainable.) DR also passed polygraph tests and had no prior criminal history and no prior sexual abuse allegations against him.
Here are some other observations:
- No one, including the boys themselves, knew that they were going to be leaving the house until after they received permission. A stalker who knew Jacob and was following him would have to have been waiting outside his house with some kind of premonition that the 11 year old boy would be leaving his home without adults at 8:45pm on an October Sunday night. Or he would have to have wire taps on the phones or listening bugs planted in the house. Ridiculous!
- DR says that he saw Kevins vehicle make a u-turn at the end of his drive way. I dont understand this as DRs house is behind a thick setting of trees/woods/forest. From overhead satellite views of the area it does not appear that someone could see the end of the driveway while sitting in the house.
- The sheriff has recently stated that the perp said something to the boys that would indicate a sexual aspect to the crime. Im assuming that the statement he is referring to is the perp asking the boys what their ages were. This is something a fixated pedophile would be interested in.
- Why the police did not immediately knock on the doors of all houses abutting the crime area and ask residents if they saw or heard anything is a complete mystery. You do not need search warrants to knock on doors and question residents.
- The recent statements by police that they dont believe the perp used a car is either intentional disinformation to fool the perp into letting down his guard down or an indication of incompetent investigators.