GUILTY MO - Hailey Owens, 10, Springfield, 18 Feb 2014 #1

[PoirotryInMotion]

Having attentive witnesses with good info made all the difference in being able to solve this case. (per news conference question).

 

[CountryGirl]

Truck belonged to a relative who told LE who likely had possession of the truck. And, witnesses did try and stop him. Ran after him on foot and one person got in a vehicle while calling 911 but lost him.

 

[FlamingoLady]

If he was ' merely' washing his clothes and destroying evidence at laundromat, would that justify calling laundromat a 'crime scene' ? That seems odd to me.

Destroying evidence is a crime so, yes, the Laundromat would be a crime scene, imo.

 

[JoeFromLB]

"Was the body in tact"

"I'm not going to discuss that at this time, just that we have recovered a victim"


Oh lord

I can't even think right now...

Monstrous evil.

 

[iamnotagolem]

WTH did he do to Hailey's little body that LE couldn't even recognize it was a human being?????????????

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What an evil monster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In such short time, too. By 3 hours missing he was on his way home from the laundry mat. I'm so disgusted.

 

[Lava]

Here's the deal - sad as it is, things take time.

If they had two license plates to work with (one had an F and one an S), then they have to find owners of both vehicles, or at least the one that matches a gold pick up. Then they have to go to that guy's house and try to locate him. Maybe he wasn't home. it's unlikely LE had a cell phone number for the owner of a vehicle registered to DPS. Then he has to say who borrowed the truck and maybe find out HIS address if they don't have it already.

That takes time. They had this guy by 8 p.m. on a call that came in at 3 p.m.

And really, it's unlikely an amber alert activated instantaneously could have turned up this poor girl quicker than the information they already had from the very alert witnesses.

They were looking for a man in a gold truck. How many people knew this guy had borrowed a truck that day?

It may not have led directly to the guy, by name. But the whole point is that the child is in that truck, so finding the truck helps finding the child. If the alert went out faster someone could have seen that truck driving around. Especially because people in that community jumped when told to. They were looking, they were sharing information, and they were eager to help. They were just 2 hours too late.

 

[Leilei]

Borrowing the truck shows premeditation to me. He planned this. Drove out of his area to do it. I wonder how long he had the truck, and if he has his own vehicle, then what excuse did he give to the truck's owner?

I'm glad they are looking at other cases that he may be involved in. You don't just decide, out of the blue, to start kidnapping and murdering children at his age (IMO). But, this kidnapping was kind of sloppy - daylight, people out in the neighborhood. It will be interesting to see what information comes out about his history (behavior, friend and family statements).

 

[alwaysonmymind]

Sorry to say this but he may have used acid not fire. Absolutely horrendous what ever he has done.

Or worse.
He used the washers at the laundry mat to clean up.


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[JeannaT]

She was within a block or two of her house. ;(

??? When I looked it up on Google maps, I would say the two homes are separated by about 2 miles. Surely anyone chasing the truck on foot or in a car could manage to stay with it for "a block of two" ???

 

[carbuff]

Since the murderer borrowed the truck, careless LE might easily have jumped to the conclusion the owner was guilty, disbelieved his "I loaned it to somebody" alibi, searched his property, and generally made his life miserable. It wouldn't be the first time LE developed tunnel vision about an "obvious" suspect.

 

[iamnotagolem]

??? When I looked it up on Google maps, I would say the two homes are separated by about 2 miles. Surely anyone chasing the truck on foot or in a car could manage to stay with it for "a block of two" ???

I haven't looked at a map. She was kidnapped within a block or two of her house.

 

[gnsndr33]

I am just to sick and angry to even post my thoughts on this .... fly high in peace baby girl.

 

[Sleuthster]

Since the murderer borrowed the truck, careless LE might easily have jumped to the conclusion the owner was guilty, disbelieved his "I loaned it to somebody" alibi, searched his property, and generally made his life miserable. It wouldn't be the first time LE developed tunnel vision about an "obvious" suspect.

Especially when the truck was not there. Good thing they staked the house out and waited.

 

[JeannaT]

Since the murderer borrowed the truck, careless LE might easily have jumped to the conclusion the owner was guilty, disbelieved his "I loaned it to somebody" alibi, searched his property, and generally made his life miserable. It wouldn't be the first time LE developed tunnel vision about an "obvious" suspect.

I thought that too - but I think the witnesses described the driver as having long grey hair and a beard. It would seem LE would immediately research his story of the truck being loaned out, unless the owner of the vehicle looked the same.

Which is possible, of course.

 

[CHERIE.T]

body found inside home

Omg! :banghead::banghead: I feel even more ill.
When he was arrested was he sitting in his truck? Isn't that reportedly where cops found him?
If so, LE was searching for Hailey elsewhere and she was in the house?
:thud:

 

[Sleuthster]

It makes me sick that this poor baby died. TG they did catch him and he will not hurt another precious child again.

 

[iamnotagolem]

So it took 8 hours to find her body in the house? Or that's how long to determine that it was a young female?

We were unable to determine until 10:45 this morning that it was young female.

Why did it take so long to determine it was a young female?
We didn't want to say without a degree of confidence.

At around 3:00 with search warrant we discovered what might be her body.

 

[CountryGirl]

Boy, I'm having a hard time with this. Lots of time in between abduction and identification of Hailey.

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

Search warrant executed and search started about 7:30 (PM?)--a body found initially 2:30 AM with "initial cursory look," -- "we potentially have a body." About 3 AM chief notified and made contact with parents as well. At 10:45 this morning they were "able to determine visually they'd found a young female victim." [Explanatory details not forthcoming.]

 

[iamnotagolem]

Okay done with presser....

so it took 7.75 hours to determine with confidence that it was a young girl, probably Hailey.

this makes me beyond disgusted and upset