Hey guys,
I am another local lurker ready to chime in.
First things first, I want to point out that the curve on Rio Salado, where she crashed, is not only very sharp but is also a little unsuspecting - many who have not driven on that stretch of Rio Salado would assume that Rio Salado was like every other main street that ran parallel to it - meaning very straight. If she had hit 60, she likely must have slowed down a bit before the curve or I would have expected more damage. The other implication: this crash does not by itself suggest she was drunk.
Second: Despite the above, I think you guy generally underplay the trauma which could have been caused by the prospect of a DUI. Even if you are over 21 in AZ, if you innocently clip a curb, the law allows an officer to cite you with DUI even if you are below the legal limit and show no real signs of impairment (this basically happened to an ex-roommate of mine). I could elaborate a lot more, but it comes down to: cops here are thirsty for DUIs at night, and there are immediate penalties which are not affected by whether or not you are eventually found guilty. These penalties could be quite costly and inconvenient for a 19 y/o without much money in the bank, and then there could be the issue of how your parents might react if they find out, i.e. if they are paying your way on the condition that you don't act so irresponsibly as to drive drunk or what not.
Third, with the recent info available, here are some ominous thoughts regarding the timeline. Please excuse me if I have any details wrong.
4:23 - first known contact with the cabbie. 3-4 minute phone call, it likely ends at 4:27
4:37 - the cabbie calls Adrienne. Unless he is already at the destination, this seems abnormal to me unless this call is to the extent of "I am leaving now, should be there in about 15." Maybe he was returning a call from her, but I am assuming the cabbie is on his way after the call ends. If he is near old town Scottsdale, I'd say that's a 15 minute drive that time of night (slash day). An estimated arrival time between 4:50 and 4:55 seems reasonable.
4:47 - Adrienne texts "I'm coming over." This could be 4:43 but 4:47 seems to be more common. I would be reasonable to assume that this text would coincide with when she left her apartment. I am pretty sure I have walked from 5th and Hardy to Hardy and University at least a couple times in the past. I anticipate that the intersection would be about two, maybe three minutes away from Brown and Hardy. Depending on the exact location of her apartment, I am thinking it's probably a five minute walk. As such, if she leaves her apartment at 4:47, we can expect her at University/Hardy around 4:52.
4:52 - woman who meets Adrienne's description closely enough to be mentioned in the police report, is on surveillance at the intersection of University and Hardy. If this is not her, I would say that would be a coincidence.
4:53 - Adrienne calls cabbie, or the cabbie calls her, not clear. A minute ago, her location to the west of O'Reilly's suggests she is headed west on University, by foot. By 4:53, she would have been at least near the tattoo shop next to O'Reilly's. This call doesn't make sense to me, unless one of the two parties has arrived at a decided destination, or one of them sees the other and wants confirmation regarding identity. Or, maybe she is letting cabbie know that her phone might die at any moment, but then it doesn't make sense that she would be where she was rather than at the AM/PM.
4:53-5:06 - after using her phone often for the prior 40 minutes, I am not aware of any activity from Adrienne's phone during this time. Could simply have to do with a low battery.
4:54 - dark sedan is seen cutting through the Oreilly's lot, headed north (and then east would have been the only way out of the lot). I suppose someone turning north on Hardy, from University, might cut through the lot if they had a red light. But there isn't much traffic at this time and traffic on University would have probably had a green light and if not most cars wouldn't cut through this parking lot anyways. It is however worth noting that if a vehicle was heading from the tattoo shop, cutting through the O'Reilly's lot would probably be the easiest, lowest key way of getting to the AM/PM. A cabbie might know or assume this, I assume. Despite speculation online, LE has not clarified that this vehicle was not the cabbie's cab.
4:54-5:00: sometime within this span, cabbie shows up at or by AM/PM. He is on AM/PM's surveillance at 5:00, but AM/PM shares this corner of the intersection with a strip mall. There are many parking spaces where his vehicle would not have been caught on AM/PM's surveillance. I assume he would not have arrived before 4:54 as he purportedly waited til 5:04 to call Adrienne again. I recall one prior article or video which stated that the cabbie was at AM/PM as early as 4:53.
5:00 - cabbie shows up on AM/PM's surveillance. This would be a minor coincidence - if he was not trying to do so how likely is it that he shows up at 5:00 on the dot?
5:04 - cabbie is alleged to finally call Adrienne to let her know that he is at the AM/PM waiting for her. Another coincidence - this is exactly ten minutes after the 4:54 mark in our timeline.
Purely hypothetically, if the cabbie had picked up Adrienne between 4:53 and 4:54, this could be significant, because:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/12490/11-tv-and-movie-clichés-you-never-see-real-life
5:06 - Cabbie says Adrienne called and told him she'd be another minute. If nothing else, I assume this means that Adrienne was not blowing off the cabbie.
5:07 - Cabbie claims to have interpreted that literally as he didn't wait more than a minute before calling back. If I am not mistaken, he doesn't wait much longer, although he has X many minutes of phone time and X many gallons of gas invested in the call thus far, and he has no further calls to respond to.
It's ironic because I've been reading here thinking amongst other things, "these guys are too overzealous - if the cable guy is supposed to show up at
2:00, but doesn't show until
2:15, it doesn't mean he abducted someone on his way to your house, it simply means he was late." I initially didn't see the cabbie as the least bit suspicious. Now I am the guy who thinks he is the prime suspect.