NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - # 1

[webrocket]

Naegle - I know this whole escapade must be frightening for the family and that some of our contributions here might seem harsh, painful or even outlandish. Speaking for myself only, I have not said anything with the intent to offend or to act in any voyeuristic manner.

Having said all that, let's suppose the family pays to have the hard drive on Steven's laptop seached and something on there is enlightening yet potentially embarassing to the family. Would the family be willing to share that information, even in sanitized form? I mean we are all trying to help and I think you are getting much more assistance from here than from LE.

If we don't know where to focus our attention, we are just going to keep spinning our wheels around what happened in Sun City Anthem, which I think is only the tail end of the sequence of events, not the beginning.

 

[paris_paris]

Did I miss an earlier reference to AnneMarie? First I saw her name was Naegle's mention of it today. I'm interested in that angle.

I don't believe Steven was there to gamble. If he had a gambling addiction he would have used the money from his Mom and he would have cashed the cheque from his Grandmother.

Has Steven been submitted to the Astro's? I couldn't find anything, and I'd like to know what they can find in a chart.

 

[motappin]

Would the following be a plausible theory?

While working nights at the SLTrib, presumably with few people around, perhaps Steven falls into an addiction of online gambling. This prompts his move to St. George, either out of shame to try and get away from it (thus eliminating his internet service in an attempt to free himself of the habit) or having been drawn closer to Vegas to try out the casinos in person. Perhaps he thought it a solution to his money problems. Without much cash to play with, could he have unwittingly gotten involved with some shady characters (like loan shark type people), and felt the need to disappear in order to protect himself? People like that must be all over Vegas, waiting to take advantage of people who need cash to keep up their gambling habit.

Just one possible theory. Poor Steven. He has such a nice countenance about him, and his family obviously loves him very much. I hope he is safe.

 

[webrocket]

I do not think Steven had a problem with drugs, alcohol or gambling. He is about as All American as you can get.

 

[ella's mom]

Did I miss an earlier reference to AnneMarie? First I saw her name was Naegle's mention of it today. I'm interested in that angle.

I don't believe Steven was there to gamble. If he had a gambling addiction he would have used the money from his Mom and he would have cashed the cheque from his Grandmother.

Has Steven been submitted to the Astro's? I couldn't find anything, and I'd like to know what they can find in a chart.

Hi Paris. Nice to see you here. On the FB site in the discussion section it was mentioned that Steven stopped at AM's house in Nevada to see her (on Dec. 8th), but she was not there. I believe she said she was now living somewhere else. He stayed anyway and had lunch with her parents. It was during that visit he mentioned possibly going to Sacremento. Hope that helps.

Not sure about the gambling addiction. I am not really leaning in that direction either. I would be interested in knowing when that money was deposited though.

As far as the Astros, I do not think this case has been submitted at all. I wouldn't even know how to go about it. Can you help?

ETA: Didn't mean for winking guy to be at top of message sorry.

 

[motappin]

Hmmm... The recent posts make me question the gambling addiction. However, perhaps if this was the case, he was hesitant to use the money his family gave him, trusting him in its use, for something like that when he knew they would disapprove of their money being used that way? Or perhaps a pride thing, like someone else already mentioned.

 

[lost at sea]

Naegle,
I know many many ideas have been discussed here. No doubt many are close to the actual events that occured and others are not. Can you give us any insight as to what you as family feel is most probable? What parts of this discussion resonate with you and seem to fit best?

I apologize if you feel put on the spot. I sincerely doubt anyone here has the intention to offend by our suppositions. However, you are for all practical purposes our case file.

__________

Little bit of info on Wendover, NV where AnneMarrie is from and Steven visited on the 8th. Its not a short trip from St. George. Shortest route shows its 6 and a half hours. He drove 6.5 hours even though he didn't know if she was there or not? Am I missing or confused about part of the AnneMarrie timeline?

 

[laytonian]

Would the following be a plausible theory?
While working nights at the SLTrib, presumably with few people around, perhaps Steven falls into an addiction of online gambling.

That would mean credit card debt, and according to Naegle, he was only in debt about $1000 total, which is all accounted for.

