WA - Mackenzie Cowell, 17, Wenatchee, 9 Feb 2010 - #1

[darlin gal]

In the video with this news article:
the sheriff says, the residence is the crime scene.

He says "we believe that where the body was found, is the crime scene."


The body was found along the river, IIRC.

 

[girlfawkes]

In the video with this news article:
the sheriff says, the residence is the crime scene.

Interesting. Well, we know "through the grapevine" that it was an agent and perhaps a prospective buyer who found her. I would think (and just a logical guess) that if there was evidence of a break-in at the house that the agent (or another agent earlier in the week) would have called police and notified them of this. It kind of sounds to me that her body was perhaps found while the prospective buyer was looking over the shoreline, not as a result of any suspicion of something amiss on the property. There is a person on the Wenworld who claims it was his relative who found her, not the agent. So in essence I guess I'm thinking this leaves us with the thought that this house was entered via code or key.

 

[girlfawkes]

He says "we believe that where the body was found, is the crime scene."


The body was found along the river, IIRC.

Well, I suppose it could be the term "residence" as in the whole property. That back patio looks very large and private.

 

[darlin gal]

Well, I suppose it could be the term "residence" as in the whole property. That back patio looks very large and private.

In the video he doesn't say the residence. That is simply the point I was making. Just trying to keep it factual.


The article says the residence may be connected but the police officer in the video said "we believe where the body was found, is the crime scene."

She was found along the river, with her feet in the water. Approx. 50 yards from the house. According to the article.

 

[amysmom]

First, I just wanted to say WELCOME TO WEBSLEUTHS to riderofthestorm and love_to_dig!

And then, respectfully snipped post above. Interesting. I have also had the "Joaquin" name pop up, but have been unable to track him down. I was told that he is involved in a gang and with drugs. I wonder who this guy is. And which guy was Mackenzie's boyfriend. Maybe we have been going down the wrong path with JO? Well, whether or not he was dating Mackenzie, at least LE (and hopefully more) will be aware of this teen in their community writing very disturbing things.

Thought we would have an arrest by now. Hoping for one soon.

Could supposed bf & "Joaquin" be friends & did this together? The ONE set of footprints (that just stop) tells me whoever left her car got into another one driven by? I say take your pick from the 2 above.

 

[girlfawkes]

Hi Everyone,

New to the site, I've been following up on this story since I'm a local Wenatchee resident (I actually live about 1 mile from the development the young ladies mom lives in) and I drive the highway to Quincy through Trinidad/Crescent Bar several times a week.

It's interesting to see girlfawkes here, noticed her on the Wenatchee World pages too.

Before I start discussing this whole thing, I do want to reiterate something I heard on KIRO tonight from the DCSO spokesman, stating there are a lot of rumors and conjecture surrounding this case in the valley (the grapevine burns fast here), so just a heads up that it is making their jobs a little more difficult. Just a heads up and reminder that flagging rumor and/or conjecture would be probably greatly appreciated by DCSO that way it's clear what folks are reading here are essentially educated guesses. Just a thought on that.

There are some things that have intrigued me about this case. I've been going over in my head basically trying to profile this individual based on what is in the media. A complete shot in the dark and nothing more than conjecture, but so far this is sort of what I've been toying with:

This person is either one of two types of individuals: a newbie to this kind of stuff, or, someone taunting the police. Geographically speaking, the region is one of those places where things can go missing for a long time. There are plenty of places where things can be hidden that it would take weeks if not months to find. That is a major concept that has me somewhat baffled.

Another detail recently released is that the last cell phone tower ping of her phone took place at about 5:45 on Tuesday, about 2 hours after she was last seen from or heard of. That is a mighty big window when it comes to the Wenatchee area, as pretty much everything from Rock Island to Leavenworth is less than 30 minutes, and as girlfawkes mentioned earlier in the thread, Quincy is 45 minutes at most in good conditions. The big clue will be what tower pinged her last. Depending on what cellular company she is with, only AT&T really has any sort of decent service around Trinidad and Crescent Bar. Verizon has a dead zone from just past the rest area to about 2 miles north/west of Trinidad on Hwy 28. Service in the area is shoddy, when I drive the road it goes in and out.

If the tower that was pinged was up in the Wenatchee area, then we're left with more questions than answers. If it was Crescent Bar, it makes sense why her phone went offline. However the way DCSO and CCSO have been talking about that in the local paper leads me to guess it may not be the obvious tower.

Just some thoughts, love the discussion.

Here's to finding this monster.

Amen, and nice to see you here.

The info about cell service is great.

Yes, these are all EDUCATED GUESSES and sometimes heavily based on conjecture and rumor. There are other things I've heard about some details of the scene that I'm not going to repeat out of respect for the family, in any case those details will be brought to light when the Sheriff's department deems it appropriate.

