Even if it becomes a murder case, imo the ship has sailed for EA on those sorts of "alternative possibilities" that defense attorneys like to use to muddy the waters. Not that his attorney won't try to speculate them into a trial somehow, but rather that the evidence plus his own statements have already pretty well disproven those ideas.
1 We know EA put her IN HIS TRUNK, as the DNA evidence makes that clear.
- That rules out some sort of accident, because you aren't going to put someone in your trunk for their welfare. For example, sticking an OD victim in your trunk doesn't get them help, get them to a hospital, or somehow make them better.
2 Common sense - plus helpful observations from the prosecution's witnesses - will also tell the jury that if something happened to her where he did little to nothing wrong, he would have coughed up that explanation long ago.
- Common sense also tells us that with a more-benign truth, he would have shown where she is in order to make sure it DOESN'T look like an abduction-murder. His subsequent actions speak volumes.
3 And his repeated lies will keep him from testifying at trial and offering up a completely new story. His attorney will try to do all the speaking for him, because he's lost his ability to speak for himself in a way that could be helpful.
In total, the evidence says EA abducted her, putting her IN HIS TRUNK and doing something with her where she has never been seen or heard from again. Probably murdered her. And rather than trying to confuse with implausible what-if's, I think his only realistic way to keep from getting slaughtered in court will be to tell what he knows before we get there, in some sort of a plea deal.
Of course, if CM is found before he steps up, that door will close on him. The clock is clicking down to zero on his window of opportunity. I wonder if he'll fritter it away.
