NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - #10

[sarx]

And GW was already started, in fact we know where he was when he talked to Steven...so he would have easily made it to the meeting. And if GW found out that early that Steven as not going to make it, and neither was he, why didn't he call someone else after the 7ish call? He made this great effort to get Steven there by calling him early, but didn't attempt to call anyone else? Or tell the guys that he would not be there. AND if he did tell the guys, maybe that is how they found out by text or VM, then he wasn't going to be there...surely he would tell them that he nor Steven would be there right? Unless, that was part of the plan, for the men to call Steven.

Does it bother anyone that Steven says LV and not Henderson? I have always thought it was weird that he would say LV, when Henderson would be less "controversial" on a Sunday. Maybe he didn't know "where" the location he was going to was at when he talked to the men on the phone? So that would match up with the theories that he was "waiting" for instructions. I've mentioned this before, but hadn't put it together with the "waiting" theory.

BBM
No, not on the surface anyways, if he wasn't familiar with the area I could see him calling it all Las Vegas. I do that with Southern California and tend to call it all L.A. (and boy does the family down there get miffed).

 

[laytonian]

LOL, I corrected my post to online, when I proof read it. I was correcting as you were responding.

The " up close and personal " was with SLT as was the online . Do you know which he did first? or were they intertwined.

Sep 2005 — Feb 2007:
Stringer for Davis County Clipper [8 stories] . See also LinkedIn
Mar 2007 - Jul 2008:
Salt Lake Tribune online edition (see SL Trib)

I don't think I ever saw any of his Trib work. I know people have mentioned them, but I can't get his name to come up in the byline of any Trib Archives.

 

[carbuff]

Well I thought for a while that maybe he killed himself. However, wouldn't he have mentioned to at least one person he was running out of options hinting of suicide? Would he be going to numerous group activities if he was so down and sad?

I'll admit, Steve was average at work skills. He was working a lot of crappy jobs that wasn't helping his resume. Employers hire the best and he wasn't what they were looking for. Sometimes to get on your feet in a career you have to move far away.

He might have, but suicides vary widely in things like whether they plan. Many suicides are more or less impulse decisions. And everybody's depression is different.

When I was going through my suicidal stage, I was a regular social butterfly, going out to lunch with friends and co-workers, joining a bunch of activities, and all that stuff. The more superficial the better. I put on a cheerful front with friends and family and avoided the people I was closest to -- let old friendships lapse because I was too ashamed to tell them the truth -- I was restless and couldn't sleep. The only reason I didn't drive a thousand miles a day is that I had kids to get to day care and other obligations.

I was mostly okay when I had people around me. But when I was alone, and feeling like nobody cared -- I can't even say I thought anything as coherent as "I don't know how much longer I can take this." It was just pain and blackness.

I don't know whether Steven might have decided to end it all -- but when I read about him not keeping in touch with old friends, I worry.

 

[RubyRed]

It is a lame excuse but it's true. I think he made a bad decision but he wasn't happy there and it was his choice.

He hated the weather in northern Utah so St. George was a good decision in that aspect.

He left The SLT in July/08.
gets the job at Matchbin Oct/08

3 months without a paycheck.

He does not move immediately
so still had to deal with weather.

Moves to St. George in the Spring April /09
leaves Matchbin May/09 ( it was not working out, or something like that. on employer part) However that happened it is a low blow, move for a job then a month later you don't have the job.

Window washing job Dec./09

7 months without a paycheck.

Dec,/09 he is still looking for decent work.

Dec. 13 /09 Steven goes missing.

Goodness typing this out, there was obviously a problem. Something was going on. I feel extremely sad for Steven. I know hindsight is 20/20, Monday morning quarter backing is easy. If I have learned anything from this case it is if I were to ever see this type of pattern within my own children, I would talk to them in a non-criticizing way and with a non-judgemental attitude. Before I might have just told them to get their sh#t together. I really feel for Mr. Koecher because he talked to Steven, and Steven hung up. Imagine this being the last contact you have with your loved one, and possibly no chance to make it right. You have to live with the woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Heartbreaking and extremely sad to say the least.

 

[laytonian]

He left The SLT in July/08.
gets the job at Matchbin Oct/08

3 months without a paycheck.

He does not move immediately
so still had to deal with weather.

Moves to St. George in the Spring April /09
leaves Matchbin May/09 ( it was not working out, or something like that. on employer part) However that happened it is a low blow, move for a job then a month later you don't have the job.

Window washing job Dec./09

7 months without a paycheck.

Dec,/09 he is still looking for decent work.

That reminds me. We don't really know when he started working for Travis' Windows and Blinds. We know that they'd recently added "blind cleaning" to their services.

Sometimes, you don't know what your child is doing.
Our niece's mother-in-law just found out that her son hadn't worked in two years (having been fired from the railroad for drug use).

 

[gsmith]

You need to meet WSer FastEddy4

From Exit 4 (the most southern St George exit) to the search location (via the directions given by the PI), is 146 miles.

