NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - #19

[believe09]

Welcome Kjliss! very thoughtful post, and thank you for your observations!

 

[OldSteve]

Allot depends upon whether it is really Steven in the security camera video - is there a consensus here about that?

If someone else took Steven's car and left it - they got a big break because LE did not take car before anyone else was in it and drove it.

In the show it mentioned that a family member checked Steven's laptop. Would have been better if LE had checked it first.

Believe Steven did not have an Internet connection where he lived, but could he have connected at an "internet cafe"?

Being broke, might he be in LV to pawn something?

Playing guitar, he might have looked to join a group - could run into some very seedy characters by accident if so (speaking from my own experience).

I noticed in the video of him playing his guitar, that his hands were very clean - such as one who cooks or waits tables - might have been in LV for a job like that?

But too much time has gone by to check those things... so sorry, just rambling on...

 

[laytonian]

HI, I'm new. I'm originally from the Henderson area and saw the show a few days ago. I've been looking over posts and timelines and many of my questions are the same as many that seem to have been asked already (such as how did he know to go where he was going in Henderson, why did he go to Vegas, why the trip to Ruby Valley, etc)

The few ideas I had that I could not find answers for are:
-why would he be willing to volunteer to return to SG when the call came in from the person who asked him to be at the meeting? Could he have been uneasy about what he had planned for the day? For someone with little income it would have been a big waste to drive nearly to vegas and then turn around and go back because of a phone call. Heck, I don’t even go to Costco if I can’t figure out 2 or 3 other shops to hit on the way. If the meeting was for an interview you would think that he would not volunteer to return....For someone near broke an interview is a big deal, you would not volunteer to miss it....

Welcome!
There's really no firm answer to your questions....I hope everyone else jumps in with their ideas, too.

He had a sacred duty to be at that planning meeting, because he was to officiate at the church services. If he was as devout as portrayed, he'd need to at least offer ... and maybe relieved about being let off the proverbial hook. IMO, of course.

which makes me wonder if there was another reason to go to Vegas...He had a few christmas presents in his car, could he have gone to vegas to buy a christmas gift for a family member (craigslist?) I also wonder if he had been to the house before, hesitant or not he was sure walking with purpose. Yes he could have drove by ahead of time so he knew exactly where he was going, but it seems pretty clear he knew exactly where to go.

Unless he had a secret cash stockpile, he was broke.

He'd already bought the family gifts. The family draws names - and he'd drawn his brother's family. He spent about $5. There were no other gifts to buy.

-If he were to just walk off into the desert, why not do that directly from his car? He would have no reason to walk through a residential area if that was his plan all along and the desert was right there.

Unless he just intended to go toward some mountains/hills -- which would basically be on three sides of Anthem. He parked in a protected space, with no homes around it. If he found it, it was luck or he spent those "missing" two hours after the SA call, looking for a parking space. More likely, he had an address, directions, or had been there.

We know he'd driven south at least as far as the Overton cell towers, just off I-15, the previous day. He didn't ping again for 8 hours -- so his phone was turned off. If he went to Overton, would he reveal that with an "on" phone? I suspect he went to Vegas....and maybe to that same SCA area.

I know someone mentioned driving by the neighborhood, can you tell if all the houses are fenced? If there is a cinder block wall behind the houses on that street and the street makes a u shape then his destination was a house on that street.

Several of us have walked that neighborhood. At each of those access points, there's a steel fench - although you could jump over the landscape bricks to get to the golf course. The homes are very close together, and do have walls between them.
His destination could have been any of the 250+ homes in that neighborhood, although most here focus on the house he'd have walked to...just out of camera range.

Someone HAD to have seen him because he would not walk that direction just to hop a fence. It seems pretty clear he had an appointment for noon. If he left his car at 11:56+/- how far could he have walked within 4 minutes?

If this was an interview it would be important to be on time (good first impression) If someone HAD to have seen him, someone on that street is LYING.

He didn't leave his car at 11:56. He parked and sat in the car for a few minutes, then started walking at noon. If he had a noon appointment, he'd have been late.

To me, it was something he either didn't want to do, or he had the proverbial appointment with himself.

One theory, which I think is a good one, that IF he had an appointment with a sinister person, they were not the homeowner. The homeowners are elderly. It's a solid, middle-class retirement neighborhood. Standard Sun City. Close-together homes. No one walking around. Everyone's inside.

