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

[JVOB Hardware]

First time poster but lurker for awhile.

I agree that Steven likely had a job interview, appointment, door to door sales or something of that sort. Did any residents remember him coming to their doors? If not, he had a specific location in mind.

Just a guess but I don't think the perp lived in this residential community. Metro Las Vegas in 2009 had its fair share of foreclosures so I would pay extra attention to foreclosed or vacant homes in the development at that time. Easy location to lure an unsuspecting victim.

The cell phone pings following his disappearance are huge. Five years ago cell phone pings may not have been easily understood or simply forgotten by the perp. Didn't the Disappeared episode make mention of some pings being in the area of an apartment complex? I hope LE retrieved a rent roll from the property manager of that apartment complex and ran through the list.

 

[AnonymousD]

Welcome to WS, JVOBH!

:welcome:

 

[shanmosphere]

I think Steven was going to do whatever it took to earn money. Is there any chance he was a male escort? Gigolos is filmed in Vegas and it is a place where prostitution runs rampant...maybe his john killed him?


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[Geaux Tigers!]

Wow. I have spent the entire day reading this thread, the entire time, my heart breaking for this naive young man who was just looking to better himself. I do not believe he just walked away from his life. For a LDS, that would mean walking away from God, and there is nothing about this man to indicate that would ever be an option to him.

Drug cartel? Really? Not to discredit anyone, but you can believe me when I tell you that if I ever bought drugs from a Mexican drug cartel and set out to investigate them, the last place on earth I would put that information would be on the internet in such glaring detail for fear I would wake up with my head cut clean off my body, courtesy of that very cartel.

Honestly, I don't see a real mystery here. What I see is so simple LE never could see it. There are no questions. There are only answers to be located in that neighborhood.

The common sense answer as to why he parked his car where he did and why he sat there for five minutes before he got out are blindingly obvious. He is a respectful young man and didn't want to block the street or a driveway. He was also probably pretty nervous about this appointment and needed a few minutes to give himself a pep talk and probably pray. Nothing more and nothing less.

I can imagine such a sheltered, trusting, naive life could believe whatever gold-spinning story someone promised him. He needed to earn money, and he needed to earn money fast. He would have fallen prey to any half-baked get rich quick line anyone handed him, even if it meant meeting someone in a residence and on a Sunday against his better judgement. He was just that desperate.

Predators prey for reasons we can't understand. I think we can all accept that. I have no idea what the person's intentions were, or why Steven, but for whatever reason, he was baited to a residence there.

The answer lies inside one of those houses, and with it being a retirement community, my bet is that they have questioned the homeowner, and that homeowner was able to honestly answer that they did not see him and know nothing about him, which would give LE no reason to doubt them.

If I were LE, I would go back to the beginning. I would look at everyone living in that development and then I would do a complete background check on those residents' family members. We all have that wayward cousin, brother, uncle, etc. who seems to always boomerang back to Mama. Maybe a resident had a down-on-their-luck child staying with them during that time period.

Parents are the first to overlook their children's faults and past mistakes, and most certainly would never talk about it to an outsider, especially LE, and in particular if the question is about a potential current crime similar to what their child has been in trouble for doing in the past. They wouldn't be lying by not offering the information, because in a parent's mind, their child couldn't do such a thing.

Just my simple thoughts, but it is the only thing that makes sense to me.

 

[birdman77]

My very 1st post on this site. Ironically, the post directly above this was made by a fellow LSU fan/alumni (class of '02).

This case intrigues me more since I now live in So. California...Vegas is about 4 hrs away from me. Anyway, as others have posed I think he was killed in a house close by. Think a ruthless woman that he'd had sex with...or wanted to have sex with...set him up. Hope no one is offended by this theory.

He was reportedly a very good person. However, we all have secrets regardless of magnitude. A woman could've told him she had no phone but left him with an address where he met demise. Another theory could be he traveled to Mexico and took his life to not hurt/shame his family...

 

[laurianne9]

Being from the same area of Utah where his family lives, I have heard about this case a lot and it is so sad... I am LDS like Steven and I have two theories that could have happened to him... He either wandered off in the desert to commit suicide or he went to apply for a job in the subdivision where his car was found and something bad happened to him. My gut goes with the second theory personally.. Unless someone comes forward, I don't think this case will be solved which breaks my heart for his family...

