Found Deceased TX - Leanne Bearden, 33, Garden Ridge, 17 Jan 2014 #11

[sarx]

Judy, I'm not SAR but I think the assumption by some that the dogs went the wrong way and the witnesses were clueless is more likely a wrong assumption.

I outlined such a route on post #447 on page http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=234995&page=18 that would fit the idea that the witnesses did indeed see her, the dogs did indeed track her correctly, and that she took most of her hour-ish walk she had planned BEFORE detouring at the last minute to the place where she met her end.

On that post there's a map noted and linked, in that post 447, to the shortest possible route using those parameters, one that would fit both time and also conform to witness statements and dogs. In addition, she had time to make a bit bigger loop or for her to take detours off of that basic route.

And, if they did go her route taken, they may have missed her in the tree cuz that's not the smell they're trained for, this is when it can fall on the handler to know their dog so well, that they know when the dog has lost the scent, then to have the foresight to look up and around for her, and if they weren't thinking suicide when they started on the trail, then they may very well never have thought to look up, and that would be totally understandable and they would have just assumed either they were on a old/bad trail or she got picked up or something like that. This is why it is so hard with dogs, they are excellent tools, but there unless they walk you right up to the person, it is entirely up to the handler to interpret the findings or lack there of what the dog did or did not do.

 

[floridamomma]

Whoops, missed the other part at first.

Regarding decomp..... Not all dogs are trained for remains detection, and there are lots and lots that are only trained in one or the other discipline, as cross training can be controversial, and at minimum is a whole lot more work.

With that in mind, the dogs that went looking for her initially at least were trailing dogs and to my knowledge were just that, so they were looking for a live person, not a deceased one.

And, yes, ones that have not been trained in remains, will and sometimes do, blow right by the deceased and just get confused, cuz that's not something they've worked.

will cadaver dogs not pick up a live person.... does our scent change once deceased? thanks for your input!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[sarx]

will cadaver dogs not pick up a live person.... does our scent change once deceased? thanks for your input!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

If it is strictly a HRD (Cadaver) dog, then no, they're not gonna look for a live person, totally different smells. Yes, the moment you die your scent begins to change.

 

[BeanieBod]

...I outlined such a route on post #447 on page http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=234995&page=18 that would fit the idea that the witnesses did indeed see her, the dogs did indeed track her correctly, and that she took most of her hour-ish walk she had planned BEFORE detouring at the last minute to the place where she met her end.

On that post there's a map noted and linked, in that post 447, to the shortest possible route using those parameters, one that would fit both time and also conform to witness statements and dogs. In addition, she had time to make a bit bigger loop or for her to take detours off of that basic route.

~~~snipped~~~

Thanks, SteveS, for the map. I have "walked" it and realized along the way that Leanne must have been looking for the right place and/or tree as some others have said. It also reminded me of my beloved Hill Country that would have brought her the peace she was looking for. Having been on your path, I realized that I will never return to the Hill Country and look at it the same way. Although I have no idea, I would think that a live oak was the tree she selected. I will never look at those lovely live oaks the same way.

I hope all of you will walk this path and feel the connection to Leanne. Although a lot of cases have photos, etc., it is seldom that we have the person's words, moving images and abundance of photos that drew us into her life. I believe that is why we feel so close to her.

I pray this Leanne is dancing and singing in heaven. <3

 

[SteveS]

And, if they did go her route taken, they may have missed her in the tree ....

No. We have been told that the dogs tracked her on the path on that map and then they were told to stop. My theory is that they tracked her accurately to that point, and then she looped back around to the place of demise.

Figuratively, her path kinda would look like she walked a giant "6" but walking it backwards from the way most of us were taught to write it. Starts at middle left, then across to the right and down, looping around and back up past the place of beginning and up to the top.

From all I have heard, the dogs never were taken by where she was in the tree (at the very top of the "6"). They started where she started and were still tracking her scent but were stopped at the bottom right of the "6". So we have been told.

 

[sarx]

No. We have been told that the dogs tracked her on the path on that map and then they were told to stop. My theory is that they tracked her accurately to that point, and then she looped back around to the place of demise.

From all I have heard, the dogs never were taken by where she was in the tree.[/QUOTE

Well, if they were told to stop, that certainly wasn't their fault!

 

[mck16]

~~~snipped~~~

Thanks, SteveS, for the map. I have "walked" it and realized along the way that Leanne must have been looking for the right place and/or tree as some others have said. It also reminded me of my beloved Hill Country that would have brought her the peace she was looking for. Having been on your path, I realized that I will never return to the Hill Country and look at it the same way. Although I have no idea, I would think that a live oak was the tree she selected. I will never look at those lovely live oaks the same way.