If someone on that street is lying, what else are they hiding? If someone ends up in the area, do me a favor, start where Steven's car was parked, turn on evening lights and follow the curve on portsmouth creek and then head back towards the car on savannah springs...how far do you get before you run out of 4 minutes?
(I'm using the google image here: 35.943341,-115.102137 - Google Maps)

You can put google maps on "walk" and plot various times that way. But since he left the car at noon, we don't know how long he wanted to walk.

If there is direct access to the golf course, could that have been the intended meeting point all along? If I were having someone meet me on the green who did not live there, I would have told them to park where Steven's car was parked (so as not to disturb the other residents) If you got out of the car and walked for 4 minutes where would you be if you headed towards the golf course. Could he have hopped on a golf cart with whoever he was meeting and that is why he never returned to his car?

There's no direct access to the golf course, from that neighborhood. What we thought were access points, are paved paths with steel fences at the end (not gates, no hinges, no locks -- I looked).

Plus, what you don't realize until you go there, is that the homes are high above the golf course - on ridges. Even IF someone had golf course access, they'd have to hike down a steep embankment covered in small, slippery rocks.

Your theory on that is how I started...until I went there. Thanks to Fairy1 for giving cats5vegas and me the tour! The neighborhood is much different than it appears from satellite views.

-I hate to bring it up but has anyone explored this from a sex offender angle? (sorry, I just watched a John Wayne Gacy show on the ID channel) Steven was described as young for his age, possibly naive and robbery does not seem to be a motive (no atm money pulled, car not ransacked) If you look at the time of the later cell phone pings, one near american pacific, @4:36 and then two more at 6:58 what if he was held against his will from noon-4:36, the american pacific stop was "dumping ground" and then the 6:58 ping was once whoever had his cell phone got moving again. 4:36 minutes captive, 1.5 hours driving/dumping and then back on the road again. I did do a search of sex offenders for the area his car was found in, but I haven’t tried it yet for the whitney ranch area or American pacific. I haven’t been back to vegas for many years but if my memory serves me well it gets dark early in the winter, could waiting until 4:30 be waiting for the cover of darkness? A possible whole in this theory is there is nothing quiet about American pacific/sunset area on a Sunday a few weeks before Christmas. There is a mall in the area and it is a mad house! You could not pay me to go there…but, lots of cars would make it easy to be part of the crowd if you are moseying along.

Those cell towers cover a wide area; there's also desert washes, industrial facilities, apartments, homes, trailer parks. You'd have to have thousands of search warrants, to even poke around.

I did not write down names but I did jot down a few dates of missing men from that area in the same age range (courtesy of laytonian’s timeline- Thanks!)
12/13/09-Steven
10/23/08
7/31/06
4/4/04
3/6/02
9/22/00
I’m sure if we all stare at these numbers long enough we can come up with a meaning important to us that probably has nothing to do with the case, but every 2 years or so something is going on….
Another thought I had that I haven’t had a chance to explore is dates moving forward…Have we tried to fill in the similar cases chart with dates since December 2009?

I check occasionally, but not for awhile. If anyone does occasionally check and finds a case that should be added, I'd be thrilled if they let me know.

I have some more scattered thoughts to try and pull together but for now I have to retrieve my little one from pre-school. Be back soon.
-Melissa

Welcome. I hope that helped. We're a friendly bunch, and others will jump in with their own thoughts. It's just that some of us did go there, so have a bit of perspective that others don't.

 

[laytonian]

Allot depends upon whether it is really Steven in the security camera video - is there a consensus here about that?

Pretty much. The family is "pretty sure", and they know him better than we do.

If someone else took Steven's car and left it - they got a big break because LE did not take car before anyone else was in it and drove it.

In the show it mentioned that a family member checked Steven's laptop. Would have been better if LE had checked it first.

Yes, but at that time, LE considered him a walkaway, and since they didn't classify it as a crime, there was nothing to investigate. Yes, everyone agrees that it wold have been better if the car was fingerprinted and checked before the family got into it -- but it took a couple weeks to convince LE to get involved. LE did eventually subpoena the computer, and found nothing evidentiary on it.

Believe Steven did not have an Internet connection where he lived, but could he have connected at an "internet cafe"?

He had a library card at the Washington County Library in St George, which allowed him to access their computers and wifi. He would have had to log in with his card, to use the connection/computers (per the library's website) -- so any usage would have been visible (even IF the "content" of that usage wasn't available).

