PA PA - Lauren Pico Jackson, 5, Spring City, 4 Oct 1988

[Trackergd]

If you read the open letter that Mom wrote, it's obvious that she knew this little girl was gone.

Not searching for her when alive and not acknowledging her when dead tells me everything I need to know.

I try to keep an open mind, even this may years later. Every time I think I have figured something out, I am reminded I'm not as smart as I think I am.

At some point I will do what is called a "fishbone" chart with all the variables and see if the answer jumps out at me. I do this at work all the time and it's a useful tool...root cause analysis.

 

[rosesfromangels]

I try to keep an open mind, even this may years later. Every time I think I have figured something out, I am reminded I'm not as smart as I think I am.

At some point I will do what is called a "fishbone" chart with all the variables and see if the answer jumps out at me. I do this at work all the time and it's a useful tool...root cause analysis.

Can I relate. There was a case I was 100% sure of who the Perp was. 100%, no doubt whatsoever. Short story, I was absolutely wrong and it certainly rightsized me and my thinking has definately changed as a result.

 

[Sleuthster]

This case reminds me of a movie I saw on tv recently, Gone Baby Gone.

I have a strong feeling that she could still be out there alive. Seems like father was very concerned and proactive for some time but I don't see that mom or maternal family was interested in searching for her. Correct me if I'm wrong. Something doesn't jive with the whole situation.

Also, I just can't see a pedophile walking almost a mile with her to a hotel where the trail ends in the parking lot. I know not every case is the same, but when has a sex offender walked a great distance to abduct a child and then walked back with the child to where he parked his car? Leaves the chance of him being seen with the child walking for sometime with her. Doesn't make sense to me. Makes more sense that it was someone she knew. Family member or even a close friend of family that she trusted. Usually predators are driving around looking for a child to grab from their yard or riding their bike,etc.

 

[UKgirl]

Such a sad case. I have this feeling that the grandparents were involved and she has had a great life living with them since. I really hope this is the case.

So interesting about the footprints. Its amazing how you can find out so much about it.

The mother obit stood out for me too. Perhaps both parents knew later on what had happened and accepted it.

 

[KariKae]

If you believe the abductor to be male, then the shoe size and weight projection suggest a teenager to me.

Regarding the perp being associated with the school and who still lives around there, I would be equally interested in knowing who moved in that timeframe.

Your insights are truly incredibke and fascinating. Thank you!

It could be a teenager or it could be somebody with a small frame due to drug abuse.

I was not able to access all of the articles, but did the mother have a habit of leaving her to play outside alone?

 

[rosesfromangels]

I don't know how I missed reading a couple of the early posts from a few years back, but I just got to them, and have a couple more thoughts.

First, I hope the older sister isn't still holding guilt for the disappearance of her younger sister. A twelve year old is not responsible for another child's well being, the mother is. It sounds like the twelve year old had a lot of responsibility on her shoulders. I hope she understands this is not her fault, and she should be relieved of that guilt. God Bless her!

Second, I just picked up on the fact there were patients living in that apartment complex from a (then) recently shut down mental health facility. This is obviously a red flag, and I certainly hope these individuals were thoroughly interviewed.

While my instincts tell me the mother wasn't directly involved, I would highly suspect her lifestyle choices, including her associates, might have significantly contributed to this crime.
Unlike others, I do not believe she is with relatives and living a great life since, although that would be a wonderful outcome.

I am interested in learning more about the tip that came from the psychic, and the apparent lead that came out of it. (Some farm close by with a red barn etc. ) Any additional insights on that Tracker? I think there is definitely something there. It's setting off flags for me.

Finally, the notion that someone walked with her a mile was being discounted. I think the tracks have already reinforced that? And I understand that sounds a little odd for "a get away", but Tracker indicated the larger set of tracks were walking close to bushes & trees. To hide, we can assume. And while I agree it wasn't necessarily a slick get away, it did work. They must have known the time, the route, and the probability of discovery. Or, it could have been someone with an altered state of reality who didn't weigh those possibilities? Whoever it was, she knew them.

What adults was she quite familiar with living at that apartment complex? The older sister would know. I would suggest there is a very high probability that you will find your Perp right there.