 

[SapphireSteel]

Being from the same area of Utah where his family lives, I have heard about this case a lot and it is so sad... I am LDS like Steven and I have two theories that could have happened to him... He either wandered off in the desert to commit suicide or he went to apply for a job in the subdivision where his car was found and something bad happened to him. My gut goes with the second theory personally.. Unless someone comes forward, I don't think this case will be solved which breaks my heart for his family...

+1.

I believe we will know one day.

 

[shanmosphere]

I think he is in the foundation of one of those homes where he disappeared.


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[elimanning]

I just watched the ID episode on this case. You can't help but feel terrible for the family. Stephen seems like a good guy, just going through tough times. He doesn't seem like the type given his religious background to have gotten mixed up in some kind of illegal or illict activity and gotten into trouble. There has to be some reason why Stephen went to Nevada and got out of his car. I would suspect a phone call, email, flier, computer activity, friend, church member, would given have the answer by now. Without that, I think he may have just wondered off.

 

[DocBrew]

Odd case. I don't think he left voluntarily. He would've surely surfaced when his dad died, as they appeared to have a great relationship. If that was him in the videos, and I happen to believe it was, then someone in that neighborhood probably did something to him. Or, he harmed himself, but that location doesn't make a lick of sense. JMO.

 

[Blunomore]

Wow. I have spent the entire day reading this thread, the entire time, my heart breaking for this naive young man who was just looking to better himself. I do not believe he just walked away from his life. For a LDS, that would mean walking away from God, and there is nothing about this man to indicate that would ever be an option to him.

Drug cartel? Really? Not to discredit anyone, but you can believe me when I tell you that if I ever bought drugs from a Mexican drug cartel and set out to investigate them, the last place on earth I would put that information would be on the internet in such glaring detail for fear I would wake up with my head cut clean off my body, courtesy of that very cartel.

Honestly, I don't see a real mystery here. What I see is so simple LE never could see it. There are no questions. There are only answers to be located in that neighborhood.

The common sense answer as to why he parked his car where he did and why he sat there for five minutes before he got out are blindingly obvious. He is a respectful young man and didn't want to block the street or a driveway. He was also probably pretty nervous about this appointment and needed a few minutes to give himself a pep talk and probably pray. Nothing more and nothing less.

I can imagine such a sheltered, trusting, naive life could believe whatever gold-spinning story someone promised him. He needed to earn money, and he needed to earn money fast. He would have fallen prey to any half-baked get rich quick line anyone handed him, even if it meant meeting someone in a residence and on a Sunday against his better judgement. He was just that desperate.

Predators prey for reasons we can't understand. I think we can all accept that. I have no idea what the person's intentions were, or why Steven, but for whatever reason, he was baited to a residence there.

The answer lies inside one of those houses, and with it being a retirement community, my bet is that they have questioned the homeowner, and that homeowner was able to honestly answer that they did not see him and know nothing about him, which would give LE no reason to doubt them.

If I were LE, I would go back to the beginning. I would look at everyone living in that development and then I would do a complete background check on those residents' family members. We all have that wayward cousin, brother, uncle, etc. who seems to always boomerang back to Mama. Maybe a resident had a down-on-their-luck child staying with them during that time period.

Parents are the first to overlook their children's faults and past mistakes, and most certainly would never talk about it to an outsider, especially LE, and in particular if the question is about a potential current crime similar to what their child has been in trouble for doing in the past. They wouldn't be lying by not offering the information, because in a parent's mind, their child couldn't do such a thing.

Just my simple thoughts, but it is the only thing that makes sense to me.

Excellent post, thanks.

 

[ktgirl]

I think Steven was going to do whatever it took to earn money. Is there any chance he was a male escort? Gigolos is filmed in Vegas and it is a place where prostitution runs rampant...maybe his john killed him?


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Being from the same area of Utah where his family lives, I have heard about this case a lot and it is so sad... I am LDS like Steven and I have two theories that could have happened to him... He either wandered off in the desert to commit suicide or he went to apply for a job in the subdivision where his car was found and something bad happened to him. My gut goes with the second theory personally.. Unless someone comes forward, I don't think this case will be solved which breaks my heart for his family...

I have been batting the escort theory around in my head for months but didn't want to post it. However, I feel like there would be a computer or phone trail to follow. Same with if he was lured out there for a more "legal" job as well. But it appears not.

I hadn't considered suicide, but honestly, Steven was going through a rough time. I know many close to him don't think he'd commit suicide, but that's often the case. I'm starting to think this may likely be what happened.

Off topic- for my fellow LSU grads who've posted up-thread (I'm a LSU graduate school alum) - Geaux Tigers!

