-------> huge respectful snips ahead!
Because in your hypothetical, she and her dog fell asleep... then she was attacked by an intruder who was already hiding in the house and had been waiting for them to sleep. She can't be texting and sending pics on her phone at
quarter till one and then fall asleep in 10 seconds, you know? So it didn't seem possible for your hiding perp who's waiting for her to sleep to disable the phone
immediately after she last used it.
Regarding the battery, I'm not sure if LE can tell if the battery was actually taken out/destroyed, or the phone was merely turned off. I have heard people claiming both scenarios quite firmly! So I was including that as a possibility because LE's statement that they know the the phone and
GPS went dead around 12:45 am COULD mean the battery was taken out.
Hope that helps, sorry for any confusion.