NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - #14

[sbakker]

I do not think sk wanted to get away from his family. I think he wanted to start on a new beginning. He was not happy with his work, a break-up from his girlfriend, and his friends were getting married, etc. I think he was ready for a fresh new beginning. I think sk had many friends, but not the type he hung around and socialized with. Talking to a few friends, saying he was liked, but was not in a social scene.

I do think he had a difficult time with finding a job. Not confident about him self. He maybe made up reasons why he did not like his jobs. Because he did not fit in, or the work was to much for him, for one reason or another.

I believe sk was naieve, and I still feel someone took advantage of him. And he met his fate.

Even though I feel strongly about someone taking advantage of him, I feel maybe he did leave. Feeling like a failure, no job, no wife, no social life,(social life, but he was involved in activities involving church).

He may have left, seeking a new life, looking for love,starting over, etc.

My sister with bi-polar, lived my family. After just a week,she got very upset, and for one and 1/2 years, we found out she was living in a homeless shelter. I asked Valley mental Health if they knew where she was, and they assured me she was fine, but could not tell us where she was.

When she hit rock bottom-no more help, living like she did, with scary people around her, no work,nothing, she finally contacted us. She was not far from our home(less than 30 miles) but we could NOT find her.

Alot of possibilities with sk.

 

[laytonian]

I do not think sk wanted to get away from his family. I think he wanted to start on a new beginning. He was not happy with his work, a break-up from his girlfriend, and his friends were getting married, etc. I think he was ready for a fresh new beginning. I think sk had many friends, but not the type he hung around and socialized with. Talking to a few friends, saying he was liked, but was not in a social scene.

I do think he had a difficult time with finding a job. Not confident about him self. He maybe made up reasons why he did not like his jobs. Because he did not fit in, or the work was to much for him, for one reason or another.

I believe sk was naieve, and I still feel someone took advantage of him. And he met his fate.

Even though I feel strongly about someone taking advantage of him, I feel maybe he did leave. Feeling like a failure, no job, no wife, no social life,(social life, but he was involved in activities involving church).

He may have left, seeking a new life, looking for love,starting over, etc.

Did he have a recent girlfriend? Based on what AN said, they'd "dated a few times" - but that was spring of 2008 .... also around the time he quit the Tribune. If the Trib workers were "too worldly", maybe AN was the woman that God said "wasn't right"?

I wonder if he (or others) believed that his own life was becoming "too worldly" and that he needed to get back on the straight and narrow in the spring of 2008? Things seemed to go downhill rapidly after that, resulting in the move to St George a year later.

But if he left for a different life, it did mean he left his family behind. It's sad, no matter what happened.

My sister with bi-polar, lived my family. After just a week,she got very upset, and for one and 1/2 years, we found out she was living in a homeless shelter. I asked Valley mental Health if they knew where she was, and they assured me she was fine, but could not tell us where she was.

When she hit rock bottom-no more help, living like she did, with scary people around her, no work,nothing, she finally contacted us. She was not far from our home(less than 30 miles) but we could NOT find her.

Alot of possibilities with sk.

I can't imagine how difficult that would be; not only is there the pain of separation, but the need to "do something". I know it's not illegal for an adult to willingly disappear, but I think homeless advocates are basically **hiding the homess** when they won't tell the family where their missing loved one is.

That's why I wonder, despite flyers being left at all the homeless shelters in Vegas, if it does any good when the advocates support them being away.

 

[RubyRed]

Did anything happen on the six month mark? I can't find any news article on anything.

 

[laytonian]

Did anything happen on the six month mark? I can't find any news article on anything.

Nothing. Not even a mention on Facebook. Maybe they're doing something at church.

 

[Leomoon80]

I think his brother has his own facebook entry (his own site) I read awhile back and spoke of his distress with missing Steven.

 

[Leomoon80]

I looked under "Events" on the Facebook for Steven that the family has
and saw nothing there.
What kind of event was it?

Is there a reference somewhere for an Event held ?

 

[justice57]

Absolutely. I have believed from the outset St. George was designed to get him away from his immediate family and closer to his intended, whoever he or she might have been.

Since it was a big secret, it was probably a him. So he went to St, George to be in closer proximity to this guy, tests the water out a bit and decides to make a go for it.

Sounds more than reasonable to me.

