Before I respond to case discussion points let me take a moment to thank you for the kind response. I appreciate it. It is nice to be able to discuss case points without it being taken as just being argumentative and it helps us get our thought processes stirred up.
Case points:
Sundayrain said:
Sorry Doc, my error in not completely reading your information. Also, for me giving an incomplete posting.
I guess we never know what facts the LE have, except for tidbits.
We were about to get a PI. To get facts that we could be privy to, and to do that under the rock kind of search. Sometimes a person will talk to a PI but not the police. Just easier I suppose, less intimidating......
Yes, origionally the LE thought of her as a runaway. But, because of getting no solid tips, no information on the car, their words started to change. On one news show the LE said "they were starting to get worried". . .
While I can't speak for the L.E. in your area I note that their initial read of the case was correct. That was likely experience and possibly a little inside info they got during their early investigation.
As to them "getting worried" later: I suppose that wording may have been a way to show the proper amount of concern (for the family's sake) given the long time involved in her disappearance.
I note that in reading about these cases on websleuths, family of the missing person often tend to settle on either believing the missing person is alive or dead and then hang on to that idea hard. I can't count how many times I read where family said "She must be dead or prisoner somewhere. She would never just leave us, she would never do that" and then the person is found alive and was an adult runaway. Family aren't stupid or anything, it just happens. The L.E. statistics are that most missing persons are runaways. Without contradictory evidence of foul play I tend to go with the stats just for their greater likelyhood of being correct (but that does not mean I am leaning towards Jennifer being a runaway yet.)
Sundayrain said:
. . .I guess my point is to not place all your hopes in the LE. How they feel, or where they think she might have gone. Putting every hope and trust in one basket. The LE for Laura came up with California......a week of searching in LA area. Totally off the mark. . .
It seems they got the read of the case correct in seeing it as a runaway case but its a great big world out there. I don't see it as incompetence that they did not look in the right place until a tip called in proved correct. What it does prove is that getting national media exposure seems to help alot in these cases because it gets the case in the publics attention and that can generate helpful leads.
I don't place all hopes in one basket but I do look at what seems to be most likely given the evidence. If blood stains were found in the car then I don't hold on to a runaway theory in the face of contradictory evidence. If the evidence indicates a missing person is dead I don't keep thinking he or she is alive just to keep from placing all my hopes in one basket. I don't think L.E. are infallible either but I also don't look at them as morons.
As a point of info you might find interesting I note that in reading of many cases on websleuths I have noticed that L.E. in general seem to get the over all read of the case right pretty often (but not always) but where they seem to be weak is in searching areas. Often bodies or other case evidence is missed even though it is close to the original crime scene and even after more than one search. Sometimes this is due to terrain and sometimes it is sloppy work by the foot soldiers doing the looking and sometimes evidence gets dumped out in the search area after the initial search was done.
Sundayrain said:
. . .I hope the Keese family might be hiring a PI. . . .
While the idea of a PI sounds cool to me I have to truthfully point out that I have never yet read of a case on websleuths where PI's cracked the case, not even one case, but I always keep hoping.
Sundayrain said:
. . . Her story never sounded like a runaway to me. To you? . . .
No, so far it sounds like foul play to me but having said that, I note: Adult runaways are often staged to look like foul play was done, to be very mysterious. Sometimes you find their abandoned vehicle parked in a parking lot of a bank or store or in the middle of the road with their bank cards and ID stuff inside. I am still looking at this case and keeping an open mind about the possibilities. That is why I am asking questions about whether evidence of a crime was or was not really found as it has some bearing on the way the case reads. I want to know if the forensic evidence indicates we are looking for a dead body or if we might be looking for a live person.
Sundayrain said:
. . .What about that toll collector, have you heard on that?. . .
Yes, I have heard of that although I need to reread it as the details of the sighting are fuzzy in my memory. However I am not yet sure what it proves or does not prove (other than a driver took the car through the toll) even if correct. The question becomes was it done with or without her permission. (I suspect if the sighting was correct it was done without her permission but I keep an open mind until I know more.)
Sundayrain said:
. . .
Did they take a list of all the workers in the area? Check them out? I hate to see someone go missing over six months, all the leads get cold. I also hate to see the case go quiet.....because they need a valuable tipster right now. I hope I was a bit more clear......
Jennifer needs to be found. Sunday
I believe, if I remember the case discussion and news reports from earlier in the case, that the workers in the area were looked into pretty thoroughly by L.E.
