Hi all. Loooooong time lurker, first time poster.
...I love this site, usually get some good updates here on cases I'm following...which was definitely true for this case. I see a lot of speculation here so I wanted to throw my .02 into the ring...I've been following this sad case since the beginning. It's tough to read, but this is what I believe as far as how things unfolded:
Motive is unclear. Could be sexual in nature, robbery, or something as simple as a drug induced fight. The best clue I gleaned from the ill-advised Facebook videos was actually the wax and shatter references. Sydney was a young girl who liked to get high, but the right (actually wrong) concentration of dabs (wax & shatter) can put someone in a bad mental state - that delusional paranoia could have escalated tenfold in the company of folks she suddenly felt insecure around.
First date: Just a girl/girl rendezvous with some weed. Nice, innocent and clearly they hit it off.
Second date: Let's go back to my place and get even higher than we did yesterday....but... Where does a 51 year old lowlife dude fit into that? Did he just show up on them or was he there when they arrived? Did Sydney expect him to be there? Was he hiding in another room to pounce when the time was right? Any one of these scenarios could turn one's mind against itself with the wax & shatter.
I don't see a robbery UNLESS she was expected to have money to buy drugs. I know we're not dealing with the sharpest crooks here, but who goes through all this just to rob a 24 year old Menards cashier? UNLESS she brought money to buy some of that high end weed that was mentioned in the video...
Sydney went missing on 11/15. AT and BB weren't publicly named as POI until 11/28. A lot was going on during that time.
In all likelihood, LE's first clue was the Tinder account that she interacted with. Took some time to vet that, and it led them to the POI. They didn't go public with that though. Rather, they went looking for AT and BB on their own. AT corroborates that theory by mentioning in the video how they went to his ex-wife's house. Now you have two people who know that the police want to talk to them. If they had nothing to hide, all they had to do was come forward. When they didn't, LE used anything they could to bring them in. Hence the warrant issued on 11/21 for AT and of course executing an otherwise minor bench warrant on BB. This gives them cause to apprehend the POI, who forced their hand to go that route by not turning themselves in.
As all these factors make them look that much more suspicious, their cell phone records are subpoenaed. They're traced to the casino in Council Bluffs Iowa either by their cell records or a tip. As soon as their names & faces are released, a tip was called in that they were spotted in a hotel in Spencer, Iowa (150 miles north of the casino). They probably make the videos from there, after dying hair/shaving/etc, and head down to Missouri. By now LE has a bead on them, and they're apprehended the next day. They did NOT turn themselves in.
AT and BB phone records led them to Sydney. At this point there is plenty of evidence to tie them to the crime. Expect LE to gather as much as they can to solidify their case. Autopsy results and forensic analysis will undoubtedly lead to homicide as the COD. These two numbskulls are probably already singing like canaries. They've built an ironclad case against themselves already and you can expect that to get worse.
The big question is going to be: why? I'm thinking either things just got out of hand by getting really high with a couple of unsavory strangers and realizing she was in a bad place, or she had a decent amount of money to buy drugs and was robbed, fought back and was killed in the heat of the moment. I don't think it was sexual or trafficking.
The next question is if there is anyone else. I can't think there is - these two clearly don't plan well.
Sad, sad sad state of affairs and a life cut short for nothing.
