Here’s what I’m trying to sort out ATM. what carjacker would be out at 5:30/6 am?
Not enough “inventory” that time of day.
Doesn’t fit my image of a carjacker, but of course I could be wrong.
While where the car ended up does seem consistent with a carjacking, I can’t let go of the speculation that this all started at the gym location, and was a result of someone who just flatly had a strong aversion to AW.
IWT that it would be fairly easy to identify sketchy patrons who might have vocalized dislike of Alan, or who have exhibited aggressive behavior in the gym.
This scenario seems worthy of exploration, in addition to the random carjacking theory.
amateur opinion and speculation
Yes, I agree. I've never thought or suggested that this was about car theft, or simply the stealing of a car, so I didn't consider the "inventory" (number of cars available to steal) and "time of day" (too early) issues.
When I've suggested "carjacking" in previous posts, I've tried to qualify the term: "carjacking for the purpose of armed robbery, extortion, assault, or kidnapping for ransom".
Other than a domestic situation, I think a carjacking (as described above, NOT merely an auto theft) like the Hedgerow Dr. crime (which occurred within two wks of - and within 3-4 blocks from - AW's disappearance) would potentially explain many things.
I've been frustrated by (and tried to address) the semantics issue of "car theft" vs. "carjacking" in previous posts (like: "hijacking a plane" doesn't mean "plane theft", it typically means armed robbery, extortion, assault, and/or kidnapping, etc.), but with little success. It seems I can find no term for what I think might have happened to AW without it somehow being misconstrued as simply "car theft". I do not think that is what happened.
In all fairness, it's a definition issue. Even the "dictionary definition" of the term "carjacking" is ambiguous. But to me there's a big difference in a vehicle being "taken over (with the victim still inside it)" and a vehicle simply being "taken".
Carjacking can result in simply the theft of the vehicle, but I don't think the term exclusively means "car theft". Most dictionaries describe carjacking as an armed robbery or the "taking over" (or taking of) a vehicle "while the driver or owner of the vehicle is present". So in that sense, I think there's a chance that AW (the person) was "carjacked".
I guess if the victim remains present (held inside the vehicle and then possibly later at another location) throughout the crime, then it becomes a kidnapping. Despite the fact that msm referred to the Hedgerow Dr. crime on Nov 4 as a carjacking, the suspects were ultimately charged with aggravated kidnapping.
Again, I think that AW (the person) was the object/target of this (possible) crime, not his vehicle - but for lack of a better, more descriptive term, I call that crime a carjacking. I do think it is possible that events began at the gym. Someone certainly could have followed AW from the gym to the RT, and then north on Inwood, waiting for the right opportunity.
JMO