Whew! This has all moved so quickly the last couple of days! I've been following along as best I can, but not posting over the weekend, so here are my thoughts on this case ATM:
- I think we're all prone to over-thinking this case because there are a lot of components, a lot of footage, and a lot of confusing behavior by HG. We may never know why she was seen running around town so purposefully, but yet aimlessly for example
- I don't think that LE is purposely naming JM as a false POI to throw off the real POI. I think that they really do have some kind of evidence that places HG in his car...yet he claims she was not in his car, so they are fairly certain that he's lying. My best guess is something like hair, or another substance that if, proven to be hers, places her in the car
- I think they need to come up with some eyewitnesses that saw her in the car so that they can confront JM with that, and possibly get him talking. If they catch him in a lie, he might start trying to defend himself and perhaps it would all come out from there
- To me, it's highly improbable that the police would be so open and emotional about this if they had nothing on JM other than the surveillance tape. That would be uncommonly shoddy police work. I think they have enough on him to be confident in his involvement, but not prove a crime was committed. There were times with the Erin Corwin case that it seemed like LE was either holding the cards very close to their chests, or they actually knew next to nothing. It seemed like they would never find her body, and would never arrest anyone for it, and BAM - they did.
I know many have said that as a young black man, he has a target on his back and it's totally understandable that he would clam up and lawyer up. While I'm not trying to ignite that debate again, I think it's incredibly suspicious that he not only did not come forward to clear his name, but also is not being the least bit helpful in trying to help find this young lady whom he clearly took an interest in at one point. If he truly did part ways with her -- why not tell the police, "Hey, this was her demeanor, this is what she talked about, she told me she was going _______, then she walked in X direction" -- that would be 8,000 times more compelling to his argument of innocence than total silence. MOO.