GUILTY NH - AH, 14, North Conway, 9 October 2013 - # 8

[Mom24]

Ok, so back to my question from last week sometime- where are the polygraph tests, and why haven't we heard about anyone taking one, and what the results were? That's one of the first things you hear about in these investigations of missing people, is the polygraph's.

If they think she was abducted, who are their persons of interest? They have to have SOMEBODY they have in mind. If they don't think she was abducted but left on her own, then why not just say so? By staying silent, they are putting clouds of suspicion over people who may not even deserve it.

Where is her father? Other than a couple of facebook posts, one a letter, the other a rant about the lack of an Amber alert, he's not been heard from. No plea in front of the camera- only the mother and sister have done so, and very little, mind you.

Where is the media attention to this case? The media usually is all over cases like this, at times, naming their own POI or they'll post their own opinions/suspicions about the case. I can't believe that all these people have been so quiet, when in past cases, you couldn't pay them enough to shut up, even if it hurt the case. This, to me, just seems so odd.

Polygraphs are like searches, you have to have probable cause to issue it and even if you can issue it, they can easily be refuted in court.
I agree that the lack of chatter is odd, other than JC no one is talking. Quite frankly, we can't even be sure that letter was written by AH's father. We can assume it was, and ZH said it sounded like it was written by him, but she can't confirm it. In all my years I've never seen such a strange reaction to a missing child. Maybe this is the "new" way of handling missing children?

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Ok, so back to my question from last week sometime- where are the polygraph tests, and why haven't we heard about anyone taking one, and what the results were? That's one of the first things you hear about in these investigations of missing people, is the polygraph's.

If they think she was abducted, who are their persons of interest? They have to have SOMEBODY they have in mind. If they don't think she was abducted but left on her own, then why not just say so? By staying silent, they are putting clouds of suspicion over people who may not even deserve it.

Where is her father? Other than a couple of facebook posts, one a letter, the other a rant about the lack of an Amber alert, he's not been heard from. No plea in front of the camera- only the mother and sister have done so, and very little, mind you.

Where is the media attention to this case? The media usually is all over cases like this, at times, naming their own POI or they'll post their own opinions/suspicions about the case. I can't believe that all these people have been so quiet, when in past cases, you couldn't pay them enough to shut up, even if it hurt the case. This, to me, just seems so odd.

The lack of media attention is probably due to the family and LE being very quiet. Also, this is not a confirmed abduction, and a lot of things being said are making it sound like Abby ran away. There are no press conferences, news releases, interviews, searches, etc going on.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Polygraphs are like searches, you have to have probable cause to issue it and even if you can issue it, they can easily be refuted in court.
I agree that the lack of chatter is odd, other than JC no one is talking. Quite frankly, we can't even be sure that letter was written by AH's father. We can assume it was, and ZH said it sounded like it was written by him, but she can't confirm it. In all my years I've never seen such a strange reaction to a missing child. Maybe this is the "new" way of handling missing children?

I hope not, as it doesn't seem to be working. Look at the Jessica Ridgeway case. LE communicated with the public, asked for their help, updated them on the case, etc. And Jessica's killer was arrested 3 weeks after she went missing, and was just sentenced to life in prison. I definitely think the "Urgent" approach works best.

 

[Mom24]

The media in NH did give a lot of attention to this case, but there has been no new information from LE in weeks, so that's why there hasn't been much media coverage lately. The most likely reason people have been quiet (I'm assuming you're referring to people in the North Conway area) is they simply don't know anything and don't want to spread unsubstantiated rumors. Frankly, I don't see any benefit to spreading rumors/suspicions, so it's just as well people aren't doing that in the media.

The media would have no way of knowing who any persons of interest are unless LE names someone. The media cannot "name their own POI" because if they did so, they could be sued for libel.

BBM I don't know if anyone's talking rumors/suspicions. It's strange no one's talking at all. Things like "AH liked purple" or "AH enjoyed knitting" or "AH had a sleepover at my house the week before" or "AH loved to make puns". Heck, for weeks no one even knew her father's name because he hadn't made any public plea for his daughter's safety. No one is even saying "the police questioned us and asked us...." or "I saw a search team on the saco river". It's a town of people and people usually talk among themselves, even aside from finger pointing and rumors, they talk about what's going on town. Not even a "we sure missed AH at sunday school" or "her mother is a rock". Nothing. If a noreaster blew through, there'd be chatter, "wow 3feet of snow" "power was out for days" "lost all my stuff in the freezer" "took in the Bow family during it" "thank goodness for generators, they had a rush at Home Depot", and on and on. If someone left their wife for a younger woman, there'd be chatter. Towns chatter, this town isn't, at least not about this. That's just plain odd. The only one talking is JC. So why aren't they chattering? What would make a whole town keep quiet about a missing child? I don't know, because it's so odd.

