NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - #11

[RubyRed]

Did we here anymore about the guy in the motel.?

 

[Sin City]

Did we here anymore about the guy in the motel.?

Not yet. I saw a similar statement on the news tonight that was in yesterdays LVRJ (newspaper).

 

[CONCRNED CTZN]

Here's a map of the location; showing it's proximity to EL St. and the N home.

I know there is a SO in the area SE of EL St. in SCA.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sou...53742&sspn=0.005371,0.009602&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=15

ETA: The street add is 2721. This guy was only in his late 30's. Ugh. Wonder if he had little ones?

How were they buying all these homes in Anthem if he was 38? Would like to know the relationship of the guy who was there and then left to call police...did anyone read that yet?

 

[hollyblue]

Latest Story & Video:

http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12358926

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/apr/23/nevada-official-dead-after-shots-in-henderson-home/

A state fire marshal found dead after exchanging gunfire with police during a Thursday standoff at his house had been fired and rehired as a highway patrol officer, recently split with his wife and had a separate home shadowed by foreclosure, property records and a state official said.

Court Case :

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-nvdce/case_no-2:2007cv01669/case_id-57730/

 

[laytonian]

How were they buying all these homes in Anthem if he was 38? Would like to know the relationship of the guy who was there and then left to call police...did anyone read that yet?

Sun City merely requires that one resident of the property be 55+.
Not all of Anthem is age-restricted Sun City.

The home in question was just outside the Sun City boundaries:
http://awarebuyers.com/sun-city-anthem/sun-city-anthem-maps.html

He had two children, both under ten. If the son was the one who ran out
of the home, I can't imagine the terror he felt....or the sadness of his
parents' pending divorce.

 

[hollyblue]

How were they buying all these homes in Anthem if he was 38? Would like to know the relationship of the guy who was there and then left to call police...did anyone read that yet?

Not sure Concrned, the DW works for a health company and he had law suit against his employers in the past.
Maybe he or the wife inherited, struck it lucky at the casinos, or just plain good investing....until the RE/mortgage fiasco.

 

[hollyblue]

Did we here anymore about the guy in the motel.?

Here's an update. They don't believe he died of natural causes.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36712299/ns/local_news-las_vegas_nv/

 

[laytonian]

Did we here anymore about the guy in the motel.?

So many of these stories just disappear with no news follow-up.

Every day, I check several news links and not once have I seen a follow-up on any human remains found within 250 miles of Vegas. I don't even see them appear later on NAMUS.

But this one's only twelve hours old, so I'm going to withhold judgment.

 

[carbuff]

Latest Story & Video:

http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12358926

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/apr/23/nevada-official-dead-after-shots-in-henderson-home/

A state fire marshal found dead after exchanging gunfire with police during a Thursday standoff at his house had been fired and rehired as a highway patrol officer, recently split with his wife and had a separate home shadowed by foreclosure, property records and a state official said.

Court Case :

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-nvdce/case_no-2:2007cv01669/case_id-57730/

I wonder why the comment to the KTNV story says, "Not again!" Are shootouts common in the greater Las Vegas area?

 

[believe09]

Doing a little bit of review myself...

If I found the correct house on Zillow, SK was renting a room in a 3 bedroom 2 bath he was sharing with someone he did not know well and did not like.

1.) Did the landlord live there as well?
2.) Was there a landline phone there or did they just each use their cell phones?

I read that the timeline indicates Steven had a private bank account he used most frequently and the "group bank account."

3.) Which one were his bills automatically drafting from?

Travis indicated he gave SK 100.00 prior to his trip to RV-if the washing business was the bulk of his income, he had to have had another source he was drawing off of, or Travis was paying him better than it appears.

4.) Was SK working under the table or was Travis w/h income tax etc?
5.) Was he up to date with SK's pay or was he behind at all?

Rent aside, SK needed enough to pay his CC Bill, Car Payment, Gasoline, bare bones food purchases and cell phone. That had to be 500-800/month there alone...Did he have any past due bills he was not paying I wonder along with the rent? I mean, if he every became ill, how did he take care of it? It appears he had no health insurance...

