If I lived in Northampton County, I would not drive all way to Palmyra for a fix. There are so many closer places to go.
For sure, I hear what you are saying, there isn't really a connection, just a piece or two in common. This was ten years ago though, which is a long time ago in the opiate epidemic, almost a million overdose deaths ago, idk what it was like in Northampton and Palmyra back then for availability, maybe you or someone else does.
The theory wouldn't necessarily be that BK went to Palmyra for a fix, it would be that he targeted her bc he's a murderer and that somehow, someway, their paths crossed in the drug world and he took her. I know it's a stretch.
I wouldn't consider him a suspect, just someone to cross off the list.
My random guesses and personal opinions are (in order of most likely):
1. AB drug debt theory;
2. CP:
3. MR;
4. human trafficking; or
5. Some combination of all the above.
Or, it could have been a more random scenario and none of the above.
The strange thing in these years-long missing persons cases where foul play is involved is it's tempting to say "what are the odds that a serial killer/acquaintance/drug connection/whatever happened to disappear someone right in this specific window of time and no one's found the body/gotten arrested for it/left evidence."
It's a strange and tragic scenario for sure, but we know a decade has gone by and Kortne is gone. So the logical thinking can almost be flipped on its head, from my perspective it's more like "This really low-frequency should-never-have-happened thing happened, so how do we explain it."
It's like that Sherlock Holmes quote (I know he's a fictional character, but I think this holds up):
“When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
I think it helps put perspective on these really tough missing persons cases. Like in Maura Murray's case, there's like a 2 min window or something when she gets in an accident on a remote highway in NH between when witnesses see her and when she seemingly disappears off the face of the Earth.
It's tempting to say "What are the odds some bad actor took her in those two mins, she wandered off in the woods and her body's never been found, or she left to start a new life and has never been found?" In a vaccuum, almost zero. But in Maura's case, 100% because she's gone and it's got to be one of the above.
I digress, but that case is different because there's a real lack of actual suspects and basically all of the theories sound like conspiracy theories or totally illogical.
Here, we've got more going for us because:
1. We know exactly who she was last seen with;
2. There was recent LE contact;
3. We know that got into conflicts and had certain people threaten her that night; and
4. We know that she was involved in drugs and had people break into her apartment in the weeks leading up to her disappearance once, if not twice. and she and her bf reported that a cash counting machine was stolen.