Victim: Alexis Murphy, 17, missing from Shipman, VA, 03 August 2013 - #5

[2Hope4]

That camper looked like an old model. I seriously doubt it had internet, IMO. It was small enough to fit on the back of the flat bed wrecker! Remember he was using electricity from a cord run from the house.

As for RAT's lawyer's tale...really doesn't matter to me what he said, it kept Alexis's name in the news, and at this point, anything to keep her disappearance and photos out in the media is much needed! They could talk about cow patties for all I care, as long as they keep mentioning Alexis and showing her photos!!! People's attention span dies out quickly. If searches, and hanging fliers and such aren't done soon after an event, people will lose interest and forget about it. The family and friends really need to up the ante now. Get those fliers in hands of everyone! Put an ad in the newspapers! Get some searches organized or at least LE needs to put something in the media advising landowners to check their land, and report anything out of the ordinary. If private land owners need help searching their land, ASK FOR IT! People will show up! VA is horse country! Lots of people would show up for some trail riding and looking. Amazing how much you can see on the back of a horse versus just walking an area. Plus you can cover so much more area. Not sure if it's rained in Nelson today, but in my area of VA we've had rain most of the day... if Alexis is in an area slightly covered, or a shallow grave, something might wash away. Remind landowners to watch for vultures and investigate if they see them, or call LE to come look. Not sure how well sonar works with a deceased body. Wouldn't it give off some heat at it decomposes?
As for the Nelson area, some of the nicest people I've met. Even to an 'outsider'. We travel through on the way to the state fair and stop at that Liberty station. Always have people speaking, and drumming up small talk. Not unusual at all. And as I was talking to my family today about the area, my own daughter would think nothing of speaking to someone like RAT out of politeness. IMO, he looks frail, like perhaps a heart problem or other health issue. He looks older than his given age.
Also, from what we've noticed and locals would know more, but Liberty seemed to be a place locals like to sit and drink their coffee, and shoot the bull. Having only traveled through there several days in a row, would see some of the same men sitting in the McD's there each time. Really possible they would notice more about what is going on at those pumps, and maybe with RAT. Perhaps he would sit there with the locals? Not sure.
There's another gas station on 29 that has the best fudge! Again, everyone always friendly, holding the door for you to go in front of them, etc.

Someone mentioned dogs. Not sure whether they were scent dogs for a live or dead person, but they were mentioned in the media, and mentioned about them baying in the woods around RAT's living area.
IMO!

 

[2Hope4]

I inquired about the dogs because I thought about John Couey....living in a trailer and his disposing of a body outside of but close to the trailer.
:moo:

Oh gosh the chills from that case!! UGH! This was a camper that RAT was living in though and not a house trailer.

 

[2Hope4]

How far away are the national forests?

 

[margarita25]

Bringing this over from the background thread:

margarita25
Quote:
Campgrounds, Virginia Beach...bringing this over to Alexis' thread...

**********************************

Quote:
Originally Posted by Just K View Post
With RAT we have his habit of implicating others.
We have his Arson charge.
We have his connection to two people whose surnames belong to prominent landowners.
We have at least three females(MH, SC, & AM) that stood out in the crowd. Confident females who expressed their unique style openly. All three appear to be very independent young women who some may say were adventurous or strong willed and motivated. They were not small or petite females.

He had gatherings at campgrounds with people younger than himself.

It occurs to me that the time he was in jail should have been a time for exploring his own young adulthood. I figure he was about 27 when he was first arrested in VA Beach and about 31 when he got out. Just have to believe there is some kind of jealousy/envy, coveting or rage toward these strong young females.
IDK, I can't get passed the similarities in these case and his proximity to all three.

 

[MoxieThyme]

hmmmmmmmm.

This reminds me of something I forgot to post a while back during the creepy sheet sighting.

LE returned to this property with a second warrant, right? If it was a sheet hanging on a laundry line, I would think this is one of the FIRST things they would confiscate for testing (blood evidence, fibers, etc.). Yet it was just hanging there...odd...wonder if it is there now? Maybe they just hadn't pulled it yet in those photos but were about to...Someone go drive by, lol (kidding)!

that was actually a blue tarp, but the back side of it, the silvery/grey side... there was a much bigger and better pic that was post a day or so later... but still, good points, sheet or tarp, still would be great for evidence, and I am sure they were on it from the get go!

Good question, given the VA Beach/Norfolk military base. Where are the local posters? Any bunkers known of there?