Being broke, might he be in LV to pawn something?

Good thought. But there's no pawn shops in the area where he parked the car. I don't think anyone ever mentioned anything of value, being missing from his room. He left a guitar and a computer, some tapes, some clothes, books, papers, etc.

Playing guitar, he might have looked to join a group - could run into some very seedy characters by accident if so (speaking from my own experience).

I noticed in the video of him playing his guitar, that his hands were very clean - such as one who cooks or waits tables - might have been in LV for a job like that?

That was an actor, portraying Steven, in the TV show.

But too much time has gone by to check those things... so sorry, just rambling on...

Rambling is good. We need more rambling, because a fresh idea may result.

 

[jodeen86]

I was reading the old posts about the case and in the early days there was discussion that the faimly knew something they were not telling, or something they had found out but decided not to release...has this information ever come out?

 

[kjliss]

It would take an 8-hour miniseries to include all the details of the case.

Now I know what you mean. I know I am coming into this very late and I figured some of my questions had been hashed over before. Thanks for catching me up to speed.

Here are a few more questions I am unsure of....do we have answers to these?
He drove a long way north into Utah before crossing over into Nevada...close enough that he could have visited family. Any reason we know of why not?

Laytonian- I know you mentioned how devout he was and I know I came across that he could be counted on. I wonder if he still intended to be back in time to go home teaching and I am starting to question if it was an interview that led him to SCA. That wouldn't be a very "keeping the sabbath day holy" thing to do although people surprise you sometimes.

Was he associated with any on-line dating sites or something along those lines. He did not seem to have very many IRL friends...could he have been meeting someone he felt he could trust from an online friendship?

Oh, another random thought...forgive me if this was already mentioned, could he have entered witness protection? Could all the driving in the previous week been preparations to disappear? Do we know how long he was in wendover? That is just too far to drive unannounced hoping to run into someone....You would need a good reason to do that...how long was he there besides lunch?

On the 11th he was passing out flyers according to the timeline. If he had gone all the way to sacramento it is doubtful he would have made it back in time for 'work' which he seemed to take serious since it was his only source of income even if it was not a long term solution.

Could he have been on a date on the evening of the 12th? It was a saturday night, there are gaps in time no one saw him and if he had cash left from the $100 he would not have had to spend on his cc. Was there possibly a dance or something in SG he came home to spruce up for before heading back out? Maybe that is when his shaving kit was packed up...He was home for such a short period of time...and he had been back from wendover long enough to need to shave at least once (so his kit was probably in the house on the friday/saturday morning)

I have to wonder where he was overnight of the 12th...Late nights usually mean sleeping in and his car was not seen again in SG, so what time in the morning would he have had to get started on the way to LV to be in the Nellis area when the call came in asking him to go to the meeting. If he did not return to SG to sleep on the 12th could his cell phone have lasted from Saturday night to the 14/15th when it went dead? I would think it would need a charge in between somewhere....

Do we know if he stopped to eat or anything Sunday morning in Vegas? 2 hours seems excessive to get from the Nellis AFB area to Bermuda/Cactus. And why drive over to the bermuda/cactus area before bouncing around the sca area. I must be more of a point a to point b driver, but usually when I travel somewhere I want to get there and usually I take the most direct route possible.....

Did his family check his financial records for any previous trips in the months before to LV or Wendover, or even Mesquite/ Overton...I know his family said he was spontaneous but was it normal for him to travel so far in such short periods of time with no apparent destination in mind?


I think that is all my imponderables for now...
Oh and thanks for the Welcomes!
-Melissa

 

[laytonian]

I was reading the old posts about the case and in the early days there was discussion that the faimly knew something they were not telling, or something they had found out but decided not to release...has this information ever come out?

The family didn't publicize that the passport hadn't been found; it later turned up, in Steven's belongings.

 

[laytonian]

Now I know what you mean. I know I am coming into this very late and I figured some of my questions had been hashed over before. Thanks for catching me up to speed.

Here are a few more questions I am unsure of....do we have answers to these?
He drove a long way north into Utah before crossing over into Nevada...close enough that he could have visited family. Any reason we know of why not?

No. His family didn't even known he'd taken that drive, until they started piecing together the receipts found in the car - and the banking records.

Laytonian- I know you mentioned how devout he was and I know I came across that he could be counted on. I wonder if he still intended to be back in time to go home teaching and I am starting to question if it was an interview that led him to SCA. That wouldn't be a very "keeping the sabbath day holy" thing to do although people surprise you sometimes.

