NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - #20

[fridaybaker]

[QUOTE
But I also think he walked away.[/QUOTE]

Believe: Would you mind addressing some of the "rebuttals" that posters have talked about recently re: the low likelihood of being able to stay under the radar for this long? As I've mentioned in earlier posts I often lean this way but can't really square it with absolutely no evidence of him via ss/credit checks/cc use, etc. I know you've posted a vast amount of info. and thoughts here, but I'd still love to hear how you address those issues.

 

[Lato]

Lato -thanks for mentioning the "search" function. Mea Culpa.

Yes, that thing in the photos that looks looks like a scar -what the heck is it? Is it just the photos that make a small part in hair look like major brain surgery? Odd.

I usually take more time in posting, but I wanted you to know that the Search function has helped me a lot. Sometimes I have to choose different
words or the advanced function...you will like it after a bit. It gets to be your friend...lol.

Re the "scar".....hope someone has information on that.

 

[laytonian]

Can someone post the URL of an image that shows a "scar" that everyone's talking about?
I'm not familiar with anything like that, in the context I'm reading.

I can ask the family about it, but I have to have a reference.

We know about the Nike "swoosh" birthmark, and the scars behind his ears from ear surgery.

Is there something else?
I have a scar in my hair, from where I bumped my head as a kid and had to have stitches.
If I were a guy, it would show up easily.

 

[laytonian]

I suppose we can discount Steven's family and head down the mental illness path again. His family and friends indicated there was no mental health issue-or am I mistaken?

I suppose the scar on the head would be relevant if it was related to a blow to his head, and not something cosmetic....like a cat scratch. Or a tree branch snapping back while he was hiking.

Just sayin.

Steven's cousin KC told us that he'd never been diagnosed with a mental illness.

 

[fridaybaker]

Laytonian, the "scar" is noticeable in the photo of him w/ the blue shirt, featured at the very beginning of the SK threads. It can also be seen quite clearly in the "singing" video, about 3/4 of the way through. He's wearing a t-shirt that says "Bring on the heat" and is pictured with a girl in a red shirt. I'm virtually computer illiterate, but I will try to send the link in a minute.

 

[believe09]

I think SK had some hiking/scouting experience. I think he was familiar with large areas, possibly rugged areas. This doesnt mean I think he is living in the woods ala Eric Rudolph. I think he had some idea of how to fly under the radar-I mean situations like this dont happen in a vacuum ever. I think it all started in SG, whatever happened. I think the trip to Ruby Valley had more to do with him tying up loose ends as it were.

As to staying under the radar-well 800K people are on the books as missing every year. This is a big world, and if you choose to walk away, chances are you wont be found. Statistically speaking.

I think there is a certain amount of circle the wagons in the LDS culture which might account for the things we dont know or things that havent been publicized about SK.

At the end of the day, I think he had help. I think he was ready to pitch his life-I wonder how successful he felt it was and whether or not it was worth putting up a fight for. At his age, I would have expected him to have a more established foundation. To me, again from the outside, he seems pretty rootless. Yes he had his faith, his ward and his family-but all I can say is that if I were living the life he was living, I would have been looking elsewhere and I would have been tempted to start again.

JMVHO.

 

[fridaybaker]

Laytonian, I can't get the link w/ the video showing the "scar" to post, but it's featured in Hollyblue's post on 4/27 at 10:44am. If I'm reading this correctly, it's post #167.

 

[fridaybaker]

This may be a strange thought, but I wonder how many men vs. women have an opinion on Sk "walking away" vs. being a victim of foul play. I guess what prompts this is that I often find my female mind views people and situations very differently from how a man would see it.

Believe, thanks for your insight. I found it very insteresting.

 

[laytonian]

Laytonian, the "scar" is noticeable in the photo of him w/ the blue shirt, featured at the very beginning of the SK threads. It can also be seen quite clearly in the "singing" video, about 3/4 of the way through. He's wearing a t-shirt that says "Bring on the heat" and is pictured with a girl in a red shirt. I'm virtually computer illiterate, but I will try to send the link in a minute.

Thanks. I found it.

Enlarged image of Steven and his cousin, showing Steven's hairline.

It looks like a cowlick, to me. Or maybe a part.

For those not familiar with cowlicks: click here. At the front of Alfalfa's head, you can see a cowlick similar to what you see in Steven's pictures.

But I've asked about it.

 

[laytonian]

This may be a strange thought, but I wonder how many men vs. women have an opinion on Sk "walking away" vs. being a victim of foul play. I guess what prompts this is that I often find my female mind views people and situations very differently from how a man would see it.

Believe, thanks for your insight. I found it very insteresting.

My husband tends to think he walked away; I lean more towards him being a crime victim or having harmed himself.

My own reasoning is that I think he was close enough to his family, that he wouldn't have willingly stayed away this long. The longer he's gone, the more I think he's no longer with us.

 

[believe09]

No scar as far as I am concerned. Hair pattern...probably hat head on some very short hair.

