I really think the badge being forgotten was just that, she forgot her badge. I don't think that made the day soooo much odder than any other. After all, we don't know if she was the forgetful type. And, even if she wasn't, people forget stuff. I have the same routine in morning before work and then another at work to make sure I remember everything I need - car keys, phone, work badge, atm card, etc. but every once in a great while something throws me off and I forget something. I'd hate to think that me randomly forgetting my badge would send people off on conspiracy theories.
The badge is the catalyst for other things though, like the text messages, perhaps her getting out of the car to search for it, (ladies, have you ever hit the brakes quick and hard and had your purse go flying onto the floor and everything in it ends up on the floor, under the seat, etc.?) or, along the suicide line, just one more thing to set her off on the wrong path. But, despite it being the thing that accounts for these other things happening, I really think she simply forgot it, it wasn't staged or planned.
The realizing perhaps she forgot the badge could be what triggered her to pull over where she did. Nothing says she had to parallel park the car. If the street doesn't fill up until after the lots are typically a lot fuller, then she could have just pulled over in front of another car with no other car in front of hers until later. I can totally understand not wanting to go all the way to the park in ride and get stuck in the traffic there only to realize she really had forgotten the badge and I can also understand not just turning around and heading home because why do that until you've confirmed you really don't have the badge.
I 100% believe she sent the text messages. Everything up until the moment after she hits send on the last text message makes sense to me. I don't think someone else sent them or made her send them. She got up, got ready for work, left, at some point thought oh shoot, I might have forgotten my badge so she pulled over, either confirmed first that she indeed didn't have it and sent the text messages or assuming she didn't have it and would be late, sent the messages and then started looking for the badge and then next??????
I had a suicide vibe with the Illinois cop last year and sorta get that same vibe here but it's not as clear cut. He shot himself and was found where he was last heard from. That's a lot different than ending up over a mile away in a culvert. The report of the self inflicted wounds just sounds to me like they are preparing people to find out she committed suicide.
If not suicide, I would lean more towards random act. I had thought perhaps she was struck while sitting in her car texting but I would think that would have left a bruise and/or wound which would have been reported at the very least as that she had signs of trauma on her body. Something makes me think her body was there from sometime that morning on but I can't pinpoint why it is I feel that way. And yes, I totally get dumping a body during daylight makes no sense or is unlikely but I just feel like everything happened in a very short time frame that morning right after her last text message.