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

[laytonian]

And the house for rent didn't rent out the casita...that has always bothered me.

Just curious - why?

I know people who rent out their homes, and keep rooms/garages full of personal items, rather than paying storage fees.
Our neighbors across the street, for instances, are in Europe for two years....and left their garage full of personal items.

The casita, designed as a guest room, could have been kept as that, since they didn't move very far away.

 

[sophieness]

Agreed, sophieness, but a walk through NAMUS, Charlie Project, DoeNetwork etc makes it clear that not all the found are all of the missing. It is a revolving door. To track, accurately, the number of voluntarily missing adults would require a heroic effort on the part of LE when it is not a crime to leave when you are an adult.

Agreed also! The number to those missing reports being cleared were all people who had been reported missing and were located- I think the number is higher than reports entered for 2007 bc someone of the missing persons reports were filed in previous years. However of course not all unidentified bodies are people who were reported as missing. I think there is a significant overlap but of course I have no stats on that. At any given time around 100,000 people are actively missing on the books.

It is correct the LE does not try to track all voluntarily missing people. So there are people who may be missing that are not reported as missing or not classified as Endangered Missing- those earlier stats are only for general missing who are reported by friends/family and LE takes the report. Some that are reported even I am sure LE does not look for at all. It is interesting to note that on a Utah government website Steven is classified as Endangered Missing, so I think that means they are supposed to at least make an attempt.

 

[sophieness]

Actually, we do have a good idea of it.

Thanks to the Powells' claims that Steven and Susan somehow knew each other in WVC when Steven lived there (for a whole two months! in an apartment five miles away from the Powell home!) in 2007 .... almost three years of Steven's phone records were pored over, to see if there'd been any contact between the two.

That would mean identifying the owners of all the phone numbers in his phone records.

I don't think the family is even privy to those phone records. They'd be part of the "confidential details of each case" that LE mentioned in response to the Powells.

How do we know they didn't just look for Susan Powell's number and instead of identifying every person though going back to those years?

 

[Lady LEO]

What other cities have been searched? I've only read about searches in and around Henderson and then the places associated with alleged sightings.

If I couldn't find my car keys, but the last place I knew I had them was in the ignition of my car, it would only be sensible to start my search with the car as being the first place I would look.

I could keep searching in my car until the end of days and still not find the keys. I could search the trunk, pull the seats out, pull off the tires, remove the engine, rip out the carpet, all in an attempt to find my keys because the car was the "last known location." It would be good, valiant effort and very thorough, but it doesn't get me any closer to finding my keys if they are actually sitting on the end table in my entry way.

Now, if the keys were able to ambulate on their own, like a person....

 

[believe09]

How do we know they didn't just look for Susan Powell's number and instead of identifying every person though going back to those years?

Possible, naturally. It would be odd of them not to take the opportunity to identify everyone in an attempt to determine if there was prior planning to the disappearance.

 

[SouthWestHiker]

What other cities have been searched? I've only read about searches in and around Henderson and then the places associated with alleged sightings.

If I couldn't find my car keys, but the last place I knew I had them was in the ignition of my car, it would only be sensible to start my search with the car as being the first place I would look.

I could keep searching in my car until the end of days and still not find the keys. I could search the trunk, pull the seats out, pull off the tires, remove the engine, rip out the carpet, all in an attempt to find my keys because the car was the "last known location." It would be good, valiant effort and very thorough, but it doesn't get me any closer to finding my keys if they are actually sitting on the end table in my entry way.

Now, if the keys were able to ambulate on their own, like a person....

interesting way of of putting this... but I completely agree.

Sadly, we do not have much to go on as clues on where to look in this big wild world!

Steven said he was going to Sacramento. Has there been any searches or flyers put up over there?

My personal theory at the moment is that Steven left to live off the grid in a mission, commune or some other religious community... Not sure how you can search for those if no previous contact was found through phone/internet records or people he knew.

 

[SassyBenton]

May I ask what your friends age was?

He was 22

 

[laytonian]

interesting way of of putting this... but I completely agree.

Sadly, we do not have much to go on as clues on where to look in this big wild world!

Steven said he was going to Sacramento. Has there been any searches or flyers put up over there?

He didn't go to Sacramento; he returned to St George.