One other question occurred to me-did he leave anything on AN's ranch? And no, I do not mean Susan Powell's body...I am thinking a note to be found etc...

 

[hollyblue]

Doing a little bit of review myself...

If I found the correct house on Zillow, SK was renting a room in a 3 bedroom 2 bath he was sharing with someone he did not know well and did not like.

1.) Did the landlord live there as well?

They would stay there occasionally when in the area.


2.) Was there a landline phone there or did they just each use their cell phones?

No landline.

I read that the timeline indicates Steven had a private bank account he used most frequently and the "group bank account."

3.) Which one were his bills automatically drafting from?

He had he own a/c. The group a/c was the family's.

Travis indicated he gave SK 100.00 prior to his trip to RV-if the washing business was the bulk of his income, he had to have had another source he was drawing off of, or Travis was paying him better than it appears.

4.) Was SK working under the table or was Travis w/h income tax etc?

We don't really know.

5.) Was he up to date with SK's pay or was he behind at all?
We don't know this either.

Rent aside, SK needed enough to pay his CC Bill, Car Payment, Gasoline, bare bones food purchases and cell phone. That had to be 500-800/month there alone...Did he have any past due bills he was not paying I wonder along with the rent? I mean, if he every became ill, how did he take care of it? It appears he had no health insurance...

Apparently he was behind on his car payments.


One other question occurred to me-did he leave anything on AN's ranch? And no, I do not mean Susan Powell's body...I am thinking a note to be found etc...

Not that we know of.

 

[laytonian]

Doing a little bit of review myself...

If I found the correct house on Zillow, SK was renting a room in a 3 bedroom 2 bath he was sharing with someone he did not know well and did not like.

1.) Did the landlord live there as well?

As she told us here and on slickdeals.net, she and her husband kept the master bedroom and bathroom for themselves to stay in when they were in St George. There was a separate entrance to that bedroom. The renters had use of the rest of the home.

2.) Was there a landline phone there or did they just each use their cell phones?

No landline. That's one of the first things we asked her.

I read that the timeline indicates Steven had a private bank account he used most frequently and the "group bank account."

3.) Which one were his bills automatically drafting from?

His own. His balance was $0. When we learned of the group (family) bank account, that explained why his own balance could have been $0 and yet his mother had deposited money in the account.

Travis indicated he gave SK 100.00 prior to his trip to RV-if the washing business was the bulk of his income, he had to have had another source he was drawing off of, or Travis was paying him better than it appears.

4.) Was SK working under the table or was Travis w/h income tax etc?
5.) Was he up to date with SK's pay or was he behind at all?

We don't know.

Rent aside, SK needed enough to pay his CC Bill, Car Payment, Gasoline, bare bones food purchases and cell phone. That had to be 500-800/month there alone...Did he have any past due bills he was not paying I wonder along with the rent? I mean, if he every became ill, how did he take care of it? It appears he had no health insurance...

He had a car payment, but we do not know how much was owed. We don't know if he had a credit card; we do know that he used debit/checking card(s).

The back rent amounted to "over $1000" by Dec 1st, at least three months -- so would guess $300-$400 a month plus utilities split between the tenants. When Z moved out, that left Steven holding the bag for *all* the utilities, obviously -- since the stillLooking told us that the tenants were responsible.

One other question occurred to me-did he leave anything on AN's ranch? And no, I do not mean Susan Powell's body...I am thinking a note to be found etc...

?

He could have just as easily left it in her own mailbox or on her doorstep in SLC, since she didn't live in Ruby Valley.

 

[believe09]

Am I mistaken or does the q/a portion of the timeline indicate that one of the bills which automatically drafted from Steven's account include a CC?

 

[laytonian]

Am I mistaken or does the q/a portion of the timeline indicate that one of the bills which automatically drafted from Steven's account include a CC?