 

[JudyBolton]

I just watched this on ID and I agree with several posters above that the answer lies in this neighborhood. My parents used to live in a Sun City community in Florida and we visited them frequently. Their neighbors always had family members visiting and even staying in their homes while they were gone. The detectives need to go over the residents and their families with a fine tooth comb.

The fact that he was walking purposefully - not like he was walking off in despair - leads me to conclude that he met with foul play. He probably walked within a short few houses or at least a couple of blocks of his car. I frankly find it rather odd that NO residents saw him. He obviously walked down their street. Usually retirement residents are very aware of their surroundings and any unusual person walking down their street.

My heart hurts for his mom and siblings. I even wonder if the stress and pain of his disappearance added to his fathers' death. Maybe someone with a new set of eyes will take this on and concentrate on that neighborhood. I feel the answers are there....

 

[Blunomore]

I read somewhere (could be in an earlier post on this very Forum) that Koecher's family admitted that there was some information about his son that they are not disclosing.

That makes it very difficult for people searching for him:
- If the information they are withholding is irrelevant, they would not even have mentioned it.
- If however, it is indeed relevant, it makes a huge difference for those people looking for Steven.

 

[believe09]

Do you have a link? I am curious. I think there are a lot of ways to interpret that kind of a statement-LE may have asked them not to disclose certain aspects about the case or certain things that were found during the investigation.

I read somewhere (could be in an earlier post on this very Forum) that Koecher's family admitted that there was some information about his son that they are not disclosing.

That makes it very difficult for people searching for him:
- If the information they are withholding is irrelevant, they would not even have mentioned it.
- If however, it is indeed relevant, it makes a huge difference for those people looking for Steven.

 

[leflautist]

Hello I've been following his case for a few months now.

I have a feeling about this one. I know he was in a tough spot but from what it looks like, he loved his family very much. He had packages for them in his car, I don't think he was planning to kill himself given that there has not been said to have been a note. I think he parked there because his car would be safe he felt. To me it seems that he took off walking from his vehicle perhaps to look for work be it perhaps less glamorous than we would want to believe. (Desperate times leads people to desperation). I very much ascribe to 2 different theories.

1st- He went off to look for work on foot because he was out of money and couldn't afford gas. He might have even slept under a bridge, or he may have hitchhiked and it leads to his demise. (so very sad)
2nd- He left his car there because he felt it would be safe there and he felt like he could always come back there after earning some money. He walked to areas to search for jobs. He slept under some bridges working his way to Vegas. He finds odd jobs to be able to survive but seeing his car gone and perhaps his picture in the newspaper as missing he decides that he can't go back until he has made something great of himself. (The ihop sightings). He may be living among the homeless/low class in Vegas and lay low. His faith seems very important to him so I would say he would most likely visit a church service when he can.

JMO- I like option 2 because I like to be positive...

 

[swjaxon]

I read somewhere (could be in an earlier post on this very Forum) that Koecher's family admitted that there was some information about his son that they are not disclosing.

That makes it very difficult for people searching for him:
- If the information they are withholding is irrelevant, they would not even have mentioned it.
- If however, it is indeed relevant, it makes a huge difference for those people looking for Steven.

They withheld that his passport was not found when cleaning out his room. However, when organizing his stuff, they found his passport.

 

[webrocket]

It's been a long time since I posted here and nothing has changed my original hypothesis. That was that Steven was gay, met up with another guy, possibly older and ex-Mormon, and he decided to leave the whole thing behind.

The boyfriend who I had nicknamed Big Daddy Warbucks, was familiar with the retirement community and had instructed Steven to park by the cul de sac as people get very proprietary about strangers parking in front of their houses. I don't know about what percentage of the community attends church, but noon time on a Sunday it was likely that fewer people would be home. Steve walked over a block or two and met BDW in a waiting vehicle and drove off.

They went to the eastern part of town, had dinner, stayed at a hotel or motel, and drove off the next morning to wherever BDW resides, pitching his cell phone in the process.

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

[JVOB Hardware]

No evidence suggests steven was gay (other than being single). Let's keep the focus on finding him and away from different agendas.

 

[EmiLove832]

I don't see anything that makes me think he may have been gay but that doesn't mean webrocket can't present a theory. We also have to keep in mind that Steven was Mormon so if his family found anything they felt would tarnish his image they may not share that information with the public.

Personally, I think Steven was desperate for a job and got involved with bad people.


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