FWIW, I have 2 Theories on this case:
1. Mom went to look for drugs. Drug deal went bad. Mom was killed, baby taken in hopes of trafficking her to make some $.
2. Fryar goes to the store, and comes home to an empty house, but many personal belongings are still there. Fryar's husband waited 4 days to report her missing. Seems pretty incriminating to me. Didn't Fryar wonder WTH they were? I guess if she did have a history of being absent this changes things a little. But, he was helping her because he knew she had nowhere else to go, so, surely he must have wondered about her absence. TOD will indicate if the story lines up, I guess.
Question:
Fryar says he "thinks" that Shauna had fed Zaylee right before she left to go to the store/buy drugs. If so, would LE be able to determine in a lab test on the Baby's Bottle, how long the milk had been out of the fridge? The bottle should show bacteria growth or whatever, for a set length of time. I wonder if that might show something for the timeline?
BBM I have dealt with a serious crack addict. She was a single mother to a 9yr old girl with nowhere to go. I had met her when she dated a friend of my husband's from his HS days. They didn't work out. Toxic relationship. Ever now and then I would bump into her. Couple of times a year maybe. I knew there were issues but didn't know how bad.
One day she and daughter show up at our doorstep with absolutely nowhere to go. All bridges burned at that point. We took her in, supposed to be for two weeks while her rental place was being prepared. She was no longer welcome where she and daughter had been staying.
It quickly became apparent that her issues with crack were very serious. She would take off to go to the corner gas station, leaving us in charge of her daughter, and disappear for days on end. at first there would be a phone call. "I bumped into someone I haven't seen in ages, we went out for drinks too drunk to come home" etc etc. "I will be home tomorrow" and so forth. Eventually it progressed to her being MIA with No phone calls - nothing. after a day or two I couldn't sleep. Was she dead in a ditch? On a crack binge? What do I do? Just about the time I would be trying to decide if I should call cops and DCFS and just turn over the daughter to them, she would come rolling in, exhausted, sleep for a day or two and then be all apologetic.
The two weeks turned into six months as the rental didn't work out, the various jobs wouldn't last. etc. etc. The last time she took off on a binge we packed all her stuff up and got it ready to leave. When she returned we took her aside and told her she had to go. NOW.
I will never forget that time period. I could never wrap my head around how a mother could just dump her child off on someone and disappear like that without a call, nothing, for days. But it happens.
Having lived the above, I can totally see why her ex/roommate did not raise an alarm for several days. He knew she was trying to get herself together and be a real parent this time. He didn't want to mess up her shot at being an actual mother this time around if she had just temporarily relapsed.
I totally get it. you would think, if you are familiar with me and my viewpoints, that I would have called DCFS the very first time the woman I spoke of pulled a disappearing act. I am ashamed that I did not. I should have. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. By the time we had her leave I knew the severity of the problem. But I could not bring myself to involve authorities. As to the young woman I experienced, she and her daughter moved back in with her ex, the daughter's father, and then bounced around for a while. Then she gave him custody of the daughter for a while and moved out of state. She has a new child now and returned to our state. I haven't heard form her in several years. I think of her occasionally. When last we spoke she seemed to be doing okay. I hope that is still true today.
Drug addicts will relapse and relapse and relapse. It is the nature of the beast. Maybe Zaylee's mother did. Maybe she didn't.
I can only hope and pray she dropped this child somewhere with a friend or acquaintance and that the child is safe. As each day passes with no word, the chances of that being the case grow slimmer.
Praying for this beautiful little baby. Hoping that she is alive and thriving somewhere.