(Using Microsoft Streets & Trips Software)

I used my GPS to get there and it was 135 miles from St George to the executive airport. I was going about 90 the whole way so it should have taken 1 1/2 hours.

I guess I went a bit faster in parts and I've never had a ticket.

 

[seekingsusan]

He left The SLT in July/08.
gets the job at Matchbin Oct/08

3 months without a paycheck.

He does not move immediately
so still had to deal with weather.

Moves to St. George in the Spring April /09
leaves Matchbin May/09 ( it was not working out, or something like that. on employer part) However that happened it is a low blow, move for a job then a month later you don't have the job.

Window washing job Dec./09

7 months without a paycheck.

Dec,/09 he is still looking for decent work.

Dec. 13 /09 Steven goes missing.

Goodness typing this out, there was obviously a problem. Something was going on. I feel extremely sad for Steven. I know hindsight is 20/20, Monday morning quarter backing is easy. If I have learned anything from this case it is if I were to ever see this type of pattern within my own children, I would talk to them in a non-criticizing way and with a non-judgemental attitude. Before I might have just told them to get their sh#t together. I really feel for Mr. Koecher because he talked to Steven, and Steven hung up. Imagine this being the last contact you have with your loved one, and possibly no chance to make it right. You have to live with the woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Heartbreaking and extremely sad to say the least.

BBM

This is something I had never thought about before. We know Steven was 3 months behind on rent, but what was he doing for the other 4 months he had been unemployed? How is it that he wasn't 7 months behind on rent? Sure, he could have had savings. But maybe someone had been helping him all along - in exchange for what, though??

I agree it would be good to know when he was officially hired to do the window cleaning stuff. And also the total pay he had received while working for T.

 

[Malini2001]

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - NV-Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson MSG 13 Dec 09 thread #3



Maybe I'm not reading this right, but it sounds to me like Steven's Dad was the one who hung up. It says "as he took the phone away from his ear." Now Steven's Dad couldn't see that Steven took the phone away from his ear so he must have meant himself. Am I reading too much into this?

It seems like everyone else is thinking that Steven hung up on his Dad, while I took it to mean his Dad hung up on Steven.

 

[gsmith]

He left The SLT in July/08.
gets the job at Matchbin Oct/08

3 months without a paycheck.

He does not move immediately
so still had to deal with weather.

Moves to St. George in the Spring April /09
leaves Matchbin May/09 ( it was not working out, or something like that. on employer part) However that happened it is a low blow, move for a job then a month later you don't have the job.

Window washing job Dec./09

7 months without a paycheck.

Dec,/09 he is still looking for decent work.

Dec. 13 /09 Steven goes missing.

Goodness typing this out, there was obviously a problem. Something was going on. I feel extremely sad for Steven. I know hindsight is 20/20, Monday morning quarter backing is easy. If I have learned anything from this case it is if I were to ever see this type of pattern within my own children, I would talk to them in a non-criticizing way and with a non-judgemental attitude. Before I might have just told them to get their sh#t together. I really feel for Mr. Koecher because he talked to Steven, and Steven hung up. Imagine this being the last contact you have with your loved one, and possibly no chance to make it right. You have to live with the woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Heartbreaking and extremely sad to say the least.

That's why I thought it was suicide at first.

We really don't know what he was thinking. Especially me since I've never wanted to kill myself.

If he kept walking till the next morning would he still be in range of a tower? Maybe he tossed his phone and someone found it. Who knows.

 

[RubyRed]

Sep 2005 — Feb 2007:
Stringer for Davis County Clipper [8 stories] . See also LinkedIn
Mar 2007 - Jul 2008:
Salt Lake Tribune online edition (see SL Trib)

I don't think I ever saw any of his Trib work. I know people have mentioned them, but I can't get his name to come up in the byline of any Trib Archives.

So just when you think the day is shot with all the bad news you come across an article about a little boy who’s dog need to have an operation but his family is unable to afford to pay for it.

Little Clint Bingham was not going to give up and wanted to save his dog named Rex who is a Golden Retriever with the help from his friends.

Read the story by Steve Koecher here.

http://whatwouldadogdo.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html

I posted a link to this story many threads ago. Have no idea which one.
Now you have to pay to get the story. It was about Rex the dog.

 

[gsmith]

So let's assume Steve wasn't a crazy driver (like me) and it took him two hours to get to Henderson. Did he leave his house Saturday night or Sunday morning?

 

[carbuff]

So let's assume Steve wasn't a crazy driver (like me) and it took him two hours to get to Henderson. Did he leave his house Saturday night or Sunday morning?

He could have left any time after the neighbor saw him leave his house at 10:30pm St. George time.

 

[RubyRed]

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - NV-Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson MSG 13 Dec 09 thread #3



Maybe I'm not reading this right, but it sounds to me like Steven's Dad was the one who hung up. It says "as he took the phone away from his ear." Now Steven's Dad couldn't see that Steven took the phone away from his ear so he must have meant himself. Am I reading too much into this?

