Took me quite a while to read through all of this! I have some thoughts I wanted to post, though they are probably not really part of where the thread is currently just due to how quickly it moves. Everything is moo...
First, about the stepdad, I don't really know. We've seen way too many times where its the stepfather or live in boyfriend (even the stepmother?), so I wouldn't be surprised at all if he did do something. But it seems a little strange that he'd admit to being the last to see her and everything if he were actually guilty. Who knows - TH did, but then, they were surrounded by hundreds of others who potentially could have done something. I just don't want to jump to any conclusions about him yet. The "Get your butt home" comment seems somewhat innocent to me. I didn't see the way he said it (tone of voice) but based on wording alone, it sounds like a typical "tough guy" thing to say, to hide fears and emotions. Not only that, but it could be a teasing/endearing sort of thing that she might understand (based on his relationship with her). My own dad was a great guy (he was a biker) and its the sort of thing he would say to me. Of course, that would be if I were talking to him on the phone, not if I were missing, but who knows how people react. His facebook page bothers me, though. As a married woman, I greatly dislike that... but it doesn't really prove anything to me except that I'm glad he's not my husband.
Same for the mother - I always feel a little uncomfortable when people judge just because the family doesn't speak. We saw with the Anthony's that sometimes speaking just makes it all worse. Sure, they were spewing lies, but all the same. I am a painfully shy person and very self conscious. I avoid cameras like the plague. I would do anything if it were my child that were missing... but at the same time, from where I sit right now - I know being on camera, making statements, would be the last thing on my mind. I'd probably be sitting in a police station waiting for news and vomiting my guts out in between sobs. Not talking to the press.... of course, it is hard to say, having not been in the situation. Maybe I would have the strength to get on camera. But just being who I am, I can say I wouldn't want to, and that I wouldn't understand how it would help. Every family I have seen on camera has been instructed in what they can and can't say by the police - so no additional info is usually given. I have yet to see where parents on camera have actually HELPED FIND the child. Seems like all it really does is sway the public in one direction or another on their feelings for said parent...
I don't think she ran away... When I was 11, I would be terrified at the thought of being alone on the streets with no guaranteed access to getting food or a place to bathe and sleep. Heck, I still am. But then again, I've seen hundreds of stories of runaways. I wonder if they are just fearless, or if they just don't have common sense. Either way, she doesn't really seem like the sort to run away. She looks happy enough in the pictures I have seen... and the fact that she plays a sport sort of implies that her family is somewhat involved. There's always exceptions, but you don't usually see the miserable kids playing sports and things... I know some runaways leave because they feel they have no other options and can't take it anymore, but she certainly doesn't look to be anywhere near that situation.
Lastly, I have lived in 2 different large houses converted to apartments - once when I was a child, and once a few years ago when DH and I were just starting out. Neither of them had finished basements... but both did have access from outside the house. One via cellar... The other just a small flight of stairs going down, as thats where the washers/dryers were. I have to say, though, that if there is a finished basement where somebody actually sleeps, I don't think there would be access from outdoors. If somebody were to go through the trouble to turn the house into several apartments and include the basement, they would probably also go through the trouble to wall off any outdoor access down there. Seems like if anything ever went wrong (things stolen, or the apartment easily broken into, etc) it could be big trouble for the property owner. So I just don't think there would be any way into the basement except for inside the house itself. And any windows would probably be the small sort. If anything, I would hope that IF there were basement access from outdoors, the parents would take that as their bedroom and keep the kids where its less "open". I would...
It does look like there might be basement access from outside in those pictures, and of course I have no way of knowing, but I truly think it is probably blocked off/walled in/drywalled over, etc.
All of the above... JMO