NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - #21

[neverletgo]

:bump:

Where is Steven Koecher?

 

[SheRa]

This case drives me nuts because I really, really, really feel that it can be solved. I certainly hope Steven is alive, but whether or not he is still with us, I have a strong sense that this is a solvable case. lease:

WHY was he in that neighborhood? We may not know now but I believe someday we will.

Keep up the good work websleuthers!

 

[renogirl]

We flew into Vegas today and drove to St. George for a Thanksgiving visit with relatives. Thinking of Steven a lot today. I hope that he is happy.. wherever he is.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[fridaybaker]

The thing that I find most disconcerting is that I am not sure that LE has completely checked out a person very close to SK that has a criminal history. SK owed money to his LL, and it makes the most sense if Steven was trying to find a way to pay his rent.

From his family, friends, ward members, and those that actually knew Steven, I think it is a VERY long shot that he was gay and wanted out of the LDS faith. I know that this theory is one that needs to be discussed, but I find this one to be very hard to believe. I am LDS, and I do know those that have wanted out of our faith, but this case doesn't really sit like that with me. The signs for wanting out of the faith are just not there in Steven's case. JMHO

I wish that LE had taken his disappearance with more Umph in the beginning. I think that critical time passed; and I still doubt that a thorough investigation has happened. I really hate the fact that LE seems to take the disappearance of young men less seriously than beautiful young girls. I think there is every chance that young men can meet with foul play too.

I still hope that answers come one day, but I will be honest in saying that any answers may not ever come. We need a truly gifted and tenacious investigator to break this case IMHO.

What are the "signs for wanting out of the faith"?

 

[believe09]

I think following the money in Steven's case will help recover him as well. If LE has anything, they arent sharing. If they have found Steven, he hasnt been taken off of the books. An adult can choose to disappear without consequence and is entitled to request his new location/life be kept confidential.

I dont know if I think he is alive anymore, tbh. I do think that LE has a lot to work with-I hope the Koecher family is still pushing and LE is still working it.

 

[cocomod]

I too honestly believe that there is foul play involved in this case and that Steven is likely not alive. I honestly hope that I am wrong and that he just started a new life elsewhere.

Signs of people that are wanting out of the LDS ("Mormon") faith include things such as:
Stopping attendance of church
Questioning our believe with others (of our faith and those not of our faith)
Starting habits that do not "adhere" to our belief system
"Hanging out" with people not of our faith

From everything that I have read about Steven, he still attended church, he still had LDS friends, he did not drink alcohol, he did not do drugs. More importantly, he was still attending church every week. When he left that fateful day, he still acted as though he was going to be in church on Sunday.

 

[MissJ]

If Steven had concerns about his private life and how it might be interpreted by fellow LDS members he might not have exhibited signs of withdrawing from his church but rather afraid the church would withdraw from him. Not many people in our lives can truly say that they know who we associate with...unless they are with you 24-7. No one knows if this young man felt he was gay and worried how his church might treat him if they found out. There may be no signs that someone is gay, if that person doesn't want there to be signs. Churches of all kinds are very judgemental toward gays and most (churches) aren't tolerant at best. His church was a huge part of his life and he may have been afraid he would lose it. Hope I'm not rambling. Just sounds like something was going on besides financial issues with this young man before he disappeared.

 

[webrocket]

I appreciate your perspective Rioruss. there can be other explanations of course for the demeanor, etc.

I have always believed that he parked in that spot because he was instructed to park there, away from the location where he was supposed to meet this other person. also, if he was walking a block or two to get into another car, then he'd have no reason to be looking at house numbers at all.

Hi I pretty much joined solely to answer your query. Dont know if anyone here actually does stuff with the information.

Having seen the last video of Steven there are two things I can tell you. One for certain, the second highly likely.
1) Definitely he had been there before!
2) Most likely it was a business related rather than a social meeting.
Why? As a sales director of many years I have accompanied hundreds of thousands of salesmen on sales visits. You can just instantly tell if the salesman has been to a place before from how he acts and walks. For example, Stevens car did not cruise hesitantly up and down the street looking for exactly where to go. There was no gradual peering at door numbers or stop starting. He also knew without worrying where he could easily park nearby.
Then as he walks away from the car he knows EXACTLY where he is going and again there is no checking door numbers to find how far he is from his destination. These are just the obvious indicators, but there is also the feel that comes with years of experience of doing this. I KNOW when a colleague is kidding me about where he has and hasn’t been in the past. Steven had been there before! (It may be irrelevant, or you may profit by going further back on your CCTV or other records)
The second point. Why was it business related? Well he waited six minutes in his car. That’s what you do if you are visiting a business appointment. I have done it with my guys all my life. You get there early, wait in your car until a few minutes before the appointment and then walk in the door with a couple of minutes to spare. If it is a social call, you pull up in their driveway or outside the house and go straight in.
That second point is also another indicator that he had been there before. He could judge the journey time to arrive six minutes before the appointment. He did not arrive there half an hour in advance.
I am not suggesting Steven was selling anything, that’s simply where my historical expertise comes from.
This may be of no use at all or may offer you something else.