 

[KariKae]

Finally, the notion that someone walked with her a mile was being discounted. I think the tracks have already reinforced that? And I understand that sounds a little odd for "a get away", but Tracker indicated the larger set of tracks were walking close to bushes & trees. To hide, we can assume. And while I agree it wasn't necessarily a slick get away, it did work. They must have known the time, the route, and the probability of discovery. Or, it could have been someone with an altered state of reality who didn't weigh those possibilities? Whoever it was, she knew them.

What adults was she quite familiar with living at that apartment complex? The older sister would know. I would suggest there is a very high probability that you will find your Perp right there.

Although I have not read it anywhere, I would suspect whoever took her was an acquaintance of the mother. I would also suspect this person knew the mother would not check on her for a while.

 

[Trackergd]

I am interested in learning more about the tip that came from the psychic, and the apparent lead that came out of it. (Some farm close by with a red barn etc. ) Any additional insights on that Tracker? I think there is definitely something there. It's setting off flags for me.

I am curious about that. I have some suspicions that I am going to check out Sunday if possible. I only live 30-40 min from there.

A red building/barn, something orange, numbers and dogs barking. She told me I could not see Lauren because there was "flames" or "fire" between us, but in time I would. I have no idea what that means, but I have it in my note book.

I think the tracks have already reinforced that?.

Yes, verified by two different bloodhounds.

 

[Trackergd]

So interesting about the footprints. Its amazing how you can find out so much about it.

There is now a tracking question thread in general discussions. Feel free to ask anything you want there.

 

[rosesfromangels]

I haven't heard anything new on her case unfortunately. I think at the time she went missing she was scheduled to have surgery on her eyes. She was born with water on the brain and it had effected her eyes. It is just so sad. I am a few years old than her but I remember playing at the playground that was on the school yard that buts up against the Park Springs property the day she went missing. There used to be a little marshy area where I used to catch butterflies, and near there was a little building that teenagers would hang out in and drink and look at dirty magazines they found. Also I vaguely remember a large tree with a huge manhole cover nearby that we used to use a "base" while playing tag. I think after work I will take a walk up to the playground and see if anything still exists. The school has built softball fields in the area. I can see her playing at the playground as I am sure she did since there really isn't much in the area to do when you are young (probably why she was last seen digging in the dirt with spoons) so the playground was "the place" to play and hang out.

I still don't think the notion of the Perp being a teenager should be discounted completely. Read this post above from 2007.

 

[rosesfromangels]

So I am completely fixated on this farm with the red barn that has been mentioned. Something orange (like a tractor?) and something to do with fire that is keeping you from seeing her. Well fire is used a lot on farms and mostly for disposal. The word fire could have been used figuratively as well...firearms, the 3 flames farm, and so forth.

Did the mother know anyone who worked at that farm? Some male friend? Were cadaver dogs ever taken out to that property? Can they still hit on remains even though it's been so many years?

Finally, was the child digging in the dirt with her old enough to give any info at all? Has she been contacted later in life and asked the same? We had a famous case out here in the bay area that a detective friend of mine worked on where a grown woman remembered a murder she had witnessed as a young child. It was very controversial.

 

[MadamReporter]

Finally, was the child digging in the dirt with her old enough to give any info at all? Has she been contacted later in life and asked the same? We had a famous case out here in the bay area that a detective friend of mine worked on where a grown woman remembered a murder she had witnessed as a young child. It was very controversial.

Is the case you're talking about a little girl who saw her mother strangled?

 

[Kimster]

There is now a tracking question thread in general discussions. Feel free to ask anything you want there.

www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9718368

 

[rosesfromangels]

Is the case you're talking about a little girl who saw her mother strangled?

No. A woman who had a flashback of allegedly watching her father kill her playmate.

 

[IBsleuthin]

Based on plain old statistics, this abduction fits a whole lot of typical scenarios.

She was abducted less than 200 feet from her home and where she was last seen.

My opinion is that this was someone living right there at the time and could see her playing.

Crime of opportunity.

Interestingly enough the barn was about a mile away.

I would bring Cadaver dogs there and see what happens.

