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

[fundiva]

One of my points was that if she was alone when she left the beauty school, what could have happened that she would have stopped or exited the car so that someone could have taken advantage of her. In Washington you have to get out of your car and pump your own gas (in Oregon you are not allowed to). That would also explain why her debit card is not in her purse. When I get out to pump gas all I grab is my debit card and leave my purse on the seat. I know at some of the businesses the gas pumps are not close to the buildings (like Safeway, etc.) and if she stopped to get gas, someone could have easily pulled a gun or knife and forced her back into the car and to drive off.

I would be curious to also know where the purse was in the car. If it was in the back seat or on the floor of the passenger side, then that could also help tell whether the car was driven to Crescent Bar first. If she drove the car to Pitcher Canyon and left the car to go with someone else, the purse would probably be on the passenger seat next to her. Although if this was the case I don't think she would have left the purse. If she didn't want to take it with her she would have left it in the trunk so no one would break in and steal it.

 

[LLLindsayy]

"Investigators found evidence of homicide at the scene and inside the vacant home."


I had already read they found evidence at the scene and in the home, but has it said "evidence of a HOMICIDE" inside and out?

What evidence do you have of a homicide elsewhere from where the body wad found? Blood?

Seems to me she was visibily murdered and that it wasn't anything such as a suffocation. Seems awful.

 

[LLLindsayy]

Is the vacant home left unlocked? If not, is there any sign of forced entry?

If not, who has a key??

 

[girlfawkes]

Is the vacant home left unlocked? If not, is there any sign of forced entry?

If not, who has a key??

That's why many of us are curious about the real estate angle and whether the house could have been entered without breaking in (via key or code). No way the house would be unlocked. The scuttlebutt is that a realtor was showing the house and that the client found the body (assuming the guy on WenWorld or the twitters aren't lying). From everything I know, when you go to a house and view it, it is logical to look at the inside of the house first and then walk the property. AFAWK the realtor and client didn't call first to report a break in, they called to report her body. So it makes sense to me that there were no obvious signs of forced entry and probably nothing really obvious inside the house either (but who knows on that).

 

[Liz]

County mum on autopsy results
Authorities saying little on Cowell case, but asking public’s help

EAST WENATCHEE — Autopsy results on homicide victim MacKenzie Cowell won’t be released to the public today.

“At this point, I want to keep that information inside law enforcement,” said Steve Clem, Douglas County prosecutor and coroner, Tuesday evening. He had spent the afternoon attending Cowell’s autopsy, which was performed by Dr. Gina Fino. She works on contract to do autopsies for the county.

Asked when results would be made public, he replied, “When a suspect has been identified and charged.”

Clem said he would only say that the death was a homicide and the body was that of Mackenzie Cowell, a Wenatchee High School senior who was last seen leaving a city-owned parking lot behind the Academy of Hair Design, 208 S. Wenatchee Ave. Video footage from stationary cameras in the lot show Cowell walking to her car and driving away, heading west up Kittitas Street, about 3:30 p.m. Feb. 9. --> more at link

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/feb/17/county-mum-on-autopsy-results-authorities-saying/

I guess I should add:
The task force is asking anyone who might have seen someone walking out of Pitcher Canyon, down Squilchuck Road or along the southern portion of Methow Street between 5 and 8 p.m. Feb. 9 to call the RiverCom dispatch center at 663-9911.

 

[ziggy]

OMG way too close to home. I found out about this because it's going around on my FB - I grew up in that area as did many of my friends and some have teenage daughters in the Wenatchee, Chelan, Leavenworth, Cashmere area.

Our beautiful little slice of heaven is tainted. God please let them find her killer.

The counties in that area are huge and there is so much wilderness - I shudder to think that the killer is loose and there are more victims wandering around and lots of places to hide.

 

[girlfawkes]

Liz, great find on the video.

"Asked when results would be made public, he replied, “When a suspect has been identified and charged.”

I think they are on the chase. When, not if.

 

[jnTexas]

That's why many of us are curious about the real estate angle and whether the house could have been entered without breaking in (via key or code). No way the house would be unlocked. The scuttlebutt is that a realtor was showing the house and that the client found the body (assuming the guy on WenWorld or the twitters aren't lying). From everything I know, when you go to a house and view it, it is logical to look at the inside of the house first and then walk the property. AFAWK the realtor and client didn't call first to report a break in, they called to report her body. So it makes sense to me that there were no obvious signs of forced entry and probably nothing really obvious inside the house either (but who knows on that).

It really depends on the buyer and situation. I have had buyers call me off the sign. If the house is vacant and I'm going to meet them I will give them permission to look around outside while I'm on my way to let them in.
As far as a lock box. this is a foreclosure proeprty it would be a combonation lock. Usually four numbers. Most agents know all the foreclosure codes used. So do the people who trash out the house (clean debris out). Also any assistants to the Agent would have the code also. possibly their family members also. My 13 yr old knows the codes as she helps me sometimes putting out signs, and lock boxes.

