I just wonder what kind of debt he had? If it was overwhelming I guess he'd want to skip town but other than that I can't see how he'd let his family worry like this.
There's been a mention he was behind on his car payments (but we don't know how much)
On Dec 1st, he was three months behind on his rent (about $1,000 plus his share of the utilities)
It's certainly not an overwhelming amount, but it could have been to a 30-year-old who was trying to succeed on his own.
If I were to try to disappear I'd at least take a small bag. We know thanks to the video that he wasn't carrying anything more than papers.
Bingo. If you planned to disappear and took your cellphone, why not your cellphone charger? Why not your computer, why not a chance of underwear? Why leave your shaving kit in the car?
What he took with him (basically nothing) tells me that he either knew he'd never need the left-behind items again, that he did plan on returning that evening OR that the landlord locked him out.
Why would his cell phone not be traceable when it called the next day? If it were in the city wouldn't it be detected by at least two cell towers making it somewhat traceable? If however he was out in the wilderness all day maybe only one cell tower was in range making it impossible to determine the location.
Is the mobile phone's signal strength recorded? That would at least give an estimate how far it was from the cell tower.
Here's where his car was found:
http://snurl.com/u5wie [maps_google_com]
While SCA was surrounded by undeveloped land, if you were to walk to those areas, you'd (1) have to have some knowledge that you could get there from where the car was parked and (2) you'd have to walk for about 1.5 hours.
UNLESS (and I am apparently alone in this possibility) that he was just driving around, saw he was getting close to mountains/hills, parked randomly and started walking in the direction that seemed logical.
We've had people park in front of our home, and start walking up to the mountain that sits right behind us. Steven was parked a bit far away from that....and behind a walled area.
LE most certainly has the cellphone information. We don't know how much information the family has. In any case, we're not privy to it. All we've learned is that the call to voicemail was "Vegas area" and "early in the morning" on Dec 14th.