I don't think it matters much if he did scrub the phone, because if he used the same phone number it should all still be traceable. They should be able to determine exactly who was called or texted, and from where. I have swapped out many phones, and the phone company still has records of the calls and texts, because you have to call in the IMEI number to activate the phone on the network which automatically ties it to your phone number. The only thing I can think of that would be lost would be any pictures taken, and saved to the internal phone memory, and not an sd card. There could be dna evidence on the old phone, or it could have been broken in a struggle.
The real question is where could he take her, because she grew up in that area, that she wouldn't be suspicious of? We don't know if she knew exactly where he lived, so he could have taken her to a house he knew was empty. I thought I read someone in his family was into real estate, but I am not sure, if so he could have known of many empty homes in the area. He could have said hey you want to come inside.
I read an article that said they searched along 121 for any place a person could pull off, and that makes me think the last time her phone pinged was on that road, because his phone would have also pinged the whole way home.
I am surprised that I we have not heard the color of the car he was driving. In the Hannah Graham case they showed us a picture of the car and asked if anyone saw it anywhere to please call LE. So if they do find something in that car I hope they will at least do that, because then someone might remember seeing a car like that pulling off the road, or doing something else suspicious.