 

[laytonian]

Hi Paris. Nice to see you here. On the FB site in the discussion section it was mentioned that Steven stopped at AM's house in Nevada to see her (on Dec. 8th), but she was not there. I believe she said she was now living somewhere else. He stayed anyway and had lunch with her parents. It was during that visit he mentioned possibly going to Sacremento. Hope that helps.

...and Naegle mentioned that Annemarie had lived in Sacramento, so Steve mentioned going there.

I'm starting to wonder if Steve had some mental health issues. Depression, maybe bipolar. Something that would knock him a bit off-kilter occasionally, and cause some decisions that are hard for others to figure out. Nothing that was a character flaw or his fault. Something he had to deal with, though. That could account for LE not treating this as a crime.

Steve, if you're out there: give your mom a call.

 

[renn3434]

Hey everyone. I have been following this story ever since I was invited to on FB. I have read all the posts on here and FB. I think I would consider myself somewhat addicted to this case. I think most of the the thories on here are very plausible. After taking it all in and trying to put myself in Steven's situation there are a few things that either don't sit well or stick out. I think he went to that particular neighborhood to meet someone on Evening Lights Street. I would like to know if each of the owners were in town that day. Many people (especially people with money) go on vacation over the hoilidays for weeks at a time. If any of the owners went on vacation who ddi they leave incharge? i.e.grandkids that were on college break, or any other family member for that reason.

I have read posts on here about checking craigs list under "Jobs". I was thinking that he possibly found something under "Gigs" which is a totally different section. I can see him traveling to Vegas to do a "gig" to earn some quick money especially with Chistmas right around the corner. If you search Gigs in St. George vs. Vegas there are way more postings in Vegas. Unfortunately you can't go back far enough on craigs list to check the day of the 13th or days leading up to it. Gigs or odd jobs are way to earn quick money. Being a 33 year old I can understand not wanting to cash a check or use money from family if you can help it. Maybe this is how he was "helping it." He would have more than likely been paid cash and it wouldn't show up in a bank account. Maybe he did a "gig" on the 8th and it went well so he tried it again on the 13th. I can see skipping church to be there for that, to earn money to be able to afford Christmas presents. I think the reason he may not have had directions to get there on the 13th was because he was there on the 8th. It looks like it wouldn't be too difficult to find a second time based on maps I was looking at. Maybe everything went fine first time but not the second time.
I would also like to know about the relationship between Webb and Steven. Just because they went to church together doesn't mean they knew eachother very well. I have realtionships with people that i don't associate with outside of sundays at church or church related meetings.
I hope I didnt ramble too much. Just trying to throw some other ideas out there.

 

[fabulsgirl]

I am also starting to go the route of gambling. St. George is abt 5-5.5 hrs from Salt Lake and then to Wendover it is another 2 hours. Does anyone know what he was doing the weekend of the 5th? Was he in Wendover that whole weekend or in Salt Lake? Why was he in Wendover? That is the closest place to gamble if you are in the SLC area. Maybe he was going there to not draw attention to himself while gambling? Then to go on to bigger tables/machines in Vegas?

 

[webrocket]

I think the rendezvous point was Evening Lights Street but I don't think the person lived on EL Street otherwise Steven's car being left there would create a problem.

 

[higherpower]

...and Naegle mentioned that Annemarie had lived in Sacramento, so Steve mentioned going there.

I'm starting to wonder if Steve had some mental health issues. Depression, maybe bipolar. Something that would knock him a bit off-kilter occasionally, and cause some decisions that are hard for others to figure out. Nothing that was a character flaw or his fault. Something he had to deal with, though. That could account for LE not treating this as a crime.

Steve, if you're out there: give your mom a call.

I was talking to a friend of mine who is a therapist about steven. She said that there is a very rare condition called dissociative fugue. below is the description of the disorder

A fugue state, formally Dissociative Fugue (previously called Psychogenic Fugue) (DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders 300.13[1]), is a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity, including the memories, personality and other identifying characteristics of individuality. The state is usually short-lived (hours to days), but can last months or longer. Dissociative fugue usually involves unplanned travel or wandering, and is sometimes accompanied by the establishment of a new identity. After recovery from fugue, previous memories usually return intact, however there is complete amnesia for the fugue episode. Additionally, an episode is not characterized as a fugue if it can be related to the ingestion of psychotropic substances, to physical trauma, to a general medical condition, or to psychiatric conditions such as delerium, dementia, bipolar disorder or depression. Fugues are usually precipitated by a stressful episode, and upon recovery there may be amnesia for the original stressor

so the question is was Steve diagnosed with any type of psychiatric condition? If he wasn't then its plausible. Was he on any medication? Obviously these are thing that can't be discussed due to HIPPA but they could be help in shedding light on the whole thing.

