Apologies in advance, I didn't realize I had typed so much.
RE: location of TW's bike, shoes and his body. There are two areas that were mentioned, Mt Herman Rd and Red Rocks, and the Limbaugh trail. If you go to the link below there is a small press conference (2nd video, scroll down) with Jacqueline Kirby, Media Relations Mgr for El Paso County Sheriff's Office. I've transcribed beginning from about 3:05 mark:
Reporter: When you're talking about the trail, we know there were some items that were found in two different places. Is there a specific time on, er, a specific place on that weekend, near Mount Herman or the Limbaugh Trail that you guys are wanting people to kind of refresh their memories of exactly (inaudible then J Kirby responds)
JK: You know any, any piece of that area, um whether it's down at Mt Herman Road and Red Rocks or up by the Limbaugh Trail, there's multiple trail heads up there, so any, anywhere in that vicinity we would be interested in.
http://www.kktv.com/content/news/Death-investigation-on-Mount-Herman-Road-445133403.html
Next I'm going to a different article that says:
"Making the story even stranger, the shoe was found directly on Mount Herman Road, but the bike was found a little ways off the trail, Hayden said. There's been no other sign of Watkins for four days...“It’s going to be an extensive process due to the terrain that they have to travel in order to get to where the body is, process the scene and get back out. Because where they are there is also no cell or radio service, which only adds to the time that it will take to process the scene.”
http://www.kktv.com/content/news/Se...in-biker-missing-since-Sept-14-445114943.html
This link describes the Limbaugh Trail and has a map and Virtual Tour. (The tour is interesting and short.) :
https://www.trailrunproject.com/trail/7006923
Description of trail:
"This is a challenging singletrack trail behind Mount Herman through Limbaugh Valley. The trail starts off Mount Herman Rd. From the start point, the trail immediately heads up several steep, gravely climbs of >10%. The trail then continues to climb up to a ridge before dropping into Limbaugh Valley after a series of narrow switchbacks and traverses.
Due to mention of Mt Herman Rd and Red Rocks Dr in the press conference, it would appear parts of this crime occurred there, at what is technically the end point of Limbaugh trail. (Red icon on map at trail run project link.) The green icon indicates the start point & parking area which is further southwest on Mt Herman Rd. If you do the quick virtual tour it's pretty rugged looking, although the end of the trail appears less steep than the beginning point.
Just tossing out random thoughts, if the killer knew TW, the killer could've known his routine and targeted him on a trail. But reading comments about TW, this man was a beloved member of the community, highly regarded by peers, viewed as kind and caring. Of all the descriptive words used for him, none portray the type of person who has enemies. Which makes it seem it's the crime of a stranger rather than someone who knew him, IMHO.
Then the multiple scenes, what was going on? If TW was killed on Mt Herman Rd it would seem to be an effort for the killer to move a body very far off the road. Maybe two people could do it but it's very difficult to envision one person doing that. Or, another scenario: was TW shot on the actual trail, and the killer took his bike and headed back to Mt Herman Rd? That doesn't seem plausible. Thinking through it in that reverse order: TW killed on trail, killer takes bike, takes a shoe, rides trail to Mt Herman Rd, ditches the bike before getting to the road, continues with the shoe, then drops the shoe in the road. That doesn't make sense. The only scenario I can come up with that takes the least amount of effort for the killer is that there was an encounter on Mt Herman Rd, causing TW lose a shoe. I'm thinking he was likely injured at this point, or at minimum felt threatened. So he rode his bike away from the encounter but something occurred that caused the bike to be left at a location off the road. Either he was injured & unable to ride, or the bike was damaged e.g. a flat, or the killer yanked it from under him. That bike would've been his quickest way out, so TW would want that advantage but something happened to remove that option from him. Did he intentionally head off trail on foot, where he felt he had the advantage due to knowing the terrain so well? Or was he forced at gunpoint? Or maybe heading off trail was his only recourse, because he was being shot at and staying on the road or trail left him too exposed, too easy a target? And why would a killer leave a shoe and a bike easily found, but go to the trouble of covering the body with leaves and twigs? If someone's going to conceal a body it's rather odd they don't conceal the victim's personal belongings as well. It's all very sad to think about. It's clearly a loss for the community and must be terrifying too.
