TN - Holly Bobo, 20, Darden, believed abducted 13 April 2011 - #24

[looksbetterinred]

IMHO, I think that there is a REASON for the silence that pertains to this specific case. I just can't figure out what it might be. There's a few different scenarios that might be in play here. To tell you the truth, I believe the case is a lot different than what we think it is.

I'm in the same camp. As my grandmother would say, "This is very peculiar".

 

[wfgodot]

I have no way to know the REASON for the silence; but I will say that the RESULT of silence is forgetting.

 

[Telicity]

I feel like the amount of weight being placed on one eyewitness account is limiting. I feel like it's forcing people to think inside the box by taking one witness statement as absolute truth. Granted, we don't know anything about what LE is doing, but they talk like they take it as an infallible account as well.

My opinion for a while has been that something went wrong, an accident, some panicking, and a cover-up to make it look like an abduction. It's the only scenario to me that has made everything make sense. It makes the found objects in random places make sense. It makes the time discrepancies and rushes to account for them make sense. The silence and apparently changing stories don't factor into my theory, but my theory makes them a bit more graspable to me ... It makes the hour long delay to phone LE in the original story make sense (out scattering objects to make it look like she was taken that way. It would be nice to know if the objects matched the direction the neighbour lived that heard the scream.)

I've always thought the scream thing was odd (mind, I think that this person made it through the brush without a trace with a second person in tow is odd). That there was never any report of him hearing a scream, yet a neighbour did. From which direction? There was a point in these threads way back where there was much focusing on the map and directions and neighbour locations, and it seemed like a really logical way to be looking at things.
Oh, but we don't know which direction she was alledgedly taken, so who knows, all we have is guesses. We don't know from what direction the neighbour who heard the scream heard it. In fact, they've tried to backpeddle that it was a neighbour. So. For all I know, my suspicions regarding the oddness of the scream are unfounded because maybe there wasn't even a neighbour :innocent:

Of course, it may not be correct either, but what do they expect when they refuse to talk about anything?

MOO, of course, and I may not have everything straight, but I've been reading the threads on this forum since she'd been missing for only 4 days, so I hope I'm at least close. I know we are not allowed to talk about the family, but I don't see how that can be avoided - there isn't a lot here, and imo these theories that she was trafficked or taken by a militia are very reaching. No offence, but I don't see this as being anywhere near as mysterious and complicated as it appears. This case isn't "right", but I don't believe it's as wrong and wild as that.

On that note, I obviously hope I'm completely wrong and they find her safe and sound. Heck, I'd like to be wrong about my theory anyway. I have zero desire to think of this family being ripped apart any more.

 

[rosario]

I completely agree with most of these posts. Even if LE is telling the family to not discuss certain things, why arent they saying that...No parent should ever have to deal with this and its not like there is an ediquette book on something like this, but most of our "gut" feelings are telling us to be suspicious and for good reason. I cant imagine what anyone in HB family are feeling, Im just very confused..I live in a small town with a 17 year old boy went missing and his family was never as "vocal" as I feel would be my natural inclination. LE should be communicating more, period.

 

[sherbetjello]

I always found this case odd for the fact they never hired or designated someone as the "face" for the family. You know, the person that goes and speaks to the media/public about Holly, wither it's a family member or a family friend. No one ever really took that role.

 

[docwho3]

Are we (and I include myself) beginning to sleuth the family's actions
more than we should? Mother and father seem like decent, quite people.
The mother appears deeply distraught and the father wants to comfort
her as best he can - media/public attention doesn't ease the pain. Let us
extend our heartfelt sympathy and respect their wanting privacy.

Nice post. I agree.

I understand when someone disappears and you believe it is a murder
case you have to start looking at the family and closest friends first
and then move the circle outward a little at a time because it is often
someone closest to the victim that did the crime.

In this case I see nothing about the family to indicate any wrongdoing
and so I posted to that effect.

I do think we might be getting overly critical sometimes about whether a
family should be or should not be making more of a fuss to keep the case
in the news and so forth.

Not sure we are in any position to know what is best in such
circumstances and so I posted to that effect.

I know that some have been concerned with the seeming quietness of this
case. Sometimes cases do seem to not get the media attention one would
think they deserve.
(The idea being that media attention might help generate leads.)
I don't know why media silence happens, just that it does
indeed happen. I do not think the quietness of this case is terribly
unusual or odd. It seems to be just one of those that goes quiet.

The reasons for a case going quiet can be varied. Sometimes LE has
a suspect in mind and must gather the evidence needed.
I remember when a woman was killed by her ex when she took her van to
his shop to be repaired. It was almost a horribly quiet year before LE got
the evidence needed to make an arrest and everyone pretty much knew
who did it already.

But other times the cause of silence can be other things.
I don't know the cause in this case.