My personal theory at the moment is that Steven left to live off the grid in a mission, commune or some other religious community... Not sure how you can search for those if no previous contact was found through phone/internet records or people he knew.

Interesting theory. Can you tell us about an "off the grid" mission, commune or other religious community (especially one that's LDS-based)?

 

[laytonian]

How do we know they didn't just look for Susan Powell's number and instead of identifying every person though going back to those years?

The point would be to identify unknown (hidden) phone numbers either would have had, because it would be pretty hard to carry on that three-year "affair" using one's regular phone numbers -- especially when one had a home landline and an office phone.

Phone records, bank accounts, etc, are actually pretty easy to check.
We've been told its been done.

To me, the last week or two is most important, if there's phone contact with someone linked to his disappearance.
Face-to-face is about the only other option.

(I have seen the last 7 days phone records, and see no stranger-danger)

 

[cocomod]

...also: I've been reading posts about positions/structure of LDS Wards but didn't see this: In a singles ward, is everyone single -including those in leadership, such as Bishop, Clerk, EQ President, etc?

No. When there is a singles ward, the leadership is generally taken from another ward and is generally married. The singles wards around a college is full of bishops from wards all around the area.

 

[believe09]

SouthWestHiker, I dont know if you know but would SK be in a commune, mission etc and either be unaware of his father's death, or uncaring regarding it? I suppose it would depend on his ability to access news.

 

[cocomod]

interesting way of of putting this... but I completely agree.

Sadly, we do not have much to go on as clues on where to look in this big wild world!

Steven said he was going to Sacramento. Has there been any searches or flyers put up over there?

My personal theory at the moment is that Steven left to live off the grid in a mission, commune or some other religious community... Not sure how you can search for those if no previous contact was found through phone/internet records or people he knew.

The only problem with this theory is how did he choose this "mission, commune or some other religious community"? When he left, he was a practicing and seemed to be faithful member of the LDS (Mormon) community. If he did choose to leave his faith, when and how did he research this new religion to jump in to? Do you get my drift? Since LE has checked his timeline, his computer, and his phone records, it would appear that they would have come across something that would lead them to believe that he was investigating another religion.

 

[marcyjoy]

In my opinion, any attempt to just "walk away" really only hurts his family. He wasn't leaving behind much, except family and of course difficulty getting his life "on track". I just don't see him doing this.

It's always been my contention that Steven really had nothing to leave. No extensive money issues, no wife/kids to support. If he needed to out of desperation, I'm sure he could have tucked his tail between his legs and gone home for a while. I don't see his parents as unsupportive. But I do think they wanted him to get on the right track and encouraged him to do so.

I just don't see the "walk away" theory working out in my mind. The remedy of just walking away without any trace is difficult, and in my eyes, far worse than the disease.

 

[fridaybaker]

Laytonian, thanks so much for helping with the URL linking -most appreciated.

Your quote I was referring to was in one of the very first threads, but I can't find it right now. I was just trying to "start at the begining" again and saw it. However, it sounds like you've answered the phone contacts question anyway.

Your "elephant" has me stumped. I'm going to be doing a lot of noodling on this, you can be sure!

 

[fridaybaker]

No. When there is a singles ward, the leadership is generally taken from another ward and is generally married. The singles wards around a college is full of bishops from wards all around the area.

Cocomod: Hmmmm. That doesn't tell me exactly what I need to know. Perhaps I'll try to re-phrase. Thanks, though, for responding. It certainly helps, just leaves out the specific question I have, which I was attempting, probably lamely, to conceal!

 

[fridaybaker]

In my opinion, any attempt to just "walk away" really only hurts his family. He wasn't leaving behind much, except family and of course difficulty getting his life "on track". I just don't see him doing this.

It's always been my contention that Steven really had nothing to leave. No extensive money issues, no wife/kids to support. If he needed to out of desperation, I'm sure he could have tucked his tail between his legs and gone home for a while. I don't see his parents as unsupportive. But I do think they wanted him to get on the right track and encouraged him to do so.

I just don't see the "walk away" theory working out in my mind. The remedy of just walking away without any trace is difficult, and in my eyes, far worse than the disease.

