I've been lurking for the past few weeks, catching up on all of the previous threads. One thing that I wonder about is the possibility of marathon training having
some kind of connection, however loose. My mind automatically goes here, since I am a devoted distance runner myself. It's probably just another coincidence, but here goes:
The Twin Cities Marathon that year was on October 7, 1989 - about two weeks prior to the abduction. DR ran in that marathon, as did several others from the area - some seem to have lived very close by, according to property records. None of this is odd, but it does mean that for the previous 4-6 months (give or take), there were a number of people logging a lot of hours training that likely took them all over the countryside and town(s) around those parts.
https://www.tcmevents.org/_asset/hyndkc/1989.pdf
The TC Marathon actually has the 1989 results available at the link above, which is pretty amazing. DR appears on page 26, number 266.
It wouldn't be unusual to grind out the miles in an 18 or 20 mile training run by including dead end roads. It's also very likely that any aspiring marathoners from the immediate area would have encountered one another on training runs, since there are only so many roads in the area, and that some would have done runs together (3-4 hours alone can get boring). It's also not uncommon for those in training to have their significant others, kids, etc. meet up with them for part of a long run to offer encouragement and/or water and carbs.
Page 42, number 602 is interesting - I had never seen any reference to him participating in the event. I wonder if JEW was ever out to meet up with JW and caught the attention of the wrong person/people?
I'd be curious as to whether DR ever ran with a partner or small group. I remember seeing a reference to him having seen "things" while out running that day. Was he the only one who used his running path?