WA - Mackenzie Cowell, 17, Wenatchee, 9 Feb 2010 - #2

[girlfawkes]

James Vic-
I totally agree with you and it doesn't sound weird, I am up for it. I really want to find the phone. The whole boat launch thing kind of threw me off. I hope that there are camera's down there at the park, and they find the person(s) that did this. I was told by someone that there are camera's but I don't know for sure.

To get down to the riverfront she would have had to cross over the RR tracks, unless she took the underpass at 5th street. AFAIK BNSF has cameras at all crossings and at switch boxes, ect... They are big on security.

As far as cams at the park, I'm not sure. I would assume that one of two things has occurred. Either someone is now beginning to talk more, they already knew this and are recruiting tips for some reason, or they have already found surveillance footage of her in the area.

I don't think pings can pinpoint locations quite that precisely, so they have to know this for some other reason.

In any case, this makes me hopeful again. I was starting to get very discouraged.

 

[girlfawkes]

I'm just catching up here. Do we have a cause of death?

no, just a bunch of rumors.

 

[James Vic]

If I was a police officer and you asked me if I had any suspects in the case how would you feel if I kept saying, ‘“Finally, rumors that a suspect is in custody or we have developed enough information to identify a person of interest are not true,”…“There are no persons of interest or suspects identified at this time.”’ (Doug Jones)

This is my personal opinion so please take it as that. Personally I would feel like the police knew nothing, which is what they keep saying. They may think that a criminal may feel comfortable and make a mistake, but to me they lose their credibility, my opinion.

Now if I was a police officer and you asked me if I had any suspects in the case how would you feel if I said, “I would like to assure the public that we are doing everything in our power to assure that the murder of Mackenzie is brought to justice. We are following up every lead that comes into the hotline and when we are ready to name a suspect, the public will be the first to know.”

Does that sound better? Maybe I should be the spokes person?

This is frustrating and confusing.

 

[girlfawkes]

Does anyone else think that this makes the timeline as we thought we knew it very wacky? If they are looking for sightings at the boat launch between 3-5, things would have had to have moved very quickly from there to the Bar and then to Pitcher canyon by 7. I had always assumed from what LE was saying that she was murdered at the Bar but this now makes me wonder.

And for anyone wondering, no- she couldn't have gotten into a boat and went to the Bar that way. Rock Island dam is between the two points.

 

[HOPEFUL26]

James Vic...I couldn't agree with you more!

 

[James Vic]

What is very confusing is the timing. They act like someone just walked up to an officer today and said that she was going to the park so they searched it?

 

[James Vic]

When I was single there were only two reasons I would go down to that park. One was to have lunch with a date, the other was to make-out in the car. Do they still use the term make-out?

 

[girlfawkes]

If I was a police officer and you asked me if I had any suspects in the case how would you feel if I kept saying, ‘“Finally, rumors that a suspect is in custody or we have developed enough information to identify a person of interest are not true,”…“There are no persons of interest or suspects identified at this time.”’ (Doug Jones)

This is my personal opinion so please take it as that. Personally I would feel like the police knew nothing, which is what they keep saying. They may think that a criminal may feel comfortable and make a mistake, but to me they lose their credibility, my opinion.

Now if I was a police officer and you asked me if I had any suspects in the case how would you feel if I said, “I would like to assure the public that we are doing everything in our power to assure that the murder of Mackenzie is brought to justice. We are following up every lead that comes into the hotline and when we are ready to name a suspect, the public will be the first to know.”

Does that sound better? Maybe I should be the spokes person?

This is frustrating and confusing.

I know, it is frustrating. Personally, what I hope has occurred is that they have known this almost from the beginning and they are recruiting sightings to bolster the prosecutions case. If they know who the perp(s) are, that he/she or they aren't a public threat, they can methodically build their case for the most surefire prosecution.

I'm still very hopeful that the above is correct since they did almost the exact same in the Huffman case, though it took only a bit over a week for that guy to slip up. And in all probability Spillman was a much more dangerous, person than whoever they have identified in the Cowell case. After all, he was a serial killer and a psychotic animal and they let him run around for days (albeit under surveillance).

