Ok, Minnesota Street runs West-East, it is the main street through St. Joe. Kevin was at his gf's mother's house and heard the info on the scanner (probably from the info the 911 operator was giving to LE?) and then he saw the cop cars race by. So he and his gf got in his gf's car, and I think it was HIS brother and brother's wife got in their truck, and they all followed the way the cops had gone. Which was east towards 95th Ave. (currently called 16th Ave.). They turned right onto 95th heading south. But the cops were too far ahead of them by then and they couldn't see the cop cars by then. (This was probably when Bechtold and the other LE were already at Wetterling's home.)
But wouldn't police already have been arriving at the crime scene after the police got to the Wetterling home? I can see a narrow window, maybe, where no one was there after the 911 call. He could have turned around in a brief lull of silence I suppose.
So Kevin started up 95th Ave., but didn't see anything, so when he got to DR's driveway, he decided to turn around and go back. Kevin says he thought DR's driveway was a road that went through and didn't know it was a private drive - but I find that hard to believe since he had lived in St. Joe a long time and knew about the party spot in the woods across the road (95th Ave.) from DR's driveway. (JMO)
This part puzzled me also. Like the police, he wouldn't have known right away exactly where the crime scene was. So, being in a car, I would think he would have stayed on pavement and turned around at the dead end, not down some dirt road before he could have really known he had exhausted whatever he was searching for. It was as if he terminated his search before he had searched, because by definition he didn't know exactly where the crime was. Now, his comment about not knowing where that road leads adds to my curiosity about why he chose that road. Not a big deal, but odd. And I guess I should add, it seems conspicuously coincidental that he happened to choose the
crime scene as the place to turn around.
Anyway back in 2004 Kevin said he turned around and told a cop what he had seen and the cop wasn't interested because he already knew about it. He also never mentioned back then having a gf with him or having her car. (Now, on Joy's blog, he says he drove all the way into the driveway and turned around and went to Tom Thumb and saw a guy who said he was a "medical cop" inside the store, and then when he left, he saw a cop car parked across the street at Cotton's dental office and he drove in there and told that cop what he had seen (the bikes) and the cop said he already knew about it. This was probably the cop who was waiting for Wetterlings to come home so he could escort them back to their house. In any case this cop never made any report about having talked to Kevin. He didn't even ask Kevin's name according to Kevin.
Which leaves us only with Kevin's word about talking to anyone, correct?
We don't have Kevin's last name because he does not want to be identified. His gf did not want to be involved in the story at all. So we don't have her mom's address either. (Although there are only about 5 homes on Minnesota Street with their back to the street.)
Okay, I think I know where this is. That means that had they rode by there, yes he could have seen them. But you say not:
.
Jacob and the boys would not have ridden past the gf's mom's house. They went straight down 95th and turned right to go to Tom Thumb. (I'll put a map up at my photobucket site so you can see this all.) They would not have gone past the gf's home.
I'll look for the map, but without knowing where the house is we can't really judge how the route you suggest places them vis-a-vis the house, right? I had assumed they took the straightest route: all the way up to Minnesota and turned right?
I don't recall Kevin saying his gf had an open topped car? I thought it was some sort of hard top? Catalina, maybe? I don't recall.
Right, no, this was from Joy Baker, or at least she implied it. She refers to an open top (T-top) Grand Prix. She might have assumed it was his. If it was hers it makes it more interesting to me. But all that matters for this little part is
what car went up the driveway, not really who owned it, imo. But thanks, it will become important later from my perspective.
I can't pretend to know why so much is being withheld in this case after 25 years. It may be that I conclude that there is still too much being withheld to do anything with the case, but I hope we can learn something. I guess what is leaving me uneasy about this name thing is why hasn't LE given half as much attention to this pair as DR, who is named? In other words, obviously LE is cooperating by keeping the names out of the press. Why?
~ svh