Found Deceased OK - Caitlyn Rose Case, 33, Traveling from Louisiana to Colorado, vehicle abandoned in Fort Towson, 5 Aug 2022

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

I’m no photoshop expert, but I played around with the image on my iPhone and it definitely looks like either man with a fedora-style hat, or something being hauled in the cargo space.

https://imgur.com/a/ttHDqnR

(I tried to upload the pictures directly, but the site is telling it’s too big to upload, so I uploaded them to Imgur)

I couldn't see anything inside the vehicle from the photograph, just lots of blue blobs, so I stood back about twelve feet, which made it clearer for me, and there is a couple things... There is a different colored rectangular ovoid above the center of the back seat, which is centered in the back window. At first I thought it was the rear view mirror, but it's too far to stage right. I don't know what it is. There is the obvious Unidentified bright object on the windshield, but I assume it's a double image reflection from the store/gas station? lights above the vehicle. I'm pretty terrible at interpreting photographs, so whether it's cargo or a person with a hat, I don't see either. Just a slightly darker shade of blue in the form of an oval.

 

[cenazoic]

There is the obvious Unidentified bright object on the windshield,

I assumed this was some sort of windshield phone holder contraption.

That said, still don’t see anything that I think isn’t a) reflected light, b) reflected dirt (on windshield) or c) pareidolia.

 

[jnTexas]

So odd that there's nothing new in the case.

 

[abby_normal]

Anyone got any new opinions or thoughts? Any new news reports?

 

[abby_normal]

So odd that there's nothing new in the case.

I agree. Sad and odd. Hoping the OSBI is just in a position where they are getting the tips they need and they are figuring this out behind the scenes. It's unfortunate that this case isn't in the public eye more. I think the family would be able to get attention to it just by doing a few interviews. However I understand that some families may not actually be aware of how important media attention can potentially be and how helpful they as the family can be in that way. I almost wish there was some kind of thing where the families of missing persons would be appointed an advisor/counsel person to guide them through these aspects. But I realize that's not necessarily very practical. JMO

 

[carbuff]

I assumed this was some sort of windshield phone holder contraption.

That said, still don’t see anything that I think isn’t a) reflected light, b) reflected dirt (on windshield) or c) pareidolia.

(Mostly in jest) In the upper left, I see what appears to be the head and shoulders of a man in a tux holding a microphone, like he's singing. If he's real, he's about 18 inches tall, so I assume it's reflected light just sort of looking like Frank Sinatra...

 

[SimplyCass]

Going with the theory/idea that she ran into trouble/foul play in Bogata, TX, it's 50+ miles to where the car was abandoned/dumped.

Google Maps does plot going on TX-271 to OK-109 as fastest/fewest miles. However, it does not include the deviation on FM-79, or going taking the south loop of TX-286. IMO - those two locations or that specific route are important in some way.

 

[Speculaytor]

I couldn't see anything inside the vehicle from the photograph, just lots of blue blobs, so I stood back about twelve feet, which made it clearer for me, and there is a couple things... There is a different colored rectangular ovoid above the center of the back seat, which is centered in the back window. At first I thought it was the rear view mirror, but it's too far to stage right. I don't know what it is. There is the obvious Unidentified bright object on the windshield, but I assume it's a double image reflection from the store/gas station? lights above the vehicle. I'm pretty terrible at interpreting photographs, so whether it's cargo or a person with a hat, I don't see either. Just a slightly darker shade of blue in the form of an oval.

And you see more than me I am terrible at these until someone actually outlines what we are looking at, then I can usually see it too. I am amazed at those who notice the details, great observations.

 

[Will Willard]

To be clear....Randy Case is the ONLY one who has said HE suspected human trafficking. And apologies to him but I don't believe he is qualified to determine if this is a trafficking case. I would say to the family, keep your mind open, and do not hold anything back from law enforcement. Share the good, the bad, and the ugly. It will help find answers faster.

