GUILTY TX - Alanna Gallagher, 6, Saginaw, 1 July 2013 - #4

[alwaysonmymind]

We call them bungee straps.

I believe they are sold with that name.

Of course I am not from Texas, but I have never heard snyone refer to them as anything but bungee straps. Never restraints

We call the ones with buckles that tighten up 'tie-downs' and call the stretchy ones with hooks at each end bungee cords.

Hoping for news of an arrest soon.

 

[human]

Could be like soda vs pop vs Coke, but bungee cords are stretchy cords with hooks on the end...at least that's what they are here in north Texas. :twocents:

Yup. You are right. Put my contacts in and those are not bungee straps. But, no one I know would call restraints,

Thingees, straps, black thingees lol. I don't know what they are called. Just not restraints,

 

[Donjeta]

In this possibility, which I am definitely not saying is likely, the perp may have bound Alanna during the crime. The bag on the head "sealed" with tape may have been part of that, but may also have been an attempt to limit the spread of evidence. The perp may have intended to remove all that when staging at the pool/supposed drowning site.

Not to be graphic but depending on how tightly she was bound and how long she was dead with the bindings on they may have left marks on her body.

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

I've been a lurker here for ages, always reading like crazy when a case grabs my attention. This one has broken my heart. I feel so terrible for her parents and the way they are being slammed at this time. This one has prompted me to join and talk it out.

I think the toilet paper is really the only thing I've seen on there that confuses me. Everything else (unless I've overlooked something huge) are easily explainable items and things that make sense that the police would want to look at from the victim's home. The toilet paper is just odd.

I keep refreshing the news pages, hoping like mad that the police release some info before bed so I can rest a bit easier. :countsheep:

:welcome: Theyamqueen! :wagon:

thanks for helping to bring justice for Alanna!

:seeya:

 

[Mitsana]

Not to be graphic but depending on how tightly she was bound and how long she was dead with the bindings on they may have left marks on her body.

I'm not trying to say that this plan would have worked (assuming a plan like this had anything to do with this crime in the first place). Maybe this is so unlikely that it's not worth pursuing. But if the body were on an obvious route to/from a pool that might make this possibility worth exploring a little more.

 

[Threeplus1]

Yup. You are right. Put my contacts in and those are not bungee straps. But, no one I know would call restraints,

Thingees, straps, black thingees lol. I don't know what they are called. Just not restraints,

Thingees!. That's the technical term I was searching for! :floorlaugh: I was searching my brain for what we call those...another poster wrote tie-downs. That's actually what my more well-spoken husband calls them.

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

"Restraints" could be as simple as cable ties purchased at a $1 shop.

Thanks...

This makes sense...

but I can't help wondering then...

why didn't the list state "cable ties" instead of "restraints"?

 

[paris_paris]

The stretchy ones with hooks I call bungee cords (or straps). The wide ones I call tie-down straps. A rope is a rope. String is string.

Of course, if I saw any of those around a person's wrists or ankles, I might be inclined to call them restraints.

 

[carbuff]

Nowdays LE doesn't call anyone a suspect. I don't put much stock into LE saying so and so is not a suspect anymore.

They don't say anyone's a suspect, but they usually say things like "we're keeping all possibilities open" or "no one has been eliminated" or any number of ambiguous wordings. They really can't say, and shouldn't say, anyone is "cleared," because a new piece of evidence could turn up next day that totally changes the picture. This is as strong a statement of family non-involvement as I've heard in a long time. Obviously they could be mistaken or just saying things, but they could also have -- probably do have -- information that points the other way.

 

[carbuff]

There are a few things that make it seem like it's possible that Alanna drowned in this case. Some people have speculated on the possibility that she may have drowned by accident, and a panicked person was trying to cover it up. Another possibility is that a perp drowned her and was on the way to place her body in a location where that might have plausibly happened, but oopsied and the body ended up in the street. If so, was there a pool in the neighborhood that the perp might have been trying to get to? I suppose the perp might also have already gone to a pool, saw that there was no way to discretely place a body there and decided to dump it in the street. In that case, is there a pool that the perp may have been driving away from?

Maybe after he did the unspeakable things I'm not even going to think about, he rinsed her off in a pool?

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

Well for all I know the cause of death might have been drowning but if someone went into a lot of trouble to make it look like murder it takes a bit of convincing to make me believe it was an accident and not murder.

Generally people stage things in order to be in less trouble than without staging, not more. Pretty sure that the police and the courts would treat you more harshly if you're caught throwing a bound dead girl in the road than if you report an accidental drowning to 911.

Maybe her underwear or hair was wet wth pool water and they thought she was swimming somewhere shortly before her death, even f the CD was somethng else?or the killer could have dunked her into a pool to get rid of semen stains or something. Anything that gives clues to her last moments helps.

