Many elderly people with mobility issues struggle with steps..especially if they use a cane. I believe there are a few steps she would have to walk down if she used the front door.
I agree. I hope we can put this issue to bed. Entry and exit through the garage seems sensible for someone with mobility issues, IMO. I'll explain why.
The route through the garage offers sure footing. The floor is even. The steps into the house from the garage are likely utilitarian, made of concrete or wood, and therefore flat. Electric or electronic doors make them easy to operate. In my opinion, a garage with electronic controls on the doors would be the main entry point for NG. It would offer the surest footing and ease.
The front door route is more demanding. The front walkway is beautiful. Nancy probably used often until a few years ago. It has stairs in 2 places, however. You can see in the Google Streetview images below, a black railing was added to the middle of the lower stairs between 2022 and last November. The addition of a railing indicates Nancy needed more assistance with steps in recent years.
Using the front walkway requires navigating two steps closer to the driveway and another step up into the alcove at the front door. The walkway has an upper section that is brick and the lower section that is stone. The screenshot from last fall highlights the unevenness of the stone section between the driveway and stairs. It appears to be cobbles, IMO, like the surrounding landscaping. A cobble walkway is far more uneven than brick.
In my experience, people with mobility issues prefer a hardpacked or paved surface to an uneven one. Relatives who rely on canes approach brick walkways with caution. I don't think they'd even attempt to negotiate a cobble one.
While the driveway is dirt instead of paved, it is hardpacked and easy to maintain. Both the front door/walkway route and the garage route require using the driveway. The front walk ends at the driveway, not at the street. What appears like it may be a mailbox at the end of the walk in the Nest video is actually the post of the black railing on the steps between the upper and lower sections of the walkway. The front door/walkway route to a waiting car or to the mailbox requires more walking on the driveway than the garage route does.
In summary, my opinion is that the garage route offers the safest and easiest access for someone like NG. My opinion
supports what the family member reported Nancy did on January 31st. The sheriff confirmed the garage door opened at 9:48 and closed at 9:50. The facts, the timeline of occurrences at NG's house that night, have been established by law enforcement based on evidence and analysis.
I hope this comparison of two routes helps those with doubts to understand that common sense supports the evidence established by law enforcement here. Practical analysis makes it reasonable and likely she did, and the investigation establishes she did.
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Here's the screenshot of Streetview from Nov. 2025. Note there is a black railing in the middle of the lower set of stairs and the unevenness of the cobble section of the walkway.
The screenshot from Streetview in March 2022 is below. Note the two sets of stairs: by the front entrance and halfway down the walkway toward the driveway.
ETA: eliminating bad breaks and typo