 

[renn3434]

I think the rendezvous point was Evening Lights Street but I don't think the person lived on EL Street otherwise Steven's car being left there would create a problem.

Why not just make the rendezvous point the cul de sac? Having him get out of his car and walk doesn't make sense. IMO

 

[fabulsgirl]

I am also starting to go the route of gambling. St. George is abt 5-5.5 hrs from Salt Lake and then to Wendover it is another 2 hours. Does anyone know what he was doing the weekend of the 5th? Was he in Wendover that whole weekend or in Salt Lake? Why was he in Wendover? That is the closest place to gamble if you are in the SLC area. Maybe he was going there to not draw attention to himself while gambling? Then to go on to bigger tables/machines in Vegas?

The other thing is, she is now living in SLC...if he was coming from SLC, he could have met up with her, if he was coming from Sacramento he would have been going through SLC. I know she prob has nothing to do with it, but I think Wendover does! This is pointing toward gambling to me. Maybe call the hotels there to see if he checked in over the weekend? There really aren't that many.

 

[higherpower]

I have some insight about the car being parked in the cul de sac. During college i spend the summer selling door to door. We typically parked in a place where we wouldn't bother anyone so cul de sacs are where we would park. So if Steven was there trying to hustle up some business that's what i would have done. Sundays are good days to do that too because everyone is home.

 

[ella's mom]

Quick note of apology. In my post #254, I wrote that the landlord stated that "you could tell someone smoked pot in Steven's room." I wrote that based on someone else's post and went with it. I just found the actual post from the landlord and see she was actually talking about another tenant's room.

I have edited my post and removed that comment. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[paris_paris]

Can someone clarify the cell phone info for me?

He talked to his friend on the phone that morning. He didn't have a charger for the phone with him, and at some point the battery died. He left the cell phone in the car. The voicemail on the phone was accessed the next day.

Is that all correct?

 

[Fairy1]

It's really awesome to see so many new posters here! Welcome to everyone.

A lot of viable theories have been presented here - many of which would lead to Steven being alive and well somewhere, which is certainly my hope and has me leaning toward the scenarios that support such an outcome. And we're very fortunate to have Naegle posting here with us as it's very rare to have a family member or someone close to the case weighing in and providing additional information.

That being said, I understand why the family would wish to withhold certain details. The majority of what we do here is take the facts we have or find and speculate as to how they fit into the matter at hand. We're at a disadvantage largely because it doesn't appear that Steven had a strong on-line presence, like so many people do these days. Like webrocket, I'm inclined to believe that if the family is able to uncover some clues from Steven's computer, the answers we are all seeking will be found. I hope they're able to make that happen.

Naegle - you have seen over the past several days how we do what we do here. If you feel the details your family is keeping to yourselves will not be beneficial to the task of finding Steven, I understand. We're not here to judge, just to help find your cousin.

Just some thoughts:

• I do think GW should be further questioned
• I do think that SOMEONE would know why Steven was in Vegas if it was something benign like a job search
• I don't think it was something like a job search - on a Sunday in a retirement community
• I do think there is some trail of communication somewhere between Steven and whoever he was meeting in Sun City that day

I should be able to check out the gambling theory tomorrow and will let ya'll know what I find.

 

[laytonian]

I have some insight about the car being parked in the cul de sac. During college i spend the summer selling door to door. We typically parked in a place where we wouldn't bother anyone so cul de sacs are where we would park. So if Steven was there trying to hustle up some business that's what i would have done. Sundays are good days to do that too because everyone is home.

Except it's a 55+ golf/retirement community that prohibits door-to-door sales.
They have a very restrictive HOA and "community standards" enforcement - and lots of rules. You can't even replace a dead planting with another type, unless you have approval. (You can, though, plant an identical one.)