I dont know of military bunkers all though there are faded memories of stories when I was a kid... did they have something around here from WWII, a base in nelson or close by? oh I cant remember... thats gonna take some digging... but personal bunkers is a different story... Ive seen a few of these old ones from moonshining days... so that is always a possibility, but you wont find that on any map...

.......there simply is no history of people being jumped for their pay. Nelson is a place where people don't lock their car doors, some people don't lock their home doors. I'm past all that having lived outside of Nelson for years, but before I moved, I NEVER took my purse out of my car, even left the keys in the ignition, only locked the doors at night and for years before I moved, I lived in a house with only a screen door for a back door that didn't have a lock. And, it's that backdrop in which Alexis was raised, that way of life that could get a local girl in trouble, especially faced with an outsider with ill intentions. She had no way of knowing not to trust some guy she saw at the gas station if he flagged her down. We'll see, but I still believe, because the person in custody was heavily investigated in another disappearance in the state, that this is a stalker/sexual predator case.

Agreed on RAT, and agreed on NelCo..... I guess it is hard to explain the culture of nelson to those who have not lived here... even when I have lived a couple of counties over its not the same... and hard to explain... and I cant tell you how many times people have said... "ohhhh, your from Nelson..." its just a different kinda place out here... on so many, many different levels...

You would have to search those one at a time, I think. I remember when a young man went missing in the mud caves in Anza Borrego (Guillermo Pino, Jr), his family hired a PI and they hooked up a camera with lights to lower into the crevices on a rope. That is the only way they found him, from the camera footage they reviewed after pulling it back up.

I cant imagine that.... wow... just wow...

That camper looked like an old model. I seriously doubt it had internet, IMO. It was small enough to fit on the back of the flat bed wrecker! Remember he was using electricity from a cord run from the house.

agreed... out here, you would have to buy a really expensive mifi/hotspot from verizon, (the air cards dont work) and where his camper was, I know for a fact there was not enough signal for much internet, because mifi/hotspots run off cell signal... maybe, and its a big maybe... he would have had a strong enough signal during fall and winter, but once the leaves were on the trees his signal strength would have dropped to nothing in that pocket he lived in... so the only other option would have been for him to have satellite internet, which I seriously doubt he could have afforded... its the only kind I can get, and I can barely afford it.. there is no cable internet, or broadband, or fios or anything like that... his only other option would have been to use the free wifi at the mcdonalds, if he had a laptop or cell phone that had internet on it... but to do that he would have had to be in the parking lot of mcdonalds or food lion to reach their signal.. [/QUOTE]

There's another gas station on 29 that has the best fudge!

Crossroads... in North Garden... best fudge around...

 

[margarita25]

So, after being here most of the day, I am leaving off at a campground area in between home and Virginia Beach and this is where I will resume my spot tomorrow. Starting to go crosseyed.

 

[2Hope4]

So, after being here most of the day, I am leaving off at a campground area in between home and Virginia Beach and this is where I will resume my spot tomorrow. Starting to go crosseyed.

Campgrounds in the national forest...maybe. This time of year they wouldn't be as crowded as normal, however, huge risk of someone else seeing something. JMO

It's just so many backroads, and country forested areas in the area! And we don't know what county or counties he was even in during the time frame. Figuring how quickly LE had RAT in their sights, doubting he could have went anywhere after that Monday without them knowing. I'm still trying to figure out how the car got to the cinema without LE seeing anything, unless he isn't the one who put it there!

lease: Let LE have MUCH more than they are telling, and have an idea of where to even look!

 

[redmeli]

Campgrounds in the national forest...maybe. This time of year they wouldn't be as crowded as normal, however, huge risk of someone else seeing something. JMO

It's just so many backroads, and country forested areas in the area! \

Yes - national forest is to me the most likely place he would have gone. Attached below is a map that includes Lovingston and Crabtree Falls, site of possible sightings of RAT after AM's disappearance. Notice that Crabtree Falls is in the George Washington National Forest. The national forests are vast and largely unpopulated, and have many small logging roads that wind through them. RAT is likely very familiar with the national forests, and they would provide the seclusion necessary to bury a body, unseen by anyone. I can't cite the exact newspaper article(s), but have read comments about helicopters flying this week to the west of Nelson County, over Vesuvius (Rockbridge County). Route 56 is a road that connects Lovingston and Vesuvius. If you've never been in some of these areas, it is hard to visualize just how remote they are. Perfect places for hiding things.