 

[fridaybaker]

Just looked at the "scar" again, and it does look like a cowlick, in that the hair goes in different directions just at the point of the "scar". The odd thing about it, that makes it look like a scar, is that it seems to be a line going back across the top of the head, vs. most cowlicks where you often only see the front part of it.

 

[believe09]

I think there is a case for both the points you raise, Laytonian. So far, I have believed the walk away for the most amount of time so I am sticking with it. Until I change my mind that is.

If he has stayed away from his family, it is for a reason that is valid to him. The challenge, as you all have alluded to, is getting LE to believe it was involuntary in some fashion. At his age, it makes it tough.

 

[laytonian]

No scar as far as I am concerned. Hair pattern...probably hat head on some very short hair.

KC's already replied: NO SCAR.

It looks like a casual, or natural, part to me.

 

[hollyblue]

Just looked at the "scar" again, and it does look like a cowlick, in that the hair goes in different directions just at the point of the "scar". The odd thing about it, that makes it look like a scar, is that it seems to be a line going back across the top of the head, vs. most cowlicks where you often only see the front part of it.

Correct. Cowlicks are hair...not a part, line or scar in the hairline.

 

[hollyblue]

When I say "elephant in the room", I am referring to something that took only a little bit of my own research to uncover, to become suspicious about, and which I will not/cannot discuss publicly.

We cannot/do not publicly discuss, or even hint at, the investigation of people who have not been named as POIs or suspects.

I've just always been surprised, that no one else even thought in that direction -- because it could explain lots of things in this case.

BBM This is incorrect.

We can not sleuth someone nor use their full names on WS, initials are allowed on WS when speaking of someone in the peripherals of his case....like KC. Many posters on many cases here use initials in discussing speculation or other communication in general....Terri Horman comes to mind and she has never been named a POI or suspect. Your giving a set of initials in who you are curious about would not be against TOS. JMO

 

[cocomod]

Please forgive my lack of knowledge on this subject, buy why is it taking so long to examine the sets of bones found? Thank you!!

I know that others have answered your question, but I need to add that a couple of the "skeletons" found have not been full skeletons. There are not even enough bones to identify female or male.

As far as DNA goes, I would have originally thought that being in the desert would make the DNA harder to identify. However, I found this site that says that it should possibly help identify if the bones are dried out:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0201-baking_out_dna.htm

 

[laytonian]

I know that others have answered your question, but I need to add that a couple of the "skeletons" found have not been full skeletons. There are not even enough bones to identify female or male.

As far as DNA goes, I would have originally thought that being in the desert would make the DNA harder to identify. However, I found this site that says that it should possibly help identify if the bones are dried out:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0201-baking_out_dna.htm

You're right. There's a lot of reasons things move slowly.

The bones we're most interested in (found by hikers near Patores and Starr Hills in Vegas) are known to be male; the DNA identification is taking longer.

 

[hollyblue]

Fairy, Donna Helms, the lady from KC, MO, who disappeared the same day as Steven and may have had ties to the LDS religion also, was found. Do we know where or the story? Specifically, I'd like to know when. I can find nothing, but here is the link to her showing up found. Interestingly, I also found a post on the net from someone with her name inquiring about the missing case of Hailey Dunn and stating she had once lived in Colorado City where Haily lived. Thanks

http://www.411gina.org/nevada.htm

 

[SassyBenton]

While I am still leaning towards the theory that Steven met with foul play during his search for a job, I just watched the Disappeared episode on Charlie Allen and I started wondering if Steven had some sort of major mental breakdown and wandered off.

From what we have been told, Steven had not been diagnosed with any kind of mental illness. However, that doesn’t mean he didn’t have one. Thousands of people are walking around undiagnosed. Perhaps this is just info that his family did not want to make public or maybe they were worried that if they make that information known, people would automatically assume he disappeared for this reason and would not take his disappearance seriously.

Perhaps like Charlie Allen, Steven was bi-polar or had some sort of mental illness and the stresses of his life caused him to have a major psychotic episode.

Charlie Allen has never been found but 2 years after he disappeared a man swears that Charlie came knocking on his door in the middle of the night asking for help getting back to a college campus, the exact campus Charlie was attending at the time of his disappearance. The man said Charlie looked unkept/ disheveled. If this was in fact Charlie, how had he managed to go undetected for 2 years? If Charlie had a mental breakdown and has been roaming around for years, isn’t it possible that Steven could be too? Vegas has a lot of transients and an extensive underground drain system that many homeless people live in, how do we know he isn’t down there?

On a personal note about psychotic episodes/breakdowns: In college I had a roommate who was a very nice, quiet, well-mannered young man, absolutely nothing about him struck me as abnormal or would leave me to believe he had mental issues. One day out of the blue I received a call saying that he had been found standing in the middle of a busy street screaming at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason. The police were called and he was taken to a hospital for an evaluation. It was later determined that he was bi-polar and had suffered a nervous breakdown. He had not shown any signs of mental issues before this happened. You just never know….