 

[LittleRose]

Ok, so back to my question from last week sometime- where are the polygraph tests, and why haven't we heard about anyone taking one, and what the results were? That's one of the first things you hear about in these investigations of missing people, is the polygraph's.

If they think she was abducted, who are their persons of interest? They have to have SOMEBODY they have in mind. If they don't think she was abducted but left on her own, then why not just say so? By staying silent, they are putting clouds of suspicion over people who may not even deserve it.

Where is her father? Other than a couple of facebook posts, one a letter, the other a rant about the lack of an Amber alert, he's not been heard from. No plea in front of the camera- only the mother and sister have done so, and very little, mind you.

Where is the media attention to this case? The media usually is all over cases like this, at times, naming their own POI or they'll post their own opinions/suspicions about the case. I can't believe that all these people have been so quiet, when in past cases, you couldn't pay them enough to shut up, even if it hurt the case. This, to me, just seems so odd.

I agree.

Was there any info about where RH was on October 9th- NH or TX?

Unless LE and the family have decent evidence that she ran away, I can't believe no polys, no POI's, no warning to watch family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors for suspicious activity, missing work, leaving town, etc.

If this turns out to be an abduction and not a runaway, the parents letters to runaway Abby, especially if directed by LE, doused the flames of media attention. Bad move if there's a perp out there responsible for this.


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[Mom24]

I agree.

Was there any info about where RH was on October 9th- NH or TX?

Unless LE and the family have decent evidence that she ran away, I can't believe no polys, no POI's, no warning to watch family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors for suspicious activity, missing work, leaving town, etc.

If this turns out to be an abduction and not a runaway, the parents letters to runaway Abby, especially if directed by LE, doused the flames of media attention. Bad move if there's a perp out there responsible for this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't believe there is any info on RH's whereabouts on October 9th, but there was a statement by LE that RH had been questioned, was cooperative and wasn't a POI. There was a statement by LE to look out for suspicious activity in family, friends, coworkers and neighbors and what to look out for (missing work or school, fixation with the case, not able to talk about the case, sudden change in appearance, increased drug or alcohol use).
Why would letters portraying AH as a runaway and an increase of media attention be a bad move?

 

[Mom24]

The lack of media attention is probably due to the family and LE being very quiet. Also, this is not a confirmed abduction, and a lot of things being said are making it sound like Abby ran away. There are no press conferences, news releases, interviews, searches, etc going on.

have the searches been suspended? Oh that makes me sad.

 

[Cardinal47]

I hope not, as it doesn't seem to be working. Look at the Jessica Ridgeway case. LE communicated with the public, asked for their help, updated them on the case, etc. And Jessica's killer was arrested 3 weeks after she went missing, and was just sentenced to life in prison. I definitely think the "Urgent" approach works best.

Didn't Jessica's family take Polys? I can't remember. I know she has an out of town dad that came to town when she went missing.

Anybody remember if they all took polys?

 

[Cardinal47]

BBM I don't know if anyone's talking rumors/suspicions. It's strange no one's talking at all. Things like "AH liked purple" or "AH enjoyed knitting" or "AH had a sleepover at my house the week before" or "AH loved to make puns". Heck, for weeks no one even knew her father's name because he hadn't made any public plea for his daughter's safety. No one is even saying "the police questioned us and asked us...." or "I saw a search team on the saco river". It's a town of people and people usually talk among themselves, even aside from finger pointing and rumors, they talk about what's going on town. Not even a "we sure missed AH at sunday school" or "her mother is a rock". Nothing. If a noreaster blew through, there'd be chatter, "wow 3feet of snow" "power was out for days" "lost all my stuff in the freezer" "took in the Bow family during it" "thank goodness for generators, they had a rush at Home Depot", and on and on. If someone left their wife for a younger woman, there'd be chatter. Towns chatter, this town isn't, at least not about this. That's just plain odd. The only one talking is JC. So why aren't they chattering? What would make a whole town keep quiet about a missing child? I don't know, because it's so odd.

I kind of wonder if it is because they are not Town Folks? Some small towns don't KNOW you until you have lived there forever, gone to the same church, attended church functions.