 

[HOPEFUL26]

Does anyone else think that this makes the timeline as we thought we knew it very wacky? If they are looking for sightings at the boat launch between 3-5, things would have had to have moved very quickly from there to the Bar and then to Pitcher canyon by 7. I had always assumed from what LE was saying that she was murdered at the Bar but this now makes me wonder.

And for anyone wondering, no- she couldn't have gotten into a boat and went to the Bar that way. Rock Island dam is between the two points.

For some reason I've always thought that the car was ditched and that she wasn't brought to the Bar until Friday night/Sat morning when she was found...being held/kept somewhere in between then. I just figured that she might've been noticed sooner if she had been brought to the bar the same day she went missing. But then again, it looks to be a very secluded place that a body could go unnoticed for quite some time...depending on where along the river she was placed (ie. brush/trees blocking the view from the street or other houses). Idk, this new info has really thrown me off though too...from what I've read it seems like she was pretty habitual in going to get coffee, stopping at mad d's, that a trip to the park is just plain weird. And my thoughts on the phone is that there's a slim to none chance that anyone will ever find it or has already found it. It doesn't take a genius to know that phones can be traced/tracked so I would imagine that was the first thing to go...into the river/crushed/whatever way to quickly dispose of it so that it couldn't be found or turned back on.

 

[James Vic]

Time Line
3:00 PM Mackenzie leaves beauty school.
3:00 PM? Last text message “Hey hows it going?” return message “Hey”
3:00-5:45 PM Could have been down at the boat launch?
5:45 PM Last Ping
7:00 PM Car found
8:00 PM Car reported
11:13 PM Girl Crying (Might not be connected)
It takes approximately 40-45 minutes to drive to the location at Crescent Bar and the same to get back.

What is missing?

 

[girlfawkes]

When I was single there were only two reasons I would go down to that park. One was to have lunch with a date, the other was to make-out in the car. Do they still use the term make-out?

It is possible, and if the house at the Bar was a known spot, they could have decided to go to there if the boat launch area wasn't private enough.

 

[girlfawkes]

For some reason I've always thought that the car was ditched and that she wasn't brought to the Bar until Friday night/Sat morning when she was found...being held/kept somewhere in between then. I just figured that she might've been noticed sooner if she had been brought to the bar the same day she went missing. But then again, it looks to be a very secluded place that a body could go unnoticed for quite some time...depending on where along the river she was placed (ie. brush/trees blocking the view from the street or other houses). Idk, this new info has really thrown me off though too...from what I've read it seems like she was pretty habitual in going to get coffee, stopping at mad d's, that a trip to the park is just plain weird. And my thoughts on the phone is that there's a slim to none chance that anyone will ever find it or has already found it. It doesn't take a genius to know that phones can be traced/tracked so I would imagine that was the first thing to go...into the river/crushed/whatever way to quickly dispose of it so that it couldn't be found or turned back on.

The same theory ran through my mind early on, but that would assume a more abduction type scenario, and LE has said they do not believe she was abducted. Plus the car was supposedly free of signs of abduction.

I doubt if they will find the phone as well, unless it is still in the possession of a very fledgling criminal. Truly, I'm actually flummoxed as to why they would even want the phone. The only reason I could think of is a list of contacts/numbers. They already have records of texts and calls made, plus the last pings. Maybe they are looking for a newly added contact?

 

[Chili Fries]

The high temperature that day was 41 degrees so that's pretty cold to be just hanging around in the park by the river. If I were police I would be interested in anybody she knows who works in the area near the park and Orondo. I see there is a Gold's Gym there also, so maybe somebody who works out there or frequents some other establishment nearby.

 

[girlfawkes]

Hi,

Anyway, I was just wondering what you all think about why the police would try to make it seem like they have less info than they do? I mean why be so secretive?

Welcome!

Respectfully snipped your post.

What the police are doing is a common tactic of LE and there are a few different reasons for it. First, as soon as they make an arrest they are on short time, because the discovery phase of a trial comes early on in proceedings. This is when the prosecution reveals all admissible evidence to the defense so that the defense team can try and counter the evidence. They can't delay a trial to gather more evidence because everyone has the right to speedy proceedings. So, it's rather imperative that they get their ducks all in a row before an arrest.

