I think so too. I don't think her body was moved by the suspect. That is just too risky. For some reason she couldn't be seen when the culvert was searched. With Sherin having to be pulled out tends to make me think she was a good distance into the culvert when found. I am sure LE and the ME will find evidence showing this was the first, and only place her body was put in order to hide it. If she was put there shortly after being killed the lividity pooling on her body will tell them if she was in the same position when placed there. For instance if he put her face down then the blood pooling would be to the front of her body. The same would happen if it placed her own her side or back. LE will know how she was originally placed in the culvert and whether it matches up to the blood pooling discloration that will be found on her little body.
We have drain culverts under each of our driveways since it is a wide circular driveway with two ways to enter or exit. In the past if we got a whiff of decomposition my husband would check it out. Sometimes he didnt see anything when he first checked but if we kept smelling it he went back and checked more closely the next time and found it was an injured dog or cat who had crawled inside of the culvert and died there or a wild animal like a raccoon.
Even when he used his bright flashlight he wasn't at first able to see what was causing the smell because the culvert is so dark inside of it. Since we live in a very rural wooded area he has had to pull out several deceased animals over the years even having to squeeze himself part way into the culvert (which was very hard to do) to reach them because most seem to go to the center. Our driveway culverts are far from where our home sits on our property but he or I would detect the scent when going to our mailbox that sits by one of the driveways. We don't just remove the dead animal because of the smell. We do it so the animals can be buried even though we had no idea who the cats, or dogs belonged to. I have felt very sorry for my hubby at times due to many of the animals being in a poor state of decomp but he does what he has to do and what is the right thing to do. I cant begin to imagine how sad it was for those in LE would had to remove precious Sherin from that dark culvert.
I remember one time he looked two or three times because he knew something had to be deceased but he couldn't see anything until he finally squeezed himself into the culvert and it turned out to be solid black dog.
So I think even if this culvert was searched she was overlooked and it was hard to see her little body laying there. I wonder if she was dressed the same as the description given at the time or did the perpetrator remove her clothes knowing those would be brightly seen colors and would be easier to see?
JMO
You sound like you live in an area like I do.
We have those driveway culvert pipes in our area, too--though our 3' swales are a lot narrower than the culvert area where Sherin was found. That area was roughly a 300' wide plain of grass. Saturday night's rain was the first significant rain since Sherin's disappearance, so the ground would not have been overly saturated to start with, either.
I agree with most of your observations, though, living in a semi-rural area, I have to also agree with posters upthread who've stated that they believe that the search dogs (and local residents' dogs) would've picked up her scent had she been there since Oct 7. This area I'm sure (though IMO and without specific LE statement to that effect) has been previously searched by both LE and local volunteers, being so close to WM's house and the tracks. It is bounded on the west side by a long strip of condos or town homes, and it is a natural place for residents to walk their dogs (eg. resident Prussack, quoted upthread, who lived in one of the townhomes and said he walked his dogs there daily).
We have a Shepherd that has the nose for anything, living or dead, on our property. She is not a trained cadaver dog, but within 2 minutes of being let out the door, she will chase out the squirrels, and promptly find and trot around with the carcass of any dead animal she locates on our property. If let into areas that she doesn't as frequently access, she will even find mummified animals, once again in lightning speed. It is quite disgusting getting these trophies from here, frankly. (I strongly considered taking her with me on my search that Saturday, but carting her in the car was not conducive to the other plans I had going on that day.)
So...all that to say, I'm still not sold on the idea that Sherin wandered over there 2 weeks ago and curled up in that dark culvert to die. And, IMO she would not have gotten 'stuck' after exploring in there; she was just too tiny. The culvert pipe is at least 2' in diameter, judging by the photo taken with the man standing on top of it in Heavy.com.
I'm not wanting the father (or either parent) to be a killer, here, and am still leaning towards the idea of an inadvertent (not premeditated) death that is being covered up. But WM's leaving out the fact that the Acura left the home that morning between 4-5am is a huge red flag for me. It was deceit by glaring omission, and there was a reason for it that has not yet been explained by him. I believe that the purpose of the Acura's trip will come to light, but the fact that WM is covering that up does not bode well for the coyote or child-wandering theories he's conveniently offered us.
Like the rest of you, I'm very glad little Sherin's been found, and now am simply awaiting word from the ME and evidence teams that will hopefully help piece together what happened.