I don't suspect human trafficking at all. Most of the time, human trafficking doesn't mean abducted for human trafficking. But, maybe he knows more than he has shared. The undisturbed car says to me that this was not a robbery and/or carjacking and was more personal or sexual in nature and I have to wonder if that is info the OSBI wanted to be released.

Has anyone searched for Caitlyn on any more obscure social media plat

I totally agree there is a distinction. The way the OSBI states it, "an attempt was made" to dump the vehicle in the river which IMO alludes to the possibility it was a failed attempt. Perhaps it was a rushed attempt and didn't go so well. Or maybe they worded it that way but the vehicle really was located in the river [although the length of time in which the vehicle was discovered would make one think that more likely isn't the case]. I can see how a news report could easily make that mistake although I always wish more attention to detail would be given! MOO

Anyways thanks for pointing that out! I really benefit from the insight you bring to this case in ur comments

The car definitely was not in the river. There was a botched attempt.

 

[abby_normal]

The car definitely was not in the river. There was a botched attempt.

I gotcha, I agree. I was just replying to the poster saying the news report didn't make that distinction and although i understand it may be easy for the writer to make that mistake - it is an important distinction to make, therefore perhaps we should be wary of the other info in that particular article. Seeing as they got that tidbit incorrect JMO

 

[carbuff]

I gotcha, I agree. I was just replying to the poster saying the news report didn't make that distinction and although i understand it may be easy for the writer to make that mistake - it is an important distinction to make, therefore perhaps we should be wary of the other info in that particular article. Seeing as they got that tidbit incorrect JMO

I might be stretching--but if the car was partly in the water--like the front end in the water, or something--that could conceivably be called both "in the water" and "botched."

 

[cenazoic]

Another odd thing is that if they believe she didn’t enter Oklahoma, then one might reasonably assume she went missing in Texas.

She’s in NamUs because OSBI entered her there. It says she’s missing from Paris, Texas.

She’s not in the Texas Missing Persons database. Why? Bureaucratic delay? Something else?

Also, how do they know/why do they assume she didn’t enter Oklahoma? Even if, say, the FM 79 plate reader ‘sighting’ also captured a pic of someone else driving, how do they know she wasn’t laying in the back seat/cargo area?

No news/OSBI updates; social media peak was around the 19th with the last update.

I’d love to see the family get more active somewhere. The number of random comments on the OSBI posts from people in places like Bogata, Paris, Hugo, Ft Towson and surrounding areas who say they haven’t seen anything in the local news, etc. is both startling and terrifying.

 

[WingsOverTX]

Another odd thing is that if they believe she didn’t enter Oklahoma, then one might reasonably assume she went missing in Texas.

She’s in NamUs because OSBI entered her there. It says she’s missing from Paris, Texas.

She’s not in the Texas Missing Persons database. Why? Bureaucratic delay? Something else?

Also, how do they know/why do they assume she didn’t enter Oklahoma? Even if, say, the FM 79 plate reader ‘sighting’ also captured a pic of someone else driving, how do they know she wasn’t laying in the back seat/cargo area?

No news/OSBI updates; social media peak was around the 19th with the last update.

I’d love to see the family get more active somewhere. The number of random comments on the OSBI posts from people in places like Bogata, Paris, Hugo, Ft Towson and surrounding areas who say they haven’t seen anything in the local news, etc. is both startling and terrifying.

Excellent insight!

I looked at recent arrests on some of the sheriff's websites in the areas she traveled. I wasn't able to identify anyone who might be related to her disappearance in Lamar or Choctaw counties nearest her last known presence. She traveled through other counties, though.

I am wondering if they picked someone up on another charge & are trying to gather video & other evidence to charge that person or persons in her disappearance.

Just speculation on my part.

I do think the family would be setting up a missing person page or website if they thought it would help based on what LE has shared with them. She is missed & valued by many from posts I've seen.

Of course, the lack of additional publicly released info could mean LE has no leads & we're in the dark because they are.

I hope not!

JMO

 

[carbuff]

It sounds like OSBI is the lead investigative agency because that's where the car was found, not because of where she went missing.

