LA - Mickey Shunick, 21, Lafayette, 19 May 2012 - #16

[chicken fried]

Concerning the "Floating Bike Theory"

I did some research. The Schwinn Cutter bicycle weighs about 27 pounds. This is considered to be a heavy bike by bike enthusiasts. One review of the bike described it as a tank. The recovered bicycle was said to have a damaged rear rim, so we could assume the tire was flat as well. Could a single tire keep a 27 pound bike afloat?

This calls for an experiment or someone with knowledge of bouyancy.

It was hard to find, surprisingly, but I found the weight for the Schwinn Madison, Mickey's bike = 22.5 pounds.

 

[nursebeeme]

^ This

There are some investigations where you can flat out tell they don't know **** from the get-go. This does not seem like one of them

ita..... they are being very strategic which tells me they have a lot...

also... I think based on their wording that they may have used the time the cell phone cut out to determine time of the dumping of the bike... that is jmhoo however... (they said it was that same morning)

 

[nursebeeme]

Not sure, but have pics of the actual bike been released, after it was located at Whiskey Bay?

not that I am aware of

 

[A.C.I]

I need to have you ask ACI about that, because I wouldn't have any clue. Good question.

About 500 feet. Not far at all

 

[Cazzie]

Not sure, but have pics of the actual bike been released, after it was located at Whiskey Bay?

No. They haven't even released definitive info on where the bike was found in that area (whether at the work canal, or the pilot channel).

 

[Northside neighbor]

Pretty sure this is on University btn. St. John & Congress, across the street from Parkside. Will try to send you a video.
*thought I added the quote..for mamma (flashing speed limit sign).
Its a school zone, Lafayette middle.

 

[chicken fried]

Link to pics/info of the Schwinn Madison bike

 

[concernedformickey]

ita..... they are being very strategic which tells me they have a lot...

also... I think based on their wording that they may have used the time the cell phone cut out to determine time of the dumping of the bike... that is jmhoo however... (they said it was that same morning)

It's nice to see people hopeful and apparently based on actual impressions of the situation. I tend to be a worrywort. My only hope thus far had been centered on them finding the bike. I can only assume it was not meant to be found and so hopefully forensics reveals SOMETHING. Should that be by the weekend?

 

[Foxfire]

It was on this WS Forum, on thread #1 or #2. I'll track it down...

Considered rumor until verified -I will email PIO of LPD & seek confirmation unless others have a quicker way.


http://www.websleuths.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-173300.html
(comment snipped)
wilkie305-24-2012, 01:54 AM

Since Monday morning when I first saw the report I thought something wasn't right. I didn't think she ever went out the back door and got on her bike, but I heard something today that got me thinking in a different direction. I was at a store today around 2pm and was talking to the lady running the counter trying to find out about the what the dogs found or didn't find, knowing that if they were using bloodhounds the chances of picking up Mickey's scent would be very very high. She tells me no word on the dogs but there is a woman who said, earlier on the same night, she was riding her bike in the same area when she noticed a green van that gave her a bad feeling. Just before the girl got to a busier section of the road the van pulled up and blocked her way, then took off like something spooked the van away. The store clerk said all she knew was it was a green van with TN plates, and the girl on the bike was giving her information to police. It's been bothering me since I heard this, I've been following it almost non-stop since.

 

[chicken fried]

It would not. As opposed to writing a huge wall o' text explaining buoyancy and bicycles, I will put it in the tiniest nutshell possible and say no it won't.

How about a 22.5-pound bike not floating - but suspended in the water column in fast-moving water long enoug to ground on the bank in a curve??

The info posted upthread about a 27-lb bike was wrong. That was the wrong bke type.

 

[mamamia54]

Can you give a location for the lot please? Thanks!

West St Mary Blvd, between Landry and Johnson.