Just jumping off your post...

what if chemicals were used in an even more sinister way...

Like forced ingestion?

 

[matou]

I don't know. What was the point of collecting water samples, common pool chemicals, and a wet bathing suit?

Well taking the samples doesn't necessarily mean that she drowned, but she could have used someone's pool. She could have had chemicals on her hair, skin, underwear, mouth, there could have been water pooled in some places in the bag that was on her head and around her body.

However, the search warrant was written up so fast and the request was for residual fluids and not necessarily for pool water. The hot tub water was taken as were pool chemicals. I'm speculating that a pool is involved based on the search warrant even though it was written before that could be determined. The search warrant concentrated on walmart bags, any binding materials, computers and drives that can store photos (standard I believe in child murder cases).

I think the parents will be cleared and video will break this case. Does anyone know how the info about the new vehicle of interest came about (from the previous thread)? A dark van of some kind?

 

[jjenny]

They don't say anyone's a suspect, but they usually say things like "we're keeping all possibilities open" or "no one has been eliminated" or any number of ambiguous wordings. They really can't say, and shouldn't say, anyone is "cleared," because a new piece of evidence could turn up next day that totally changes the picture. This is as strong a statement of family non-involvement as I've heard in a long time. Obviously they could be mistaken or just saying things, but they could also have -- probably do have -- information that points the other way.

I look at their actions, not their words. Why did they remove all these things from the house if there is some obvious suspect not connected to the family?

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

Thingees!. That's the technical term I was searching for! :floorlaugh: I was searching my brain for what we call those...another poster wrote tie-downs. That's actually what my more well-spoken husband calls them.

:silly:

 

[raeann]

I'm not trying to say that this plan would have worked (assuming a plan like this had anything to do with this crime in the first place). Maybe this is so unlikely that it's not worth pursuing. But if the body were on an obvious route to/from a pool that might make this possibility worth exploring a little more.

The problem with this "theory" is that on a hot summer pre holiday day in central Texas-- ANY neighborhood, private club, or community pool would be packed with a crowd of adults and children until the usual closing times of 9 pm or even later. Many neighborhood pools are accessed with a key or punch code and are often open on a much later schedule for those who choose to lap swim or enjoy an adult beverage while lounging in the late evenings.

jmo

 

[Donjeta]

I look at their actions, not their words. Why did they remove all these things from the house if there is some obvious suspect not connected to the family?

Either way it helps to be able to say in court that we tested all this stuff from the victim's home and it fits/doesn't fit the evidence that was found at the scene.

But perhaps if they're looking for two dark vehicles and nothing more specific than that it sounds like a lot is still up in the air.

 

[Hejlena]

There are a few things that make it seem like it's possible that Alanna drowned in this case. Some people have speculated on the possibility that she may have drowned by accident, and a panicked person was trying to cover it up. Another possibility is that a perp drowned her and was on the way to place her body in a location where that might have plausibly happened, but oopsied and the body ended up in the street. If so, was there a pool in the neighborhood that the perp might have been trying to get to? I suppose the perp might also have already gone to a pool, saw that there was no way to discretely place a body there and decided to dump it in the street. In that case, is there a pool that the perp may have been driving away from?

This theory gives credence to the idea that the body slid out the back of a truck--perhaps the entire bag was at one point submerged in a pool. Taken out, put in back of truck, wet truck bed made body more unstable. Of course, this is all speculation on my part.

 

[carbuff]

I look at their actions, not their words. Why did they remove all these things from the house if there is some obvious suspect not connected to the family?

Well, first of all we don't know there's an obvious suspect. Might be, might not be.

But in any case, they need to be able to distinguish between DNA, fibers, etc. left by the killer and left by the family -- because just by virtue of living in the same house, she would have those things on her. If they don't do an adequate job of identifying and eliminating the background stuff, the forensic case against the killer is considerably weakened.

 

[Flutterby80]

This theory gives credence to the idea that the body slid out the back of a truck--perhaps the entire bag was at one point submerged in a pool. Taken out, put in back of truck, wet truck bed made body more unstable. Of course, this is all speculation on my part.

Speculation is all that any of us have at this point, Hejlena.

 

[jjenny]

Well, first of all we don't know there's an obvious suspect. Might be, might not be.

But in any case, they need to be able to distinguish between DNA, fibers, etc. left by the killer and left by the family -- because just by virtue of living in the same house, she would have those things on her. If they don't do an adequate job of identifying and eliminating the background stuff, the forensic case against the killer is considerably weakened.

What things would she have on her? LE removed a whole bunch of things from that house.
Why would she have those things on her?