They were in the running club and Abby attended middle school and now high school but perhaps due to the families circumstances they just weren't KNOWN to the town community.

We have been 'associated' with them for 8 weeks now and I know hardly anything about any of them..sameo sameo!

 

[cluciano63]

I don't know who would be polygraphed; generally it is just family and if LE has determined where everyone was that day, and that Abigail's stoppage of phone use indicates the time of her disappearance, what would be gained by grilling/polygraphing her family? If none of them could have done anything to her between the relevant hours, and they do not seem to be holding back to LE, I would not expect LD tests to be requested. As far as possible POI's, who would they have? Her BF was apparently alibied on his bus. They probably talked to RSO's and checked alibis. Not sure what else they can do, especially with no signs of abduction, no pieces of evidence and no witnesses to any vehicle or suspect.

 

[Mom24]

I kind of wonder if it is because they are not Town Folks? Some small towns don't KNOW you until you have lived there forever, gone to the same church, attended church functions.

They were in the running club and Abby attended middle school and now high school but perhaps due to the families circumstances they just weren't KNOWN to the town community.

We have been 'associated' with them for 8 weeks now and I know hardly anything about any of them..sameo sameo!

Could be, but you'd still expect something. If a tourist drops dead at least 20 people will say "i saw him just yesterday..." I get the whole unless your gggrandfather was born in the town you're a tourist, but I also know people gossip and chatter, especially about odd events. Even if they said "don't know them, they just moved here" or "heard she's divorced" or "heard the girl was some kind of runner". Well there was that one guy that said she came into his shop a few days before disappearing, but that was that. And there's always that one or two loose tongues in town that the press has a sit down with and gets all the local gossip.

 

[Steelslady]

The media in NH did give a lot of attention to this case, but there has been no new information from LE in weeks (either because no leads have panned out or because they don't have any additional information that they can share with the public), so that's why there hasn't been much media coverage lately. The most likely reason people have been quiet (I'm assuming you're referring to people in the North Conway area) is they simply don't know anything and don't want to spread unsubstantiated rumors. Frankly, I don't see any benefit to spreading rumors/suspicions, so it's just as well people aren't doing that in the media.

The media would have no way of knowing who any persons of interest are unless LE names someone, and LE hasn't named anyone as a POI. The media cannot "name their own POI" because if they did so, they could be sued for libel.

I've seen Nancy Grace do it- remember Scott Pederson, Laci's husband? She was all over him like bees to honey, even before he was named a POI. If that were the case, she wouldn't have a show by now.

 

[Mom24]

I don't know who would be polygraphed; generally it is just family and if LE has determined where everyone was that day, and that Abigail's stoppage of phone use indicates the time of her disappearance, what would be gained by grilling/polygraphing her family? If none of them could have done anything to her between the relevant hours, and they do not seem to be holding back to LE, I would not expect LD tests to be requested. As far as possible POI's, who would they have? Her BF was apparently alibied on his bus. They probably talked to RSO's and checked alibis. Not sure what else they can do, especially with no signs of abduction, no pieces of evidence and no witnesses to any vehicle or suspect.

It sounds so defeatist, but perhaps she really did just vanish into thin air and someone got lucky and no one saw anything and LE is chasing their tails until the case slips into oblivion. It's happened before in NH with TB and MM.

 

[Crickets]

I've seen Nancy Grace do it- remember Scott Pederson, Laci's husband? She was all over him like bees to honey, even before he was named a POI. If that were the case, she wouldn't have a show by now.

NG works for a major network that has a lot of money to pay lawyers if there is a lawsuit Small-town newspapers are shrinking and many of them don't even make a profit, so they are more worried about being sued than CNN or other tv networks are. A newspaper reporter is more likely to lose his/her job over printing something the paper can be sued over than a major network host is.

 

[Eileen730]

Polygraphs are like searches, you have to have probable cause to issue it and even if you can issue it, they can easily be refuted in court.
I agree that the lack of chatter is odd, other than JC no one is talking. Quite frankly, we can't even be sure that letter was written by AH's father. We can assume it was, and ZH said it sounded like it was written by him, but she can't confirm it. In all my years I've never seen such a strange reaction to a missing child. Maybe this is the "new" way of handling missing children?

BBM
Why wouldn't she be able to confirm it? A simple phone call would do the trick.
Are these parents not able to speak to each other?

And if that's true.......WHY?