 

[mag84]

Respectivly snipped to save space

I've always thought the scream thing was odd (mind, I think that this person made it through the brush without a trace with a second person in tow is odd). That there was never any report of him hearing a scream, yet a neighbour did. From which direction? There was a point in these threads way back where there was much focusing on the map and directions and neighbour locations, and it seemed like a really logical way to be looking at things.
Oh, but we don't know which direction she was alledgedly taken, so who knows, all we have is guesses. We don't know from what direction the neighbour who heard the scream heard it. In fact, they've tried to backpeddle that it was a neighbour. So. For all I know, my suspicions regarding the oddness of the scream are unfounded because maybe there wasn't even a neighbour :innocent.

There were two MSM articles posted about the screams early on, one from the sheriff and one from a neighbor who is said to have heard the scream(s). The sheriff said "up the road" but after a lot of discussion it seems "up the road" really meant down the road as most of us would think of it, and it was thought he meant up the road as in uphill, not a Northly direction. I don't know that that part was ever actually verified though.

 

[mag84]

I always found this case odd for the fact they never hired or designated someone as the "face" for the family. You know, the person that goes and speaks to the media/public about Holly, wither it's a family member or a family friend. No one ever really took that role.

They did, there was Kevin Bromely (sp?), however we seldom hear from him anymore either.

 

[cluciano63]

Marc Klaas is going to help out the family in Michelle Le's case, so he does not only help families with missing young children...he helps any family dealing with a missing person, if they ask, apparently. He has a lot of resources.

 

[boxerlovermom]

Human remains found in a wooded area in West Tennessee have been sent to the Shelby County medical examiner.

McNairy County Sheriff Guy Buck said a dog brought home a human leg bone and some clothing Wednesday evening and its owner called police, according to The Jackson Sun.

The TBI is assisting in the investigation as missing persons reports are reviewed.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/new...mains-found-woods-west-tennessee/?partner=RSS

This is definitely close enough to Darden to be Holly. As usual various articles have some mixed information. One says leg bone, another says arm bone. The Jackson Sun uses terminology "remains of a man" in an attempt, I think, to convey that the bone is human. All other articles use the words "human remains" and I don't think you can easily distinguish a female arm or leg bone from a male...maybe I am wrong.

 

[cluciano63]

Human remains found in a wooded area in West Tennessee have been sent to the Shelby County medical examiner.

McNairy County Sheriff Guy Buck said a dog brought home a human leg bone and some clothing Wednesday evening and its owner called police, according to The Jackson Sun.

The TBI is assisting in the investigation as missing persons reports are reviewed.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/new...mains-found-woods-west-tennessee/?partner=RSS

This is definitely close enough to Darden to be Holly. As usual various articles have some mixed information. One says leg bone, another says arm bone. The Jackson Sun uses terminology "remains of a man" in an attempt, I think, to convey that the bone is human. All other articles use the words "human remains" and I don't think you can easily distinguish a female arm or leg bone from a male...maybe I am wrong.

Says they found clothing as well, so they may have an idea from that whether or not this is a man.

 

[wfgodot]

SELMER, Tenn. - A man's human remains found in a wooded area in West Tennessee have been sent to the Shelby County medical examiner.

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/tennessee/human-remains-found-in-mcnairy-county-apx-20110610

Fox13 says "leg bone."

 

[boxerlovermom]

“A resident’s dog brought them a human (humerus) bone and some clothing,” Buck said. “We believe the body was in the wooded area for a month.”

http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/2...earch-teen?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Maybe Fox 13 doesn't know what a humerus is...or maybe Sheriff Buck doesn't know the difference between a humerus and a tibia, fibula or femur?:waitasec:

 

[pittsburghgirl]

doccwho3, as usual you make a lot of sense.

If Holly was abducted and murdered (which is the sad outcome of most of these cases in which the abducted person is female and not a child) what good will the family talking to the media do? After the first week or so, when people are "searching," they are searching fields and woods and caves and abandoned buildings, usually looking for a body. In some cases (as with Elizabeth Smart, who was hidden by her captor in woods near her home) such a search could turn up a live victim. If Holly is alive, and was taken by a local, as TBI seems to believe, the family could do real harm to the investigation by speaking out. If she was murdered, LE is looking for a killer, keeping some facts under wraps as they MUST do in order to sort out falsoe confessions and protect evidence needed at trial.

I have a friend in LE who is working on a local cold case. He knows a lot of things he isn't telling because his job is to find the killer, make the arrest and help secure a conviction. While no LE agency is perfect (see, for example, NH LE in the Maura Murray case) we have to have at least some faith in these professionals and let them do their jobs. We should also be very careful not to judge the families, particularly if LE gives no indication that the family is involved. We don't know what LE has told the family or why the family might prefer to keep a low profile. Finally, the notion that there are "investigative reporters" out there to chase down leads in these missing persons cases wasn't even true back in e day when newspapers and magazines had large reporting staffs. Most missing person cases were part of the crime beat, covered by beat reporters, and stories stopped, as they do now, when nothing "new" came out of LE. News outlets do not "cover" stories where there is no news. If LE is keeping information close, that is either the policy of the LE agency or a decision made by those leading a particular information.

