GUILTY MT - Sherry Arnold, 43, Sidney, 7 Jan 2012 - #2

[~n/t~]

Town grieves over loss of Sherry Arnold

Officials said the investigation is rapidly moving forward. Police said they received information about the two men in connection with Sherry Arnold's disappearance from an anonymous phone call to the Sidney High School at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Town-Grieves-Over-Loss-of-Sherry-Arnold-137358313.html

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it on Friday morning when the school issued the statement that she was deceased? Now they're saying LE got information from a call made to the school that same morning? :waitasec:

 

[liltexans]

It looks that way, yes. That's the timeline we have so far.

 

[liltexans]

Investigation continues on missing northeast Montana math teacher

FBI spokeswoman Deborah Bertram in an email Saturday to the AP declined comment.

“I will be releasing details when I am authorized to do so,” she said. “I do not have a time frame on when that will happen.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...math-teacher/2012/01/14/gIQAhNbJzP_story.html

 

[liltexans]

From the article I just posted above, I noticed the mayor's description of the truck route where Sherry's shoe was found. It's a helpful description of the route for a non-local like me. I was kind of picturing a larger highway in my head.

Officials say Sherry Arnold, 43, disappeared Jan. 7 while on an early morning run along a truck route on the edge of the oil boom town in northeast Montana that has about 5,500 residents. Smelser described the route as a two-lane, farm-to-market route with mostly local traffic and some tractor-trailers.

 

[liltexans]

Okay, this is getting even more confusing. This article states that LE called Sidney High School at 9:30 am on Friday to tell them Sherry was dead.

Law enforcement saying little in Sherry Arnold case

Law enforcement officials confirmed with the Sidney School District on Friday morning that the missing high school math teacher was dead and that a suspect was in custody.
The notification came to the school at 9:30 a.m., following notification of Arnold's family, said Superintendent Daniel Farr.

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/sta...cle_f2f8f51a-3e10-11e1-9579-001871e3ce6c.html

 

[KellysGal]

I understand the Mayor of a small town reacting against an act of crime like this, but in general I think it is better not to attack a huge group of people most of which are probably decent human beings. The "oil workers" didn't kill Sherry-one or two of them might have.

Yeah and in this day and age you don't want to say anything about a group of people in general... all the oil workers who do business in his town may move their business to another town and I would not blame them

 

[liltexans]

Sidney High takes to the court in wake of teacher's death

The crowd fell silent, many looking down and removing their hats. The moment passed but the crowd stayed quiet. Gary Arnold, Sherry's husband, and the Arnold family were sitting in the stands, all wearing white. The school band played the national anthem and then Mead kicked off the game.

Some in the community are warning people not to be too quick to judge.
Gordon Torgerson, whose son is a senior on Sidney's team, said it's easy to draw conclusions and blame it on the influx of new people to the town.
"I don't think you can point a finger at those folks," he said.

Many of the workers coming in are good people who fell on hard times in other parts of the country, he said. They're here and grateful to have the work, he said.
And while Sidney has many good and upstanding longtime residents, "there are people who are living here who have troubles, too," he said.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...be-a573-8e696c6a6d12.html?oCampaign=hottopics

 

[Indy Anna]

One way LE may believe she is deceased without the body is if one or both men have confessed and there is enough blood or other DNA evidence in their vehicle to substantiate that Sherry Arnold was in the vehicle.

Until they have her remains, I imagine they want to stick to charges that can actually be proven in court. As has often been said, there's no statute of limitations on murder, so they don't need to be in a hurry to charge them with more than can actually be proven right now.

BBM
Another sleuther posted this earlier and it has been my thinking. In the disappearance of CA nursing student Michelle Le, LE declared it a homicide investigation long before Michelle's body was found. LE gave no explanation for several weeks, so Michelle's family refused to believe that she was dead. Weeks later, though, LE explained that there was a lethal amount of blood, matching Michelle's DNA, at the scene where she disappeared.