Marcyjoy, one aspect of this mystery that I've noticed here -and this is just what I THINK that I've assessed- haven't really done any tallying or anything- is that it seems to me that the men here or ones who've weighed in via spouse, are more likely to think that he voluntarily disappeared than the women. A big, big generalization, I know, but I still think that I detect that pattern. (Laytonian's comment a while back that a woman would have been likely to ask "which medication" when SK told a (man) friend he was taking something also points out the differences in how women vs. men see things!) That's why I've been so curious to find out the mens' lines of thought here. It just appears to me that men may tend to have a better idea about how a fellow man might react to certain situations. Don't know, but it's interesting to me.

 

[believe09]

Marcyjoy, one aspect of this mystery that I've noticed here -and this is just what I THINK that I've assessed- haven't really done any tallying or anything- is that it seems to me that the men here or ones who've weighed in via spouse, are more likely to think that he voluntarily disappeared than the women. A big, big generalization, I know, but I still think that I detect that pattern. (Laytonian's comment a while back that a woman would have been likely to ask "which medication" when SK told a (man) friend he was taking something also points out the differences in how women vs. men see things!) That's why I've been so curious to find out the mens' lines of thought here. It just appears to me that men may tend to have a better idea about how a fellow man might react to certain situations. Don't know, but it's interesting to me.

Are you trying to get us to state our gender? Not happening here.

 

[Lady LEO]

He didn't go to Sacramento; he returned to St George.

Please tell us all how you know that he didn't go to Sacramento and that he went back to St. George?

Couldn't he have gone to anywhere from Henderson? What suggests that, if he did leave Henderson, he went back to St. George?

If he did go back to St. George, maybe you could let us know about the on-going search efforts in St. George so we know what is and isn't being done.

 

[hollyblue]

Fairy, thanks for the response re: the phone records. I've read that answer before, but it seems like it was quite some time ago.

I certainly understand that the family does't want to put out SK's phone records for the general public to see; however, it would make me, and others I'm sure, more at ease to know that the records were searched for everything that they could be searched for -not only who may or may not have attempted to contact him in the immediate days and week or so after he went missing, but also to compare patterns of calls with the previous few months -even the last year, if possible. In the two or three months leading up to his disappearance, for example, did he increase contact significantly with anyone? This wouldn't necessarily be fruitful, but it sure would be more information that could, at some time, maybe a later date, fit in w/ other information w/ which to form a theory.

In addition to phone records, I'd think that it would be most helpful to piece together as much of his life over the last year, to the extent possible, anyway. We know he drove a lot in the days up to his disappearance and that his family says that that was unusual, but has anyone really compared that activity with previous months? Taken bank statements, receipts -any that can be found- and tried to see if he'd taken some trips that he hadn't told anyone about? After all, I don't think anyone would have known he'd taken the RV trip if he hadn't disappeared.

Again, it's understandable that his family don't wish to communicate much of this info. to strangers, but it would be so helpful to at least know if they've done those things.

Okay, I probably just said things that everyone's been saying here for quite some time. Just wish we had more info. so we'd have a better idea about which direction to go in!

SK's mother was a bank employee so she would have had access to all of Steven's records. It always struck me odd that the family said they did not know of SK's extent of financial woes yet they had his records so readily available. Personally, if any of my family was struggling and I had the means to keep tab on their bank records...I would. Not from being over-bearing, but just to make sure they weren't in deep doo doo and I could step in as a preventive measure. IIRC, they may have had access to his phone records also as I believe he was on a family plan with them.

So may things with the family has changed over the course of SK's disappearance and new information is not brought forward to the public.. for months, in fact. I'm getting to the point of reconciling that SK was 30 years old and not 11 and had the right to disappear as an adult. LE has found no foul play, and the family and friends, as far as we all know, are not furthering any search in distributing flyers, etc; and since he was mentally stable and not considered endangered, then it was his choice to walk away. Everyone seems to be waiting on a body found somewhere and the discussions are going around in circles with nothing new to add. So until his body is found or he calls I don't think there's much to do except set a google alert for media news. Even if he is found, the family may feel like withholding the information from the media....speaking from past observations, I tend to believe this would be the case. IMO

 

[fridaybaker]

Are you trying to get us to state our gender? Not happening here.

That's why all of the caveats about my little theory!