This being a manufactured home. They are easy to break in if the dead bolt is not locked. On most foreclosure only the door knob is relaced and the dead bolt is not locked.


Also I check my foreclosures every month. Sometimes they will go a month or so without a showing. Alot of times it's other agents showing the home. They may not realize that damage to the home is new.

hope this helps some. sorry for the long post.

 

[girlfawkes]

It really depends on the buyer and situation. I have had buyers call me off the sign. If the house is vacant and I'm going to meet them I will give them permission to look around outside while I'm on my way to let them in.
As far as a lock box. this is a foreclosure proeprty it would be a combonation lock. Usually four numbers. Most agents know all the foreclosure codes used. So do the people who trash out the house (clean debris out). Also any assistants to the Agent would have the code also. possibly their family members also. My 13 yr old knows the codes as she helps me sometimes putting out signs, and lock boxes.

This being a manufactured home. They are easy to break in if the dead bolt is not locked. On most foreclosure only the door knob is relaced and the dead bolt is not locked.


Also I check my foreclosures every month. Sometimes they will go a month or so without a showing. Alot of times it's other agents showing the home. They may not realize that damage to the home is new.

hope this helps some. sorry for the long post.

No, all great info! Thanks!

 

[jnTexas]

The more I think about the house this is a very risky crime. It was daylight. Anyone could've shown up to show that house at anytime.

I wonder who the listing agent is? Who works in his/her office? The person who did this had to know that house wouldn't be shown. Was it over priced?
Was this someone in her mom's office? Maybe someone in her office who was obsessing over Mackenzie? Or maybe someone who was angry over a business deal with her mom?
Has Mom's BF been cleared? No disrespect but has Mom been cleared?

There has to be a link to this house somehow. Her Mom being a realtor and she is killed in a vacant listed foreclosure is not a quinky dink!!

 

[riderofthestorm]

I'm not really buying the real estate angle on this one. The police said they found evidence of a homicide inside the home, which one would assume is blood splatter or something. I think anyone viewing the home as a potential buyer would have noticed this first and called the police. It is theoretical since that the big reason to purchase the house is the view across the river and of the Wenatchee Mountains would be to stand outside and look at those qualities first. I would suggest the possibility that during this process they noticed something down by the water and discovered a body. It is entirely possible they never made it to the home.

Also, it is quite easy to pick locks. Even if there is no sign of forced entry, if the perp knows lock picking they can enter the house without a key.

I don't find it odd at all that this house was selected, it is a forclosed home so it is not actively being lived in, and is in a remote area of the region, by the water (a potential luring aspect), and, it is far enough away from any other residences that any 'shady business' conducted there would be invisible to the community. Like I've said before, Crescent Bar goes from a busling resort community in the summer to a sleeply little hamlet in the winter. And with the Cascade Mountains, it does get dark about 45 minutes to an hour earlier than other places of higher elevation. I've seen it many times very dark in the valleys although the sky is blue and pink with sunset.

 

[Liz]

This maybe a dumb question, but I'm going to ask anyway.

I've seen it mentioned several times about the property (where Mackenzie was found) being a foreclosure property. How does anyone know that? I've looked at the listing and I don't see anything about it on there. Maybe I'm just missing it?

http://www.johnlscott.com/propertydetail.aspx?GroupID=214934980&ListingID=300413289&Sort=0

Someone at WenWorld posted that Mackenzie's mom is/was the listing agent. She is not the agent named in the link above (I am refraining from naming the listing agent). Besides, I thought Mackenzie's mom was with Century 21.

 

[Liz]

Hi Rider! I think JnTexas made some good points. How about IF someone was going to meet the realtor later on Saturday afternoon but arrived a little early and decided to stroll around the grounds for a bit, until the realtor arrived? Then upon stumbling upon the body, called the police immediately? Doesn't that sound within the realm of possibilities?

 

[boondock]

The Wenatchee World
Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Crescent Bar man sees tracks near crime scene

Saturday morning, Gary Ovenell looked down from his home at Crescent Bar at the lawn surrounding the house below.

“I said to my wife, ‘My goodness, look at all the tracks down there,” he said. “Later in the afternoon, I looked over again and there were 13 vehicles parked there and yellow tape all over.”

The tracks were at the west end of a house in the 100 block of Crescent Bar Road where investigators searched Saturday in their quest to find clues in the homicide of Mackenzie Cowell. The body of the Wenatchee High School senior was found along the Columbia River bank just below that house.