We have not been provided details of Steven's finances.
All we know, is that his account had $0 in it when he disappeared, and that account later showed that charge from a website he'd done business for/with.
That indicates the account was a debit account. Did he have a separate credit card (or overdraft)? We don't know.
With $0 in the account, it would not have "drafted". It would have processed as a credit charge OR deducted from any overdraft protection, depending on the account.

 

[laytonian]

Am I mistaken or does the q/a portion of the timeline indicate that one of the bills which automatically drafted from Steven's account include a CC?

Something else that's important to remember: Steven's mother worked at the bank. That would give her access to his financials (including any high credit card debts). She'd have been the manager of the family "joint bank account", also, and know what went in/out and who'd accessed it.

The fact that SK was far behind in his rent, was an apparent surprise to his parents.

I could be wrong, but I think he lived as cheaply as possible on what he brought in.

There was no flashy car or clothes. A very basic cell phone. A notebook computer, but he did not pay for an internet connection; he used the internet at the library. We don't even know if his computer had wifi capabilities.

Car payment, lowest possible (liability) insurance on the car. Half of the home's utilities (gas/electric, water). Food. If he was bringing in very little, I suspect he kept the car payments and insurance current.

When he bought Christmas present for an entire family, he spent less than $10.

I think if he had debt, it would have had to have been in a way that was unknown to his parents - because he went to St George "to be independent" and his parents apparently didn't know he was failing at that, until the call from the landlord to his parents.

JMO, of course.

 

[RubyRed]

I thought the landlord was responsible for utilities? IIRC SK Mom said that. Or was it clarified by landlord that SK was responsible for that.( half of them)

 

[laytonian]

I thought the landlord was responsible for utilities? IIRC SK Mom said that. Or was it clarified by landlord that SK was responsible for that.( half of them)

All of the above. I'm serious.

The landlady claimed that the tenants were responsible to split the utilities, and give that amount to the them.
But since Steven hadn't been paying his rent or utilities, and Z had skipped out, the landlords weren't paying the utility bills.

That's why the utilities were due to be shut off.

But legally, Steven's mother is correct. The utilities were all in the landlord's name; it was up to them to make those payments. There's probably some detail in Utah's rental laws that state you can't turn off your renters' utilities if the utilities are in your name.

The set-up at that house was doomed to failure, IMO. You can't get a decent amount of rent out of a home, if you're keeping the master bedroom and bath for yourself. You're not going to attract the type of renters you need (a solid family), who can pay the bills. You're going to attract exactly what they got: a couple of single, down-on-their luck guys looking for a crash pad.

IMO, it would have been better for them to rent it as a family home at market rate, with the renting family responsible for the utilities. That would have given them enough extra to pay for a motel when they were in St George. They were already having to eat out, since they'd turned the kitchen over to the renters.

 

[believe09]

Something else that's important to remember: Steven's mother worked at the bank. That would give her access to his financials (including any high credit card debts). She'd have been the manager of the family "joint bank account", also, and know what went in/out and who'd accessed it.

The fact that SK was far behind in his rent, was an apparent surprise to his parents.

I could be wrong, but I think he lived as cheaply as possible on what he brought in.

There was no flashy car or clothes. A very basic cell phone. A notebook computer, but he did not pay for an internet connection; he used the internet at the library. We don't even know if his computer had wifi capabilities.

Car payment, lowest possible (liability) insurance on the car. Half of the home's utilities (gas/electric, water). Food. If he was bringing in very little, I suspect he kept the car payments and insurance current.

When he bought Christmas present for an entire family, he spent less than $10.

I think if he had debt, it would have had to have been in a way that was unknown to his parents - because he went to St George "to be independent" and his parents apparently didn't know he was failing at that, until the call from the landlord to his parents.

JMO, of course.

But one of the bills was a CC right?

So now I am confused-were his bills drafting out of his private account or were his bills drafting out of his group account? I know his Mom works at a bank, and she would certainly have had access to his records associated with the group account, but unless he were a dependant of some kind she would have no information on his private account beyond what he was willing to share correct?:waitasec:

I get that it appears he was living on a shoe string-but he had a car payment he was making or not making, cell phone plan payments he was making, CC payments he was making or not making...he had a source of income that at least met some of his bills...I read that some of the CC charges were for webpages he had set up for others that he had billed to himself. Was he due restitution for these charges?