It seems like everyone else is thinking that Steven hung up on his Dad, while I took it to mean his Dad hung up on Steven.

I remember that post. I interpreted it to mean Steven hung up. What do others think.?

 

[sarx]

I remember that post. I interpreted it to mean Steven hung up. What do others think.?

I read it like Steve was the one pulling the phone away and saying Oh Dad, while Dad listened. But, I could certainly see how it could be interpreted either way.

 

[Mia]

First of all, I want to say I'm very happy that Laytonian is back! I also want to thank Believe09 and sarx for joining in and breathing new life into this thread.

For some reason, up until now, I didn't realize that Ruby Valley is 550 miles away from St. George; I guess I had just assumed it was a 2-3 hour drive, but 1100 miles round trip?! That, in my opinion, is a bit far to drive to just 'do some thinking' or even to visit a girl. That is like an 8 hour drive each way. Would Steven really go all that way to visit AN without even knowing if she was there? Was he in that general area for another reason? I find it more than coincidental this drive occurred only a couple of days before his disappearance.

As far as the cell phone pings go, my understanding is that in an urban area, if the closest cell tower is 'busy' with the pings of other phones, then your phone will be pinged off another tower in the area. For example, even though I'm in Greenwich Village, my cell phone could ping off a tower in the Bronx if it were a time of day when lots of people were using their cell phones/had them on. So it's definitely possible that LE is unable to precisely triangulate the last ping on Steven's cell phone, and that they are unable to determine exactly where he was when his phone last pinged.

Right now, though as Laytonian says all the theories have holes, I think suicide seems like the most logical explanation. My biggest problem with this theory, however, is the "HOW", and I haven't seen this discussed on this thread very much at all. If Steven walked out into the desert or up into the hills to commit suicide, how would he have done so? We haven't heard that Steven owned a gun or if he did that it is missing, and if he had recently bought one I'm sure there would be records. Did LE check on this, does anyone know? I seriously doubt Steven would have known where to get one on the black market, and he didn't have the money to buy one anyway. And other than a gun, how would he commit suicide? It could take days to submit to the elements, and it wasn't THAT cold, so I find this scenario unlikely. So other than the elements/gun, what do we have? Hanging? Overdose? Both of these seem unlikely to me as well. I'm sorry if this sounds morbid/graphic; I'm just trying to logically think through the suicide theory, and figure out the "HOW" in order to determine if this scenario is likely. The things that do point in this direction are the not answering calls from friends in recent days and that he didn't cash his grandmother's check or use his parents' money to pay his rent; if he had already decided he was going to commit suicide, he would have seen such expenditures as wasteful.

I'm just so frustrated, and want Steven to be found, wherever he is and whatever state he is in. Again, I want to thank Laytonian for coming back and all of the new posters for their new ideas and contributions. Thank you!

 

[believe09]

Does anyone know if Steven collected unemployment?

 

[believe09]

The odd thing is that they tracked Casey Anthony's travels all over Orlando for weeks/months when they were trying to figure out what she had done with Caylee. She certainly wasn't in a rural area. I'm no expert in that kind of thing, so maybe there was some other difference involved. It sure would be nice if they could have tracked Steven by his phone the way they tracked Casey. We would not only know where the phone was when it called his voice mail, we would know where he had been for the weeks preceding his disappearance. :banghead:

I wonder if part of the difference is because LV is in a valley...like a bowl as someone mentioned. ??

 

[Malini2001]

I read it like Steve was the one pulling the phone away and saying Oh Dad, while Dad listened. But, I could certainly see how it could be interpreted either way.

It makes a difference in how I think Steven felt. If Steven hung up it makes me think that he was mad his father was involved and knew about his debt. Tells me his state of mind was not good. Plus, I would NEVER hang up on 1 of my parents, they would find that extremely disrespectful. :nerves:

If his father hung up, with Steven saying "oh, Dad" it makes me think Steven didn't think it was a big deal/problem and was trying to reassure his father. In that case, Steven doesn't think his life is out of control, he wasn't all that worried.

I know I read things differently sometimes. I guess I'm the only one who read it that Steven's Dad hung up. Maybe I'm putting too much importance on it. Plus, the quote is via the landlady, it's not from Steve's father, so who knows how accurate the wording is.

Was mostly curious as to how others took it.

 

[Malini2001]

Does anyone know if Steven collected unemployment?

I don't think the subject has ever been addressed. It's a good thought, he probably would have been entitled to it. (depending on when he started working for the window and blind cleaning)

 

[Fairy1]

There have been some compelling thoughts on the suicide theory today. So sad.

The only thing that keeps me from going with that theory full force is that I can't understand why he would have come to Vegas for that and why he hasn't been found yet.

If he never wanted to be found, he could have gone to any number of areas between Utah and Nevada - or even just Utah. Was it just to leave his car in a safe place until it was found? Why in Henderson?

It just doesn't make sense to me. But then again, neither does suicide.