Timeline as of Feb 23, 2012
Partly based on docs released:
http://www.sidneyherald.com/file_library/court_documents.pdf
and this timeline published by news station KTVQ:
http://www.ktvq.com/news/sherry-arnold-investigation-timeline/
and this family member's blog:
http://www.shutupandrun.net/2012/02/what-really-happened-to-sherry.html
JANUARY 2012
Wed Jan 4, time unknown - LW and MS leave Parachute CO in a 1993 green Ford Explorer with CO plates, headed to Williston, ND, allegedly to look for work in the booming oilfields there. Per MS, LW is smoking crack during the entire trip, and makes him smoke it as well. Distance: >800 mi; driving time: ~14-15 hrs.
Sat Jan 7, before 6:30a - Per MS, LW states that smoking crack brings out the devil in him and he is capable of doing anything. He tells MS he intends to kidnap and kill a woman.
[Note: It is unknown whether the men reached their original destination of Williston ND at a previous time, and have now backtracked to Sidney MT (about an hour away), or whether they are just now passing through Sidney en route to Williston. KTVQ reports that at this point, LW and MS were "driving around;" elsewhere in the court document MS has said they were "driving through town." Of note, at 7:25a on this morning, less than hour after SA's abduction, LW will pick up $100 which has been wired to him via Western Union to a store in Sidney. ]
~6:30a - In Sidney, SA's husband returns from his morning walk and finds that his wife, a beloved math teacher and avid runner, has apparently left home for a Saturday morning jog which she normally completes in about 30 minutes. When she never returns, he sets out looking for her along her usual routes, including Holly St., and eventually reports her missing to friends, family, and the authorities. Searches begin in earnest.
6:34a - A security camera at the Ranger Lounge, 110 Central Ave. in Sidney, 3 blocks south of Holly St., records the green 1993 Explorer heading north on Central towards Holly.
[Note: Central Ave. passes through Sidney along the most direct traveling route from Colorado to Williston, ND.]
~6:34-6:36a - Witness LL, driving south on Central Ave, sees a jogger crossing Central at the intersection of Holly St., also known as the Truck Route. The jogger is traveling east on Holly across Central (presumably running along the north edge of the westbound lane of Holly, against the traffic). The jogger is headed toward the area where SA's running shoe will later be found. The men in the Explorer traveling north on Central at about the same time would likely be able to observe the jogger as well. Witness LL's vehicle is then recorded 3 blocks south by the Ranger Lounge camera at 6:36a as he continues down Central.
Shortly after 6:30a - Per MS, LW targets SA, who is jogging along Holly St. east of Central Ave. She is traveling eastbound on the dirt trail atop an embankment dividing a shallow ditch and a deeper ditch, which are parallel to the north edge of the westbound lane of Holly. The Explorer, having apparently turned east on Holly from Central, overtakes and passes SA, then makes a U-turn, heading west back toward her. Per MS, LW turns the vehicle around and brings it to a stop somewhere ahead of SA, instructing MS to grab her as she reaches the location of the stopped Explorer. MS does so, and SA loses her shoe in the ditch as he wrestles her into the vehicle.
[Note: Per MS, LW is angry at his carelessness in allowing SA's shoe to be left in the ditch. As punishment, LW throws MS's knit tasseled cap in the same ditch. Both the shoe and the cap are later found. However, it is unclear whether the cap is planted there at the time of the abduction or at some later time. It does not make sense for LW to leave a second item of evidence at the scene when he could have simply retrieved the shoe instead, if in fact he was aware of its loss at the time of the abduction.]
6:40a - This is the time cited in the charging document as the approximate time when SA was abducted by LW and MS, with the location being given as the 900 block of Holly St.
Time/Location unknown - Per MS, LW subsequently gets into the rear of the vehicle with SA and "chokes her out." It is not stated whether this occurs at the scene of the abduction, while driving away from the scene, or after having left the scene and stopped at another location. It is also not clear nor indicated by MS whether "choked her out" refers to choking SA to the point of death or to the point of unconsciousness.
[Note: MS does not mention what happened between the time SA was abducted and the time he was instructed to drive LW to the grocery store.]
