GUILTY TX - Zoe Hastings, 18, abducted & murdered, Dallas, 11 Oct 2015

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I want to address the point of submitting dna to a website like ancestry com to check for relatives. The police say it is illegal. I don't see how that can be. This is why. Anyone can submit dna. It does not have to be yours. You don't have to give your real name. So I could get the dna and submit it as my own and find out all kinds of info. It is not illegal to do that. I bet this is already being done.

With the latest development i am very sad to think a black man had a knife and approached her and told her to move over. I can't make that make much sense either. He was driving in an area that she knew well. Maybe the weapon terrified her but she still thought he would not use it. I am still having trouble accepting this version of events. I once was accosted by a man at a mall who stood near my door and would not let me shut it. I panicked but there was a security vehicle close and the guy left.

If this version of the story is true probably a drug addict homeless violent criminal who does have a prison record. It might be illegal for cops to submit dna of perps but it is not illegal for me to do it. Maybe I'll give dpd my addy and submit that dna for them

For all that is good and decent in the world
Hold tight to the iron rod
Aviatrix

Ps
I still cannot rule out the football player who killed the jogger. I am wondering if the jogger witnessed something and thus was also killed. The perp would have had the blood d of two people on him
 
Who knows what the perpetrator said ... and she was an incredible gentle & sweet young woman. I cannot imagine anything but her being in shock and not knowing what else to do but to comply? I am assuming he had a weapon from the start.

From the looks of the flattened speed limit sign she didn't comply long, at some point she did some fighting back. I hope she did some damage to the man. I hope she left evidence on him of a fight.

Breaks my heart to think of how scared she must have been.

I do feel like the guy knew that creek ... I use to live on country club Dr and there's a park adjacent to the church and creek meanders through that neighbourhood. Cause it's doubtful to me she had much control by the time they were there or she and the car were left there.

Let's hope they locate woman who witnessed accident soon and both she and Walgreen witness work with sketch artists to get us closer to an id on this killer.

Kathy
 
LE has eliminated the football player.
They must have good reason to do so.
There is no reason to continue to alarm the community if the killer is already in custody.

Also no reason to keep quiet to find a "second perp" since the football player worked alone.
For now I will assume the football player is unrelated, since that is what LE have said.
Yes, LE lie to the public but they have a motive to do so... I see no motive in this case to lie about that.
 
georgiajean said:
My thinking....if the man came up and told her someone from her family was hurt, and said he would drive her to them, I could see her trusting him and sliding over. Especially if she knew him,, or was familiar with him. If he said the right words, and if someone she loved was in danger....

If the car drove off in a different direction from where the car was found, there is a larger window of time for searching for witnesses.

Do they have a time of death?

And I am still very uncomfortable with the difference in descriptions of Zoe, as shared by LE and by the man who was driving his daughter to school and found Zoe after the other man alerted him. His description of her (curled up, looking for help) raised a lot of questions for me..
Click to expand...


BBM Do you remember where you read that description by Joe Noriega, the man who was driving his daughter? I have read a few articles but never read that she was curled up, looking for help. TIA!
 
This is horrible and hits close to home as I live in Dallas.

Though this could have been an impulse kidnapping by a stranger, the witness did not describe even a brief struggle or hesitation by the victim.

This could indicate that the victim was generally familiar with the perpetrator. It might be beneficial tor the police to inquire if the church / temple (I am not familiar with the terminology) had any community out reach programs. As others mentioned, the area can go from tony to iffy and back to tony again very quickly. The victim could well have regularly participated in out reach programs and such programs in that area could draw a broad mix of people.

There is a chance that the perpetrator might have been a some what regular particpant in any out reach programs- especially if the church was offering incentives to those who appeared interested. Thus he may have met the victim several times in passing and could explain why the victim did not resist or hesitate. Rather, the perpertrator could seen her at the store, then acted impulsively. He slides into her car and briefly "explains" that he really needs to be driven somewhere near by (perhaps even using a family emergency ploy. Once in, he takes over the car. If she knew him in general terms from an out reach program, she would be surprised, but probably not terrified.
 
Thanks georgiajean. I have more questions too.
 
AliVada said:
Who knows what the perpetrator said ... and she was an incredible gentle & sweet young woman. I cannot imagine anything but her being in shock and not knowing what else to do but to comply? I am assuming he had a weapon from the start.

From the looks of the flattened speed limit sign she didn't comply long, at some point she did some fighting back. I hope she did some damage to the man. I hope she left evidence on him of a fight.

Breaks my heart to think of how scared she must have been.

I do feel like the guy knew that creek ... I use to live on country club Dr and there's a park adjacent to the church and creek meanders through that neighbourhood. Cause it's doubtful to me she had much control by the time they were there or she and the car were left there.

Let's hope they locate woman who witnessed accident soon and both she and Walgreen witness work with sketch artists to get us closer to an id on this killer.

Kathy
Click to expand...

It sounds like to me he probably told her he had a gun and that's why she moved over to the passenger side. I can't see in this day and time why would she just let some random guy in her car unless it was against her will.
 
I wonder how many people were in that Walgreens parking lot at 4:30 on a Saturday/Sunday evening? Seems on the weekends there would be plenty of witnesses. We know there was one.

I am now thinking this was somebody she knew because if something would have gone on that witness would have called police.
Everybody seems to carry a cell phone these days.



Also have police put out a warning to people that they are in danger?
 