With that knowledge I would humbly suggest that all anyone has to do is see what media he was using to look for jobs in the previous 3 weeks. Go through that particular media (website, newspapers, whatever) and by a long process of elimination, somewhere among those will be a phone number that relates to one of the four houses on Evening Lights.

 

[MissJ]

I'm just trying to find some reason that he would have walked awat from his life, instead of thinking of him being dead.

 

[fridaybaker]

If Steven had concerns about his private life and how it might be interpreted by fellow LDS members he might not have exhibited signs of withdrawing from his church but rather afraid the church would withdraw from him. Not many people in our lives can truly say that they know who we associate with...unless they are with you 24-7. No one knows if this young man felt he was gay and worried how his church might treat him if they found out. There may be no signs that someone is gay, if that person doesn't want there to be signs. Churches of all kinds are very judgemental toward gays and most (churches) aren't tolerant at best. His church was a huge part of his life and he may have been afraid he would lose it. Hope I'm not rambling. Just sounds like something was going on besides financial issues with this young man before he disappeared.

I agree here that the possibility is less likely that SK wanted out of the church vs. that he may have thought the church not accepting of him. The norm for the LDS church is marriage for men who have completed a mission, college, etc. such as Steven.

Over time I've come to think it more likely that I did before that he was the victim of foul play, but I'm always troubled by the "oddness" of some things, such as expressing dislike of his job in Salt Lake that didn't allow for socializing with his friends, then moving to a smaller job market, sans job, away from his friends.

Why did Steven move away from friends and family???

 

[MB2000]

I am new to this, but I have a couple of observations. Having LDS background, I think that if SK wanted to leave the church, when he moved to St. George, he would just not have gone to church there. His family back home would not have know whether he went to church or not. Why make the big move and not quit going to church if that is what he wanted.

Also, in reading some of the posts, it seems that he was a person who wanted to be guided by the spirit. That may explain some of his odd moves.

One more idea, what if someone had asked him to do some private editing for them? He may have been carrying a manuscript he was returning edited. He had posted on-line that he did this sort of thing.

Or what if he wanted to do some freelance writing and stumbled on something. I guess his computer would have indicated that, so probably not true.
I am new and don't know all that has been written, so just a couple of observations.

 

[neverletgo]

:welcome5:, MB2000!

Thank you for your thoughts and insights on Steven's case. :seeya:

 

[believe09]

I am new to this, but I have a couple of observations. Having LDS background, I think that if SK wanted to leave the church, when he moved to St. George, he would just not have gone to church there. His family back home would not have know whether he went to church or not. Why make the big move and not quit going to church if that is what he wanted.

Also, in reading some of the posts, it seems that he was a person who wanted to be guided by the spirit. That may explain some of his odd moves.

One more idea, what if someone had asked him to do some private editing for them? He may have been carrying a manuscript he was returning edited. He had posted on-line that he did this sort of thing.

Or what if he wanted to do some freelance writing and stumbled on something. I guess his computer would have indicated that, so probably not true.
I am new and don't know all that has been written, so just a couple of observations.

WELCOME!!! What a thought provoking post!!! Of course it makes perfect sense-the possibility that he was editing something.

:thumb:

 

[SheRa]

Just checking in to see if anything more has been found out about Steven. I do think the "editing" theory makes sense; I have done freelance editing-type projects as well and plenty of jobs can be due around midday on a Sunday.

Since most of you know a lot more about this case than I do, does anyone think that Steven has indeed been found (alive) by LE and they're simply keeping mum due to Steven's possible desire to not be found? Just speculating...I'm sure it's been asked before, but I am just curious to hear others' thoughts now that a full 3 years has passed.

 

[Nanda Devi]

I am new to this, but I have a couple of observations. Having LDS background, I think that if SK wanted to leave the church, when he moved to St. George, he would just not have gone to church there. His family back home would not have know whether he went to church or not. Why make the big move and not quit going to church if that is what he wanted.

Also, in reading some of the posts, it seems that he was a person who wanted to be guided by the spirit. That may explain some of his odd moves.
One more idea, what if someone had asked him to do some private editing for them? He may have been carrying a manuscript he was returning edited. He had posted on-line that he did this sort of thing.