Map referenced from here: http://www.virginiadot.org/travel/maps-state.asp

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Okay, I haven't been following this case much, but I was just wondering if RAT was following Alexis on Twitter, or if there was some social media connection between them?

 

[forestchilde]

The news footage showed a number of dogs at work. What kind, I don't know.

I had speculated that since the VDOC was there with dogs they were likely using the dogs trained to sniff out cell phones in prison. These dogs are normally used in a prison setting but I don't see why they could not be used in other situations at request. I'd be willing to bet one if the dogs was responsible for finding the cell phones.

http://vadoc.virginia.gov/about/facts/managementInformationSummaries/2008.pdf


Scroll down, paragraph 3. There were likely other dogs as well. I don't think they limited there search to roadside alone. We only got brief glimpses into their search of that property.

 

[danzn16]

I don't believe for one second that this beautiful girl chose to leave her car and ride with this creepy strung out looking old man and hang out with him in his trailer. If she wanted pot she could have gotten it from many of her friends that weren't creepy and she would enjoy hanging out with. Don't believe it for a second


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[cluciano63]

Okay, I haven't been following this case much, but I was just wondering if RAT was following Alexis on Twitter, or if there was some social media connection between them?

No apparent connection that we are aware of. No word if he even used the internet, really.

 

[astridxx]

Okay, I haven't been following this case much, but I was just wondering if RAT was following Alexis on Twitter, or if there was some social media connection between them?

Her family, on nancy grace, stated there was no communication between the two on her computer. That doesn't mean he wasn't following her on any SM sites though.

 

[21merc7]

This article has more info on the RAT investigation in the SC case. Note the batteries in the GPS were already going out, I find that sort of amusing. This article does sound a bit in support of RAT, so be forewarned. It is the only new news google pulls up, I still don't get an nbc29 articles in a simple google search.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/2157706-12/alexis-murphy-case-brings-up-questions-of-fate.html

 

[4MYGUYS]

Campgrounds in the national forest...maybe. This time of year they wouldn't be as crowded as normal, however, huge risk of someone else seeing something. JMO

It's just so many backroads, and country forested areas in the area! And we don't know what county or counties he was even in during the time frame. Figuring how quickly LE had RAT in their sights, doubting he could have went anywhere after that Monday without them knowing. I'm still trying to figure out how the car got to the cinema without LE seeing anything, unless he isn't the one who put it there!

lease: Let LE have MUCH more than they are telling, and have an idea of where to even look!

The Falls area is crowded this time of the year, week-ends especially. LOL, DH remembers not being able to stop for a needed "break" on a week-day.
& a BIG YES on the trail riders helping, this creep could not have gone far into an area without a vehicle. Also, I think many out there DO know the trails, even if not often visited. I know my 4 wheelin' kids sure do. But I suspect it is too early yet for the call for public's help. But rest assured, they will come. In the Morgan Harrington case they began asking folks NOT to come, they had too many, & they were able to at least eliminate that area. We were headed up that way this week-end, way before all this broke, but it is raining.

 

[21merc7]

Okay so RAT had from Saturday night to sometime before he was spotted in the muddy truck Monday a.m. How far could he have gotten? He had to get her car to where it was too. How much radius should those of you googling try? Any word on anyone seeing him anywhere that Sunday?

 

[4MYGUYS]

This article has more info on the RAT investigation in the SC case. Note the batteries in the GPS were already going out, I find that sort of amusing. This article does sound a bit in support of RAT, so be forewarned. It is the only new news google pulls up, I still don't get an nbc29 articles in a simple google search.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/2157706-12/alexis-murphy-case-brings-up-questions-of-fate.html

What stands out from this article: Drug & local LE are on this guy big time, he was in a "known drug area". He carries a weapon.
Not too far of a reach speculating on how he grabs young girls.

 

[4MYGUYS]

Okay so RAT had from Saturday night to sometime before he was spotted in the muddy truck Monday a.m. How far could he have gotten? He had to get her car to where it was too. How much radius should those of you googling try? Any word on anyone seeing him anywhere that Sunday?

Yep, TA on where you're going. So we're talking what, 30-36 hrs? Minus the time for the abduction.

 

[Sun48shine]

Molly Balkenbush (@MollyNBC29) tweeted at 3:54 AM on Sun, Aug 18, 2013:
The pink bows #AlexisMurphy's teammates wore during the volleyball tournament were donated by a Lovingston florist.

 

[blefuscu]

I really think the LE will not be risking anything, given what happened in the SC case. I think RAT has been on their radar for some time. They'll not risk messing up again and that's why the FBI is in too.