I don't believe she would have voluntarily let him in the vehicle, no way. If it were someone she knew and they begged for a ride she might give them one, but she wouldn't slide over and let them drive (unless the young woman had some challenges that we are unaware of).

The weird thing about the football player was that the police said he was NOT a suspect 2-3 hours after his arrest. That was way way to soon to have ruled him out IMO, they couldn't have run lab tests that fast so how did they make that determination? An alibi? His word?

After all of this time they probably have run lab tests but it still seems very strange.

Also I tried to find a booking photo of Thomas Johnson (the football player) and couldn't find one, the photos online do not appear to be mugshots and they don't look recent, so it is possible his hair had grown out.
 
Perhaps the A&M Football player was ruled out because he has a solid alibi for 4-5 PM on Sunday. The police probably know what he was doing the days before the murder.
 
I never saw scent dogs at the scene. If the perp drove the van you would think dogs could have followed the scent.
 
My other thought is that I wonder if the perp had a cell phone. I saw a vision of cell phones tied together by a cord. Now I realize what that meant. It means that if the perp had a cell phone both phones would be moving together. If I had access to the tower logs I might be able to figure out whose phone was traveling with Zoe's phone
 
catpatrol said:
Perhaps the A&M Football player was ruled out because he has a solid alibi for 4-5 PM on Sunday. The police probably know what he was doing the days before the murder.
Click to expand...

The football player was suffering from severe mental illness and was being kicked out of his Aunt's home around that time. I doubt if there were multiple competent independent witnesses that could testify to his whereabouts.
 
I doubt LE would rule out the suspect in the other murder unless they were certain. Imo, it would be much easier for them if he was the guy in this case as well. But apparently, he isn't.
 
This case is so tragic and confusing.
For some reason I don't think it's random. I think it was someone she knew.
 
I live in the area but not in Dallas. This sort of recapitulates what I have been thinking about since Zoe's death appeared in the news.

FirstI had a look on Google street view at what the Walgreens-Redbox site looks like. The feeling is chilling. The Redbox kiosk is, as usual, on the side of the building but it seems unusually far from Walgreens front door. It is on the left of the door if you face the entrance. Hence she may have pulled to the kiosk and parked so the kiosk would be on the driver's side. Now the minivan prohibits any customer in front of the building or entering it from seeing anything happening at the kiosk. What is on the side of the building siding the kiosk? nothing, because Walgreens is built on an upper level and some shops on the left are way down and anyone standing there would not see the kiosk it seems. What is on the other side of the road? bushes, and Walgreens seems heavily treed too.
So only a passing car going towards Peavy would have a chance to observe any event happening at the kiosk. I did not catch where the Walgreens witness said she saw the car in the parking lot. I was under the impression that everybody knew to NEVER let an assailant take you to a secondary location (where he will have total control): if he is going to kill you right here, he will surely kill you there. So it seems strange to me that she would go peacefully with someone unknown.


I cannot imagine what the family is going thru, this is truly horrible. But the message here is that you want to make sure you keep sharply aware of your surroundings and do not place yourself in a very vulnerable situation. Predators are at work even and may be especially on nice Sunday afternoons because that is when you are really not paying attention. My only expertise here is that of a women who has liked to travel-walk alone my entire life without much limit on the time of the day. BUT I try to always be aware of my surroundings and have developed some kind of instinct I suppose for places that offer no easy retreat or defense. There are places I would not go, this Redbox would qualify as one to avoid. It is just too easy to get ambushed there.


Question 1: if the perp was waiting for a victim at/near Walgreens parking where was he to be close enough to reach Redbox very fast yet unnoticed, in a car? sitting at the bus stop? or did he followed her from home (stalker hypothesis). One can only hope they have cameras observing the entrance of the lot.


I have never set foot in the area, so what I see is all from Google sat view or street view, I am trying to figure why one would pick this Walgreens to attack someone, and then this CS to dump the car (and perhaps to hide for hours and kill) . Why this Walgreens I described above, never seen a safer one for a perp. Now the CS at Dixfield. First I was not even sure about the site at all before I saw your post DeDee. I was just using Google to look for a likely site: not a park because it is Sunday but more a random heavily treed area where a car can drive in easily deep far away from the streets...and I found the Dixfield spot rather easily just using this criteria. There are not that many places where there are no heavy bushes all along the road making a car getting in rather difficult..
So this is likely again the safest spot for a perp. closest to the abduction site. So the Dixfield spot proximity to the Church may just be a coincidence.


Then there is something I noticed immediately about the area: the fact that creeks are bordered by streets instead of being bordered by the backyards of homes (as they are where I live -with a lot of dogs in those backyards). That makes those creeks a network of hidden paths. Also enough water to "clean up"? Wonder if they combed carefully all those creeks particularly the one going straight from Dixfield to Lake Highland Park and then to less than a 1000 feet from Walgreens...good undercover short cut of about 2 miles walk back to Walgreens.


IMO that is someone who knows that area VERY well. Hence he may have known Zoe.


The Walgreens site leaves room for a random attack because Walgreens attacks are not uncommon (internet search). But somebody that young returning a movie is not the greatest candidate for a well funded ATM or even money in her pocket and justifying the risk. So much for the cash motive."

...a bit too long for a first post here I am sure.
 
Very sad. All she was doing was returning a redbox movie. How many of us have done that and probably thought it was the safest thing to do. I would think that insurances companies would make sure stores, ones that sell proscription drugs would have cameras running. Hoping for an arrest today.
 
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