TN - Gail Nowacki Palmgren, 44, Signal Mountain, 30 April 2011 - #6

[BeanE]

I noticed that Newschannel 9, on their main page, if you scroll down, has a missing persons section.

http://www.newschannel9.com/

If you click to the Missing Person page, it says that they will list any missing person in their viewing area, upon receipt of a color photo and a copy of the missing person report filed with a LE agency. They will also list at the request of LE.

If anyone is in touch with the family or LE, this would be an option for them to get Gail's picture out some more.

Here's the direct link to the Missing Person page:
http://www.newschannel9.com/sections/missing-persons/

All the contact info is there.

Their viewing area is the Chattanooga area. That's where their offices are, and their transmitter has been on Signal Mountain since 1958.

 

[fireflylink]

I've never understood why Gail didn't specify she was scared of Matt to her sister either, unless at the time she spoke to her, she was so scared she couldn't say it? Or it was just too difficult to admit that her marriage had fallen apart and her husband might be behind all these things that were happening to her (cars tailing her, etc)?

I thought she was close to her sister--especially since she didn't seem to have a close-knit social group in SM-- but apparently she didn't confide everything in her.

She seemed to have told people about the fact that she was being followed and she was scared but not vocal about any reason as to why she was being followed,by whom, or what she was scared of.

bolded by me.
As I recall, in earlier statements MP stated this. And, that she had been writing down tag numbers. This would leave me to believe that:
1) She was sharing this concern with him because she was scared and was reaching out to MP (there would of course, be considerations for the safety of the children if she was being followed).
or
2) In a round-about way, was letting MP know that SHE KNEW about the GF & (thinking that the GF was the one following her), possibly hoping he could put a stop to the following and strange car situation.

She told MP as well as others. MP stated she was writing down tag numbers, I hope LE has received copies of these if they were available.

 

[BeanE]

A teeny weeny nugget of info related to my post this morning about Gail & her sister talking on the phone the morning Gail disappeared.

There was a phone call between them at 6:30am.

Gail Nowacki Palmgren, 44, last spoke to her sister Diane Nichols around 6:30 a.m. April 30, telling her sister that she was leaving her Lake Jordan home heading to her home in Signal Mountain.

http://www.thewetumpkaherald.com/news/article_be9da4a6-832f-11e0-990c-001cc4c03286.html

If Gail left the lake house at 6:30am, it's a 4 hr 5 min drive according to Google Maps. That would put her back at the Signal Mountain house at about 10:30am.

Since she thought she was being followed though, she may have taken back roads again, extending the drive time, or of course, she may have left later.

Just noting the info for reference.

 

[BeanE]

Here's my undertanding of GPS/black box part.

The jeep came with a GPS. Gail went out and bought another (additional) GPS.

At some point, the additional GPS was removed from her car.

Nobody says when it was removed, why it was removed, or who removed it.

Matt says it's in the garage. Arlene asked him for the serial number on it. He said he'd get it and give it to her. He has not.

Can't the GPS that came on the Jeep be tracked?

Also, Arlene says Gail has a Blackberry, but it hasn't been tracked. I know cell was tracked to a tower to the north of the mountain, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know if that was the Blackberry, or if the Blackberry is in addition to the cell that was tracked.


On the other part, I listened more closely to Susan. She sounds to me like she's trying to be protective of Arlene to prevent letters being sent to her. I assume she's referring to the letters from Matt that Arlene had received.

I don't know what the whole "not a hair on her (Arlene's) head should be harmed" is about.

So far as baiting LE, Susan does say some negative things about LE, but not what I would consider extreme. She suggests they contact her for help in the investigation. Stuff like that. I don't know. I don't think it was baiting them, but she definitely sounded frustrated at the least. I would have to say that I felt she was kind of overdramatizing to some extent - the harm a hair on her head thing was, to me, over the top.

On the DVR, I hope that LE took that and is looking at it. No indication if that was one of the things that LE did take.

 

[ThoughtFox]

Here's the link to the interview I'm referring to:

http://herewomentalkradio.com/home/archives_details/805

Arlene's interview starts at about the 30 minute mark, and the thing about the documents is about 10 minutes beyond that, IIRC.

What is the "black box" that was removed? When I google it I get 3 different things- 1. a storage box in the back of the jeep to protect belongings 2. a GPS system 3. A black box like on a plane http://detnews.com/article/20110526/...C3%82%E2%80%99

They start talking about it around 54 minutes. It's hard to understand because Arlene mumbles, but I think she says that Matt removed the black box from Gail's car. If they're talking about #3, that is very concerning!

A black box on a car is part of the air bag and records data about impacts or braking during an accident. It's called an "EDR" or Event Data Recorder.

http://www.harristechnical.com/cdr.htm

Originally designed to improve air bag performance based on the severity of the collision, the event data recorder can tell traffic accident investigators about the car's speed, engine RPMs, how far the accelerator pedal was pressed, if the brakes were applied, whether the driver’s seatbelt was buckled and what warning lights were on.

