From LE's "time line" press conference:
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Wednesday, Jan. 25
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Dakota James and several co-workers attend happy hour at 5 p.m. at Bar Louie in Station Square. They leave around 7:30 p.m.
Dakota James leaves Bar Louie with a female co-worker, who is not suspected of any wrong doing, gets on the T.
From the Gateway Plaza, they walk to Diamond Market in Market Square.
They tabbed out of the Diamond Market at 9:27 p.m. He then sends a text to a coworker saying they were going to walk to the 941 Saloon on Liberty Avenue.
They stay at the 941 Saloon until 10:27 p.m. He and his coworker then walk to Images Bar, which is also on Liberty Avenue.
They were not there long as the bartender refused to serve them. They left around 10:30 p.m. As he and his co-worker walk toward the Wood Street T Station, James' co-worker uses a cellphone app to get a ride home for herself. James did not stay with her while she waited for the car. She was picked up at 11:49 at the Wood Street Station.
There is an odd disconnect in the presented timeline. It could be purposeful, a ridiculous mistake or lousy investigative work. What happened to the missing one hour? Where does it fit in to the timeline?
I believe it was purposeful. By the time LE presented the "timeline" press conference LE was well-aware of the timeline and determined that whatever happened to DJ occurred after certain time points which LE is reluctant to publicize in the event DJ's gone missing was a result of "foul play" and they have to interrogate a perp and obtain times and locations. Whatever the scenario, this timeline is clouded.
Saturday, Jan. 28
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During the early morning, the Official Missing Person report was filed.
Detectives begin contacting people who had been in contact with James the night he went missing and his parents. His cellphone records were requested.
At 4:23 p.m., a media release was issued alerting the public about the investigation. The information is also posted to social media.
At 9:50 p.m., River Rescue conducts the first of its daily searches along the Monongahela River near the Point and areas below I-376.
Why would LE begin search in the Monongahela River? No explanation from LE. We might assume it was based on what LE knew at the time, that reports may have indicated DJ was last seen (not necessarily on video) walking generally southwestward in downtown. It is not until two days later that LE requests video from the Cultural District, a location in the opposite direction (northward from Liberty Ave.) from where downtown borders the Monongahela River.
Monday, Jan. 30
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An email was sent to a social network app that Dakota used explaining the exigent circumstances of the investigation and requesting their assistance.
Dakota James' mother shared contact information of someone who reached out to them saying they had communicated with her son on the same social network app.
Others contacted include the Parking Authority, Point Park University Police, and Port Authority Police.
Tuesday, Jan. 31
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A search warrant was prepared and sent for the records of the social networking app that Dakota used.
Reached out to the Cultural Trust for access to their cameras.
LE first requested info from the "social network app" that DJ had used but it seems the "social network app" required for LE to obtain a search warrant. I expect such a policy is for the protection of their user's privacy and the "social network app" potential liability.
Also note LE was made aware of a user (of the same "social network app") who had communicated with DJ. It is not clear if that communication was previous to, on or after the day DJ went missing. We might assume the communication was the same day or close to the same day DJ went missing.
Wednesday, Feb. 1
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Revisited location of Ross Street tip and interviewed three individuals who were not sure if it was Dakota that they saw.
Recovered Dakota's personal laptop from his parents.
Picked up video from Port Authority showing Dakotas co-worker walking to the car that picked her up and getting in. James was not present. This enabled detectives to determine a list of businesses to approach for surveillance video.
Interesting that DJ's parents had DJ's laptop. Did LE ask the parents to retrieve it from his apartment or had they taken it when they first visited DJ's apartment for the welfare check? There probably is nothing to this other than to recognize LE did not maintain proper chain of custody of potential evidence at the beginning of this case.
This next point is key. When LE reported that DJ "was not present" when the co-worker was picked up by the Uber driver (as shown on video), they did not mean DJ
never appeared on video from the same camera / area, he just was not in the area @ 11:49 p.m. when Uber arrived.
We might assume the co-worker contacted for an Uber ride @ ~11:30 p.m. but this contradicts LE's presented timeline. If DJ did not "stay with the co-worker while she waited for Uber", what did the both of them, having gone their separate ways, do for an ~hour? It is only a few minutes walk from the Wood Street T Station to Katz Plaza / Scott Place, and this fits in with an 11:30 p.m. time point: DJ shows up o Katz Plaza @ 11:46 p.m. Is this accurate? More on this in the next item.
