Another long post. . .
Laytonian and Naegle, I have timeline questions or insights:
Today is the first day I took a detailed look at the timeline. Since I live in Vegas and have been up and down the I-15 about a hundred times the 12 years I have been here, there are some things that seem weird to me.
1. So, he fills up with gas (with a credit card I guess) in Springville, UT on Dec. 10 at an unknown time. Then he is in Nephi, UT at 6:24pm Pacific. There is about 30 miles between the two. The latest he could have been in Springville is about 5:50pm Pacific. (From now on all times will be in Pacific Time)
2. Let's back up for a second. So, he drives from Ruby Valley thru Salt Lake City and doesn't stop to see anyone? Really? Instead the next record of him is in Springville and just about the only way he could have gotten to Springville at that time is to go thru Salt Lake City. That's weird. Did not stop to see friends or family?
3. So, on Friday at 2pm, he helps the kids who are locked out of their house. Do we have an address for that? What was he doing in the neighborhood? I know he was a window cleaner. But it's Utah. In Winter. Wouldn't a window cleaner be a little bit beside the point? Maybe he could be helping put up decorations but it's two weeks till Christmas. Aren't most decorations up by that time? Do we have any record of him doing any work in that neighborhood at all? A work order from his boss? A mileage statement that Steven might have phoned in to his boss? I know doing what Steven did he was probably paid in cash but somewhere there has to be a record of him doing something at some time in that neighborhood. Now, if he was just canvassing the neighborhood with cards. . .I guess. But once again. It's Utah. It's Winter. It's Cold. It's windy. Most decorations would be up by then. Now, if he was shoveling snow, digging out cars, etc. I get it. But, otherwise, it seems strange.
3a. On that same day, he buys food at Jack in the Box, seemingly with a credit card. The bill is $3.21. The last bill was $3.64 at Taco Time. Dude is not eating very much. He could be using cash to buy other food but why would he go back and forth between using a card and using cash? By his food spending habits it does not look like he was "going out with a blast". His spending habits tell me that he did not anticipate any problems ahead.
4. Here comes the confusing part. And like I said I know that highway very well. Dec. 12 he heads down to Mesquite but a cell phone tower in Overton!!! picks up his phone, meaning he went well past Mesquite. The Overton exit on the 15 is south of Mesquite. But, at some point, he turns around heads back thru Mesquite, stops in Mesquite. . .but only gets $6 of gas but $12 of whatever else. (That's all weird). Heads back to St. George. Does some shopping in St. George. Stops at home. . .does not drop off the presents (weird). . .is only home for 20 minutes, jumps back in his car and drives to Vegas at 10:30 at night. . .TOTALLY backtracking thru the entire day. When he was at Overton earlier, he was less than 45 minutes from Vegas. Instead, he drove back the other way to St. George which is approximately forty five minutes away. Then, turned around and came back. But he stops at home but does not drop off the presents. Questions:
-are there any calls registered in the time that Stephen was near St. George the night of Dec. 12?
If you ask me and I am trying to make logical sense of it all, if someone comes home and then goes almost right back out the door I think they got a message about something. Note, voicemail, email, etc. My instincts tell me that he went down to Overton/Mesquite to look for work. . .maybe. He comes back to St. George to do some shopping, intending to take those back to SLC. However, something comes up that says he needs to be in Vegas. So, he zips home. . .goes to the bathroom, grabs some things (who knows), jumps in his car and heads to Vegas. The only reason he would have left the presents in the car is if he thought eventually he would be going to SLC. My instincts tell me that whatever happened Dec. 12 in the evening is when this disappearance all started. There was something that told Steven "I am not going to be coming back this way (thru St. George) so I have to leave the presents in the car."
The other part that seems weird is that he only bought six gallons of gas in Mesquite. Granted, he might have been using cash too but most people don't go back and forth. Most people either use a credit card consistently or cash consistently. By my calculations, if he filled up on Dec 10 and then drove all of those miles, I don't care what kind of car it is unless it is a Prius, he is going to need more than $6 to fill up his car. Six bucks gets you only two and a half gallons at the most.
Now, on Dec. 13, his car was parked on Savannah Lights with a half tank left. Going backwards, to Mesquite the previous day that is approx. 160miles. Although it is hard to put in words, there is something about this fuel stuff that does not jive. Granted, it jives if cash is being used here and there but the purchase of only $6 on Dec. 12 is strange. But, being that the car had a half tank in Vegas tells me that he started from St. George with a full tank.
It would be nice if we could narrow down what happened on the evening of Dec. 12. . .between emails, phone calls, Facebook, etc. . .his friend Webb must have been in Vegas by that time, right? How do we know Webb didn't reach Steven somehow and tell him to come to Vegas. So, Steven drops everything and goes to Vegas. That seems to fit Steven's behavior for that evening.
By the way, reached a friend of mine who was a service manager for a Chevy dealership here in Vegas from 1999 to 2006, Chevy did not make any flex/alt fuel Cavalier/Cobalt/Sunfire in 2003. So, what's been all this talk about Steven's car being some hybrid? It probably got like 30 miles to the gallon like every other smaller car. The only alt. fuel vehicles made by Chevy at the time were Silverados, Tahoes, Impalas. And I doublechecked that with wikipedia. Steven's car was a regular old 4 cylinder engine. So, for our calculations we should be using a mpg of about 30.
What happened the evening of Dec. 12?