 

[IBsleuthin]

She could walk, and by the time of the search, she was mobile due to surgery. We did find it odd that there were very few available pictures of her. There was a lot more side wear on one shoe than there was on the other. When Tracking we use a number of measurements such as Stride (distance between the heel of of the leading foot to the toe of the lagging foot, the Pitch (angle in or out from center) of each foot and the Straddle (distance between the inside of the feet) in a normal walking speed. We use a "tracking stick" or ruler to record and then document these measurements. Besides the wear, the pitch on that foot was also more pronounced.

I would agree with you that abduction of a somewhat disabled child would appear to be out of the norm. All reports were that she was a very happy child, but was shy of strangers.

RBBM

With humbled respect I say that in these situations there is no 'norm' and I disagree.

Predators by nature pick on the weak and easy. She certainly would have been a target on sight.





Applying geographic profiling to this particular case almost makes it predictable.

 

[IBsleuthin]

Hypnosis for flashbacks needs to be performed by someone with an extraordinary amount of experience in order to not taint the memory. Very difficult to do and even then the memory needs to be viewed with skepticism.

If you have grown children, pick an event, a shared event from when they were very small and ask them to separately and independently, (no peeking or cheating) WRITE IT DOWN.

It might be something simple..."What color was the house we lived in in 1987?"


You will be amazed at what the 'child's eye' remembers and how it differs from child to child even though they were all right there.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Hypnosis for flashbacks needs to be performed by someone with an extraordinary amount of experience in order to not taint the memory. Very difficult to do and even then the memory needs to be viewed with skepticism.

If you have grown children, pick an event, a shared event from when they were very small and ask them to separately and independently, (no peeking or cheating) WRITE IT DOWN.

It might be something simple..."What color was the house we lived in in 1987?"


You will be amazed at what the 'child's eye' remembers and how it differs from child to child even though they were all right there.

Yes. A controversial topic. We all have different realities and perceptions. Add a childs lens and it gets very complex. Add time decay and its even more complex. That said, some children or people in general, have remarkable recall down to the slightest detail, even their emotional response, sounds, smells, etc. Its fascinating.

 

[Trackergd]

I drove all around the apartment complex, every back road including dead ends in a 10+ mile radius. I found two barns of suspicion and a fire trail or old farm road. I will walk the road as soon as the frost kills the vegetation and follow up at the farms. Lots of photographs with the I phone. I also drove over to the Vincent Motel...wow did that place go to heck. While taking a couple of pictures, a group of about 5 men who were working on a car in the parking lot moved in my direction...discretion being the better part of valor, I beat a hasty retreat. I talked to a number of older folks in nearby homes and they all had the impression she went to Florida. Not sure if that was the popular assumption or based on one news article of the time. All of them wished me good luck in finding her, they all remembered the case.

The overgrown access road seemed to draw my attention each time I drove by. One farm had a red roof on one of the buildings, and one concrete wall was painted a very old and faded orange. The other barn with a red roof had dilapidated and abandoned dog pens under an overhang.

 

[rosesfromangels]

I drove all around the apartment complex, every back road including dead ends in a 10+ mile radius. I found two barns of suspicion and a fire trail or old farm road. I will walk the road as soon as the frost kills the vegetation and follow up at the farms. Lots of photographs with the I phone. I also drove over to the Vincent Motel...wow did that place go to heck. While taking a couple of pictures, a group of about 5 men who were working on a car in the parking lot moved in my direction...discretion being the better part of valor, I beat a hasty retreat. I talked to a number of older folks in nearby homes and they all had the impression she went to Florida. Not sure if that was the popular assumption or based on one news article of the time. All of them wished me good luck in finding her, they all remembered the case.

The overgrown access road seemed to draw my attention each time I drove by. One farm had a red roof on one of the buildings, and one concrete wall was painted a very old and faded orange. The other barn with a red roof had dilapidated and abandoned dog pens under an overhang.

I have goosebumps. I feel like a spooky oaf, but every instinct I have is telling me you are definately close to something. The florida thing is a red herring. Follow your gut.
This is quite amazing following your retrace. Thank you for allowing us to virtually participate.