I'll mention again...SG was not found in the marsh where there may or may not have been just enough water to drown in. She was found half way up the rising bank along the ocean parkway where the ground is solid enough soil to support trees, bushes and there root systems. Not down on the muddy, swampy bottom which is, because of how it was formed, flat as a pancake. Meaning, if there's an inch of water at one end, there's an inch of water at the far other end also. and if there's no water, there's no water.
I really appreciate the dialogue. And I assure you I am not someone that ignores things that don't fit with a theory. I have no theory other than a firm belief SG was not a murder victim and LISK is not, and was never, a resident of Oak Beach. Accordingly focusing on OB does not advance the case. Hopefully we have some common ground here.
I understand what you are saying regarding where she was found and how the conditions there may differ. You may well be right. But I suspect even there under the "right" circumstances you will find at high tide pockets of water,and unfortunately that is all it would take. I also think Notorious has explained things very well vis a vis mud and dips in the ground. This would hold true even higher in the basin. And the terrain might slope irregularly.
I think the only way to know for sure would to be at the spot SG was found pre-drainage and see what happens at high tide on the same day. And none of us could or can do this.
Just want to add to this about the tides. The marsh area is much like a bay. It's not so much how high the water is but how deep the marsh floor is. Water is going to settle into every nook and cranny yet still appear flat on top. Many things could've gotten her. Shannon could've sunk into the muddy floor, got stuck and panicked. She could've fell in an area where the water was slightly deeper because there was a dip in the ground. The land in the marsh is by no means even. It's very possible she could've drown face up, even in low tide, depending on where she was and how far into the marsh she was.
Here are some sections from
Lost Girls:
"The largest marsh in Oak Beach—forty-nine acres, about the same size as the inhabitable portion of the community—borders Anchor Way, where Shannan was last seen, and Larboard Court, where the Hacketts live. With every storm, the marsh fills up like a bathtub with rainwater, then drains through pipes beneath the roads of Oak Beach, down toward the old Oak Beach Inn parking lot and eventually into the Fire Island Inlet. At least that’s what is supposed to happen. In reality, the pipes get crushed by storms or clogged with sediment, and the marsh fills even higher, until the ground starts to look like muck and the cordgrass and reeds and poison ivy grow so thick that no resident would ever try to hack through it.
They found her purse first, with her identification inside. Then they went back and found a phone, some shoes, and a torn pair of jeans.
They could get in now because of the repairs, which had drained the marsh for the first time in decades. Inspector Stuart Cameron of the Suffolk County police said that the pipe “drastically increased our visibility in there and assisted us in being able to find things.”
The police chose that day, December 6, to search the marsh because the tide seemed low. They used a large amphibious vehicle for the densest areas and cut new trails with a brush hog, a rotary mower with blades on hinges so they bounced up and over rocks and stumps. Ten officers went in on foot behind he vehicles, using brush cutters—high-powered WeedWackers—to clear paths. A dozen more came in with dogs. Rounding out the search party were six emergency services personnel and three members of the crime-scene unit. A few of the officers used metal detectors in the muck.
Some of them reported working in waist-deep water and getting stuck."
If after drainage the police are still working in waist-deep water in some parts of the marsh at low tide(!!) I would suggest that even higher up in the basin during the Spring and Summer you will find at least some pockets of water/areas of mud deep enough to account for SG's death. Just takes one pocket of deep mud or a few inches in a pool.
I will ask you this MCME, in the spirit of collegiality - if there was no water to be found in the area where SG was discovered, why would the police advance the POSSIBILITY of drowning? (I have a high opinion of the police and detectives here. YMMV.)
https://www.longislandpress.com/2013/05/01/shannan-gilberts-disappearance-three-years-later/
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[FONT="]Investigators said her death was likely an accidental drowning, although the medical examiner could not determine an actual cause of death from Shannan’s hair and bones, the only pieces that remained of her body when it was found one year later.[/FONT]
[COLOR=#464646 !important][FONT="]But there are certain facts that, at least publicly, have yet to be reconciled by police.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#464646 !important][FONT="]Shannan’s pocketbook, jeans, shoes and lip gloss were found in the marsh near Anchor Way, near the area residents of Oak Beach reported last seeing her. If Shannan’s remains were found with these items, the accidental drowning theory would make sense. But they weren’t.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#464646 !important][FONT="]
Shannan’s body was found on the other side of the marsh, which means she would have had to travel a quarter of a mile by foot, wading through areas of waist-high water, through the quicksand-like areas and towering reeds of the marsh. She would also have had to unbuckle her sandals and maneuver out of her tight-fitting jeans near the beginning of this journey.
If this did happen, and Shannan traveled a quarter of a mile through the marsh half naked, why did she accidentally drown only 100 feet away from the safety of Ocean Parkway in shallow water?"[/FONT][/COLOR]
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