I hope all of you will walk this path and feel the connection to Leanne. Although a lot of cases have photos, etc., it is seldom that we have the person's words, moving images and abundance of photos that drew us into her life. I believe that is why we feel so close to her.

I pray this Leanne is dancing and singing in heaven. <3

I love the Hill Country too. Especially in the heat of the summer when the cactus are blooming. It reminds me of a cemetery with all those beautiful cactus as headstones. jmo

 

[floridamomma]

I'm sorry, but I just don't believe she killed herself.

I'm awfully curious, but accept that, for now, that will be the ruling.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[SteveS]

Here's my previous outline of what I think happened, one that works with the witnesses and dogs.

I think she left her front door with her mind troubled, but I don't believe she set out to do herself in. JMO That's because I believe that all the people, and the dogs, that said she went out to 3009 were not wrong. I think she took that walk before deciding to go another direction in her life.

Here's the route I think she took:
She goes E down Sumac, pass TT, to Teakwood and to 3009, as TT observes
Turns south on 3009.
Gets down 3009 to around the Trophy Oaks entrance, the area where the man reading the newspaper saw her.
The dogs track her from the house to that spot, before they were told to stop.
She continues down 3009, then turns right (W) on Gloxinia (which would explain why she was not spotted at the busy intersection with light at 2252 and 3009)
She gradually makes her way over to Sorrell and to the W end of Sumac, in essence a big loop. A few houses away from home.
Arriving at Sumac and Sorrell, on far end of street from TT if that TT crew was still working, she went unseen.

There are other loops she could have taken after going that far down 3009, or side streets she could have walked down and back in the neighborhood, but this is the basic route that makes sense to me and fits the best.

I think as she walked, she pondered things and her frustration was building. The shortest version of that loop is about 2 miles long, so she could have gotten to Sumac and Sorrell after perhaps 35-45 minutes, returning home just like she had said when she left. Perhaps the walk was brisk, or perhaps she dawdled, looking and pondering.

And I think when she got to that corner, for whatever reason, she decided that she wasn't going back. At least not yet. Maybe she still had 20 or more minutes left, of her hour, and decided to walk and think some more. Or maybe she decided then and there she wasn't going back, I dunno. So for whatever reason at that moment, she didn't turn down Sumac, kept going straight, eventually walking around Fairview Circle until she spied a quiet hidden place where she could slip in and be unseen and undisturbed to think further, or whatever.

(Clearly there are variations on the same route that fit the sightings and dogs as well. Including, she could have walked past Fairview Circle and on out to the backside of the lot where she was found, entering it from the N rather than from the S.)

Did she keep going farther and farther back from the house (with a lot that big, she might have been able to be as far as perhaps 1000 feet back) through the thickness and then climb up in a big leafy oak or evergreen to think? Did she perhaps sit there, up in a tree with no one likely to come by, and write a note? Or ponder? Or did she select that spot to immediately end things? We'll never know, I suspect.

THE MAP -


PS - If I could figure out how to post the map of the route I think she could have taken, so it shows as a map rather than a link, I would do it.

 

[SteveS]

Here's my previous outline of what I think happened, one that works with the witnesses and dogs.

I think she left her front door with her mind troubled, but I don't believe she set out to do herself in. JMO That's because I believe that all the people, and the dogs, that said she went out to 3009 were not wrong. I think she took that walk before deciding to go another direction in her life.

