Alright. So, I may just be talking to myself here, but thought I'd at least post some thoughts so far:
I spent a very restless night going over and over all of this in my head. (Don't worry, I'm a famous insomniac, even without any of my physical issues!
) I had many ideas, questions, concerns, thoughts, etc., swim through my head all night long, and I won't go into them all here as many are still percolating and need time to gestate. (Mixed metaphor much? HA!)
Anyway, there were many things that struck me odd in having the luxury of sitting down and reading months and months of all of the research, thoughts, conclusions, and work you all did at the time in one fell swoop. (One thing I didn't have access to were the vast majority of the news articles and other links included in the postsI've pulled up some in the "wayback machine" but not enough.)
First, I do find MG and CS rather suspicious. I referred to them as the "scam duo" last night, but I still don't know if they were scamming Heather or what. I think Heather was a very open person who likely made friends easilywhich is something that is actually relatively hard to do in Oregon (or at least to make friends in the way that most people I've met from pretty much anywhere in the US outside of the Pacific NW are used to).
As someone who is from Oregon originally, if you aren't from there it can be REALLY hard to make friends. It's difficult to explain, but people in Oregon are really friendly but it takes awhile to get close to people, especially to be invited over to people's homes. I try to compare it to France, where you have close friends but you only meet them at the cafeto get invited to someone's home for dinner in France is a rare gift indeed. In Oregon, people are friendly and open, but they also mind their own business and generally keep to themselvesand home is sacred (at least for native Oregonians). So when people come from out-of-state, especially from places where it's easy to make fast friends, it can be a bit of a strange place. People in OR are so friendly and helpful, but then it doesn't translate from "hey, nice to meet you" into "hey, why don't you come over for coffee".
It's hard to explain, but I could see Heather, coming from Vegas (a place where it's definitely easy to make fast friends!) feeling out of sorts when she got to Roseburg. Not only is it a small community, but it's also Oregonvery different from Vegas or the midwest. While I'm sure she was welcomed into the smaller Wiccan community with open arms, it's still an
Oregon community, which as friendly as they all probably were, it does take awhile to get close to native Oregonians. So she was probably reaching out to whomever she could in order to establish a base of friends within her community. MG and CS may have seemed like surrogate parents or grandparents, harmless, welcoming and open, and from what I've read they were both originally from out-of-state as well. So I could see a fast connection forming there when, if you're not a native Oregonian and don't understand the strange and delicate "friendship dance" we so love to do, it can be a bit of a lonely place. It's a huge part of what gives Oregon it's charm, allure, and mystery, and why so many celebrities have homes therebecause they know they'll be treated like regular people and generally be left alone, especially at home!
OK, so that said, I'd still like to know if the police interviewed CS and MG, and if they interviewed each of them only once or on multiple occasions. According to stitches, in the short time he was around CS her story seemed to change so I can only imagine what LE would have thought during the course of an interview. Since CS is supposedly the one who called in that she was missing, I would think that LE would have interviewed her on at least a few occasions. I would love to know what their thoughts are on her, what she said during those interviews, and if her story ever waivered.
Same goes for MG. I can understand if CS was in Roseburg and MG was in N. Bend why he would urge CS to go check on Heather, I can buy that. I can even buy that CS wasn't sure she should even go over there in the first placethere are times that my mom is just as indecisive and worries about things that she shouldn't worry about, so then she second guesses herself when she is worried about something and things she shouldn't be worried when she actually should! I could also see that if CS originally went over alone, found the truck there and the door open, with the house being pretty isolated, why she wouldn't do a very complete search. As a woman, I'd be a bit freaked out to go in and search the house alone. I could also give reasonable doubt as to CS and MG being involved in Heather's death WRT their searching the house and not finding her: given the area and the general feel of the larger community, I would be hesitant as a person of color to go poking around too much for fear that if something bad did happen it could get pinned on me. Hell, even as a caucasian woman I'd be afraid of having something pinned on me! On the other hand, I can also see them going in and stomping around to muck up the crime scene if one or both of them were somehow responsible or at least accessories to the murder.
I just want to say that I don't know what happened. I'm not defending anyone here, I don't know why anyone did what they did or didn't do. I know how my brain works and what I would do in most situations, but I don't know how these two would act/operate since we know next to nothing about either of them and what we do know is hearsay at best. So please understand, if anyone is reading this, I am in no way trying to offend, upset, or hurt anyone with what I'm writing here. This is more of a brain dump of everything that's been going around my brain, given that I was able to take in months and months of amazing work that you all did in one sitting. And as for my comments about Roseburg, it is a beautiful town, in a very beautiful part of my home state. I don't mean any offense to anyone from that area, nor do I mean any offense to local law enforcement. I have generations of relatives in law enforcement and I have the utmost respect for everything LE does for us every single day.
So, again, I do apologize, many times over, if anything I've written above or may write as I go along is hurtful or upsetting. It's not at all intended to be. It's just my thoughts and questions that I've had swirling around as I'm trying to process this and look at it from some angles that I don't think have been vetted yet.