Or what if he wanted to do some freelance writing and stumbled on something. I guess his computer would have indicated that, so probably not true.
I am new and don't know all that has been written, so just a couple of observations.

Freelance editing doesn't quite work that way.

Content editing is performed online, while manuscript editing is done both onscreen and through the mail. I worked as an editorial assistant for a small publisher, and our copy editors were scattered across the country. They were assigned to a project based primarily on their areas of expertise and how well the senior staff thought they would mesh with the author. The page proofs were exchanged via Fedex, and the two would communicate to a greater or lesser degree via telephone and email. I never heard of a copy editor and an author meeting in person to discuss a manuscript, though I suppose they may have if they happened to live in the same area. Most didn't. Given the tight deadlines they were under, it's pretty unlikely. Authors did occasionally drop by the office to chat with one of the senior editors, but that was generally when the book was further along in the process. We did have a potential copy editor stop by once to speak to my boss. He talked to her for a while and gave her a copy of the test we sent to all candidates.

Freelance writers are even less likely to meet with an employer in person. Jobs are posted online and articles are submitted through email or uploaded to a site. The same goes for resumes and clips (samples of a writer's best work). Everything is digital unless you're interviewing for a full- or even part-time position with an organization. I suggested a few months back that Steven may have been gone to a specific location for an interview and the folder he was carrying could have contained a resume and clips. It's possible he was going to meet with a very small publisher or magazine for a freelance position, but it's also plausible he was led to believe there might be more steady work available. Either way, he would have brought a portfolio.

On the subject of Steven's faith, I am reminded of something Jon Krakauer wrote in Under the Banner of Heaven. While the book primarily focuses on Mormon fundamentalism (and a pair of violent fundamentalists who committed a heinous crime in particular), he also explores the history of Mormonism and certain customs and norms that developed around it. One of these is the tendency of LDS members to trust other Saints in business matters, even against their better judgment. This is one reason Mark Hofmann, the forger-turned-murderer, was able to get away with his crimes for as long as he did. Others have sunk millions into Ponzi schemes perpetrated by their friends and neighbors. I can't remember exactly why this is -- my copy of the book disappeared when I moved -- but when I read that particular passage it made me think of Steven Koecher, and wonder if he, too, might have trusted the wrong person.

I know I'm running the risk of offending a lot of people by saying this, which is why I'm not going to delve any deeper into the issue. I want to state unequivocally that by no means am I criticizing Mormons or Mormonism. I am not suggesting that a member of his own faith took advantage of Steven and did away with him. I've been lurking here for quite a while, but I rarely post because I'm really not much of a sleuther. This is just one time when I felt like I had some useful information to contribute. It was not meant to offend or condemn.

 

[MB2000]

As an LDS person, I can say that we tend to be too trusting, so that definately could have been a problem for SK. And we do tend to trust other LDS people, taking them more at face value. So if SK was a trusting person, he could have been tricked.

Why would a person take a resume on Sunday? What kind of business would have a person bring a resume to a residence on Sunday? Just wondering.

 

[Where's Waldo]

My wife and I saw this case on Disappeared off of Netflix.

This case is truly baffling. As others have said, we can't imagine what the family must be going through, not knowing what happened to Steven.

I am curious though; on Disappeared they said that they were able to figure out his e-mail password and check his account. I know that didn't reveal anything suspicious. But were they able to check his private messages on his Facebook account? I've applied for jobs that I've found on Facebook, so maybe that's worth looking into, if it hasn't already. But, I'm guessing that it already has.

 

[gogrannypop]

Welcome to WS Where's Waldo!!

 

[believe09]

My wife and I saw this case on Disappeared off of Netflix.

This case is truly baffling. As others have said, we can't imagine what the family must be going through, not knowing what happened to Steven.

I am curious though; on Disappeared they said that they were able to figure out his e-mail password and check his account. I know that didn't reveal anything suspicious. But were they able to check his private messages on his Facebook account? I've applied for jobs that I've found on Facebook, so maybe that's worth looking into, if it hasn't already. But, I'm guessing that it already has.

:welcome6:

I think that is a great idea. I am not sure if they have, but we have some insiders who still visit here-perhaps someone can give us their thoughts?

 

[jaseb3]

:welcome6:

I think that is a great idea. I am not sure if they have, but we have some insiders who still visit here-perhaps someone can give us their thoughts?

They have looked into every account to which they were able to gain access. I am pretty confident that the social accounts were some of those that were accessed and analyzed. I'll check for some sources and get back to you.