I go along with your thought process in most ways- people are concocting all kinds of off the wall theories and conspiracies including pointing the finger at her poor father. Putting myself in her place, I am driving a long and I crash my car pretty badly ( why did she crash the car? was she high, that I don't know)-- anyway, she is in a strange place, freezing, perhaps somewhat disoriented and someone comes along and offers her a lift. she is very very desperate to get out of the cold. Perhaps this person told her he would take her to a gas station and help her out- If I were her, I would probably go with the first person that offered to help me in that situation. Sadly, the person who said he was going to help her
killed her and buried her body where it will never be found. She could also have wandered off and died from hypothermia, but under that circumstance you would think her body would have been found. I tend to go with the simplest explanation. It is interesting how this case has fascinated people for 18 years!!!