Cases like this could make one very bitter and distrusting of LE and legal processes...
Not accusing anyone of anything, but it is hard to understand why there wasn't a more diligent search early on (of the SM house, the lake house, and routes in between and around)...why MP's and Gail's computers and other electronic devices weren't seized (via search warrant)...why Gail's children have been kept away (by MP) from her family members...why Gail's children have not been allowed (by MP) to be questioned by LE (even tho they are allegedly to have been with her shortly before she disappeared)...etc., etc., etc..
Must say that I agree, Cazzie.
While I admit I'm a newbie to sleuthing and following a case like Gail's, it seems to me that something hasn't felt right about the way this has been handled. From the beginning.
We call it the "practice" of medicine because there are so many things we don't yet know about our bodies and medicine -- how and why certain things work, or don't work. Same thing goes for our legal system. If our system and rules are in place to seek truth and justice, I fear that in this particular case it has missed the mark. I think it misses a lot of the time as a matter of fact, and it seems that the more money one has and the better legal team one has, "things" seem to go your way more often than not.
One thing that bothers me about the way this case has been handled is this:
A person is/goes missing. No one (apparently) knows for certain that she did, just that she is no longer home.
And this is where the legalities bother me -- while "examining" evidence or shared marital properties, especially at this late date (today!), it is infuriating and disheartening to think of all the pain and suffering that might have been avoided IF the legal system had permitted Gail to be searched for from the very beginning. Just who decided that no, she just took off -- move along, nothing to see here. Not enough evidence. And, while I know it's hypothetical, let's imagine for a minute that Gail was separated or divorced from MP at the time she went missing. Who, legally speaking, would have OR could have made the decision that she was missing? Her children? Would they have called the Signal Mountain Police to say their mother hadn't come home? When would they have called? How many hours would pass before they became afraid something had happened to her? Would they tell the police they did not want the house or computers searched?
Would the police or judge have said, sorry kids, there's not enough compelling evidence to indicate any foul play so we'll just keep an eye out.
If LE has worked this case diligently from day one, then that's wonderful. If MP's attorneys and PI have searched for Gail from day one, that's wonderful too. But if they have, most people I know have seen no evidence of it.
Even in Biblical times, rules sometimes overtook reason and common sense. Maybe we've gone too far to protect some, and others become victims.
Praying extra hard for Gail and her children tonight.