I think there's a very good possibility that they have a line on a suspect. Not sure if you read my most recent comments on the Wenworld but we saw such a similar situation with the Huffman's and as it turned out they had Spillman in their sites from the beginning. I think they have this rabbit in the hole and as soon as he comes out to take a crap they're going to pounce on him. Just my guess. They may be waiting on forensic results or they may be waiting for him to further damn himself by his actions.

It's great to see so many locals here.

 

[amysmom]

Does WHO found her really matter? I only ask cos I think I'm missing something. TIA!

Also! WELCOME to locals

 

[girlfawkes]

Could supposed bf & "Joaquin" be friends & did this together? The ONE set of footprints (that just stop) tells me whoever left her car got into another one driven by? I say take your pick from the 2 above.

Well, it's possible, but if the footprints were going back down pitcher canyon it turns to pavement very shortly so they wouldn't have been trackable anyway. I've looked over everyone's FB and can't for the life of me find this guy's name.

 

[girlfawkes]

Does WHO found her really matter? I only ask cos I think I'm missing something. TIA!

Also! WELCOME to locals

No, but the thought that it was a prospective buyer rather than an agent kind of makes me think that the house wasn't obviously broken into (an agent would have reported it then or earlier in the week).

 

[AnnieOakley]

You're right, I'm only finding "unidentified footprints" So there goes my theory. Sorry. :innocent:

(It sounded like it was muddy there, IRRC, so it would be difficult to discern much about the footprints- I'm thinking how mud squishes under your feet when you walk)


In terms of the car, I was assuming that the car was parked there AFTER M was killed... I assumed that the perp had driven her car away from the crime scene and then left it there--- I could be operating off of a totally wrong assumption there, though.

Would there have been enough time, from what we know so far, for a perp to kill M where she was found, and then drive the car to it's final location? (If we assume the 8pm discovery of the car?)

What I'm really stuck on is why the perp would choose that place to leave the car?? Is it terribly remote, or do other people live around there- say, up the road a piece? Could someone the perp knows live up there?

 

[love_to_dig]

Hi, again.

My apologies for my mistaken assumption that the BF was a confirmed fact. We all know what happens when we assume something. :banghead:

My earlier post was all conjecture and my own opinion.

And speaking of conjecture, I absolutely agree with riderofthestorm about our remote area and things going missing for a long time, if not forever.

Did this person want to be caught?

If this person did not want to get caught, why did he allegedly display her in such a public fashion? If the crime scene is indeed inside the residence, why not leave her inside where she may not be found for quite a while?

The alleged crime scene home is very expensive, and in this market, I wonder how often the home is actually shown?

Sadly, I think I'm becoming obsessed with this crime. This sort of thing doesn't happen around here, and I'm a little on edge knowing that it could have been any of our kids.

I hope they catch him soon.

 

[AnnieOakley]

This video states that the car was locked and her cell phone and debit cards where missing. That her purse was still in car with clothes. I would think they would be able to ping off the cell phone to get an idea where she might be located.

Does anyone know if they ever found her phone???

 

[girlfawkes]

In the video he doesn't say the residence. That is simply the point I was making. Just trying to keep it factual.


The article says the residence may be connected but the police officer in the video said "we believe where the body was found, is the crime scene."

She was found along the river, with her feet in the water. Approx. 50 yards from the house. According to the article.

Yes, and I guess it is most likely that she was murdered in situ, because it would take a very special and specific kind of weirdness to stage a body in a different place from the actual site of the murder. I did think it was interesting from the beginning that they used the term of the body being "placed" there. Wouldn't "left" there be a more usual term to use?

 

[girlfawkes]

(It sounded like it was muddy there, IRRC, so it would be difficult to discern much about the footprints- I'm thinking how mud squishes under your feet when you walk)


In terms of the car, I was assuming that the car was parked there AFTER M was killed... I assumed that the perp had driven her car away from the crime scene and then left it there--- I could be operating off of a totally wrong assumption there, though.

Would there have been enough time, from what we know so far, for a perp to kill M where she was found, and then drive the car to it's final location? (If we assume the 8pm discovery of the car?)

What I'm really stuck on is why the perp would choose that place to leave the car?? Is it terribly remote, or do other people live around there- say, up the road a piece? Could someone the perp knows live up there?

Yes, I think there would have been enough time. The drive from Quincy to Pitcher canyon would take about 35-40ish minutes assuming smooth traffic and obeying the rules.

Up where the car was (the 2300 block) there are only about 3 houses past the primitive road then that's it.

I think the car was left there because it was a reasonable walking distance from the perps residence.

