PA PA - Kortne Ciera Stouffer, 21, Palmyra, 29 July 2012 - #6

[turanna25]

He told investigators he couldn’t find Stouffer anywhere. He was recorded on camera at a nearby convenience store, which showed him sending her a text message.

I wonder how far the convenience store was from Kortne's apartment.. and did he walk or drive?

 

[J. J. in Phila]

I wonder how far the convenience store was from Kortne's apartment.. and did he walk or drive?

It was a restaurant, Funck's. It was about 950 feet down the street.

 

[turanna25]

It was a restaurant, Funck's. It was about 950 feet down the street.

Thanks J.J. I totally forgot. So, it wasn't far at all from her apartment. Wonder why he tried to call her while at the restaurant.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Thanks J.J. I totally forgot. So, it wasn't far at all from her apartment. Wonder why he tried to call her while at the restaurant.

To ask her if she wanted something or if she wanted to join him?

One think I noticed from the article is that LE still has her car. I'd lay odds that there was some evidence in or on the car and that what ever happened to her happened outside the apartment.

 

[Trackergd]

Funcks is near her apartment and has really good breakfast. Was not aware that LE still had the car. The fact it is still in evidence supports J.J.'s theory. If the friend sending her the text was staged for both the cell record and the CCTV camera footage, the friend is a bit more savvy about forensics than about 70% of the population.

 

[JerseyGirl]

A lantern release was held at her father's farm over the weekend in memory of her. The Lebanon County District Attorney is not calling her case "cold, however, investigators are no closer to figuring out what happened to Stouffer today, than they were seven years ago.

A $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, still stands.

Kortne Stouffer still missing 7 years later; family still hopeful for answers

She vanished from her apartment, didn’t meet family at the Lebanon Area Fair, so they went to check on her. They found her cell phone plugged into the wall and other personal belongings, but no Kortne.

Kortne’s parents receive an update every week from the Lebanon District Attorney’s Office. The Stouffers have a private investigator too.

Seven years after Kortne Stouffer disappeared, her family is celebrating her life, searching for answers

Parents, investigators still searching seven years after Pennsylvania woman Kortne Stouffer disappeared

Family holds onto hope 6 years after Kortne Stouffer's disappearance | News | witf.org

 

[NoV\]

I can think of very few reasons why someone would leave his or her apartment in the early morning hours. In PA, we can rule out a liquor run. The state stores are closed. Food/cigarettes would be possible, but in a smallish town, they don't have too many open all night. How close are the Scheetz and Turkey Hill stores; is the latter open 24 hours? What, in walking distance is open late on a Saturday night?

According to her mother: "Her keys were there. Her phone was plugged in next to the bed."

Yeah, I don't know who leaves their keys and phone behind to go for a late night trip to the convenience store, especially as a female. As well as their dog?

 

[J. J. in Phila]

According to her mother: "Her keys were there. Her phone was plugged in next to the bed."

Yeah, I don't know who leaves their keys and phone behind to go for a late night trip to the convenience store, especially as a female. As well as their dog?

If the phone wasn't charged, that could be a reason why it wasn't taken. A dead phone is a dead phone. Keys are a bit more problematic.

I'm thinking of Stouffer going just outside with someone, maybe for a private conversation.

 

[msphilosopher]

Initially hearing this story, I was very suspicious of the neighbors.

Now I feel Kortne was surrounded by some people who didn't have her best interests at heart and the fight with the neighbors is/was a red herring.

I feel the break-in to her apartment the week prior is somehow linked to her disappearance.

 

[msphilosopher]

delete - duplicate

 

[NoV\]

If the phone wasn't charged, that could be a reason why it wasn't taken. A dead phone is a dead phone. Keys are a bit more problematic.

I'm thinking of Stouffer going just outside with someone, maybe for a private conversation.

Yes, I would agree that would be the most probable scenario especially if there were no signs of a struggle, break-in, or noise complaint, although there is the possibility that investigators could have overlooked the scene. As well as it was disturbed by the friend leaving, and mother entering.

 

[Moonbeam456]

I think the guy that spent the night at her apartment either did something to her or knows what happened. If she went out and confronted the neighbor and an violent altercation took place, there would’ve been noise, other neighbors would have heard it.

 

[NoV\]

I think the guy that spent the night at her apartment either did something to her or knows what happened. If she went out and confronted the neighbor and an violent altercation took place, there would’ve been noise, other neighbors would have heard it.

Not necessarily. There have been many places I have lived where noise or altercations late at night were either slept through or not taken seriously. The amount of times we’ve heard shouting or screams that turned out to be neighbors drunk and disorderly were in the double digits.

Even so, altercations aren’t always audible if someone were to incapacitate a female weighing very little (which wouldn’t be difficult to achieve). Even a yelp or knocked over pot plant would likely not stir neighbors that late in the evening.

Edited to include footnote:
This is based on the theory that she would have been assaulted or abducted outside of her home .

 

[sleepysleuth]

I feel like if the friend that stayed the night had anything to do with the disappearance, he would have lied to police and said she was still in bed when he left that morning. This would have given a larger window for her to “disappear”.

I also find myself believing him when he says that he slept through her leaving. By all accounts he had probably only been asleep about two hours and I know from my own sleeping patterns that 2 hours in tends to be my heaviest sleep. You could probably have a full on marching band come through my bedroom and I’d be none the wiser.