OK, so, please keep my apology in mind as I get to this next part. And again, this is not an accusation, or meant to be hurtful to anyone. I have a background in psychology, and am an attorney by trade, and am very good at reading people. I am also a great ghost writersomething required in my profession, particularly in my speciality, as I would have to write many things in the "voice" of various partners, and also be able to write to any given audience. So I do pay particularly close attention to one's voice on the page, if you will, as you can tell a lot about a person just from how they write.
So
some questions came up. First off, we had four individuals posting as people who knew Heather. I don't see any of them as being verified, but from what I read I think the information provided was good. I do think that the information provided by these people, however, raised some interesting questions.
xdeadboltx mentioned in her second post (#85, pg 6) that she would have to talk to Dave before revealing where Heather was found. I believe she mentioned saying she'd have to talk to Dave in a couple of other posts as well before revealing certain information. So obviously the family and close friends do have information that was not publicly known. I understand not letting us know at the time, but given that the investigation has stalled, I'm wondering if any of these people would be willing to share this information now.
The same can be said for Only71Stitches. He said in post #136 (pg 10) that "I really wish I could share the details of the crime with you all" but didn't want to get in the way of the detectives. I can understand at the time, when the case was being actively worked on not being at liberty to share any informationhowever, I'm wondering if now, after all these years and given that LE hasn't been forthcoming with any other information, if there's anything you could share?
You also mentioned an article in the Roseburg Beacon. I haven't been able to find it yet (though they have a website now), but I have reached out to a group in the area who might be able to track down the original article. If I'm able to get my hands on it, I'll post it here.
Now for the tricky part: dcc66. Very knowledgeable, and appears to have been the last person on the phone with Heather before she was killed. DCC66 says she met Heather through Keen, and they became fast friends. I'm not doubting that they were friends, that they were talking, or anything like that. I do have to wonder, though, and PLEASE UNDERSTAND, I mean NO OFFENSE by asking this: I'm not entirely sure DCC66 is who they say they are. I entirely believe DCC66 was someone very close to Heather, but I don't think it's someone who met her on Keen from a reading. I could be entirely wrong, but please hear me out.
1. The join date was within a day or so of stitchescoincidence, perhaps, since the investigation was active at the time. But taken with the rest of this it leads me to believe that DCC66 wasn't a stranger to the rest of the family.
2. DCC tended to post a lot of information that would be known to very close friends and family, which perhaps Heather did share with someone she did a reading for over the phone, but I'm not so sure. DCC also said that Heather didn't give her address or phone number to any other Keen clients other than DCC, so why DCC? And why share all of this really personal information, including sending photos?
3. DCC tended to post relatively near the times that stitches posted, and often said things that supported things stitches said, or added additional information. Which leads me to believe that since stitches identified himself as Michael, he was no longer at liberty to necessarily share all of the information he may have wanted to share with the group; and while X also seemed privy to much of the same information, after identifying herself as well, she was under similar constraints. However, as a relatively anonymous client of Heather's, DCC was able to provide us with more information, despite being the last person to speak with Heather that day.
4. In looking at the grammar, syntax, punctuation, sentence structure, and overall voice, there is an eery similarity between what stitches posted and what DCC posted. I'm not saying that they were the same personbut I'm just kind of wondering if DCC is either MT or DT???
Now, I'm not saying that DCC isn't exactly who she said she is, but the writing style alone is quite unique. Anyway, I'm not trying to be hurtful or offend anyonein looking back over everything, I'm just trying to determine how much weight to give to each of these people's statements. None were verified, but it seemed like the group was very confident with X and alar. There was no reason to doubt Stitches, and I've tracked down some of his postings to his blog after Heather's deaththe writing style matches exactly. Same syntax, grammar, punctuation, spelling errors, sentence structure, etc.
However, DCCwe don't know. And DCC makes some pretty compelling statements about MG and CS. But if DCC really was a client from Keen who became friends with Heather, to the point that they would talk multiple times each day, exchange pictures, had a "routine", and happened to be the last person Heather spoke to on the day of her murder, then it takes us down one road of who our potential suspects could be. But if DCC really is someone much closer, but said the thing about Keen in order to share more info with the hopes that the community here might be able to solve the case, then it would take us down a different path of potential suspects.
Honestly, if I were who I think DCC is, I might have done the same thing if I thought it would help. If I thought the case was going nowhere but there was a community of people who were trying to help, and I knew I couldn't say who I really was, I would have come up with a quick, believable cover story, just to get the important info out there.
So, once again, I truly apologize if I hurt anyone with my thoughts here. That wasn't my intent at all. I'm just hoping that maybe some fresh eyes and a different perspective might shed some new light or uncover something that might just help solve Heather's tragic death.
Anyone is more than welcome to PM me. (At this point I may not have posted enough quite yet to receive PMs, but if not, I'll keep posting and just keep trying!)
Thanks all! More to come...