When an an air bag deployment collision accident occurs, the data is recorded onto a computer chip. The data can be retrieved and is presented in a report.

The data download from the EDR will usually contain 6 to 8 pages of information. A second impact can be recorded in the secondary, or non-deployment, file depending upon the circumstances of the collisions and the time interval between them.

 

[JBean]

A teeny weeny nugget of info related to my post this morning about Gail & her sister talking on the phone the morning Gail disappeared.

There was a phone call between them at 6:30am.

Gail Nowacki Palmgren, 44, last spoke to her sister Diane Nichols around 6:30 a.m. April 30, telling her sister that she was leaving her Lake Jordan home heading to her home in Signal Mountain.

http://www.thewetumpkaherald.com/news/article_be9da4a6-832f-11e0-990c-001cc4c03286.html

If Gail left the lake house at 6:30am, it's a 4 hr 5 min drive according to Google Maps. That would put her back at the Signal Mountain house at about 10:30am.

Since she thought she was being followed though, she may have taken back roads again, extending the drive time, or of course, she may have left later.

Just noting the info for reference.

Beane, we do also know that she spoke with her sister again right around the time she dropped off the kids at the Signal Mt house. This would put that phone call at around 12:15 or so.
Your mindmeister is amazing!

 

[BeanE]

Beane, we do also know that she spoke with her sister again right around the time she dropped off the kids at the Signal Mt house. This would put that phone call at around 12:15 or so.
Your mindmeister is amazing!

Thanks, JBean. I was unclear on whether it was 1 phone call or 2. I'll clarify it on the mindmap.

 

[Snowbunny]

During the interview, Darlene expressed that Gail had been deeply concerned about MP driving under the influence of alcohol with the children in the vehicle with him. She also stated that he's still doing so. That is very concerning if true. I picked up in the interview that Darlene spoke of a time back in November of 2010 how MP broke down the bedroom door going after Gail. It sounds like MP has a violent temper. She also stated that MP constantly told Gail she was a terrible mother and that things would be better after she was gone. If any of this is true, one can only imagine the hell Gail has gone through and it is very disturbing. I hope and pray LE takes heed to all of this information and investigates MP thoroughly. Its so sad that a person could give so much of themselves and helped those in need and those same people could stoop so low as to treat this same person so crudely. It doesn't sound like MP or his family cared two hoots about Gail, but yet she gave so much of herself to them. Its so sad, and I hope the Good Lord sees to it that justice is served to those who did this woman wrong. My heart is heavy and the tears pour down my face for Gail. God bless her and bring her home.

 

[Columbo]

Do we actually know the full context of what she said to her sister? I am sorry if I missed this during the time I was unable to be on

No, we don't.

 

[Columbo]

During the interview, Darlene expressed that Gail had been deeply concerned about MP driving under the influence of alcohol with the children in the vehicle with him. She also stated that he's still doing so. That is very concerning if true. I picked up in the interview that Darlene spoke of a time back in November of 2010 how MP broke down the bedroom door going after Gail. It sounds like MP has a violent temper. She also stated that MP constantly told Gail she was a terrible mother and that things would be better after she was gone. If any of this is true, one can only imagine the hell Gail has gone through and it is very disturbing. I hope and pray LE takes heed to all of this information and investigates MP thoroughly. Its so sad that a person could give so much of themselves and helped those in need and those same people could stoop so low as to treat this same person so crudely. It doesn't sound like MP or his family cared two hoots about Gail, but yet she gave so much of herself to them. Its so sad, and I hope the Good Lord sees to it that justice is served to those who did this woman wrong. My heart is heavy and the tears pour down my face for Gail. God bless her and bring her home.

I hope the Signal Mountain police will observe his driving and possibly pull him over for DUI. Driving on those mountain roads drunk is so dangerous!

 

[looking4lost]

Boy I would love to get my hands on GP and MP's cell records. Did he call her when he arrived and she wasn't there or was he not expecting her. How many times did he try to call her before he reported her missing? Or did he not want her cell phone to "ping" her location.

Do unanswered calls ping?

 

[Columbo]

The first thing along those lines that really grabbed my attention - in a big way - was in Arlene's interview with Susan Murphy Milano, when Susan asks Arlene what Gail said she was afraid of, and Arlene said that Gail said it was that her marriage was a sham, how many more lies were there, and that Matt might drive intoxicated with the kids in the car. Not that Gail was afraid of Matt.

While I have your attention, JBean, lol - you asked a while back if Arlene had given the documents to LE. I don't know if you got the answer, but in that same Susan MM interview, Arlene says she tried to give *everything* to LE, but that they only took part of it. Susan MM stressed that since that time, Arlene has sent everything else somewhere out of state, and no longer has anything left in her possession.

