Interesting. That opens up the possibility something may have caught one of the dog's attention and it took off. No doubt Reed would have gone after it, if it wouldn't respond to commands. I wonder how well trained the adult dog was.
Absolutely,
That area behind the old school where Reed was last seen with the dogs according to a friend/witness is all mountains and wilderness. Seemingly more likely to run into a bear, mountain lion, coyote, cougar than a predictor in hiding.
Abduction though is still at 50% because we don't know the route Reed took after being scene behind the school. And if an animal got to any of them, wouldn't some remains be found? One must consider the intensity at which the search was done. Reed's brother Keith was 7-8 at the time, and he distinctly remembers that "LE looked in every cave."
No dog, or even a person no matter how experienced is going to remain calm, if the trio came face-to-face with a wild animal, possibly even a rabid wild animal. Reed's love of helping anybody, and devotion to his dogs, not to mention his "Eagle Scout" instincts would kick in to do everything in his power to save his dogs. If Reed stayed on that nature path, all could have met a nature danger and tragedy, from which they could not have escaped.
If Reed and his dogs traveled closer to a road area, and whatever happened occurred on the way home from the walk, than it would potentially make an abduction more likely than a wild animal or nature danger situation. Horrifically, one, or both of the dogs could have been struck by a car in any event. A crying and shaking Reed pleads for help from a passerby and is met with double-horror coming in contract with the wrong person.
Or if all three of them got away, got hit by a car and the driver panics, takes the bodies and hides them in the trunk or back seat of his car. There are two near certainties here. Reed did not vanish voluntarily, and this was either a tragic accident or foul play.
Satch