I wonder if there's some evidence in the car to indicate she came to harm. Like blood or something.

 

[mimilisa123]

I've been following this and what many forget or maybe don't know is that the OSBI has Caitlyn traveling through Lewisville Texas up to Gainesville Texas and then from Gainesville for some reason turned back east toward Paris. So, from my research here is what OSBI knows: she left Houma, La, into Texas, pinged in Bagota,Tx around 5 pm and spoke with her family at that time, there is no gas station that looks like the pic in this town so doubtful she got gas there because its nighttime in the pic and it doesnt get dark in Tx until almost 9pm. She pinged again around Pattonville at 7pmish. I'm wondering about this ping... 2 hours later for about a 15 minute drive. They have her going through Lewisville and then to Gainesville, which makes sense going to Colorado. I would turn west on 82 and head toward Amarillo...but she didn't she headed back east toward Paris probably using 82, straight shot there. I think she got gas in Gainesville. Another person in the OSBI fb thread found an ExxonMobil Mobile gas station on interstate 35 in Gainesville with those brick columns and BLUE trash cans at the pump. Of all gas stations checked so far, this one matches on her route. And she would have arrived in Gainesville around dark thirty, 8:30 -9pmish and time frame would be consistent with a drive from the Paris and surrounding area. I will attach a pic of the gas station. I've stopped there before so am familiar with it.
Why she turned right?? Heading east?? Dis something happen in Gainsville? It looks to me like there is someone or more in her car crouching down. I notice her drivers window down so it's doubtful she had her doors locked? I think someone got in her car when she went to pay. Notice she is not looking at the car, her mind is probably on pumping the gas. Possibly a surprise when she got in her car. This may be the point of her not being in control of her car. It takes about an hour and a half to get to Paris from Gainesville give or take a few. Anyway, those are my thoughts. I hope they find her.

 

[SimplyCass]

The thing that has never been clear or readily explained is the timing of it all. If we go b the theory that someone was in her car at a gas station at Gainsville, say after midnight on 8/5, what happened between then and her last known location in Bogata, TX at 5 pm on 8/5 - at least 12 hours later?

In what scenario would for a carjacking lead to this odd routing? And then try to abandon the vehicle some 50 miles away? Seems too long of a time and distance. But it doesn't make sense either for her to voluntarily disappear either.

According to her FB, she works as an engineering assistant at a casino in Colorado as of June 2022. I'm assuming she's made this trip at least once. Or is it her first time? I am assuming she would normally take direct route on the freeway. While I don't want to say it's "impossible" to get lost, IMO it just seems very unlikely, especially with navigation apps and cell phones.

Even the drive from Bogata, TX to the northwestern area of Paris, TX doesn't make sense either. It's too much time; it doesn't take two hours from point A to point B, according to locals on this thread.

 

[WingsOverTX]

The thing that has never been clear or readily explained is the timing of it all. If we go b the theory that someone was in her car at a gas station at Gainsville, say after midnight on 8/5, what happened between then and her last known location in Bogata, TX at 5 pm on 8/5 - at least 12 hours later?

In what scenario would for a carjacking lead to this odd routing? And then try to abandon the vehicle some 50 miles away? Seems too long of a time and distance. But it doesn't make sense either for her to voluntarily disappear either.

According to her FB, she works as an engineering assistant at a casino in Colorado as of June 2022. I'm assuming she's made this trip at least once. Or is it her first time? I am assuming she would normally take direct route on the freeway. While I don't want to say it's "impossible" to get lost, IMO it just seems very unlikely, especially with navigation apps and cell phones.

Even the drive from Bogata, TX to the northwestern area of Paris, TX doesn't make sense either. It's too much time; it doesn't take two hours from point A to point B, according to locals on this thread.

I want to know about her last conversation with her father when she was near Paris on Aug. 5. Something tells me that phone call is critical to understanding why she & her vehicle ended up east of her likely route to CO the day after we can only assume she left Houma.

Details are leaking out on Facebook in friend & family posts but cannot be shared here. Nothing I have seen explains her disappearance coherently.