I suspect this might be part of the secret. I can't figure out any reason someone would kidnap a 30 year old man. There is no motive. He didn't have any money, they didn't steal his car and he was too old for a sexual predator. Just from reading his background, it doesn't sound like he would of gotten involved in illegal activities. If this was the case, issues of the heart would of been in conflict with everything he believed in.

 

[sbakker]

I just read a blog about Steven, which one of his brothers wrote. It really touched me, and he expressed himself beautufully. I cannot even imagine the pain he feels, as the rest of his family must feel.

Steven has a great family, I would say a pretty close and caring family. Like other families going through this, I just wish (like everyone else) they could find closure. I want the family to know, even though I do not feel their pain,worries,thoughts,having to deal with pain of what others may say, I hope peace may come for your family soon.

I think many of us here, have felt like we have gotten to know things about steven from friends and relatives, and would be proud to have him as a friend, brother, co-worker, etc.

 

[Fairy1]

Bumping for Steven. Don't want him to be forgotten.

 

[Leomoon80]

I think his brother has his own facebook entry (his own site) I read awhile back and spoke of his distress with missing Steven.

Steven's Brother's blog: just breaks your heart.....

http://dwkoecher.blogspot.com/

 

[justice57]

Maybe, this has already been asked, but did Steven have a computer?

 

[Mia]

Thanks for reminding me of that station. I just found the quote I'd been looking for here: KVBC.com.

For those who wonder why the family was so frustrated and have had to bear the burden of the investigation, why the car was never fingerprinted when it was in SCA, or why they had to bring drug dogs in themselves, later:
"Henderson police say they have absolutely no evidence of foul play."

Notice: "absolutely".
I've got that archived on the timeline now!

See, this has always bothered me. "Absolutely no evidence of foul play", what does that mean really? That the video showed Steven seemingly willingly walking away from his car? That, obviously, there were no signs of a struggle or anyone else having been in the car? That there were no "suspicious" numbers on Steven's cell phone? If I were a detective, all this would tell me is that the car is not the crime scene, and that possibly, either someone Steven was close to was involved (hence no "suspicious" phone numbers) or that he and the perp communicated in some manner other than by phone.

I think there certainly is evidence for foul play - that a guy who by all accounts was religious, loved his family, just bought Christmas gifts for his nieces and nephews, etc, walked away from his car without so much as an overnight bag and disappeared off the face of the earth. As a detective, I would see such a situation as certainly being worthy of more investigation.

 

[Mia]

Maybe, this has already been asked, but did Steven have a computer?

Yes, he owned a laptop (but didn't have internet access at his apartment in St. George), and if I remember correctly it was found among his belongings at his apartment in St. George. Also, I'm pretty sure a member of Steven's family who is technologically proficient did a cursory search of the laptop and "nothing out of the ordinary"/nothing pointing to his disappearance was found.

However, I also know there are a couple people on this thread who would very much like to do a bit of sleuthing on that laptop themselves.

 

[webrocket]

See, this has always bothered me. "Absolutely no evidence of foul play", what does that mean really? That the video showed Steven seemingly willingly walking away from his car? That, obviously, there were no signs of a struggle or anyone else having been in the car? That there were no "suspicious" numbers on Steven's cell phone? If I were a detective, all this would tell me is that the car is not the crime scene, and that possibly, either someone Steven was close to was involved (hence no "suspicious" phone numbers) or that he and the perp communicated in some manner other than by phone.

I think there certainly is evidence for foul play - that a guy who by all accounts was religious, loved his family, just bought Christmas gifts for his nieces and nephews, etc, walked away from his car without so much as an overnight bag and disappeared off the face of the earth. As a detective, I would see such a situation as certainly being worthy of more investigation.

I am not in LE but I think it is safe to conclude that the types of evidence of foul play they look for include weapons, drugs, known threats to the missing person, signs of a struggle, blood stains, and in the case of cars, things like broken glass, an accident, unusual stains, car being found off the road, etc.

None of these things happened here. The guy literally walked away from his known life. Not a crime in any jurisdiction so no justification for LE to expend limited public resources on an adult runaway.

 

[sbakker]

I am not in LE but I think it is safe to conclude that the types of evidence of foul play they look for include weapons, drugs, known threats to the missing person, signs of a struggle, blood stains, and in the case of cars, things like broken glass, an accident, unusual stains, car being found off the road, etc.

