It’s shocking to me. The combined viewership of the nightly network news broadcasts, is around 30 million people.
Had BM appeared with the sheriff, I’m sure each of them would have dedicated a segment to it at some point. Regardless, that video would have circulated through social media, and reached untold tens of millions of people.
It’s very different when a loved one appears at one of those things, and I think it tends to draw people’s attention more than the alternative (what happened here).
I mean, who can forget Kelsey Berreth’s mom, or Gannon’s parents?
This an interesting subject (at least to me). I've been thinking about how each of the missing people, often mentioned in discussions of the SM case, were actually found (or not found) and through what means. Did media coverage, National and International, crack the cases? Did volunteers conducting searches find the victims?
(If I were in grad school I'd probably make this one of my research projects.)
Gannon Stauch: Investigators tracked the stepmother, LS, through her
digital footprint and surveillance. Gannon's
body was found by a road crew working near where she had put his body, in a suitcase or duffel type bag. Investigators also knew LS was involved because they found a lot of
forensic evidence inside the house (blood in his bedroom).
Kelsey Berreth: remains never found though site of body burn and where body was kept in barn were disclosed by KK. Investigators had a
bloody crime scene, and digital footprints from KB's phone. KK and PF had many calls back and forth but notably a very long call from PF landline to KK cell as she drove from ID to CO. Once the FBI found KK they were able to crack the case as she cooperated to save herself. It was various
digital evidence (phone records, neighbor's security cam footage, other vidcam footage showing PF and KK) that uncovered KK and exposed some of the day's activities.
Jennifer Dulos: remains never found. Investigators used
cell phone & cell tower & GPS records & obtained security cam recordings showing Fotus Dulos & mistress discarding bags in various dumpsters to find the bloody evidence and be able to arrest him.
Holly Bobo: remains found years after she was kidnapped, by a
random guy looking for ginseng, who came across her skeletal remains out in the wooded area she was dumped. Her
brother witnessed her actual kidnapping but didn't realize exactly what was happening at first. LE eventually found their way to the meth heads who had committed the kidnapping & murder, by
developing leads and conducting lots of interviews of area druggies. It took years to solve and there was conflict between local LE and TN FBI resources.
Laci Peterson: was found 4 months after she was killed when her
remains and those of her unborn son
washed up on the rocks on the east side of the SF Bay, 90 mi from her home. Scott Peterson had placed himself at the SF Bay on the day she went missing. There was no forensic evidence of a crime in their home. He was being closely
surveilled by LE in the SF Bay Area, his home in Modesto, CA and finally San Diego area, where his parents lived, and where he had moved. He was pulled over and arrested in San Diego before he could escape to Mexico. His
secret mistress had been working with LE to
record their
conversations, which exposed many of his lies and helped bring him down at trial.
IMO