So we wait.....

 

[mimilisa123]

The thing that has never been clear or readily explained is the timing of it all. If we go b the theory that someone was in her car at a gas station at Gainsville, say after midnight on 8/5, what happened between then and her last known location in Bogata, TX at 5 pm on 8/5 - at least 12 hours later?

In what scenario would for a carjacking lead to this odd routing? And then try to abandon the vehicle some 50 miles away? Seems too long of a time and distance. But it doesn't make sense either for her to voluntarily disappear either.

According to her FB, she works as an engineering assistant at a casino in Colorado as of June 2022. I'm assuming she's made this trip at least once. Or is it her first time? I am assuming she would normally take direct route on the freeway. While I don't want to say it's "impossible" to get lost, IMO it just seems very unlikely, especially with navigation apps and cell phones.

Even the drive from Bogata, TX to the northwestern area of Paris, TX doesn't make sense either. It's too much time; it doesn't take two hours from point A to point B, according to locals on this thread.

Actually it would only have taken her about 2 and a half hours to get to Gainesville via Lewisville on the interstate from aroundvthr Paris area. But it would have been quicker to just take 82 west to Gainesville. Why to Lewisville unless gps took her that way. I've been all over Texas driving and I know routes and time it takes even with construction. So yeah I wonder about the 2 hours between Bagota and the ping in Pattonville which is only about 15 minutes from Bagota. They said that ping came in at 7 pm. I figure she got to Gainesville around 9 pm or close thereafter. I saw she is a casino tech. 15 minutes north of Gainesville on I 35 in Thackerville is the huge WinStar Casino...so at some point she turned or someone who may have been driving, turned back east on 82 through Grayson and Fannin counties over to Paris, she must have been out of the vehicle by then, somebody headed north into Okla and attempted to dump the vehicle. She could be any number of places.Gainsville up to Thackerville crosses the Red River too, and it's sparsely populated area. Tribal lands through that area. So I don't know. I wish OSBI would give some kind of update. Anything...

 

[carbuff]

<snipped>
So, from my research here is what OSBI knows: she left Houma, La, into Texas, pinged in Bagota,Tx around 5 pm and spoke with her family at that time, there is no gas station that looks like the pic in this town so doubtful she got gas there because its nighttime in the pic and it doesnt get dark in Tx until almost 9pm. She pinged again around Pattonville at 7pmish. I'm wondering about this ping... 2 hours later for about a 15 minute drive.

Maybe she stopped for dinner or a rest break?

 

[WingsOverTX]

Maybe she stopped for dinner or a rest break?

We don't know her route on either day just the six places OSBI says she either visited convenience stores or other evidence proves to LE she was there.

That is the most substantial problem with trying to sleuth this case. If she left Houma on Aug. 5, as implied by the post you replied to, when was she in Gainesville? LE says she was in all these places before her disappearance (or her vehicle, credit card(s) or some other identifying evidence was).

Before you can determine whether the gaps in distance correspond to the places LE listed, you need to know her path on both days, IMO.

I suggested a path earlier in the thread but it does not include a stop in Mt. Pleasant on either day because I find that stop out of place in either day of travel. It is most logical to me that she made it to Lewisville then Gainesville on Aug. 4 before turning East toward Paris sometime after midnight on Aug. 5, when the video image was captured.

Was she alone in her car on the 4th? We don't know. Was she carjacked on the 5th & forced East all the way to Mt. Pleasant before no longer being with the vehicle in the Bogata area? We don't know. Was she still in the vehicle when her phone pings registered in Pattonville & near Paris later in the day on the 4th? We don't know. LE says she was no longer with the car around Bogata but gives no clarification as to why or if her phones stayed with her or in her car. Maybe she had one & another was in her car? We don't know.

I write all this simply to point out that all the conjecture in the world is pretty meaningless without better clues.

Others may disagree but before asking a question, it would be helpful to share a theory about her travel path that supports that question. Until we know an assumption has a logical basis, I'm not sure it adds anything of probative value.

YMMV
Strictly MOO