I haven't been following this case for awhile and I just spent a few minutes catching up on everything being said. There are two things that really stick out to me and I hope this case may be gaining some momentum and people are trying to strike while the iron is hot.
The first thing is Elizabeth Smart speaking at the local school. I would like to say that I believe she is an amazing asset, advocating for the missing that are out there. At the very least, she is a beacon of hope for all of the people missing their loved ones.
If I was asked to pick one case that desperately needed some advocacy, it would be this one. I say that because this case started with every possible advantage one could think of and most of it seemed to be squandered away (witnessed abduction- the neighbor hearing a scream and CB seeing HB walk away, timely LE response, heavy media coverage, direction of travel into the woods, limited escape routes, evidence left at the crime scene and around the community and large volunteer turnouts.) Now compare that to where this case is now (who, what, where, when, why and how?) I think at best LE may only know who is involved and how they got away. Without knowing what happened, where they went, when they got there and why it happened, there isn't much of a case.
Having said all of that, there is one thing that I think is encouraging and that is the recent searches using professional SAR and some volunteer searches in the north end of the county and into the next county. I don't only say that because of the searches themselves, but because of the general location. I know I am not the only one who thought the Easter Sunday find was possibly planted to move searchers to another area. The main reason being looking at this map of the original volunteer searches (we should remember these areas are estimates, not hard facts) -
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...d=218199748434644937742.0004a0e4115bf271e54ae
In the week leading up to 4/24, many searches were focused all around where the Easter find was. On 4/22 searches moved north into the next county. On 4/23 searches were back to the Easter find area. It seems a little coincidental to have evidence found where you have been looking, only after you concentrate on another area. After the Easter find, searches moved east toward the river and then searches ended. I think that is a bit of insight into what LE was thinking less than 2 weeks into the case.
There could be nothing to it and it is coincidental, but it is something I have thought about since the beginning. Let's hope this case keeps moving toward an outcome and doesn't get any colder than it already is.