CA-Amber Leeanne Dubois (14 YO)- Escondido Thread # 2

[Nancy2441]

I wondered too, why this took two months to become public. It seems this should have been out at the very beginning.

 

[cloudajo]

Thank you, Cloudajo, for posting that information...I came here to post the same info http://www.10news.com/news/19265685/detail.html

Why is this video just now coming out????

Good question. This article says they were able to identify nearly all vehicles in that area that morning except this truck. Attached are two pics - blown up screenshots from the video.

============
Escondido police Lt. Bob Benton described the truck as a newer, full-size, four-door crew cab. It was spotted on a school surveillance camera about 7:10 a.m. Feb. 13 near the school's bus and maintenance yard on the north side of the campus, Benton said.

Police have said Dubois was last seen about 7:10 a.m. that day walking on Broadway just north of the school's football stadium, which is near the bus yard.

"We'd definitely like to contact the driver to see if they saw anything, if they know Amber or if they're connected to the investigation in any way," Benton said.

The video shows the truck entering the maintenance parking lot, stopping for about three minutes and then exiting from the same way back to Broadway.

The truck is described as burgundy or maroon and has chrome bed rails or tie-down rails with chrome running boards and wheels. It appears the tailgate is missing or has a modified black tailgate to accommodate a fifth-wheel trailer.

There is no information on a license plate or driver description, police said.

Benton said police had identified nearly all other vehicles on surveillance footage in the area that morning as those of students or school employees. They have not been able to identify this truck, he said.

http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2009/04/23/news/inland/escondido/z0c38a6247ce8f6a5882575a200068377.txt

 

[cloudajo]

For reference: Paragraph transcribed from page 2 of warrant (I used “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” instead of names and used “Address” for Amber’s address). The first parent does not mention the young male but the second one who saw her about 0710 does. If the truck is connected, was the young male seen with Amber dropped off by the person in the truck just before it's seen on the video? Just trying to think about this as a possibility...

On Friday 02-13-09 a fourteen (14) year old female named Amber Dubois left her residence located at [address] in Escondido to walk to school. At approx. 0708 hours, [parent 1] dropped his children off at Escondido High School and drove northbound on Escondido Blvd. [Parent 1] saw Amber Dubois walking on the western sidewalk of Broadway quickly walking southbound. At approximately 0710 hours, [parent 2] was driving her children to Escondido High School southbound on Broadway Ave when she saw Amber Dubois walking southbound on the west curb of Broadway with a male. [Parent 2] described the male as a dark complected young male who was tall and slender. [Parent 2] did not recognize the male. Both [Parent 2] and [Parent 1] placed her approx. 200 yards north of Escondido High School, located at 1535 N Broadway Ave in Escondido.

http://www.nctimes.com/pdf/Warrant031209.pdf

 

[cloudajo]

The video at this link seems to be better quality and more complete. Watch it full screen (click on 2 arrows in lower right of video box).

Also attached are more screenshots from this video.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/23/bn24amber202630/?northcounty&zIndex=87662

 

[KaylynnCouture]

I really hope this new information will be a big break in Ambers case. I can't believe it's been this long and they have no leads. I pray that this video would generate some new tips, and hopefully lead to Amber being found.

 

[blossomfish]

I wonder if there is any video surveillance at the border crossings (into Mexico), in case the truck left the country. I hope they are able to identify the truck by possibly enlarging the photo to get a license number and locate it.

 

[TripleA]

2 months seems like an extremely long time to wait to release this video.

 

[cloudajo]

Amber's family should put picture of truck on their website as a "vehicle of interest" and print pictures of truck with tipline # to give to searchers to hand out with Amber's missing poster. Need to get that picture out there more.

I wonder if LE has already canvassed local businesses (gas stations, etc.) with a picture of truck to see if anyone recognizes or has video to look at.

Is anyone good with truck make/models? I read various comments under articles - some say it looks like a Nissan Titan, Toyato Tundra, Dodge Ram. Attached are pics of actual truck and some others for comparison.

Also attached for reference is pic of school bus maint yeard and path of Amber and truck. The truck comes in from the left on the video but exits toward Broadway, so it's hard to know whether it came in from Broadway at that time or came up from farmyard area.

 

[cloudajo]

May 5 - Amber search continues Mother’s Day weekend


Highlights:

• Amber last seen about 7:10AM just north of district ops center driveway (driveway that leads to school bus maint yard and farmyard)
• Burgundy truck pulled into lot and parked for about 3 min, then exited
• Maurice says police think Amber was taken between 7:10AM and 7:13AM
• Police have said construction trucks were parked south of that driveway, toward the school gates, which would have blocked passersby from seeing much of the sidewalk where Amber would have been walking
• Letter from Maurice to parents says "many of you parents were dropping your children off at school due to a light rain that morning."

