Well, if this statement about the "Hispanic gang" done by LE officer was while JV was being questioned/harassed about a similar car to his at the Shari's restaurant after he had got done spending until almost 1 am up PC the night they found the car, they were treating JV as a suspect. The LE who repeated this "Hispanic gang" comment could have heard about this questioning of JV and done his own assumptions.
Also, remember, most of the LE you deal with on the street are out of the direct loop of real knowledge in this case - as they probably should be.
Of course, given as long as this case has gone on, they might have heard everything by now though - although maybe not?? We still haven't gotten too many solid rumors back of other cameras picking up MC, or a possible passenger? This is surprising to me. There are LOTS of cameras out there, and one of them has got to have MC on it, especially if she went from the beauty school, hung around downtown for 40 minutes, and then went down to the boat launch/PUD riverfront park where LE thinks she was at.