LA - Mickey Shunick, 21, Lafayette 19 May 2012 - #25

[nutkin]

Our society thinks there is something wrong with a woman who doesn't have a man in her life. How can she function without a man?! She couldn't possibly want to be independent. There has to be an explanation: Oh, maybe it's because she doesn't like men.

(Not saying you think that; but that's the general viewpoint of society, and I bet it's even more prevalent down South where a lot of women are already married or have kids by 21)

I doubt anyone would even be discussing it had that sentence not been used when asked if she had a boyfriend. That is what makes people question.

 

[Artis]

OMG. Just logged on (missed many pages) and I see there is so little to discuss that's it down to speculating about if Mickey is a lesbian?! FFS.

*disgusted*

 

[nola]

When the family stated that Mickey didn't spend the night out, didn't have boyfriends...I took it to be part of the initial process of ruling out reasonable explanations for her not coming home that night. As we all know, most reported missing young adults go missing for only a brief period and are usually hanging out with friends, boyfriends, etc. They show back up in a few days. Adult missing person cases sometimes do not get a great deal of LE attention at the beginning. These statements, to me were just the family's way of saying that they knew that when she didn't come home that night, there was MORE to it than what's typically true in this sort of case. Their strong belief in this fact more than likely got LE started quicker in this investigation. JMO

 

[Buckeye lady]

:blushing: will you name three? just three reasons? :moo:

Maybe between her work and college studies, she was kept pretty busy.

 

[Fishin'chick]

You mean like an older guy, maybe a professor?

Or maybe a parent of a riding student, married man, ... Someone she wouldn't tell anyone about because she shouldn't be involved with them in the first place....

 

[nutkin]

It is important to know all aspects of her life because if she was a lesbian, that adds to the pool of potential suspects. It is just as important as asking if she had a boyfriend. If anything, people should be offended that her family wasn't asked if she was seeing anyone (gender neutral).

 

[Woe.be.gone]

Like many kids her age, there's a lot of compartmentalization going on. Thinking about the groups in her life, there would be her parents, her extended family, her school friends and relationships, her cycling-enthusiast buddies, her horse-interest friends, and her chosen group, the inner circle of her life. How much overlap and disclosure between groups would there have been? Who would have had the whole, big picture? And would they feel free to turn over all of those details to LE; would they withhold something they think is unimportant but may the piece that is needed?

It's possible that she kept details of each facet within that facet only. If so, the person or persons who abducted her may have been known to her, only if just peripherally. That's why I think it's important that in order to flesh out the big picture everything should be on the table as a what-if until it is ruled out.

That's been my thinking on this from the start. I believe there was an aspect of her life that put her on someone's radar and this was not a random abduction.

Thank you for the thorough explanation. I've been thinking along those lines. And I'd like to think, after someone has been posting here for awhile, that other posters would begin to know a poster's 'voice' in order to determine whether or not they're coming from a mean spirited place when presenting an idea or possible factor that could shed light on a case. Uncovering the truth is best and go from there imo.

 

[StrayKat]

If a local perp dropped the bike that early, it likely was as a distraction, and maybe she's closer to home.

If the perp was on the way to Baton Rouge or NOLA, then it was done in transit, and maybe it was not intended to be found, and was, anyway. But I ask.... why take the time to do this, in transit, when you've got a kidnapped woman in your car? You're increasing your risk just by driving down there - especially if a cop happens to cruise by to check the area and you've got her in your car. I don't think Mickey was with the perps when they dropped the bike.

So either they kept her in Lafayette and took the bike out there to draw attention away from Lafayette, or they took her to NOLA or Baton Rouge and wanted to distract. There are lots of places around those places to dump a bikes w/o drawing predators, etc. By picking WB, it was a known serial-killer dumping spot, and the perp probably knew the search would be intense there.

It gave the perp some time to do what he wanted to do, while LE was distracted.

This all makes me discount a panicked departure from Lafayette, and stopping to dump the bike. It would make more sense, since having Mickey is already a bust, to take the bike with you.

I don't see the bike being put there in a panic. it was planned.

I still think local perp(s)... but have no sense of where they may have taken her

I don't think they expected that bike to ever be found. Does that river have a flow? Is it possible that she could have been placed there as well? Do you know what route would have likely been taken to WB from the area she was last seen on video? Thank you, for everything. It's been a long time since I have been down that way... lot's of memories and missing special hearts from my childhood on the Vermillion.

 

[nutkin]

When the family stated that Mickey didn't spend the night out, didn't have boyfriends...I took it to be part of the initial process of ruling out reasonable explanations for her not coming home that night. As we all know, most reported missing young adults go missing for only a brief period and are usually hanging out with friends, boyfriends, etc. They show back up in a few days. Adult missing person cases sometimes do not get a great deal of LE attention at the beginning. These statements, to me were just the family's way of saying that they knew that when she didn't come home that night, there was MORE to it than what's typically true in this sort of case. Their strong belief in this fact more than likely got LE started quicker in this investigation. JMO

But, the family did not react quickly. If she didn't have boyfriends, spend the night at others' houses, and was very reliable, why weren't they calling the police immediately when her friends didn't know where she was? Why did they go to the son's graduation and state they were mad at her for not showing up? Someone who is always reliable would be there if they could possibly be there. There would be no reason to be mad at the person because you'd know something was wrong.