7:25a - Per MS, LW tells him to drive to a grocery store so LW can pick up some money from Western Union. MS says he stays in the vehicle with the victim while LW goes inside to get the money. Records at the Valley View IGA store, located at 203 2nd Street NW in Sidney, indicate that LW indeed picks up $100 from Western Union at at 7:25a.
[Note: There is a large gap in the timeline based on details from MS's confession and known times recorded by video surveillance cameras at WalMart and Lonnie's Truck Stop in Williston ND. The money is picked up in Sidney at 7:25a. It is only a one-hour drive to Williston ND, yet the men are not placed in Williston via MS's story and surveillance cameras until after 9:30p, when a shovel is purchased at WalMart. At least 12 hours are missing from the timeline.]
Several hours later - Searchers discover SA's running shoe in a field north of the larger ditch that runs alongside the 900 block of Holly St.
Time unknown - Per MS, LW forces him to drive to Williston ND with SA's dead body in the back of the vehicle, covered by a blanket. MS says LW threatened to kill him and his family if he refused or told anyone what happened. Williston is located 46 mi NE of Sidney, just over the MT/ND state line; driving time is 55-60 min. The men dispose of SA's clothing in a dumpster located on the property of a truck stop in Williston ND across the street from the WalMart located at 4001 2nd Ave. West, Williston ND.
[Note: MS does not explain why SA's clothing is disposed of separately from her body. The clothing he describes to investigators matches the description of the jogging outfit SA's husband said she wore.]
Time unknown - Per MS, after getting rid of the clothing, the men drive to an unspecified rural area outside Williston to leave SA's body there, then return to Williston to purchase a shovel at WalMart for the purpose of burying the victim.
9:36p - Both men are seen on video purchasing a shovel at WalMart in Williston ND. They also purchase bread and bologna at this time.
9:41-9:54p - Surveillance video at WalMart shows both men leaving the store after the shovel purchase and remaining in the Explorer in the parking lot for 13 minutes. The vehicle leaves the WalMart parking lot at 9:54p.
9:58p - Four minutes later, the surveillance camera at Lonnie's truck stop across the street records the passenger side of the Explorer as it pulls up to a fuel pump. MS is seen getting paper towels and wiping the vehicle's windows.
Time/location unknown - Per MS, after buying the shovel, they drive to where the body was previously left. LW makes him use the shovel to dig a grave, approximately 2-3 feet deep, and bury SA's body in it. MS describes the site as the end of a 'shelter belt' -- a line of trees used as a windbreak -- on an old abandoned farmstead in a rural, isolated area outside of Williston. LW tells MS to be careful not to leave any evidence there, such as cigarette butts.
Time unknown - After burying SA's body, the men apparently return to Williston, where they apparently live in the Explorer for several days.
[Note: On the surface, MS's story does not appear to line up with the video evidence. He states that the men:
(1) Drove to Williston with the body in the vehicle and disposed of SA's clothes in the truck stop dumpster,
(2) Left Williston after disposing of the clothes, to deposit the body in a rural area,
(3) Returned to Williston to purchase a shovel at WalMart, then
(4) Went back to bury the body in a rural location outside of Williston.
The timeline established by the video sightings seems to indicate otherwise: the shovel was purchased before the Explorer showed up on camera at the truck stop.
However, it is possible that the men could have disposed of the clothing earlier in the truck stop dumpster with the body still in the car, but were not captured on video at that time. Then, returning to Williston after leaving the body outside of town, they could have swung back by the truck stop after buying the shovel at WalMart, this time to fuel up the vehicle before leaving again to go bury the victim in the remote area outside of town where they had left her body.]
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Sun Jan 8 - SA's disappearance is widely reported in the media, and Missing posters begin to appear. There are searches involving local citizens, the National Guard, and local law enforcement.
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Mon Jan 9 - The FBI joins the investigation, led by Craig Overby of the Salt Lake City Utah Office. A command post and a tip line are established. MS says he feels remorse when he observes Missing posters of Sherry Arnold appearing in Williston, and that he wants to go home but is afraid of LW.
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Tue Jan 10, time unknown - LW and MS are both seen on surveillance video at WalMart where LW returns the shovel used to bury SA, while MS can be seen walking around in the store.