 

[MamaJoJo]

Meeting a friend, a friend from XC. Again, does the XC team use these trails for training? AH was on the XC team in middle school, chances are she made friends with a few fellow runners. It might follow that that one of those friends or more were on the HS XC team that year. So, if the HS XC team uses the those trails and she knew they would be using those trails and she wanted to catch a friend, might she perhaps meet them behind the walmart on her way home from school? Not saying she wants to run with them, she's looking to connect with them, meet them, meet up to go to DD or chat about boys or talk about an issue or something that happened during the day, etc. Just trying to understand why she might have gone behind Walmart. AH was supposed to be on the bus, why wasn't she? Why go behind Walmart? Why was there a search behind Walmart? What goes on behind Walmart? Do kids typically meet back there? Drugs? Alcohol? Is it a teenage hookup place? Trying to figure out why she would be there, and not on the bus. LE has said she routinely walked home, but Mom says she took the bus. Did she, for some reason that particular day, not take the bus? And if so what was the reason for going behind the Walmart? If she ran the trails behind Walmart often to keep in shape, someone may have been waiting for her, even if on that particular day she wasn't running. Maybe that day she had planned to meet someone she knew back there, someone who did run like a friend on the XC team, someone who she became friends with while she was on the XC team in middle school, and someone she was still friends with. Not saying that person had anything to do with her abduction, but it would explain why she was there at that time that day. If it's also a place she routinely used to keep her training up, then someone may have been watching and stalking and planning an abduction.
I agree with Stele about that 14 minutes between the last text and the time the phone went off the grid. I think she got into trouble immediately after that last text (the heart to JCjr) and in that 14 mins her phone was disabled. Perhaps by someone she met behind the Walmart? Not sure where she would have been at the moment of that last text if you use the route LE said she took home.

I'm curious, too, why WalMart was deemed as an important area to search. Since the beginning, there have been posts here asking what the skinny is on that particular spot. And, I don't believe they've ever been answered. AFAIK, there has been no information released by LE as to a tip coming in or if they just guessed based on some hunch. I'm guessing there was something that led them there so quickly and I wonder what it was. (Same goes for Pudding Pond, for me. Did LE search there because it was the closest body of water or because they had a tip?)

That being said, I can't wrap my head around AH meeting an XC friend, or any school friend, there that day. It's all speculation, of course, but IMO, if she was going to meet someone and didn't show, her friend would have been involved publicly from the beginning. "Yeah, we were supposed to meet up and she never showed. I kept texting her but she never replied. We should have just walked together from school." It would be too convoluted to make any sense, IMO. Now, was she meeting someone else there? Well, again, if she was, and nothing nefarious was going on, that person, too, IMO, would have come forward.

Remember, LE has never said she went behind WalMart. We only know LE searched there.

FWIW, I completely agree that those 14 minutes are critical and that something happened out of her control shortly after she sent the last text, IMHO.

Bring Abby Home!!

ETA: I don't have the link to the post but I believe it was determined that XC ended the weekend before AH disappeared, so she wouldn't have been able to "catch" an XC friend on the trail.

 

[Steelslady]

It sounds so defeatist, but perhaps she really did just vanish into thin air and someone got lucky and no one saw anything and LE is chasing their tails until the case slips into oblivion. It's happened before in NH with TB and MM.

Oh, man, I hope and pray that what happened to Tammy does not happen to Abby. My heart just aches for the Belanger family. To this day, it still haunts me, along with a few other cases. The ache of not knowing what happened to Tammy is just heart breaking. We also had the disappearance/murder of Sarah Pryor shortly after Tammy disappeared. How sad for both of these girls families to go through such a horror, but at least poor Sarah's family knew eventually what happened, Tammy's is still waiting for answers.

 

[Eileen730]

Didn't Jessica's family take Polys? I can't remember. I know she has an out of town dad that came to town when she went missing.

Anybody remember if they all took polys?

Yes they did!
And Jessicas father was there with her Mother thru it all even tho they were not together!

 

[Mom24]

NG works for a major network that has a lot of money to pay lawyers. Small-town newspapers are shrinking and many of them don't even make a profit, so they are more worried about being sued than CNN or other tv networks are. A newspaper reporter is more likely to lose his/her job over printing something the paper can be sued over than a major network host is.

I think it's about opinion too. NG isn't a news agency, she's just a person with a show who voices her opinion and people are allowed to do that. A newspaper isn't, unless it's an editorial.

 

[Mom24]

BBM
Why wouldn't she be able to confirm it? A simple phone call would do the trick.
Are these parents not able to speak to each other?

And if that's true.......WHY?

Good question.