 

[nervous_nellie]

hi all, her phone is said to be the verizon slider phone... here in illinois that phone is only available with the pre-pay unlimited talk/text for $50 per month... i dont know whether it can be pinged but it has always been said that pre-pay - trac phone type plans are not the same and cant be located the same as a regular cell phone account. moo, im not so sure that i believe this to be true... just seem to hear it in a lot of cases. the "tower log" info seems to suggest that they just dont usually exert the effort to comb thru these logs except for very pressing reasons...

 

[chicken fried]

It would not. As opposed to writing a huge wall o' text explaining buoyancy and bicycles, I will put it in the tiniest nutshell possible and say no it won't.

If the frame were sealed-tube construction, it may have trapped enough air for long enough, along/w the inflated back tire and the current, to have stayed suspended in the water column long enough to make it to the back. Would you mind putting that through your buoyancy knowledge? 22.5 lbs, not 27 lbs.

 

[chicken fried]

I really doubt a bike would stay afloat in water for very long.

The frame also has many points where water can enter making it even heavier. The main one would be through where the seat fits into the frame.

I would bet even if you sealed a frame watertight, it would still sink with both tyres inflated to the max. ~2Lbs of air filled tyres versus ~25Lbs of steal/alloy.

I'm willing to be proven wrong though!

I'm not saying it would stay afloat forever - just suspended in the water column long enough to make it to the bank. I'm not dropping my theory just yet until that is factored in... wish I had a comparable bike to test! Remember that in fast moving water, a sinking object moves horizontally as well as vertically, and if dropped where is proposed, the water would take it toward the left bank. The physics are important here.

 

[Unscripted]

Unscripted - Do you have a link for this information on the Green Van? I am interested in the Tennessee plate issue, because, Holly Bobo was abducted from Tennessee. Thanks!

Posted by Wilkie3 on May 24, 2012 on this WS Forum. Thread #2. Post #54:

"I was at a store today around 2pm and was talking to the lady running the counter trying to find out about the what the dogs found or didn't find, knowing that if they were using bloodhounds the chances of picking up Mickey's scent would be very very high. She tells me no word on the dogs but there is a woman who said, earlier on the same night, she was riding her bike in the same area when she noticed a green van that gave her a bad feeling. Just before the girl got to a busier section of the road the van pulled up and blocked her way, then took off like something spooked the van away. The store clerk said all she knew was it was a green van with TN plates, and the girl on the bike was giving her information to police. It's been bothering me since I heard this, I've been following it almost non-stop since."

 

[mahmoo]

chicken fried, maybe this photo will help clarify as to where the bike was found. LE is parked and searching by the boat ramp into the 'work canal':

This is a screenshot grabbed from the DOTD I-10 camera on 5/28/12.

 

[Boudin]

Pretty sure this is on University btn. St. John & Congress, across the street from Parkside. Will try to send you a video.

Are you talking about the lot? I'm on my phone and can't make out the location.

Since BW bike was very recently stolen, I also wonder if this wasn't some sort of punishment to him ie...I'll get you back... See what I'll do to you... I stole your bike... And now I stole your friend...(or perceived GF).

 

[Ivorywolf]

I marked it better. If he had her inside the truck, he could have taken her down there to the parking lot. There looks to be, further back behind the parking lot, tractor trailers. Don't know what that would be.

It looks like the parking lot for The Affliated Blind School. Those are UL buses in the back, not tractor trailers. It would probably be somewhat deserted back there at night. There are a couple of houses on a side street near there.

 

[mamamia54]

It looks like the parking lot for The Affliated Blind School. Those are UL buses in the back, not tractor trailers. It would probably be somewhat deserted back there at night. There are a couple of houses on a side street near there.

Yes, on another map it's marked ULL Bus Yard.

 

['Ailina]

Would the owner of such a customized, high-end vehicle PURPOSEFULLY damage his truck just to abduct Mickey??

Abduction is about power, control, conceit. If abduction is his hobby, and bumping bikers was a routine M.O. of his, wouldn't he use a junker vehicle for his purposes?

Every high-end-truck driver I know is absolutely anal, completely OCD about keeping their trucks perfect. With the customizations on the Z21, it just seems most likely to me that's how he is too. Moo.