I'm inclined now to believe that LE in this case has also found lethal amounts of blood matching Sherry's DNA. But, I wonder if one or both suspect(s) is/are claiming that Sherry's death was the result of an accident; yet, investigators have their doubts and are awaiting test results before charging the suspects with murder. As other have said, the kidnapping charge likely stems from Sherry being transported across state lines while still alive. This scenario sounds just horrifying, but is most probable IMO.

 

[Jacie Estes]

Smelser said the community has held three prayer vigils but he's not aware of another being planned.

"There's always church on Sunday," he said.

Despite the unknowns, he said the community is moving forward.

"We'll wait for the final evidence and then as a community we need to have a serious discussion to get us back to where we were and make us whole, to give us peace back in our hearts and a sense of security," he said.

Read more: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/in...f15-11e1-af08-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz1jVDpEd2h


Smelser sounds like the mayor in Jaws

 

[Jacie Estes]

How do you know the town of Sydney is getting significant amounts of tax revenue?

From what I'd read previous to this case, there's been a massive shortage of housing throughout the Bakken oil basin. Oil workers are snapping up housing as far as 100 miles from where they are working.

And other towns throughout Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota are experiencing huge rises in crimes like drugs, DUI, assault and, yeah, even murder. When crime rates have been stable for decades and then suddenly rise after a big influx of oil workers, well, that's really suggestive. And then if oil workers are actually found to be guilty of many of those crimes...

If the town isn't getting oil revenues, they may not be getting enough in increased taxes to meet an increase in demand for services like law enforcement.

BBM

We live in one of those South Dakota towns that is a desirable location. About 3 weeks ago I was in our local Safeway market shopping and saw 2 young [20something] men in National Guard uniforms getting food from the deli on their lunch hour. Within 24 hours one of these young men, who has served in Afghanistan, was airlifted to a hospital in Minnesota because of the massive head injuries he suffered when he and a friend were jumped outside of a local restaurant. They went there for breakfast after being out with other friends. It was NOT oil workers who attacked him; it was 3 local 'boys'. I hope this young man recovers from his injuries and that the locals get full punishment for what they have done.

The housing shortages in MT are the same as what I have seen in Woodward, Oklahoma near the oil fields and I am certain any of the posters from Texas could say the same for their state.

 

[Jacie Estes]

Depending on the exact location where she was found or is believed to be, it may be reservation land which definitely makes it a federal jurisdiction. There may also be BIA/tribal police involved.


<modsnip>

 

[loreet]

Town grieves over loss of Sherry Arnold

Officials said the investigation is rapidly moving forward. Police said they received information about the two men in connection with Sherry Arnold's disappearance from an anonymous phone call to the Sidney High School at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Town-Grieves-Over-Loss-of-Sherry-Arnold-137358313.html

To me, this article is an example of the local media reporting probable inaccuracies. The school announced Sherry's death on their website Friday morning. I think it highly unlikely that, based on an anonymous tip received Friday at 9:30 AM to the school, everyone declared Sherry to be dead before 11. The article is just wrong, at least about the matter of the timing of the anonymous tip.

I still believe it is possible that Sherry has been found, but "they" are not making an announcement yet. I am not surprised we haven't seen additional charges (YET!) - the suspects just need to be held, which they are right now - until the various police entities and FBI can figure out what crimes happened where (if they are extradited to Montana, for example, the definitions of the charges may differ from North Dakota). To me, the kidnapping charges indicate she was alive in Sidney, whatever happened, and may very well have been transported across state lines. That is alot to sort - where did she die? If there was violence, where did that occur? Reading the FBI quote from the spokesperson not being authorized to release certain information, one of my thoughts is that there may be some jurisdictional issues that need to be sorted.

 

[M86]

*Sigh* ...hopefully after the weekend and MLK Jr Day, we can see some closure. I'm still so confused on all of this.

Chicago Tribune - Missing Montana math teacher is dead, school officials
That's the most recent article, according to Google News. Even the news story indicates a correction...