The theory that I lean towards is that she was still very intoxicated and decided to walk off to go find the boyfriend or do something equally nonsensical and was abducted by an unknown suspect.

 

[damitajo1]

Respectfully snipped.



I was thinking one where Stouffer was killed by accident during a kidnapping attempt.

Would there be a motive to kidnap here, e.g. the kidnapper(s) could extort money from wealthy parents.

Ransom kidnappings are extraordinarily rare. Multiple men around one woman ending up with a missing woman usually has nothing to do with money, but with sex, drugs, etc. People have debated whether CP could have moved her out of the apartment. Judging from his appearance on Facebook, I would say absolutely. It seems that he and the other male friend have both moved out of Pennsylvania. And that last 911 call could have been a result of CP attacking her. Another possibility - some people say she's a smoker. Did she smoke outside or in the apartment? If she went back outside for a smoke, she would have had another opportunity for contact with the downstairs neighbors. She could have gone down there on her own without smoking, because she was still angry and drunk. Either the neighbors or the friends did this.

 

[damitajo1]

The theory that I lean towards is that she was still very intoxicated and decided to walk off to go find the boyfriend or do something equally nonsensical and was abducted by an unknown suspect.

He was in jail. It would be really weird for her to go walking to look for him -- especially when the altercation with the neighbors happened because she thought he was going to be incarcerated for a long period of time due to them reporting him.

 

[damitajo1]

It seems mostly likely that the banging around that the neighbor heard was actually a scuffle between Kortne and her friend which resulted in Kortne's death. In other words, the neighbor heard Kortne's murder at the hands of this "friend," likely by suffocation, which would not require much cleanup. Then when the police came, the killer stayed quiet and lucked out when the officer didn't demand to enter. Either that, or he had already left to dispose of the body.

According to the parents on the "Disappeared" episode, the 29-yr-old "friend" was interested in Kortne, but she didn't share the same feelings. She may have rejected his advances which angered him, and already drunk with his inhibitions down further, he killed her in a rage.

This makes the most sense to me. I was on his FB page, and judging from his pics, he really likes small blonde women. He is large enough to have dominated her. I really think he did it and had the other friend help dispose of the body. Both of them have moved out of Pennsylvania.

 

[damitajo1]

The problems with somebody attacking Stouffer in the house are:

1. Her dog was there and neither attacked the the strangler nor barked.
2. I don't know if the friend had a vehicle, so it would difficult moving a body.
3. I think that there was about a 3 hour gap between the friend going out for breakfast. That is not a lot of time to move a body and clean up anything that might have needed it.

If the dog already knew the killer, the dog would not bark. The dog would be used to the two of them interacting, and banging noises wouldn't necessarily startle a dog if there weren't any strangers in the house.

The friend could have called a buddy to help move the body.

Three hours is PLENTY of time to move a body. Plenty. And if the death was by strangulation, there wouldn't be much to clean up. Also, the cops didn't go into the house until the next week. So, cleanup didn't have to be done within the 3 hour window you say is the timeline.

 

[damitajo1]

But no one saw anything and obviously she left the house at some point before her mom came looking for her. No matter what the scenario was that ended with her disappearing, the fact of the matter remains that no one saw anything. That means no one was awake or around to witness anything at that time.

The fact that people could have easily seen into the yard is moot, because no one saw anything, whatever happened.

No one is admitting to seeing anything.

A trunk of a car won't get the body down the stairs. The problem is getting the body to the car.

There is just too much against the "killed in the apartment" scenario.

Cody did pass a polygraph, and while not absolute, they only register false negatives less than 10% of the time. Further, it wasn't Cody's idea to stay and it wasn't due any intoxication. The conflict with the neighbor happened at around 3:00 AM, and that is what caused him to stay.

What I am wondering about is possibly buying, or selling, marijuana or some other substance. She told her mother that the reason her apartment was robbed was because someone was looking for marijuana.

I could see a situation where someone involved in a transaction came to the door and Stauffer said, **My friend Cody is here, and I don't want him to see this. Let's do this in my/your car.**

On the Disappeared episode, the officers said they were not going to say anything about the polygraph results; they also refused to say who took the tests. Where did you see that Cody took and passed a test? Also, how do you account for the disturbance in her apartment? Does that mean anything to you?

 

[damitajo1]

If it happened in the apartment, these things had to happen:

1. The dog didn't react.

2. Stouffer didn't resist or make any noise.

3. Whatever happened was bloodless.

4. Stouffer's body had to be removed from the apartment.

Finally, unless Cody was involved:

5. The perpetrator didn't wake up Cody.

Even taking #5 off the list, that is still a tall order.

Dogs usually don't bark at people they know.....They knew CP.
The neighbor reported a disturbance upstairs (so how can you say she "didn't resist or make any noise").
Strangulation is often bloodless.
Moving a petite person isn't as cumbersome as you describe it. People are often removed from crime scenes without any trace. Kortne is 5'8, 110 lbs. This is not a bulky person. Unless the stairway out of the apartment is extraordinarily narrow, it is absolutely possible to remove her without scuff marks. I have had large pieces of furniture delivered to an upstairs apartment in a stairway without the hallway being marred by scuff marks. If movers can bring in a large sofa without damaging a hallway, moving out a slender woman can be accomplished without damage as well.