THE MAP

Here's the route I think she took:

1. She goes E down Sumac, pass TT, to Teakwood and to 3009, as TT observes
2. Turns south on 3009.
3. Gets down 3009 to around the Trophy Oaks entrance, the area where the man reading the newspaper saw her.
4. The dogs track her from the house to that spot, before they were told to stop.
5. She continues down 3009, then turns right (W) on Gloxinia (which would explain why she was not spotted at the busy intersection with light at 2252 and 3009)
6. She gradually makes her way over to Sorrell and to the W end of Sumac, in essence a big loop. A few houses away from home.
7. Arriving at Sumac and Sorrell, on far end of street from TT if that TT crew was still working, she went unseen.

There are other loops she could have taken after going that far down 3009, or side streets she could have walked down and back in the neighborhood, but this is the basic route that makes sense to me and fits the best.

I think as she walked, she pondered things and her frustration was building. The shortest version of that loop is about 2 miles long, so she could have gotten to Sumac and Sorrell after perhaps 35-45 minutes, returning home just like she had said when she left. Perhaps the walk was brisk, or perhaps she dawdled, looking and pondering.

And I think when she got to that corner, for whatever reason, she decided that she wasn't going back. At least not yet. Maybe she still had 20 or more minutes left, of her hour, and decided to walk and think some more. Or maybe she decided then and there she wasn't going back, I dunno. So for whatever reason at that moment, she didn't turn down Sumac, kept going straight, eventually walking around Fairview Circle until she spied a quiet hidden place where she could slip in and be unseen and undisturbed to think further, or whatever.

(Clearly there are variations on the same route that fit the sightings and dogs as well. Including, she could have walked past Fairview Circle and on out to the backside of the lot where she was found, entering it from the N on Schoenthal rather than from the S.)

Did she keep going farther and farther back from the house (with a lot that big, she might have been able to be as far as perhaps 1000 feet back) through the thickness and then climb up in a big leafy oak or evergreen to think? Did she perhaps sit there, up in a tree with no one likely to come by, and write a note? Or ponder? Or did she select that spot to immediately end things? We'll never know, I suspect.

THE MAP -


PS - If I could figure out how to post the map of the route I think she could have taken, so it shows as a map rather than a link, I would do it.

 

[SteveS]

No. We have been told that the dogs tracked her on the path on that map and then they were told to stop. My theory is that they tracked her accurately to that point, and then she looped back around to the place of demise.

From all I have heard, the dogs never were taken by where she was in the tree.

Well, if they were told to stop, that certainly wasn't their fault!

I certainly agree.

In essence, the dogs had tracked her from the house to about 1 mile SE of the Bearden house. When she was discovered about 1 mile N of the house, the immediate assumption made by many was that the dogs must have screwed up, leading to questions about their ability and how they discern what they do. But unless such dogs are worthless, I think it more likely that they tracked the start of her route, but were not given the chance to ascertain that she looped back around to N of the house.

If that indeed is true, then it would seem to hint that her ultimate actions were not planned - either impulsive, or she was uncertain of where she wanted to go, or both.

 

[SmoothOperator]

I certainly agree.

In essence, the dogs had tracked her from the house to about 1 mile SE of the Bearden house. When she was discovered about 1 mile N of the house, the immediate assumption made by many was that the dogs must have screwed up, leading to questions about their ability and how they discern what they do. But unless such dogs are worthless, I think it more likely that they tracked the start of her route, but were not given the chance to ascertain that she looped back around to N of the house.

If that indeed is true, then it would seem to hint that her ultimate actions were not planned - either impulsive, or she was uncertain of where she wanted to go, or both.

It appears as though you are only speaking about the bloodhounds that family hired, and that were made to stop due to the fact that LE was in the process of doing the HUGE MULTIPLE LE AGENCY AND TEXAS SAR SEARCH at that exact moment in time(the Saturday search)..

That official search included 12 sets of k9's..including both live scent trailing k9s, along with HRD k9s.. These dogs were not interrupted.. Theses dogs completed the search..and from what was reported they found no trace of Leanne(tho, we were never given any info if the official SAR k9s were able to pick up a scent trail, and if so, where that scent trail ended).

