Found Deceased WA - Cheryl DeBoer, 54, Mountlake Terrace, 8 February 2016 #4

[Stripehaven]

The family says they have received info that the public does not have, and that it points away from suicide.

I have an unholy addiction to Investigation Discovery. Not uncommon to see a case jeopardized or even thrown out because LE jumps to a conclusion, dismisses possible evidence or suspects, or in any other way develops tunnel vision.

This is not a community where LE doesn't care about a murdered citizen. if they are busy crossing the Ts and dotting the Is to obtain a conviction down the road, that is fine by me. There will be time later to criticize if we ever find out they are Keystone Kopping it, but I am certainly not going to assume this.

Meanwhile, stryker57 said they are keeping the family updated. The commander said already that once we hear the additional info they do have, he is confident we will understand why it was held back. I choose to believe him.

 

[Eclipsed]

I think they should rename Mountlake Terrace to "Slowpoke Heights".

It's been one month today since she vanished. No cause of death, no manner of death, no autopsy results made public, no person of interest, no suspect named, no composite sketches issued, and the police have quit asking for the public's help.

Must have been an accidental drowning.................

Let's not forget that Pikard said that he hoped we would understand why some of the information was held back due to sensitive nature. JMO

 

[WhisperWorm]

I wonder if there was more than her purse missing. I recall reading that her personal property wasn't found yet prior to a point in which more searching was to be done. I always just assumed purse, but maybe there was more missing than that. I'm not even sure what that might be, though. If we knew if she used a laptop bag, a travel mug missing from home, that would be very helpful. I imagine this would include her cellphone. I also recall (will link if I find it) that some of her personal items had later been found - again, I wonder what those things were.

The only reason I mention this is because if she had a big travel mug of coffee and took it out of the car with her, that says something other than "Cheryl was yanked out of her car." Logical things like that associated with missing items.

 

[steelman]

How about this theory ??

Cheryl drove to P & R, parked, realized she left her badge, texted her friend. In the process of searching under the seats or between the seats, she sliced her fingers open on something sharp, like a wire or a piece of glass.

She stands back up next to the car and is looking at the tips of her fingers dripping blood. Somebody she knew saw her predicament, and told her they either had some band-aids in their car or a rag.
She explained she was running late and she needed to get back home and get her badge. Her "acquaintance" suggested she hop in the car, patch up her fingers, and he'd run her back over to her house so she didn't lose her parking spot......explaining further that by the time she went home and back, there might not be any close parking spots left at all. Since she was familiar with this person, she agreed.

Once she was in the car, all hell broke loose. Her cell phone was powered down by the perp, because he knows they can be tracked by pinging. She was held somewhere for awhile....maybe a day....maybe two or three. She was then killed and dumped next to the culvert sometime during the next 6 days.

 

[Eclipsed]

How about this theory ??

Cheryl drove to P & R, parked, realized she left her badge, texted her friend. In the process of searching under the seats or between the seats, she sliced her fingers open on something sharp, like a wire or a piece of glass.

She stands back up next to the car and is looking at the tips of her fingers dripping blood. Somebody she knew saw her predicament, and told her they either had some band-aids in their car or a rag.
She explained she was running late and she needed to get back home and get her badge. Her "acquaintance" suggested she hop in the car, patch up her fingers, and he'd run her back over to her house so she didn't lose her parking spot......explaining further that by the time she went home and back, there might not be any close parking spots left at all. Since she was familiar with this person, she agreed.

Once she was in the car, all hell broke loose. Her cell phone was powered down by the perp, because he knows they can be tracked by pinging. She was held somewhere for awhile....maybe a day....maybe two or three. She was then killed and dumped next to the culvert sometime during the next 6 days.

Definitely possible.

 

[Eclipsed]

I wonder if there was more than her purse missing. I recall reading that her personal property wasn't found yet prior to a point in which more searching was to be done. I always just assumed purse, but maybe there was more missing than that. I'm not even sure what that might be, though. If we knew if she used a laptop bag, a travel mug missing from home, that would be very helpful. I imagine this would include her cellphone. I also recall (will link if I find it) that some of her personal items had later been found - again, I wonder what those things were

The only reason I mention this is because if she had a big travel mug of coffee and took it out of the car with her, that says something other than "Cheryl was yanked out of her car." Logical things like that associated with missing items.