None of these things happened here. The guy literally walked away from his known life. Not a crime in any jurisdiction so no justification for LE to expend limited public resources on an adult runaway.

He may have walked away from his life, but I disagree it was willingly.

There did not have to be broken glasss,blood stains, etc. I believe there was foul play.

 

[sbakker]

See, this has always bothered me. "Absolutely no evidence of foul play", what does that mean really? That the video showed Steven seemingly willingly walking away from his car? That, obviously, there were no signs of a struggle or anyone else having been in the car? That there were no "suspicious" numbers on Steven's cell phone? If I were a detective, all this would tell me is that the car is not the crime scene, and that possibly, either someone Steven was close to was involved (hence no "suspicious" phone numbers) or that he and the perp communicated in some manner other than by phone.

I think there certainly is evidence for foul play - that a guy who by all accounts was religious, loved his family, just bought Christmas gifts for his nieces and nephews, etc, walked away from his car without so much as an overnight bag and disappeared off the face of the earth. As a detective, I would see such a situation as certainly being worthy of more investigation.

We may not think there was "suspicious" numbers on his phone, but maybe it was one of the numbers from St. George, someone he knew that was involved.

 

[laytonian]

See, this has always bothered me. "Absolutely no evidence of foul play", what does that mean really?

it means absolutely NOTHING. The same PD that said that, is the same PD that didn't fingerprint the car, search the neighborhoods or otherwise do much at all. They did participate in a search at the very end of the year -- 17 days after the car was parked.

What that PD did do, is recommend that the family hire a PI and (basically) solve it themselves.

That the video showed Steven seemingly willingly walking away from his car? That, obviously, there were no signs of a struggle or anyone else having been in the car? That there were no "suspicious" numbers on Steven's cell phone? If I were a detective, all this would tell me is that the car is not the crime scene, and that possibly, either someone Steven was close to was involved (hence no "suspicious" phone numbers) or that he and the perp communicated in some manner other than by phone.

I think there certainly is evidence for foul play - that a guy who by all accounts was religious, loved his family, just bought Christmas gifts for his nieces and nephews, etc, walked away from his car without so much as an overnight bag and disappeared off the face of the earth. As a detective, I would see such a situation as certainly being worthy of more investigation.

Of course -- but this isn't a young, telegenic girl (or mother) who can be used to whip up stunts and media hysteria.

This is the case of a young man who walked down a street, and apparently is thought by HPD to have entered a space-time continuum.

 

[laytonian]

Yes, he owned a laptop (but didn't have internet access at his apartment in St. George), and if I remember correctly it was found among his belongings at his apartment in St. George. Also, I'm pretty sure a member of Steven's family who is technologically proficient did a cursory search of the laptop and "nothing out of the ordinary"/nothing pointing to his disappearance was found.

However, I also know there are a couple people on this thread who would very much like to do a bit of sleuthing on that laptop themselves.

The computer was later forensically examined, and (apparently) nothing was found that would help, investigatively.

We've heard later hints that there were five years' worth of email contacts, the vast majority aimed at finding a job (the kind that come in when you sign up for the various job search websites online).

Yes, WE would like to search through that computer and all email contacts from the start of 2009 (before he moved to St George). But it's also obvious that the PI (a retired detective who's probably as suspicious as we are about things), has done that. We might have, eh, another "slant" on things.

 

[laytonian]

We may not think there was "suspicious" numbers on his phone, but maybe it was one of the numbers from St. George, someone he knew that was involved.

Yup.

I'd PAY to listen to all of the phone messages. All of them.

 

[carbuff]

I am not in LE but I think it is safe to conclude that the types of evidence of foul play they look for include weapons, drugs, known threats to the missing person, signs of a struggle, blood stains, and in the case of cars, things like broken glass, an accident, unusual stains, car being found off the road, etc.

None of these things happened here. The guy literally walked away from his known life. Not a crime in any jurisdiction so no justification for LE to expend limited public resources on an adult runaway.

Yes, there's exactly zero evidence of a crime. Of course there's not much evidence of anything else, either, but that's a different question . LE isn't under any obligation to find out "the truth" or "what happened." Their job is to enforce laws, keep the peace, investigate crime. Absence of a good explanation isn't evidence of a crime.