Friday, Feb. 3
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Received additional video showing Dakota walk past the Wood Street T Station toward 7th Street at 11:39 p.m.
James family meets with Major Crimes supervisors at police headquarters.
DJ is seen walking past the Wood Street T Station @ 11:39 p.m. According to LE, DJ and the co-worker left Images @ 10:30 p.m. Uber picks up the co-worker @ 11:49 p.m. This highlights the one hour discrepancy in the presented timeline. Did the co-worker have to wait one hour for an Uber and did DJ really stay with or otherwise keep an eye on the co-worker until the Uber arrived and she was safely on-board? While it is possible an Uber would not arrive for one hour, it is HIGHLY unlikely, especially in Pittsburgh where Uber maintains a strong presence with their piloting of driverless vehicles.
Major Crimes supervisors meeting with the family comes after LE obtained video from the Port Authority Cultural District and other locations. I believe the family was presented with video and / or LE's then-understanding of DJ's timeline and locations the evening of January 25. I do not expect the river was considered a primary focal point in the case although it was always a possibility from the beginning.
Monday, Feb. 6
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With the assistance of the Pennsylvania State Police, I conducted an aerial search of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers and shorelines with negative results.
Additional video was obtained from a passing Port Authority bus in which a glimpse of Dakota was detected crossing over Liberty near 7th. A canvas was conducted of businesses in that area and an image of Dakotas moccasins was seen walking along 7th Street toward Penn Avenue.
The 7th Street Bridge was again thoroughly checked with negative results.
Interviewed a person who communicated with Dakota on the social network app.
This was a key video that led LE to focus on the Cultural District and paths to the bridges / North Side.
Tuesday, Feb. 7
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Received two new videos from the Cultural Trust showing Dakota walk through Katz Plaza at approximately 11:46 p.m. We knew that Dakota had sent his father a text message at that approximate time. He is seen holding his phone in one video. When he enters the frame of the second video, he is walking down Scott Place toward Fort Duquesne Blvd. Puts his cellphone into the right pocket of his jacket. It is unclear if he walks to the right or to the left when he emerges onto Ft. Duquesne Blvd. Additional video does not show Dakota going across any bridge to the Northshore or doubling back on Scott Place.
Westmoreland County Coroner's Office lent their cadaver dog to search under the 6th Street Bridge along the downtown side. Two divers with River Rescue searched the area after the dog indicated that a body may have been in the water in that area. Negative results.
Canvass conducted of the area from 7th Avenue to the river including the entire length of the bridge. Spoke with construction crews. Additional business were contacted to collect surveillance video. Also visited businesses along the North Shore. All with negative results.
Met with Dakotas parents at police headquarters. Present were Director Hissrich, Chief Schubert, Cmdr. Barone, Cmdr. Bickerstaff, Lt. Joseph, myself, PIO Toler, Det. Hoebel, and three Computer Crimes detectives. Family viewed the new video from the Cultural Trust and agreed that the still photo of Dakota in Katz Plaza should be released to the media.
Issued update to media and posted to social media a news release containing the prementioned photo, along with two photos of Dakota without a hat, and a map tracing the path he is known to have taken through Downtown.
At this point LE is convinced DJ is in the river because he is shown as approaching on to FDB but not seen crossing any bridge on Port Authority's bridges videos. Why LE investigated along 7th Avenue to the Seventh Street Bridge is a mystery since DJ is shown in Katz Plaza, walking away from 7th Avenue. unless they wanted to be sure DJ did not backtrack from FDB to 7th Avenue.
The Katz Plaza video screen capture image was released to the public to show DJ as he appeared that evening and to show DJ's last 'known' location... perhaps a longshot to garner tips.
In summation, LE has video of DJ approaching on to FDB and no video of DJ crossing a bridge. The river runs between those points. Unless an evil lurker hides along FBD and surprises unsuspecting walking-homers with intent to toss them in to the river I suspect the situation was a drunken, tired and who-knows-what-he-was-thinking-about (text message to a family member and / or whatever else?) DJ ending up at least down by the river under his own power... perhaps ala Zachary Marr, but who knows how or why he entered the water?