(This story corrects the headline and first paragraph to reflect officials saying the missing woman is dead rather than she has been found dead.)

My opinion: The multitude of agencies (Sidney LE, Williston LE, Rapid City LE, the county LE's, and the ND & SD Departments of Criminal Investigation, and the FBI) had some sort of snafu when it came to releasing information.

And, I can understand that somewhat. LE up there are definitely not used to this type of case. But... the FBI was involved...

And, the comments by the mayor of Sidney were definitely not tactful, and were inappropriate. In that part of the country, they are not experienced with growth. I grew up in very rural SD, and a change like the oil boom they have now will create all sorts of issues. And I remember thinking that when I first heard about the rapid growth in that area. I am in no way saying that some oil worker(s) is responsible for Sherry's death. But, the mayor's comments were definitely not needed.

 

[Elley Mae]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/1...eath-missing-montana-teacher/?test=latestnews

Officials have not reported finding a body, and Smelser says no searches are planned.

 

[Elley Mae]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/15/us-missing-teacher-montana-idUSTRE80E04520120115


This is written at the bottom of the article.

(This story corrects the headline and first paragraph to reflect officials saying the missing woman is dead rather than she has been found dead.)

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/1...eath-missing-montana-teacher/?test=latestnews

Officials have not reported finding a body, and Smelser says no searches are planned.

This is so baffling.....regardless of whether there needs to be a unification of the results of all the agencies involved in this case, I am confused that there would be no searches for the body, if one has not been found.

I would understand if the searches were led only by agency officials, without volunteer help, due to dangerous terrain. Is the body in great depths of water? Has the body been (I hate to write it) dispersed in too many localities? :waitasec:

 

[Zuckerschnecke]

As for the Mayor's comments, while they might have been a little off the cuff, I don't think he meant to generalize that ALL oil workers 'owning the night' or were problematic. I think one could go to many different areas of the country and find that labor workers or other similar occupations 'own the night' because they might stick with each other and socialize etc after work is over. I don't think he was implying that they were all 'dangerous.' And besides, who said it was an oil worker anyway? We're assuming this based on the influx of this group but what if it turns out that it was people from the community that everyone is going to know. I've even thought that it could be a father/son and that one of them spilled the beans. It could even have been someone who was in Sherry's class at one time.

 

[writer7]

Maybe the comment that the names of the arrested men have to come through the court refers to the Freedom of Information Act, or similar?

Maybe they aren't going to release that information without a court challenge.


I forget the name of the case, which is awful, but someone referred to it already in these threads, I think. Where the elderly couple were kidnapped in their car by a murderer who was fleeing his city?

Before they had all the evidence in at all, I believe they told the next of kin that they believed the man was probably dead. There was blood in the car seat, and they'd found the car but not the bodies at that time. That man was in ill health, so that might make a difference.

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if there were evidence that usually means murder in this case. It takes tests and things to prove that it would have to be murder, though, and that takes time. It can also be challenged in court, so they might not want all their cards on the table yet because of that.

 

[~n/t~]

This is so baffling.....regardless of whether there needs to be a unification of the results of all the agencies involved in this case, I am confused that there would be no searches for the body, if one has not been found.

I would understand if the searches were led only by agency officials, without volunteer help, due to dangerous terrain. Is the body in great depths of water? Has the body been (I hate to write it) dispersed in too many localities? :waitasec:

Smelser is the Mayor. Maybe no searches planned in Sidney because they don't believe her body is there but they may be searching across State lines?

I'm just as baffled with this case. Last night I went to bed after reading the report that the anonymous tip was called in at the school on Friday morning and shortly thereafter was when they announced she was deceased.

I tossed and turned wondering how in the world can that be? If the tipster called the school, how can they immediately confirm her death? It made no sense. Did the media get it wrong or what?

 

[Victory]

Is it possible there is no body left to be found? Wood chipper? Animal? Acid?