I just had a thought. Instead of a RED van, could it have been a BREAD van? i.e. a delivery vehicle to a nearby store? I'm not familiar with the park or local, but she was in a convenience store selecting or looking at ice cream, right? Has that been clarified her vs the reports of the ice cream stand?
I'm wondering if a delivery person spotted her. Any uniforms with red pants? It could explain the focus on off bright colors too.
maybe way out of the box, but it occurred to me if many people are not native speakers, are stressed out, upsst, details could be confused.