This may be a tough one for the prosecution even if they have a suspect in mind because any time a homicide involves water there is going to be less forensic evidence available, and forensics are very strong evidence for the prosecution. Add to that the claim that she was not sexually assaulted, and the forensic proof drops even more. This may be a case that relies heavily on alibis or the lack of, eyewitness sightings, and a well plotted timeline. If that's the case, I would expect the prosecutions case to take more time to put together that if they were able to get good forensic evidence.

Just some thoughts.

 

[HOPEFUL26]

Girlfawkes, you make a very good point...they did state that they didn't believe she was abducted. But then I wonder if she wasn't abducted and went willingly, was her murderer someone close to her (which most seem to believe) and the situation went awry? Or was this planned by someone she knew? And since they have not said when the time of death was, is it possible that her body could've been kept elsewhere until it was decided...or "the time was right" to bring it to the bar? Ahh, my head is just going around in circles with this! I think I've got to go to bed and sleep on the new information. But before I do, I just wanted to say that everyone on this thread is amazing...the passion and the participation to find as much out as possible along with the fact that the discussion here is very adult and respectful. I'm glad I found this site because this was all eating away at me and it eases my mind greatly to find others who are dedicated to find out what happened to this poor girl. Thanks to all of you!

 

[James Vic]

She went to the park to meet someone. She gets into their car to talk or get something to eat, so she took her phone and her debit card? Something happened, her phone was turned off. There is no way the phone was on until the last ping; there would have been more texts and calls. Then she was taken some place, held and killed. The person then went back for her car and moved it to the dump site. At 5:45PM they turned her phone back on to check it and decided to take it. Her phone and debit card were not in her car or on her because they were in the murders car. They could have rode a bicycle back to her car then they would have a way back to their car.

 

[notmyrealname]

ChevyGirl,

I don’t think that anyone on this forum has accused anyone of murder.

Maybe no one here has accused anyone, but several people have been implicated here, and to me there's not much difference between the two.

The Poet (who is only guilty of is having a "J" name and writing dark poetry), her actual boyfriend (a good student with no criminal record), the Career Criminal, a guy with a "C" name and her dad (based on being the defendant in a civil court case) have all gone through the wringer to one degree or another. Now it looks like mom's boyfriend gets to go next.

Sorry for the rant, it's just that in light of how little real evidence has been made public in this case, a little restraint might be appropriate.

 

[Liz]

Speaking of poetry - two of the budding poet's 'masterpieces' (under his newest pen name) have disappeared, as of last night. All 3 poems (that were there the last time I'd checked) that were listed under his older pen, were also removed. He could be re-editing them, I suppose.

As far as I know, we are allowed 'suppose' here. I suppose ...

 

[Liz]

A big :Welcome-12-june: to the new people who have recently joined us for the discussion.

The way I feel ... the more the merrier! :grouphug:

 

[James Vic]

Notmyrealname,

Implicate is a harsher term than accused. This Mackenzie thread has less actual suspects than the police do. We are asking questions, not making accusations. We have no evidence that anyone mentioned in any of the feeds has anything to do with Mackenzie’s murder. We are asking questions about people who have links to Mackenzie, not necessarily to accuse them of anything, but to understand what was going on at the time of the disappearance and murder.

Some of you may know that I have had a homicide in my family. During the investigation everyone around was asked something about what had happened. When someone who knew the family acted in a strange manner they were questioned. When someone showed little support for what was happening, they were questioned. If there was a relationship to the family they were questioned. None were accused or were suspected of having anything to do with what happened. It is human nature to question when something does not seem normal.

If you were driving to work and a coffee stand, that was there yesterday, was now missing and there was a large hole where it once stood, would you wonder what happened or would you just move on?

No one is accusing anyone of any wrong doing. We are asking questions.

If me asking questions and speculating on the known facts is causing an issue with anyone on this forum, let me know and I will stop working on this thread.

Jimmy