So, I think its important to note that the only k9s that were interrupted were unofficial, and it was due to extremely good reason in that LE was conducting the thoroughly planned, multi agencies and resources official search at the time that these unofficial k9s were searching(which I still don't understand why the unofficial search would have been scheduled at a time that it was known that LE was doing there huge official search and had asked for no other searches to be taking place during that Saturday)..

**Please forgive the limitations that come w/my posting via mobile ATM**

 

[KateB]

Not to confuse the issue, but I thought the social media comment on the scent meant the family hired dogs were stopped by the handlers of the Comal County dogs loaned to GRPD on Day 2. Was it ever really clarified?

 

[KateB]

Also, remember the area she was found was excluded on 1/25/2014 when 17 agencies looked for her.

Which is another puzzle: 15 were specifically mentioned, but more major city/county/state agencies are named generically that I don't see in the list that would put it higher than 17.

The Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers, US Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation. A number of agencies involved. Search personnel came from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, from the Houston area, Galveston and South Texas to participate in this search.

Texas Maritime Regiment of the Texas State Guard
Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department of Public Safety Aviation
Texas Rangers
US Secret Service
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Comal County Sheriff&#8217;s Office
Comal County Constables
Comal County Emergency Management
Schertz PD
Texas Dept. of Public Safety
Bracken Fire
Bastrop County Emergency Management
Texas Search and Rescue
Garden Ridge Police Dept

 

[SteveS]

That official search included 12 sets of k9's..including both live scent trailing k9s, along with HRD k9s.. These dogs were not interrupted.. These dogs completed the search..and from what was reported they found no trace of Leanne (tho, we were never given any info if the official SAR k9s were able to pick up a scent trail, and if so, where that scent trail ended).

While I have heard there were other dogs used, the question is where. To my knowledge, we really have been told nothing about the other dogs' efforts at all. Indeed, I recall the public and media being stiff-armed when looking for details on those dogs' findings.

 

[ami]

Here's my previous outline of what I think happened, one that works with the witnesses and dogs.

I think she left her front door with her mind troubled, but I don't believe she set out to do herself in. JMO That's because I believe that all the people, and the dogs, that said she went out to 3009 were not wrong. I think she took that walk before deciding to go another direction in her life.

Here's the route I think she took:
She goes E down Sumac, pass TT, to Teakwood and to 3009, as TT observes
Turns south on 3009.
Gets down 3009 to around the Trophy Oaks entrance, the area where the man reading the newspaper saw her.
The dogs track her from the house to that spot, before they were told to stop.
She continues down 3009, then turns right (W) on Gloxinia (which would explain why she was not spotted at the busy intersection with light at 2252 and 3009)
She gradually makes her way over to Sorrell and to the W end of Sumac, in essence a big loop. A few houses away from home.
Arriving at Sumac and Sorrell, on far end of street from TT if that TT crew was still working, she went unseen.

There are other loops she could have taken after going that far down 3009, or side streets she could have walked down and back in the neighborhood, but this is the basic route that makes sense to me and fits the best.

I think as she walked, she pondered things and her frustration was building. The shortest version of that loop is about 2 miles long, so she could have gotten to Sumac and Sorrell after perhaps 35-45 minutes, returning home just like she had said when she left. Perhaps the walk was brisk, or perhaps she dawdled, looking and pondering.

And I think when she got to that corner, for whatever reason, she decided that she wasn't going back. At least not yet. Maybe she still had 20 or more minutes left, of her hour, and decided to walk and think some more. Or maybe she decided then and there she wasn't going back, I dunno. So for whatever reason at that moment, she didn't turn down Sumac, kept going straight, eventually walking around Fairview Circle until she spied a quiet hidden place where she could slip in and be unseen and undisturbed to think further, or whatever.

(Clearly there are variations on the same route that fit the sightings and dogs as well. Including, she could have walked past Fairview Circle and on out to the backside of the lot where she was found, entering it from the N rather than from the S.)

Did she keep going farther and farther back from the house (with a lot that big, she might have been able to be as far as perhaps 1000 feet back) through the thickness and then climb up in a big leafy oak or evergreen to think? Did she perhaps sit there, up in a tree with no one likely to come by, and write a note? Or ponder? Or did she select that spot to immediately end things? We'll never know, I suspect.

