I yoyo back and forth. I was leaning family involved a few days ago with the ransom being totally separate and a scammer, now I lean towards more validity of the ransom and the kidnapper being affiliated with one another. Though I can't make logic of the kidnapping and ransom angle, I have to just accept understanding on what kidnappings for ransom are 'typically' needs to be thrown out the window in this case. How LE and FBI are acting, Susannah implying on the most recent video she will pay, and the FBI continuing to put up missing persons billboards (all the way in Houston, even, mentioned earlier in this thread), makes it sound like there is at least some plausibility to this.
Timeline fogginess and unwillingness to clear TC gives me pause, because at this point, if it's not ransom note writer, many seem to think it's TC. Anything I say about possible TC/AG involvement is just me speculating, trying to look for possible solutions that could explain inconsistencies. As a teacher myself, accusations he is currently facing online in part (imo) thanks to AB could be devastating for his career even if he's cleared. I've seen speculation it's a ruse to put the true kidnapper at ease but even an implication he's possibly involved will haunt him professionally, we are under so much scrutiny every day and many a parent would be worried about him teaching their children. At the same time, I'm horrified to think of someone I consider a fellow peer could carry out a crime like this, even if it was (I stress this, theoretically) in a moment of extremely rash anger. One of the grades he reportedly teaches (6th) requires a remarkable amount of patience, compassion and good humor to be successful. It's hard of me to fathom, even though I know sometimes the people you least expect can be responsible for horrible things. I would hope that Pima County investigators would understand the severity of all that, and would make it their top priority to clear TC first and soon after publicly. So them not doing so, even if I have some questions about their investigating methods, makes me think there has to be something there, even if we're not personally privy to it. I don't think he would have the capability of setting up these ransom notes anyways with how much scrutiny he is probably under, unless he has an accomplice, which then carries this into the realm of premeditation.
All of this is JMO, of course. If you had to make me pick right now, I'd probably say kidnappers are real and wrote the note. But, I think there still has to be something that prevents LE from clearing TC, or its otherwise pure incompetence, and I'm hoping for NG and her family's sake it's not that. (Sorry for the rambling, it's late here)
