Along the same lines, one thing I am having a hard time understanding is that if he killed Gabby, why would he proceed to get in her van and drive it across the country back home? ETA: We learned today the van's license plate was read coming back into the area at approx 10:30 am Sep. 1, but it has not been confirmed that it was BL who was the driver
IMO BL came back, van and all, because he needed his Mom. He figured she'd protect him. Voilà, she evidently is doing just that. They even concealed the white van in the garage; no one need have been any the wiser.
He may also have thought there was evidence of some kind in the van. Best to hide it while he worked at it to make sure he didn't leave anything compromising in it. This might have been paranoia as much as anything else.
Yep, he came home to Momma. I can't see him ever going abroad, let alone living there. Nor can I see him ever hanging out in the wilderness, except maybe in his dreams. He doesn't seem to have the mettle for it. You can just hike to a trail shelter and hang out if you want non-hikers to think you're a "skilled outdoorsman"; no one will be any the wiser, except maybe the real hikers you encounter, who might well be rolling their eyes.
AT legend: a group of FBI agents once who went out there, yep, looking like FBI agents in spiffy hiking get up and polished shoes, tripping down the trail, and couldn't eat a whole pizza between them. Dead giveaway. Busted. They were there looking for a fugitive (the Atlanta bomber? who was eventually caught just off the trail rummaging in the garbage of someone's vacant cabin.).
I was at a hostel on the AT where the hostel supervisor—a Presbyterian minister—turned someone into LE because he was making up crazy stuff (much of which was BS-ed after I went to bed, evidently), and she'd been around the block a few times and could size people up. She might have been warned by other hostelers further down the trail, as well. One tall tale I did hear: he said he was going to travel by dog sled from the Katahdin terminus across Canada to Alaska. His trail name was Iditrod, because he couldn't spell Iditarod correctly lol. And there was no snow at that time of year. It turned out, the FBI was looking for him.
So, yeah, there's a danger if you're faking it, you're not gonna make it very far. You will be noticed, even if no one says anything to you.