I remember Pikard saying they went back and searched on hands and knees in the water and found items, he never disclosed what they were.

 

[Kale]

General discussion question: What would your theory of the crime be if you don't consider where she was found?

Because assuming this was not suicide, she was not meant to be found. So back up from where she was placed and think what it means that she was removed from the scene.

To me it means
1) transport: if the criminal had driven her car, i think it would have left more evidence, and to me it makes zero sense from a murderer's point of view to drive her away in her car and then return the car. That's two chances to be seen and caught. I don't think the car ever left. The criminal had other transportation.

2) some sense of personal danger if body was found--in other words, the criminal believes that if the body was found it could show evidence of how/when/why/by who she was killed. An element of fear, but controlled and planned...less panic than, say, a hit and run.

3) Speed and silence--this crime took place quickly. She was disabled somehow and removed from the scene in minutes, without attracting attention.

What does it mean? I don't know. But the culvert is so gross, I simply cannot fathom that being anything but a body dump site. That is the one thing that makes me think it is definitely not suicide.

Wow, thought provoking question... If I think of her as not having been found at all, but LE did say there was "blood in the car" (without saying how much) I would definitely be thinking foul play all the way. Of course even now I'm really not thinking suicide.

I'm sure my mind would go straight to husband but he's been cleared. Without the kind of sloppy job of leaving her car and dumping her body (the sloppiness and hurriedness being the main reason I think botched robbery by druggies), I would be thinking HEAVILY premeditated murder by someone she knows. Even if the car existed as it does in reality, but her body had been better concealed, I would still think that.

Wow this question really got my brain open, thanks!

 

[DatelineFan]

I think they should rename Mountlake Terrace to "Slowpoke Heights".

It's been one month today since she vanished. No cause of death, no manner of death, no autopsy results made public, no person of interest, no suspect named, no composite sketches issued, and the police have quit asking for the public's help.

Must have been an accidental drowning.................

View attachment 90314

I'm thinking back to when Pickard said that later we'll understand why they held back information... Any ideas on that?

Not sure why I quoted you but I'm too lazy to go back. 😊

ETA - now I see I just repeated others! Sorry!

 

[Yvettea]

The culvert is flat with a rectangular opening, not round like many are. It doesn't look tall enough to stand up in. Sitting anywhere would put you in water or at least dampness. It's not pleasant in any sense. There would be the constant sound of cars passing over. Difficult to imagine spending any time there.

 

[Eclipsed]

I have two family members who do not go along with my suicide theory, but both think an extra marital affair gone wrong. Could we agree that this would be considered sensitive information?

 

[Pseudonymph]

The culvert is flat with a rectangular opening, not round like many are. It doesn't look tall enough to stand up in. Sitting anywhere would put you in water or at least dampness. It's not pleasant in any sense. There would be the constant sound of cars passing over. Difficult to imagine spending any time there.

Suicides can be PLENTY irrational, but I just don't see it. Not at all. What a horrible place to put oneself.

 

[WhisperWorm]

The culvert is flat with a rectangular opening, not round like many are. It doesn't look tall enough to stand up in. Sitting anywhere would put you in water or at least dampness. It's not pleasant in any sense. There would be the constant sound of cars passing over. Difficult to imagine spending any time there.

Cheryl was found on the opposite side of the road, or the other end of that culvert in so many pictures. I've never seen a picture of the side where she was found. It does appear from images online that, as you said, sitting anywhere near it would put you in water, though. Especially when there is a relatively smooth path (cut-out and cleared for power lines) leading up a large hill immediately next to the spot where she was found. I'd think if Cheryl "chose" that area, she would have gone further up that path away from a thick outcropping of brambles such as is at that side of the culvert.

 

[Stripehaven]

FYI..No disrespect, but we don't know if Stryker57 is who he says he is and I have not seen him back here. I am new to posting and I was verified within a day.

