I have never heard it was perpendicular, only parallel, but perhaps the terms are being used interchangeably in this case. Whatever the case, I think there was another car there and HE may not have been in either.
But in regard to the big picture, although I have my own thoughts about what might have happened, the gaps in the timeline are frustrating and make any number of scenarios possible until LE tells us more, or something starts moving with this case. She may have had more phone contact than is being released, and may have talked to someone after the roommate, plus we don't know know when the car appeared. So there are many possibilities. An encounter at/outside of her residence that went poorly and things developed further with her being taken to another location; her driving somewhere to meet someone where things escalated because emotions got out of hand, then she was taken somewhere else. She was intentionally lured by a person of trust for the express purpose of doing harm to her. Or, she did in fact drive herself to the landing to meet someone where things went off the rails, and she's at another location. I personally don't feel she's in the immediate area of her car, but who knows. And I just don't think she drove there. JMO.
So the position of the car may not tell a story until some blanks are filled in.