 

[cluciano63]

I don't think the person(s) who took Mickey had any connection to her. She left the club with a friend and went to his house, to Taco Bell and back to his house. That is a lot of moving about for someone to not only keep up with her but also wait around and happen to be there when she eventually left her friend's house, when in fact it would not have been unreasonable for her to stay overnight at the point, for all the person would know. I doubt "everyone" knew that she "never" spent the night elsewhere.

Her being on a bike, vulnerable, in the middle of the night made her a target for the people who are out at the hour looking for victims.

JMO

 

[JurysOut]

:blushing: will you name three? just three reasons? :moo:

Oy!

OK
-Anxiety. Maybe she becomes anxious when she's not in her own bed. She goes to school in her hometown.
-Private health issues
-Intimacy preference -not sexual- personal intimacy. If she's a very private person, maybe she didn't like staying in someone else's house.

I'm the kind of person who'd rather stay in a hotel. I don't think of it as a problem, but some people think it's weird. If I'm expected to share a room on a business trip, I always pay extra for my own room. Like I want to sleep in the same room with someone I work with. As if!

 

[StreetcarRider]

I thought this has had a uneasy jealous female vibe to it from the beginning, it's like something is right there obvious and we are missing it

How so?

 

[nutkin]

LE probably has the details regarding Mickey's friends and closer relationships but, for some reason, no one has clearly stated the answer to what we're talking about here. It is 2012 afterall.

That's another thing, I don't know if southern people are (there's no way for me to say this without offending peeps) open to being open. :waitasec:

I'm from SE Texas and am extremely liberal compared to the majority of people around here. There are people here who are openly out and I've never seen anyone bother them. I always think of southern Louisiana as extremely conservative, so she might have had a problem being out if she were a lesbian.

But, she is missing. Wouldn't finding her overrule being worried about reactions? To me it would.

 

[nutkin]

They were getting ready for Mickey's Brother's graduation and Mickey's 21. They undoubtedly thought she'd show up there. That's probably what I would think.

It was his day, they had no reason to focus on Mickey.

They did if she was always so reliable, never slept at others' houses, and didn't have boyfriends. 21 or not, I'd be freaking out. Graduation pales in comparison to having a child missing, whether they are an adult or not. They could have at least called the police. Their reactions don't match their words.

 

[concernedformickey]

Speaking of the place I don't want to go for eternity, the place I hope exists for people intent on making earth Hell for some people, is there a way to follow up on the final results of the suspicious fire from June 6? If authorities determine the fire was caused by arson, will an update be published in the newspaper?

Is it possible for a local to follow that case?

I guess the arson is already suspected. I don't know how to find out the outcome of this story. Is that public info anyone?

 

[Schmidty]

I don't think the person(s) who took Mickey had any connection to her. She left the club with a friend and went to his house, to Taco Bell and back to his house. That is a lot of moving about for someone to not only keep up with her but also wait around and happen to be there when she eventually left her friend's house, when in fact it would not have been unreasonable for her to stay overnight at the point, for all the person would know. I doubt "everyone" knew that she "never" spent the night elsewhere.

Her being on a bike, vulnerable, in the middle of the night made her a target for the people who are out at the hour looking for victims.

JMO

...or people who knew her habits, knew she had been at Artmosphere, knew she was there on a bike, knew her cycle path/routine, and knew at some point she would be on it. Knew also that being on that path at 2 am was not an unreasonable assumption.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

it would also be nice if they came out and said that they don't or do believe Jaren and Mickey's disappearances are related and then say why.

One difference is is that Jaren's killer/s didn't know how to hide her body as well.
That and I think it takes a long time to discover connections between cases. The show I watched yesterday finally made an arrest of the killer after almost two years - they had a body and a witness (other similar incidents too) in that case too. This was the case of Ardeth(sp) Wood from Ottowa, 2003.

 

[nutkin]

I don't think Mickey's and Jaren's disappearances were related. They were two different types of victims. One had a high risk lifestyle and the other (other than riding her bike at 2 AM and as far as we know) did not.

 

[LafayetteMom]

It has to mean something. I've read/heard interviews from family members of missing women hundreds of times. They'll say, "She wasn't seeing anyone" or "She wasn't dating anyone at the time."

Not something so definitive: "Mickey doesn't have boyfriends." Not: doesn't have A boyfriend. But, doesn't have boyfriendS.

I think some people are reading too much into that, just b/c we don't have much to go on, so it's natural to really get into the few things that have been tossed out there. FWIW, they said she wasn't currently dating anyone, it had been several months since she had a boyfriend. I don't know why it hasn't been said who her last boyfriend was, but maybe he didn't want to be in the spotlight or anything. I haven't heard anyone close to her say she was a lesbian so I'm don't get the idea that she was.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

I guess the arson is already suspected. I don't know how to find out the outcome of this story. Is that public info anyone?

Yes, the news clearly stated that arson is suspected. That along with missing truck parts. Those two together deserve follow-up imo.

How many peeps are mad at me now? White truck, white truck.