I don't personally know how devout he was; his family and church friends were pleased with his religious practices.

Was he associated with any on-line dating sites or something along those lines. He did not seem to have very many IRL friends...could he have been meeting someone he felt he could trust from an online friendship?

I found him as enrolled in ldslinkup, a dating site for LDS singles. He had filled out the profile, and was friended by one person. It didn't look like he actively used the site.
There's some older posts here, where we discuss that.

Oh, another random thought...forgive me if this was already mentioned, could he have entered witness protection? Could all the driving in the previous week been preparations to disappear?

That's not how witness protection works.
They don't steal you off the street, and you have means to communicate (through the FBI) with your family. Your family would know your status, and they wouldn't be looking for you.

Do we know how long he was in wendover? That is just too far to drive unannounced hoping to run into someone....You would need a good reason to do that...how long was he there besides lunch?

He bought gas in West Wendover; lunch was in Ruby Valley, Nevada (as shown on the timeline, Dec 10, 2009 -- link in my signature file below.

On the 11th he was passing out flyers according to the timeline. If he had gone all the way to sacramento it is doubtful he would have made it back in time for 'work' which he seemed to take serious since it was his only source of income even if it was not a long term solution.

He didn't go to Sacramento. We don't even know if he intended to go there, or if it was just chit-chat (as AN's friends mentioned). In any case, AN's family told him about an incoming storm - and he left after about two hours. The times work out closely enough, that he didn't stay anywhere very long.

Could he have been on a date on the evening of the 12th? It was a saturday night, there are gaps in time no one saw him and if he had cash left from the $100 he would not have had to spend on his cc. Was there possibly a dance or something in SG he came home to spruce up for before heading back out? Maybe that is when his shaving kit was packed up...He was home for such a short period of time...and he had been back from wendover long enough to need to shave at least once (so his kit was probably in the house on the friday/saturday morning)

I have to wonder where he was overnight of the 12th...Late nights usually mean sleeping in and his car was not seen again in SG, so what time in the morning would he have had to get started on the way to LV to be in the Nellis area when the call came in asking him to go to the meeting. If he did not return to SG to sleep on the 12th could his cell phone have lasted from Saturday night to the 14/15th when it went dead? I would think it would need a charge in between somewhere....

Do we know if he stopped to eat or anything Sunday morning in Vegas? 2 hours seems excessive to get from the Nellis AFB area to Bermuda/Cactus. And why drive over to the bermuda/cactus area before bouncing around the sca area. I must be more of a point a to point b driver, but usually when I travel somewhere I want to get there and usually I take the most direct route possible.....

Did his family check his financial records for any previous trips in the months before to LV or Wendover, or even Mesquite/ Overton...I know his family said he was spontaneous but was it normal for him to travel so far in such short periods of time with no apparent destination in mind?


I think that is all my imponderables for now...
Oh and thanks for the Welcomes!
-Melissa

The only financials that have been revealed to us, are those shown on the timeline.

 

[Fairy1]

So happy to see some fresh eyes and activity here - WELCOME to all new to Steven's case!!!! I do hope you will all continue sharing your thoughts.

 

[kjliss]

been doing some more reading and the only new question I have is has any attempt been made to find his cell phone? I'm assuming a metal detector could be used to help search using info about the last cell phone ping. Is there any benefit to finding his cell phone? I suppose it could be fingerprinted, but it has been in the weather for a very long time now. Is there any info that could be recovered if his sim card was found or we already know all we can find out from his cell. I'm curious about the cell phone as a form of trying to tip the scale from wandered off to potential victim. It sounds like the police are treating it as if no crime has occurred, understandable because there is no proof one did, but does the duration he has been missing and that it is out of character matter? If his cell phone is found and there is evidence of blood or something that suggests a crime has occurred then I would think the PD would need to look more closely into his case. Another thought on finding the phone, is his keys and wallet are also missing. Possibly they were all disposed of together. Finding his wallet in the desert far from where his car was last seen I hope would at least generate interest that his disappearance was mysterious and needs further investigation.