Ovenell said Tuesday night that the house is for sale and no one is usually on the property. He said the tire tracks did not extend down to the river and said someone wanting to dispose of a body would have had to carry it on foot from the car to the riverbank. There is no driving access to that part of the riverbank. - snipped

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/feb/17/crescent-bar-man-sees-tracks-near-crime-scene/

 

[boondock]

The Wenatchee World
By Tracy Warner
Editorial Page Editor
Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Our rumors can cause great harm

When trying to understand a mysterious, tragic crime, it is human nature to speculate, to fill in the gaps. Who? Why? How? We wonder. We imagine. We plug in the supposed answers, conjure up circumstances and reasons and motives, even when our ignorance of established fact is vast or utterly thorough.

That’s normal. The problem comes when we repeat our guesses, and the people we tell turn around and tell someone else, and someone else. Then a guess becomes an instrument of harm. Conjecture, however innocent, creates new victims among those already victimized.

Then, multiply this effect a thousandfold, on the Internet, social networks, cell texting. The pain induced is all the worse. The list of victims multiplies.

In the wake of the horrible death of Mackenzie Cowell, East Wenatchee’s Jim Huffman is seeing it happen, again and worse than ever. - snipped


http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/feb/17/our-rumors-can-cause-great-harm/

 

[girlfawkes]

This maybe a dumb question, but I'm going to ask anyway.

I've seen it mentioned several times about the property (where Mackenzie was found) being a foreclosure property. How does anyone know that? I've looked at the listing and I don't see anything about it on there. Maybe I'm just missing it?

http://www.johnlscott.com/propertydetail.aspx?GroupID=214934980&ListingID=300413289&Sort=0

Someone at WenWorld posted that Mackenzie's mom is/was the listing agent. She is not the agent named in the link above (I am refraining from naming the listing agent). Besides, I thought Mackenzie's mom was with Century 21.

Well, that's weird. Almost all the listing mentioned it when Lady first found them. I think they said "150,000 BANK reduction" and maybe mentioned it in another fashion as well. Now I can't find any of them with that info. I did notice that at least one of the pages with this home has been modified in the last 2 hours, don't know what the changes were.

 

[Liz]

Posted in the comments section:

pruitt (Brianne Pruitt) says...
Folks ~

I just got a phone call from a coworker of Mackenzie's mother, who asked me to clarify that the vacant home is not listed by her. Hope that clears stuff up for you all.

~ Brianne Pruitt, Web editor
The Wenatchee World

February 17, 2010 at 12:47 p.m.

That's one rumor we can put to rest.

 

[jnTexas]

sbm

$150,000 REDUCTION! BANK OWNED

Someone LOST this house & must not be a happy camper but I don't see that angle connecting to the case even if her mom was somehow involved at some point..I'm sure these ppl were interviewed by LE..Maybe it's someone they know (who had previously been there) that holds the key? (no pun)

This maybe a dumb question, but I'm going to ask anyway.

I've seen it mentioned several times about the property (where Mackenzie was found) being a foreclosure property. How does anyone know that? I've looked at the listing and I don't see anything about it on there. Maybe I'm just missing it?

http://www.johnlscott.com/propertydetail.aspx?GroupID=214934980&ListingID=300413289&Sort=0

Someone at WenWorld posted that Mackenzie's mom is/was the listing agent. She is not the agent named in the link above (I am refraining from naming the listing agent). Besides, I thought Mackenzie's mom was with Century 21.

Liz the above quote shows they found it to say bank owned. I'm going to try and find at little more on it.

 

[Liz]

Well, that's weird. Almost all the listing mentioned it when Lady first found them. I think they said "150,000 BANK reduction" and maybe mentioned it in another fashion as well. Now I can't find any of them with that info. I did notice that at least one of the pages with this home has been modified in the last 2 hours, don't know what the changes were.

The first time I read it posted here at WS, all it said was $150,000 reduction, that's why I was wondering where everyone was getting that bank foreclosure business from. I never saw the word "BANK", and I looked closely several times.

 

[girlfawkes]

The Wenatchee World
By Tracy Warner
Editorial Page Editor
Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Our rumors can cause great harm

When trying to understand a mysterious, tragic crime, it is human nature to speculate, to fill in the gaps. Who? Why? How? We wonder. We imagine. We plug in the supposed answers, conjure up circumstances and reasons and motives, even when our ignorance of established fact is vast or utterly thorough.

That’s normal. The problem comes when we repeat our guesses, and the people we tell turn around and tell someone else, and someone else. Then a guess becomes an instrument of harm. Conjecture, however innocent, creates new victims among those already victimized.

Then, multiply this effect a thousandfold, on the Internet, social networks, cell texting. The pain induced is all the worse. The list of victims multiplies.

In the wake of the horrible death of Mackenzie Cowell, East Wenatchee’s Jim Huffman is seeing it happen, again and worse than ever. - snipped


http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/feb/17/our-rumors-can-cause-great-harm/

I've heard that the rumor mill is churning like crazy in the high school itself, with texts flying around "confirming" all sorts of things. It's a good point that digital media is faster than word of mouth.