I've been lurking for days and thought I'd finally register so I could be a part of the discussion. I live in Houston, TX and I have yet to see Crystal on the local news. I've learned more about her disappearance here than anywhere else!
Here are some random thoughts I have. I realize they are scattered all over the place:
1) Looking at the stills, I think it's very possible she is wearing the same dress in both pictures. In the one where she appears to be wearing a black dress, just look at her hair, skin, and the wall behind her. It's all dark. In the one with her in a lilac dress, you can make out her face and blonde hair. So it seems more like a lighting/exposure issue than anything else. I find it pretty hard to believe that the boyfriend would be stupid enough to grab two stills of her in different colored dresses and hope that no one notices. Isn't it more logical that there is an innocent explanation? I'm sure we could all replicate this effect by photographing one of our own pieces of clothing in different areas of our house--say, in a room that faces east and another one that faces south.
2) I don't think that the boyfriend saying "if you can" rather than "when you can" is anything to fuss over. Saying "if" is basically implying "if you're not busy."
3) Someone pages back made the argument that she wouldn't have been able to see the LED sign from the road, but if you look at the pictures of his business on yelp, it clearly shows the sign next to the road.
4) I don't think it's fair to judge him on how lovey dovey/clingy he appears. For all we know he and Crystal were friends long before their decision to make their relationship official. I think a lot of people are assuming that they met and started dating within the last two months.
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I guess I'm just surprised by all the boyfriend hate on here. Hopefully you guys don't think I'm a shill. lol.
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I do have a lot of questions that I hope are answered though. Like, why would Crystal need to go there and get her kids in the first place? If they were originally supposed to be in school (before it was cancelled), why couldn't the ex just bring them? If the ex did something to her, where were the kids? Did he leave them at home asleep and trick Crystal into meeting him somewhere close to the motel where her car was found? Did the ex go into work that day at all, and did he bring the kids with them? If so, what time?
I recognize how it's a little odd for me to defend the boyfriend and then jump right into suspecting the ex, but I feel like these are really easy questions that would rule him out immediately if we just knew the answers.