Look at how too much information and coverage screwed up the Chandra Levy case--and a man who was guilty of adultery but not of murder was hounded, harassed, and all but accused in the media of killing his girlfriend to cover up the affair. So let LE do its job. We can help by urging media to keep Holly's face in the news, whether or not anyone is talking.

 

[charminglane]

Has anyone read if Tim Miller has been contacted by the family?

 

[docwho3]

Marc Klaas is going to help out the family in Michelle Le's case,
so he does not only help families with missing young children...he helps
any family dealing with a missing person, if they ask, apparently. He has a
lot of resources.

You bring up a good idea. I was just thinking that perhaps someone like
Mr. Walsh of AMW might have the experience and resources to be a good
help to a family in such a situation.
Mr. Klaas sounds like another person with similar abilities.
Perhaps the family can reach out to one of them.

 

[Mr. Noatak]

I completely agree with most of these posts. Even if LE is telling the family to not discuss certain things, why arent they saying that...No parent should ever have to deal with this and its not like there is an ediquette book on something like this, but most of our "gut" feelings are telling us to be suspicious and for good reason. I cant imagine what anyone in HB family are feeling, Im just very confused..I live in a small town with a 17 year old boy went missing and his family was never as "vocal" as I feel would be my natural inclination. LE should be communicating more, period.

My opinions only, no facts here:

I feel that there is a nagging feeling in the back of some of my fellow sleuthers' minds, so I will try to identify it: How often would police in an investigation tell the relatives- "you are not allowed to plead to the public for your daughter's return". Police only say (and then only in select cases)- "do not discuss any facts about the case". What possible investigative value would there be in telling relatives to not plead for Holly's return?

On a related subject, I would like to see a single criminal case in American history where laying all the information on the line caused a prime suspect to be found innocent in court.

 

[Trino]

doccwho3, as usual you make a lot of sense.

If Holly was abducted and murdered (which is the sad outcome of most of these cases in which the abducted person is female and not a child) what good will the family talking to the media do? After the first week or so, when people are "searching," they are searching fields and woods and caves and abandoned buildings, usually looking for a body. In some cases (as with Elizabeth Smart, who was hidden by her captor in woods near her home) such a search could turn up a live victim. If Holly is alive, and was taken by a local, as TBI seems to believe, the family could do real harm to the investigation by speaking out. If she was murdered, LE is looking for a killer, keeping some facts under wraps as they MUST do in order to sort out falsoe confessions and protect evidence needed at trial.

I have a friend in LE who is working on a local cold case. He knows a lot of things he isn't telling because his job is to find the killer, make the arrest and help secure a conviction. While no LE agency is perfect (see, for example, NH LE in the Maura Murray case) we have to have at least some faith in these professionals and let them do their jobs. We should also be very careful not to judge the families, particularly if LE gives no indication that the family is involved. We don't know what LE has told the family or why the family might prefer to keep a low profile. Finally, the notion that there are "investigative reporters" out there to chase down leads in these missing persons cases wasn't even true back in e day when newspapers and magazines had large reporting staffs. Most missing person cases were part of the crime beat, covered by beat reporters, and stories stopped, as they do now, when nothing "new" came out of LE. News outlets do not "cover" stories where there is no news. If LE is keeping information close, that is either the policy of the LE agency or a decision made by those leading a particular information.

Look at how too much information and coverage screwed up the Chandra Levy case--and a man who was guilty of adultery but not of murder was hounded, harassed, and all but accused in the media of killing his girlfriend to cover up the affair. So let LE do its job. We can help by urging media to keep Holly's face in the news, whether or not anyone is talking.

LE in the Elizabeth Smart case did not IMO do their job. Had the public not been aware, ES may never have been returned. I can give other examples if needed. LE is not always on top of cases. Let the public do their job to help the family.

 

[Carla Lashelle]

doccwho3, as usual you make a lot of sense.

If Holly was abducted and murdered (which is the sad outcome of most of these cases in which the abducted person is female and not a child) what good will the family talking to the media do?

As I pointed out whe had two killings here in Tampa in the last week where the family made very long passionate pleas via the media for INFORMATION about the crimes. It paid off too in at least one of the cases, the killers of two teenage kids were identified and arrested.

Talking to the media isnt just giving interviews and chit chat... its about getting Holly's face, name, personality, etc. out for everyone to see.

 

[OldSteve]

You bring up a good idea. I was just thinking that perhaps someone like
Mr. Walsh of AMW might have the experience and resources to be a good
help to a family in such a situation.
Mr. Klaas sounds like another person with similar abilities.
Perhaps the family can reach out to one of them.

Don't think the family would want this help since those you mentioned are very much into,
"give everyone a lie detector test"....

IMO the family is well-connected to LE (evidence of very fast involvement of TBI, FBI, and governor increasing reward)..