 

[Fairy1]

been doing some more reading and the only new question I have is has any attempt been made to find his cell phone? I'm assuming a metal detector could be used to help search using info about the last cell phone ping. Is there any benefit to finding his cell phone? I suppose it could be fingerprinted, but it has been in the weather for a very long time now. Is there any info that could be recovered if his sim card was found or we already know all we can find out from his cell. I'm curious about the cell phone as a form of trying to tip the scale from wandered off to potential victim. It sounds like the police are treating it as if no crime has occurred, understandable because there is no proof one did, but does the duration he has been missing and that it is out of character matter? If his cell phone is found and there is evidence of blood or something that suggests a crime has occurred then I would think the PD would need to look more closely into his case. Another thought on finding the phone, is his keys and wallet are also missing. Possibly they were all disposed of together. Finding his wallet in the desert far from where his car was last seen I hope would at least generate interest that his disappearance was mysterious and needs further investigation.

The pings and call records (in and out) have been reviewed and are known. His phone has never been found, nor have his wallet and/or keys. If Steven came to any harm, all of those items may have been disposed of, but finding any of them would be even more difficult than finding Steven.

 

[Fairy1]

I know this has been discussed before (more than once, I'm sure), but I would like to point out, again, that looking for calls from someone unknown to Steven's family may not be the path to follow. KWIM? The possibility of Steven being randomly harmed by a complete stranger in SCA is far more unlikely than that of his being harmed by someone he knew.

One thing I did note from the show is that his Mother said she really didn't know his friends since he had moved away.

Of course, this would only apply if he has fallen victim to foul play. I have not generally been known here to believe that is the case. Yet I would not want to be guilty of overlooking anything that would be painfully obvious in retrospect.

 

[couggal]

I agree that looking at calls from people Steven knows may be the best route. The theory is that the voice mail was checked and messages were possibly deleted by someone with something to hide. It is my understanding that there were no suspicious calls on his phone and all of the calls seemed to come from known numbers and people he knew.

I feel that his disappearance in Vegas and his seemingly strange/uncharacteristic trip to Northern Utah and Nevada are related. If we feel Steven was loured to Vegas perhaps he was also loured on the previous trip.

 

[sherlockh]

He didn't leave his car at 11:56. He parked and sat in the car for a few minutes, then started walking at noon. If he had a noon appointment, he'd have been late.

*Snipped* I was just wondering what is considered late? How long would it take to walk around the corner to one of those houses? A minute? Too late but also too early might give a bad impression at an interview. IMO he was just making sure not to come too early.

 

[couggal]

Does anyone know if you get charged minutes if you don't answer your phone but it goes strait to voice mail? Are there phone records that show which calls were answered and which ones went to voice mail?

 

[Fairy1]

I agree that looking at calls from people Steven knows may be the best route. The theory is that the voice mail was checked and messages were possibly deleted by someone with something to hide. It is my understanding that there were no suspicious calls on his phone and all of the calls seemed to come from known numbers and people he knew.

I feel that his disappearance in Vegas and his seemingly strange/uncharacteristic trip to Northern Utah and Nevada are related. If we feel Steven was loured to Vegas perhaps he was also loured on the previous trip.

The fact that there were only calls from people he knew doesn't automatically mean those calls shouldn't be considered suspicious. Voicemails could have been deleted by someone other than Steven, but the record of whomever left a message would have been recorded.

 

[couggal]

I absolutely agree they should be considered suspicious. I don't think I made my point very well. I have sleep deprived baby brain. I have a strong suspicion he could have had a voice mail from someone he knew telling him an address perhaps. That's my theory anyway.

 

[couggal]

I feel that if we solve the northern Utah/ Nevada trip we will solve the Vegas trip. Too much strange stuff going on in too short of a time period for them not to be related. Steven had a purpose on the previous trip. What was it and what would the motive be for someone to harm him?

 

[SugarJames]

I feel that if we solve the northern Utah/ Nevada trip we will solve the Vegas trip. Too much strange stuff going on in too short of a time period for them not to be related. Steven had a purpose on the previous trip. What was it and what would the motive be for someone to harm him?

I agree...this trip is key. His leaving his car and walking away with purpose at noon interests me as much as him being Ruby valley at about noon...it seems to alot of folks in his community noon is an important time a time for prayer, reflections, and important things.

 

[carbuff]

I feel that if we solve the northern Utah/ Nevada trip we will solve the Vegas trip. Too much strange stuff going on in too short of a time period for them not to be related. Steven had a purpose on the previous trip. What was it and what would the motive be for someone to harm him?

I wish we knew what he was doing the week before the Ruby Valley trip. Whether he had been driving around a lot, especially.