THE MAP -


PS - If I could figure out how to post the map of the route I think she could have taken, so it shows as a map rather than a link, I would do it.

I "walked" that path when you posted it and it felt right except where it came to her entrance to the property - I can't see her essentially walking across an open lawn parallel to someone's driveway and into their yard. I think there must have been a less public route from the back or side, one of the bordering roads outside the Circle, so that she came to the trees from a different property. The front of that property is so bare and it's hard to see the woods from there, and easy to see people's homes and windows. But other than that, your reconstruction feels pretty right.

The only thing is - if she left without intending her ultimate outcome, why the backpack? I still feel like she must have grabbed it with some intention other than a 45 minute walk. Either because of the contents, or because she wanted to buy something and carry it home in the bag. Considering the neighborhood and her path, which didn't feel like a grocery store run, and the outcome of the afternoon, I feel like she was doing a lot of thinking on her walk but ultimately had the end game in mind when she left the house.

 

[KateB]

We can't second guess the planners that chose the search area, but with ATV's, Aviation, Horses, K9's, I think its safe to say the focus was on the greenbelt, not within the city limits of Garden Ridge.
Early in thread #1, a member mentioned statistics of successful searches ending within a mile of the last seen location as high. I wonder how the planners factored that into their decisions on where to apply their resources most effectively. I think that should be reviewed as closely as the canines are being reviewed. IMO.

 

[mck16]

I "walked" that path when you posted it and it felt right except where it came to her entrance to the property - I can't see her essentially walking across an open lawn parallel to someone's driveway and into their yard. I think there must have been a less public route from the back or side, one of the bordering roads outside the Circle, so that she came to the trees from a different property. The front of that property is so bare and it's hard to see the woods from there, and easy to see people's homes and windows. But other than that, your reconstruction feels pretty right.

The only thing is - if she left without intending her ultimate outcome, why the backpack? I still feel like she must have grabbed it with some intention other than a 45 minute walk. Either because of the contents, or because she wanted to buy something and carry it home in the bag. Considering the neighborhood and her path, which didn't feel like a grocery store run, and the outcome of the afternoon, I feel like she was doing a lot of thinking on her walk but ultimately had the end game in mind when she left the house.

Maybe it was part of Josh that she wanted to hold on to Jmo

 

[ami]

We can't second guess the planners that chose the search area, but with ATV's, Aviation, Horses, K9's, I think its safe to say the focus was on the greenbelt, not within the city limits of Garden Ridge.
Early in thread #1, a member mentioned statistics of successful searches ending within a mile of the last seen location as high. I wonder how the planners factored that into their decisions on where to apply their resources most effectively. I think that should be reviewed as closely as the canines are being reviewed. IMO.

Do we even know if any search dog team was anywhere near her? The official search and rescue team didn't search that area at all, and the family's hired dogs went towards 3009 and then were told to stop, so they never got a chance to search the circle area... I kind of think there just wasn't a search dog team in the place she was found, right?

Or there might have been during the time there was something of an official news blackout, but we don't know about any, do we?

eta: I'm not sure that was the post I thought I quoted in my reply, sorry, long day! But I do know I meant to quote one referencing the dogs, so I'll leave it in.

 

[KateB]

Do we even know if any search dog team was anywhere near her? The official search and rescue team didn't search that area at all, and the family's hired dogs went towards 3009 and then were told to stop, so they never got a chance to search the circle area... I kind of think there just wasn't a search dog team in the place she was found, right?

Or there might have been during the time there was something of an official news blackout, but we don't know about any, do we?

eta: I'm not sure that was the post I thought I quoted in my reply, sorry, long day! But I do know I meant to quote one referencing the dogs, so I'll leave it in.

I'll comment anyway. I don't know of any public information on that. All I recall is Day 2 canine search, which would have been 1/19/2014 were canines loaned to GRPD by Comal County Sheriff. The reporter's tweet of the local company providing bloodhounds to the family was on 1/22/2014. The official search that excluded what had previously been searched was Day 8 and 1/25/2014.

The social media comment spoke in past tense, so even if the date of the comment was available, the date of the instance is still vague. IIRC.