Here's the link to the interview I'm referring to:

http://herewomentalkradio.com/home/archives_details/805

Arlene's interview starts at about the 30 minute mark, and the thing about the documents is about 10 minutes beyond that, IIRC.

After listening to that interview, I feel that Arlene is totally credible and gave even a better idea of what Gail was going through, and up against, in dealing with Matt. JMO, of course. All I can say about him is UGH. I know there are two sides to every divorce but......

I didn't quite get the part about her trying to access her bank accounts online, though. She put Matt on speaker phone, Arlene was there in the room with her, and he gave her numbers (PIN numbers?) and none of them worked? I wonder if this is why she changed the PIN number --the one that Matt had received notice of around April 30 (?is that the right date?).

 

[Lovejac]

Boy I would love to get my hands on GP and MP's cell records. Did he call her when he arrived and she wasn't there or was he not expecting her. How many times did he try to call her before he reported her missing? Or did he not want her cell phone to "ping" her location.

Do unanswered calls ping?

Yes they do. Actually, phone calls aren't what make your phone ping. They ping even if they are powered down. The only way for a phone to not ping is for the battery to be disconnected from the phone.

We learned A LOT about cell phones and pings during the Caylee Anthony investigation.

 

[glorias]

Thanks, JBean. I was unclear on whether it was 1 phone call or 2. I'll clarify it on the mindmap.

I don't think we ever confirmed if the 6:30 AM phone call was accurate or not. The articles up until that point had said Gail's last phone call to her sister Diane was about the time she left the house after dropping off the kids, so between 12:00 and 12:15. Then suddenly that other article came up saying that she spoke with Diane at 6:30 AM and THAT was the last phone call Gail made to her. (Link here.)

Basically, we don't know if there was one phone call or two. JBean has confirmed multiple times that the 12:15 call happened, so I assume that the 6:30 AM one also happened but that the Wetumpka Herald got it wrong when they said it was the last phone call she made to Diane.

 

[glorias]

A black box on a car is part of the air bag and records data about impacts or braking during an accident. It's called an "EDR" or Event Data Recorder.

http://www.harristechnical.com/cdr.htm

Surely that can't be removed without messing with the air bag and possibly rendering it unusable. I did some online searching and it appears the EDR is only removed when there has been a collision. However, when people part out a car and take the airbag (which is stolen surprisingly often) the EDR often goes with it.

If Arlene said the black box came from the trunk, I'm thinking it was GPS. There is a rather concerning article (link here) about hiding GPS on a vehicle, and how the trunk is the best place for it.

 

[glorias]

Boy I would love to get my hands on GP and MP's cell records. Did he call her when he arrived and she wasn't there or was he not expecting her. How many times did he try to call her before he reported her missing? Or did he not want her cell phone to "ping" her location.

Do unanswered calls ping?

I think it's probable that Gail's phone was no longer with her by May 2nd. If someone wanted to make sure it was known that they had called Gail to look for her, yet didn't want those calls to reveal her location, then they might deliberately take the phone and place it somewhere far away from Gail.

 

[Snowbunny]

I just talked to my daughter and she was telling me that LE could get a court order to track the gps on Gail's Blackberry very easily. I hope they've done that.

 

[Snowbunny]

I do know that all they have to do is take the battery out of the phone and then you can't track it. My daughter hates the fact that her boyfriend can track her every move and where she goes. He's a control freak who she is trying to get away from.

 

[BeanE]

After listening to that interview, I feel that Arlene is totally credible and gave even a better idea of what Gail was going through, and up against, in dealing with Matt. JMO, of course. All I can say about him is UGH. I know there are two sides to every divorce but......

I find Arlene very credible too. She seems very straightforward and sincere, and just wanting to find her best friend, and giving all the info she can to try help do that. She doesn't seem to have any other agenda. She seems heartbroken.

 

[BeanE]

I don't think we ever confirmed if the 6:30 AM phone call was accurate or not. The articles up until that point had said Gail's last phone call to her sister Diane was about the time she left the house after dropping off the kids, so between 12:00 and 12:15. Then suddenly that other article came up saying that she spoke with Diane at 6:30 AM and THAT was the last phone call Gail made to her. (Link here.)

Basically, we don't know if there was one phone call or two. JBean has confirmed multiple times that the 12:15 call happened, so I assume that the 6:30 AM one also happened but that the Wetumpka Herald got it wrong when they said it was the last phone call she made to Diane.

I changed it on the mindmap yesterday per JBean's post to 2 phone calls, 6:30am and just before she drove away approx 12:15.

You mention articles (plural) about the noon-ish phone call. If you have other links, I'd appreciate the info. The one I have is this one:
http://www.myfoxchattanooga.com/story/14651377/search-continues-for-missing-signal-mountain-woman

Thanks!