Article: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-0...r-dubois-search-continues-mothers-day-weekend

Letter from Maurice & Family to Escondido High School parents (posted on high school website): http://www.ehscougars.com/documents/DuboisLetter_eng.pdf

 

[lawlady84]

I'm sure the police have checked this out, but just thinking outloud here- Parent 1 saw Amber walking alone towards school. Parent 2 saw Amber walking with a dark-skinned boy. Is Parent 2 the ONLY person who has seen this dark-skinned boy, and is Parent 2 the only source that this dark-skinned boy exists? Who is Parent 2?

Could Parent 2 be involved somehow? You'd think if you saw a young girl you know walking with a guy you have never seen before - and the latest articles said that the "dark skinned boy" was not someone from school, nor someone Amber has walked with before - you'd think you'd remember clearly what he looked like. Enough to give a sketch to LE. Even if this is a big school, if the person knew Amber enough to recognize her, you'd think your minds eye would be able to describe a strange guy when asked to recall.

Also, since reading that no one can think of who this dark-skinned boy could be... it seems a little easy to point the blame at a dark-skinned boy no one has heard of. I only think of this because there was a string of burglaries in an affluent neighborhood a few years ago that were actually carried out by white college kids, and for a while various people claimed they saw a "tall black man" walking down the block around the time. It threw police off until they figured out what was going on

 

[Nancy2441]

I'm sure the police have checked this out, but just thinking outloud here- Parent 1 saw Amber walking alone towards school. Parent 2 saw Amber walking with a dark-skinned boy. Is Parent 2 the ONLY person who has seen this dark-skinned boy, and is Parent 2 the only source that this dark-skinned boy exists? Who is Parent 2?

Could Parent 2 be involved somehow? You'd think if you saw a young girl you know walking with a guy you have never seen before - and the latest articles said that the "dark skinned boy" was not someone from school, nor someone Amber has walked with before - you'd think you'd remember clearly what he looked like. Enough to give a sketch to LE. Even if this is a big school, if the person knew Amber enough to recognize her, you'd think your minds eye would be able to describe a strange guy when asked to recall.

Also, since reading that no one can think of who this dark-skinned boy could be... it seems a little easy to point the blame at a dark-skinned boy no one has heard of. I only think of this because there was a string of burglaries in an affluent neighborhood a few years ago that were actually carried out by white college kids, and for a while various people claimed they saw a "tall black man" walking down the block around the time. It threw police off until they figured out what was going on

I thought about this, too. If the parent noticed enough about the boy to know he was tall, dark skinned, etc, why did they not have her work with a sketch artist?

They other thing I wondered about was enhancing the video. I believe that NASA has assisted the FBI in doing this with other cases. Why can't they do it for this case?

 

[cloudajo]

Lawlady, anything is possible. Just my thoughts here. Amber’s father said recently LE didn’t release video of truck sooner because they didn’t want to tip off the possible abductor(s) and her mother said LE had staked out area to see if the truck came back. When this didn’t pan out they released the video to the public. I think LE took the same approach with the male the neighbor/mother saw Amber walking with. They probably got a description from her, thought he might be a student, and tried to see if he matched any of the students/classmates (behind the scenes). Per the Apr 14th article, he does not match any classmates Amber occasionally walked with. Also, the mother/neighbor (who was driving her children to h.s.) was driving southbound toward the school (same direction Amber was walking), so she was coming up from behind Amber and the male – she may have glanced over for a second and recognized Amber since she knew her, but the search warrant says she did not recognize the male and she may not have gotten a great look at him. Maybe he’s not a h.s. student at all – just a young guy who could pass as a h.s. student. I think they should release whatever description they have and now.

Below are reference articles.

Mar 1st article: Meantime, Amber's mother said police were looking into a new tip Saturday night. Amber was seen walking with a tall boy the day she went missing. “They are thinking it was a high school student. They want to make sure. They want to talk to him and no one has come forward yet,” McGonigle said.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/New-Lead-in-Case-of-Missing-Teen-.html

Mar 3rd article: Another possible lead - Amber may have been walking with an unidentified male student about six feet tall with a dark complexion.
http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=9939230

Apr 14th article: Benton added that police would like to speak with a young man who appeared to be walking with Amber on the west side of Broadway the morning she disappeared. Amber occasionally walked with classmates on the way to school, though the boy with a dark complexion doesn't match any of those classmates, Benton said. "That is one of the unsolved questions in the case," he said, noting two neighbors independently said they saw Amber at 7:10 a.m. walking on Broadway near the school's football stadium ---- the last time anyone has reported seeing the girl. One of the neighbors said they saw her with the boy, Benton said.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/04/14//news/inland/escondido/z3b74c76682d3c97f882575980062be3e.txt

 

[gaia227]

I don't understand why LE waited this long to release the videotape.