Time unknown - Also on this date the Explorer is detained briefly by police in a traffic stop following a bar fight at a strip club in Williston. The officer believes that the two men have been living in the vehicle, possibly at the WalMart parking lot where such squatting is common due to the oil boom and housing shortage.
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Wed Jan 11 - The FBI investigates a tip: That AC, MS's girlfriend who lives with his parents in Parachute CO, has heard from MS, who has been involved in the disappearance and death of a woman and is stranded in ND. MS's father HS is aware of his son's involvement, as is his mother, who has advised him to go into the WalMart to be safe from LW. A "BOLO" alert is issued for LW, MS, and the Explorer.
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Thu Jan 12, time unknown - Williston police locate the 1993 Explorer, now suspected as the vehicle involved in SA's abduction. They, along with FBI and NDBCI, begin conducting surveillance of the vehicle.
Time unknown - Denver FBI make contact with AC, who confirms that he has admitted his involvement in SA's abduction and murder and has implicated LW, saying that they were both high on drugs. FBI learns that MS has contacted his family again, letting them know he has now stolen LW's cell phone, hitchhiked to Rapid City SD, and is trying to get a bus ticket to come home.
2:21p - LW purchases a new cell phone at the Williston WalMart.
10:45p - LW is taken into custody in the parking lot of Lonnie's Truck Stop, across the street from the Williston WalMart. LE impounds his vehicle and obtains a state search warrant for the vehicle. LW is advised he is being detained for questioning regarding a homicide investigation, and declines to talk to investigators without legal representation.
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Fri Jan 13, early morning hours - FBI locates and detains MS in Rapid City SD. He confesses and gives details, saying he feels remorse and has escaped from LW because he is afraid of him. He says he wishes to cooperate and help investigators locate SA's body.
Morning, time unknown - LW is booked into Williams County Detention Facility. His personal belongings are collected, and include a receipt from WalMart, dated Jan 7, for the purchase of the shovel.
Later -
Investigators are able to obtain the returned shovel from WalMart, matching it to the receipt by its pricing code. They photograph it, have MS identify it, and submit it to the FBI crime lab for evidence processing. They also begin to obtain video camera recordings and other evidence from various locations in Williston and Sidney.
The Sidney School District, informed of Sherry's death by her family, notifies its staff and students that she is deceased.
A press conference is held by the Sidney Police and the FBI. Police chief Frank DiFonzo says a 47-year-old man is in custody in Williston, North Dakota and a 22-year-old man has been detained for questioning in Rapid City, South Dakota-- both in connection to Sherry Arnold's disappearance.
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Sat Jan 14 - Chief DiFonzo confirms that the two men in custody were arraigned on charges of aggravated kidnapping and are being held at the Williams County Jail in Williston.
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Mon Jan 16 - ABC reports that police believe Sherry Arnold was murdered and ask rural landowners across a wide area to check their property for any signs of a grave or disturbed dirt.
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Mon Jan 23 - An extradition hearing is set for both men for Feb 14. They are both fighting extradition to Montana.
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Sun Jan 29 - A "Virtual Run," is scheduled to take place Feb 11 in honor of Sherry. People anywhere can run any distance in any manner, alone, as a group, in competition, organized or otherwise, wearing a runner's flag with Sherry's picture on it.
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FEBRUARY 2012
Tue Feb 7 - Cars and trucks owned by 'squatters' are towed from the WalMart parking lot and a clean-up of the area begins.
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Sat Feb 11 - Tens of thousands of people all around the world take part in the Virtual Run for Sherry, and over $9000 in donations is raised for her children.
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Tue Feb 14 - Both LW and MS are ordered to be extradited from North Dakota to Montana.
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Wed Feb 15 - Both men make initial court appearances in Sidney.
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Fri Feb 17 - Court documents are released, revealing details about the investigation and details provided by MS to authorities about SA's abduction and death, and the related activities of LW and MS.
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Tue Feb 21 - $2.5 million bail is set for LW and MS. They are facing the death penalty if the victim is not found alive.
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Thu Feb 23 - As of this date, Sherry's body has not been located.
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Tue Feb 28 - LW and MS, charged with aggravated kidnapping, are scheduled to appear in district court for to be formally arraigned and to enter their pleas.