On that note, the car HAD to have been driven back from Crescent bar to East Wenatchee. I am assuming the perp took the Sellar bridge across the Columbia on his way to Pitcher canyon. Both bridges have DOT traffic cams. Not sure if they're archived, but I'm sure the police are looking into this. Any locals know if the light at the intersection of Grant and the highway has a cam?

 

[girlfawkes]

Does anyone know if they ever found her phone???

Not AFAIK.

 

[amysmom]

Hi, again.

My apologies for my mistaken assumption that the BF was a confirmed fact. We all know what happens when we assume something. :banghead:

sbm

I thought it was confirmed too & I've been reading this forum from the start so I deserve a double :banghead: :banghead:

Maybe he wanted to be her boyfriend & she blew him off? That would set this nutjob off for sure.

There are posters that claim to know her on other forums..If only they'd spill who it is we can clear this up.

 

[riderofthestorm]

I think there's a very good possibility that they have a line on a suspect. Not sure if you read my most recent comments on the Wenworld but we saw such a similar situation with the Huffman's and as it turned out they had Spillman in their sites from the beginning. I think they have this rabbit in the hole and as soon as he comes out to take a crap they're going to pounce on him. Just my guess. They may be waiting on forensic results or they may be waiting for him to further damn himself by his actions.

It's great to see so many locals here.

I've heard locally as well that they do have someone they're very interested in. I guess I'm looking at this based off my experiences having just moved back from Phoenix, AZ after living down there for 5 years... when the Police have a Person of Interest or Suspect they're waiting on DNA and Trace to come back on it's on the news within hours of finding the deceased. This could just be that it's a small town and the police don't play that game up here, or it could be the local news media isn't really pushing.

A lot of us locals have some additional details we've run into through the grapevine. My younger brothers friends knew the gal so I have some stuff coming through him, and friends who also have other info on the pending investigation that I'm not posting as I don't want to compromise the investigation. Besides I have no way to verify any of it so they could all be making stuff up.

If this is essentially some local punk or someone who made a lot of mistakes we should probably hear something by Wednesday.

So what can we pretty much draw from the existing information?

• She knew her attacker, based on how the vehicle was found. How well she knew the individual remains to be disclosed yet. The single pair of footprints leads me to believe she exited her vehicle and entered another waiting vehicle near by. By leaving her purse but only taking her debit card and cell phone leads me to believe she was planning on activities that would make a purse cumbersome, such as a night out on the town
• She had about a 2 hour window from when she was last seen or heard from before her phone went off, and another 3 hours until the vehicle was discovered, giving about 5 hours for this to all play out
• The person who did this obviously knows the area. Pitcher Canyon is secluded and not many outsiders are aware its there, even those that go up Mission Ridge aren't paying attention enough to see it. Also knew enough about the area to select a location that would receive little attention this time of year, as Crescent Bar becomes a sleepy little hamlet during the winter months
• The person who did this also knows enough at least to understand that cell phones track your approximate location even when the GPS is set to E911 only

I'm probably leaving some things out, but this seemed like the most obvious of items.

I've only seen what poetry that has been copied to here. I'm a poet myself so I'm always on the hesitant side to take someone's art and say it makes them a suspect. Some of my friends from the Phoenix area poetry circuit have written pieces that rival that of this kid but are far from being homicidal. That being said it is peculiar, and thus far fits the relative outline developed. But it's all a guess.

I figure we're all just waiting for the next press conference. If I had the ability to get advance notice of when this was going to occur I'd use my press pass to see if I could get into take notes, although it would seem odd having a freelance journalist who primarily writes travel columns show up.

 

[boondock]

The Seattle Times
February 15, 2010 at 10:21 AM

No suspect in slaying of girl at Crescent Bar

The Douglas County sheriff says there are no suspects in the slaying of a young woman whose body was found along the Columbia River at Crescent Bar.

Sheriff Harvey Gjesdal (JES'-dahl) told KOMO Radio in Seattle investigators are hoping tips will break the case. - snipped

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011082750_apwamissingwenatcheeteen.html?syndication=rss

 

[riderofthestorm]

Y Any locals know if the light at the intersection of Grant and the highway has a cam?

Indeed it does:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Traffic/wenatchee/default.aspx?cam=1168

 

[riderofthestorm]

The Seattle Times
February 15, 2010 at 10:21 AM

No suspect in slaying of girl at Crescent Bar

The Douglas County sheriff says there are no suspects in the slaying of a young woman whose body was found along the Columbia River at Crescent Bar.

Well there goes my first theory about her knowing the attacker.

You're right about the use of the term "placed", loves_to_dig. I forgot about that in my last post.

I knew there was a reason I was believing this might turn out to be someone who, unfortunately to say, knows what their doing. So far the phone has not been recovered, from what I know.