I wonder if LE have interviewed janitors, cafeteria workers, any maint. men that were there recently doing work around the school. That truck might actually belong to someone who works at the school. That would give them ample time to watch the comings and goings of the targeted student (Amber), what time they are dropped off, when and where, she has probably seen this person around and wouldn't feel that threatened approaching the vehicle, etc.

I can't believe she has been gone for two months already.

 

[lawlady84]

Thanks cloudajo- after re-reading the articles, I'm changing my mind. I think for LE to say that Person 2's description of the dark-skinned boy doesn't match anyone at school might mean they have some surveillance of him somewhere- and they determined independently that it wasn't any of the students. Because I don't think LE would rule out students just based on one person's brief sighting.

Also, I wasn't aware Person 2 was a mother dropping her children off to school. I'm sure LE checked where she was the rest of the day (out of precaution). I was under the impression it was a random neighbor driving down that street- in that case I would be suspicious.

I understand about LE not wanting to release the video at first either. Just my personal opinion, but based on cases I've worked on and studied, I think that LE's priorities shift over time - at first if they think they have good leads, they keep as much information private in order to build the best case against the abductor/criminal at trial. They can say he knew about things the public didn't know about. But after a while or when tips run out, LE is under pressure to just find the victim (or more often her body) to give solace to the family- and hopefully at least there will be evidence at that point. It becomes less about getting ready for trial.

 

[cloudajo]

I don't think I'm allowed to post a link to another forum, but Amber's grandmother posted a really good post yesterday on Scared Monkeys about what the family has done, the challenges they are faced with, and a couple of requests:

• Send them any photos taken on EHS campus on Feb 13
• If anyone sees any any place within a 20 mile radius of the Escondido High School where the earth has been dislodged, or changed by digging, please take a photo of the area and send that information with the location to them
• www. BringAmberHome.com

It can be found via a Google search.

 

[cloudajo]

Someone on another forum posted a link to this Sacramento crime blog. I did a search on "red pickup truck" and several articles came back.

This one caught my eye - an incident on Feb 25, 2009 about attempted abduction of 16 year old girl walking to h.s. in Auburn (about 7-9 hours drive south of Escondido). The man had a full size red pickup truck and asked her for the time when she was walking by. Scary how this stuff happens. Not saying necessarily that it's related but who knows, and I wonder if LE can search police reports in the area/state on certain criteria like "red pickup truck." Article includes a sketch of the man.

Feb 25, 2009

Authorities released a sketch this afternoon of a man who allegedly tried to kidnap a teenager as she walked to school in Auburn this morning.
The 16-year-old girl was walking along Richardson Drive on her way to school at Maidu High School, said Dena Erwin, a spokeswoman for the Placer County Sheriff's Department.
The girl said that as she walked by a red, four-door pickup, a man asked her for the time, Erwin said.
"She looked down for her cell phone and he grabbed her and threw her against the truck," she said.
The girl said she elbowed the man in the stomach and ran.
"He got back in his truck and fled," Erwin said.
The girl ran home and called 911.
The girl described the man as white, in his 30s, with a muscular build and a goatee, wearing a black hooded, zip-up sweatshirt, Erwin said.
Deputies have searched the area and issued a "be on the lookout" to other law enforcement agencies. They also are "looking at potential suspects," Erwin said.
Article: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/crime/archives/020046.html
Video: http://www.truveo.com/Search-For-Suspect-In-Auburn-Attempted-Kidnapping/id/4152446953

 

[cazador]

Good find.

Auburn /Folsom is an area just outside of Sacramento to the east ..
It is a middle class to high end area for the most part.

The culprit could have a 5th wheel trailer and be in Sacramento.

Possible that LE in Escondido needs to look at overnight trailer parks,parks with campsites for 5th wheel, possible video surveillance cameras..
Possible to Show LE That truck that was in the video, the park will have taken a license plate number rental office on paper..

3 months is a long time.. This family needs a break..

 

[cazador]

cloudajo
You have done some excellent research on this case..
I hope you have sent each one of your photos and comparison photos to the family email address.
How come you have not posted this work at the cage too ? :waitasec:

 

[cloudajo]

cloudajo
You have done some excellent research on this case..
I hope you have sent each one of your photos and comparison photos to the family email address.
How come you have not posted this work at the cage too ? :waitasec:

Hi. Yes I have sent to the family email address.

 

[cazador]

IF a person was really cool and caring.. They could wander over to SM and not even being a member they could find the Amber Dubois Thread and on the last page..Light a virtual candle for Amber as tomorrow night in Escondido at the high school they will have a candle lighting in hopes for Amber's safe return.

Amber's Aunt is signed in over there and I hope ALL of us from the 3 main forums WS BFN SM can come together and support them in there efforts to find there missing Amber.
She has indicated she has in fact received your work and it has been forwarded to LE.. I hope everyone's information and creative work can help them.

Thank You,
Edward.. <--- I never do that.. But, This is the only forum I have a fictitious name in. :}