TX TX - Julie Moseley, 9, Mary Trlica, 17, Lisa Wilson, 14, Fort Worth, 23 Dec 1974 #8

[jetsfanjohn]

I'd understood they were to meet the friends at the mall at 12:00 pm, but the trio was at A/N store at that time (that's been confirmed). So maybe they were running late. What doesn't add up is if they were definitely at A/N at noon, and DA definitely saw her sister at home at 12:30 pm (per MP report). That would mean Rachel:
* went home before going to the mall
* possibly never made it to the mall from Minot (which means the car was definitely planted)
I don't think she had time to hit the mall from A/N,  then go home in that time frame.

I would pretty much agree with this, but they could have possible made a quick visit to the Mall before going back to Minot, if we are a bit more flexible with the times. But running with what you have mentioned above, what does that leave us with ?

- Never made it to the Mall from Minot

- Abducted from the Mall Parking Lot on arrival. If they made it to the Mall proper in this timeframe (i.e after the sightings at Minot) say around 1.00pm, they would surely have bumped into the friends they were supposed to meet.

JMO, but one of the above could be the correct answer to this mystery.

 

[Brightchaser47]

I would pretty much agree with this, but they could have possible made a quick visit to the Mall before going back to Minot, if we are a bit more flexible with the times.

RSBM
If we allow for flexibility/inaccuracy of stated times, then, yes-- Rachel could've possibly been in/out of the mall  very quickly, though I don't know how feasible that would've been with holiday traffic. She definitely would not have had time to shop, though, imo.

- Abducted from the Mall Parking Lot on arrival. If they made it to the Mall proper in this timeframe (i.e after the sightings at Minot) say around 1.00pm, they would surely have bumped into the friends they were supposed to meet.

Yes, theoretically, they should've met up with the friends. Being abducted from the mall on arrival really only makes sense to me if they were abducted by someone who followed them there. I think we've essentially ruled out stranger abduction because of the letter. So that leaves the idea they were followed to the mall from Minot (or someone saw them en route from Minot, followed them), then abducted after exiting the Olds in the parking lot. Assuming this scenario, either:
* someone followed them, waited for them to exit their car, lock it up, before abducting/enticing them away  or
* two (or more) people were involved-- one or more to abduct/entice the girls away from the Olds, another to take the keys, lock the car