ENTIRELY SPECULATIVE so no links:
So about the pack...I am not sure the parents saw BL leave the house. If they did not, they may have assumed he had the backpack because it was gone. But it's possible he disposed of it earlier or it actually is in the house but they missed it. Perhaps they didn't look too hard because to them, hiking = backpack. One reason I am not sure they saw him leave is that there is no clothing description. Of course, some people don't notice clothes (I often don't unless they are unusual-- formal, strange color, mismatch with the occasion, etc.) and & maybe the Laundries just didn't notice.
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Certainly if they were in explicit cahoots with B to help him disappear, to be on the "safe side" why not report he was wearing something he wasn't? They likely would never get caught for that even if he was found lie as he could have always changed clothes..
Anyway, why carry a big backpack for suicide? Isn't the maybe missing/maybe nonexistent gun a long gun? Maybe he wanted to be able to hide the gun when first hiking in case he ran into other hikers. I'm not sure how Brian
ENTIRELY SPECULATIVE so no links:
So about the pack...I am not sure the parents saw BL leave. If they did not, they may have assumed he had the backpack because it was gone. But it's possible he disposed of it earlier or it actually is in the house but they missed it. One reason I am not sure they saw him leave is that there is no clothing description. Of course, some people don't notice clothes (I often don't) & maybe they just didn't notice. Certainly if they were in explicit cahoots with him, to be ob the "safe side" why not report he was wearing something he wasn't? They likely would never get caught for that lie as he could have always changed clothes.
Anyway, why a big backpack for suicide? Is the maybe missing, maybe nonexistent gun a long gun? Maybe he wanted to be able to hide that when first hiking in case he ran into other hikers.