Respectfully, I've read every tidbit and listened to every word of every press conference. For brevity's sake I didn't specifically mention some things but since you bring it up - Johnson said last Friday that they were at 1,015-1020 leads. He said they had worked through upwards of 90 percent of them. That does not leave "hundreds" to sift down. Plus, I would imagine that they have prioritized those leads, with the ones they're working on now being leads that they had pushed to the bottom of the pile thinking they probably won't amount to much (JMO on that).
LE "gave no hint" of any strong leads - that's exactly right. Nothing that Johnson said in his prepared remarks or in his answers to reporter questions gave a hint that LE is on to something here. But I'll put you firmly in the optimistic camp.
I share neither your pessimism (the idea that LE has nothing, and was saying that) nor the optimism of some here (who think LE has it all figured out).
Respectfully, I think you have misconstrued both the intent and the content of that recent presser. IMO this presser was simply a dog-and-pony show, to keep the case in the news and give the public a couple of interest-grabbing pieces of info (the height, and the info that they aren't really looking at family, friends, and coworkers anymore) and something to do (look for an Altima with a sticker) and assure everyone they are working hard. Managing the public is part of managing a high profile case.
Yes, the chief was vague and non-committal on details. But
I don't agree with you that those are an indication that they have no clue, but instead see them as an indication that he is being careful in what he says. It costs nothing to let the public think that extra random scenarios are possible, and that they haven't narrowed down the search in specific ways that are asked about, until the case is concluded.
Nor do I think the Altima is their only lead of any kind, and in fact I don't think it's all that important to the case at all. I accept what the chief said, it's just a loose end, that the public can help with. He did NOT say they have cleared "upwards of 90%" (the devil is in the specifics) and what he said left room for there still being hundreds of tips remaining, as I said - and again, these are just the public tips. They are letting the public mess with the minor stuff while they are spending time elsewhere. As I see it.