True. But the police also said they are holding info back from the public. Either way, I doubt we are privy to everything going on.

I noticed he hadn't come back, but maybe he just doesn't have the energy to engage with Websleuths, when he presumably has more info and freer and more open communication with LE. I dunno. I am curious, I admit.

 

[windrower]

I have two family members who do not go along with my suicide theory, but both think an extra marital affair gone wrong. Could we agree that this would be considered sensitive information?

Yes.

However, I'm thinking more along the idea of a wanna-be affair---someone fixated on Cheryl because she stands in the way of that person wanting her husband, someone with an unhealthy whackadoodle thought process.

Or maybe someone fixated on Cheryl for who knows what reason.

 

[Stripehaven]

General discussion question: What would your theory of the crime be if you don't consider where she was found?

Because assuming this was not suicide, she was not meant to be found. So back up from where she was placed and think what it means that she was removed from the scene.

To me it means
1) transport: if the criminal had driven her car, i think it would have left more evidence, and to me it makes zero sense from a murderer's point of view to drive her away in her car and then return the car. That's two chances to be seen and caught. I don't think the car ever left. The criminal had other transportation.

2) some sense of personal danger if body was found--in other words, the criminal believes that if the body was found it could show evidence of how/when/why/by who she was killed. An element of fear, but controlled and planned...less panic than, say, a hit and run.

3) Speed and silence--this crime took place quickly. She was disabled somehow and removed from the scene in minutes, without attracting attention.

What does it mean? I don't know. But the culvert is so gross, I simply cannot fathom that being anything but a body dump site. That is the one thing that makes me think it is definitely not suicide.

Every scenario I come up with seems to have at least one unlikely element.

I do not think it was suicide.

If she was targeted, and the crime premeditated, why did the perp choose such a public location at a time where witnesses - either fellow commuters or the nearby police or local residents - were potential witnesses? This suggests someone she knew or trusted, but then WHY? Or someone she didn't know but had identified her for some reason. But someone unknown would have had to wrestle her into a car, again with the potential witnesses all around.

If it was a spontaneous crime of opportunity it was, again, a reckless scenario involving forcing her away from her car. Why not grab someone who had actually ventured onto the path? Or why not grab someone earlier, under cover of darkness with fewer commuters around?

If a robbery went wrong and it was an unplanned killing, why and how would the perp take her away? Why not just drop her and get the hell out of there before, say, a policeman from the station a block away cruised by? And would a robber have a car?

Robbery, also, would be better done under cover of darkness.

I am leaning toward it being someone who knew her. There is no other way I can imagine her ending up in someone else's car without being seen or heard protesting. And if her car was used for transport, I think that also points to someone she knew, because I don't see a stranger bothering to return her car to stage a scene.

But even so, WHY? Why Cheryl? Unfathomable, based on what we have read of her.

 

[Eclipsed]

Well, this makes sense that she knew the person and this is why the searching of cell phone, computer records, etc.. There is a history here with someone and LE needs a clear motive. Then we (the public) are NOT in danger because this person did it specifically to Cheryl for some unknown reason that will become clear to us later. JMO

 

[Cricket99]

:fence:

 

[Pseudonymph]

Every scenario I come up with seems to have at least one unlikely element.
r.

Precisely how I feel. New info will make it all make sense at some point.

 

[stryker57]

FYI..No disrespect, but we don't know if Stryker57 is who he says he is and I have not seen him back here. I am new to posting and I was verified within a day.

"Welcome, stryker.Thank you for joining the forum. On behalf of all of the WS staff, I extend my condolences.Websleuths has a policy by which family and friends have to be verified as "insiders" in order to post first hand information. It's a precaution to prevent bogus claims by individuals who might misrepresent themselves. Sadly, that happens more than you might think.To become verified, we ask that you send an email to websleuthscomments@gmail.com or wsverify@gmail.com with your real name and phone number. Either the owner or an administrator will contact you. Until you are verified, we ask that you refrain from posting as an insider.Kind regards.BessieWS Adminsitrator"

 

[Yvettea]

Welcome Stryker57. You are able to post according to the regular guidelines, basically information or conjecture based on mainstream media.