I am trying to figure out if there was an obvious gap in his income...like if he was laying out X amount of dollars per month for the expenses he was meeting, did his job with Travis equate to the amount of money he was bringing in? If so, there you go. If not, was he taking money from his family? If so, then OK. If not, where was the other money coming from...

Unemployment as a potential source of income was shot down IIRC.

 

[laytonian]

But one of the bills was a CC right?

So now I am confused-were his bills drafting out of his private account or were his bills drafting out of his group account? I know his Mom works at a bank, and she would certainly have had access to his records associated with the group account, but unless he were a dependant of some kind she would have no information on his private account beyond what he was willing to share correct?:waitasec:

If his account was at the bank she works at, she could easily access the info. She knew his name. Every time you make an in-person deposit, the teller sees your balances. That's why they're always telling you to pull money out of checking and put it into a CD account.

When his mother said she'd deposited money for him to help catch up on the rent, that money was put into the group (family) account.

The last-week purchases you see mentioned on the timeline were either cash (a very few) or via debit card deducted from his account.

I get that it appears he was living on a shoe string-but he had a car payment he was making or not making, cell phone plan payments he was making,

How much is the car payment on a 7-year-old car?
If he bought the car near-new, he'd be near the end of the payment term.
If he'd bought it more recently, the payments would be minimal. Like $100-$150.
Add $20/$30 a month for minimal auto insurance.
Cellphone? $50 or less.''

Using the higher figures: $230/month for those items.

CC payments he was making or not making...

Now I'm confused. Outside of the auto-billing(s) from GoDaddy billed as credit (because he's obviously not deposited money to his bank account since he disappeared), where are these credit card bills coming from?

Remember, the auto-billingt(s) surprised the family, because it was the *only* activity on his account. The news said "credit" which makes sense, because that's how the bank handles a debit when there's nothing in the account.

Of course he could have had a separate credit card, but there's never been a mention of one, nor have we heard of any massive debts outside the rent.

he had a source of income that at least met some of his bills...I read that some of the CC charges were for webpages he had set up for others that he had billed to himself. Was he due restitution for these charges?

(bbm)
Some? Only two items have showed up on his account, since he disappeared: the two auto-billings from GoDaddy.

If the websites are still "live" and the businesses are still active, then yes, the businesses owe Steven for the domain registration.
That's up to Mr and Mrs Koecher to chase them down for $20 or $40....or maybe let them expire.

I am trying to figure out if there was an obvious gap in his income...like if he was laying out X amount of dollars per month for the expenses he was meeting, did his job with Travis equate to the amount of money he was bringing in? If so, there you go. If not, was he taking money from his family? If so, then OK. If not, where was the other money coming from...

Unemployment as a potential source of income was shot down IIRC.

Steven personally used a debit card. That's why the amounts were deducted from his bank account as they occurred, rather than being billed and paid monthly.

When he disappeared, he had $0 in his personal account.

You're looking for a gap in his income, and credit card debts.

I think the gap was the unpaid rent and utilities. If you're not paying that, it's like having $500 extra in your pocket.

IF there was another credit card and he'd racked up some debts -- those would be clues. I'm confident we'd have found out those clues by now.

If he was making enough for car payments, minimal insurance, food and gas --that's only a few hundred dollars a month. Like the $230 mentioned above, plus food. $350 tops?

 

[laytonian]

No known connection, but is the first story like this since Steven disappeared:

8newsnow

Since the follow-up probably won't appear in the Vegas papers and the exact location of this death won't be mentioned in ours, I'm going to SPECULATE that this SLC story solves yesterday's Star Motel mystery:

Salt Lake media (KSL TV for example) is reporting that Ryan Greathouse (the brother of murdered Utah police officer Josie Fox) was found dead in a Las Vegas "bedroom" at 1pm Vegas time on Thursday, Apr 23rd.