NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - #12

[rd_jfc]

They don't overlap like that in crowded areas. It would cause too much interference. They are set to overlap a bit so they can hand off calls but you aren't going to have a cell tower in north las vegas picking up a call from henderson, no way.

In a circular area, several towers will overlap with a central one just based on logic. Also some phone carriers use the fact that a cell phone is in contact with multiple towers to provide a pseudo-GPS service.

rd

 

[rd_jfc]

I don't know why the doc looks the way it does. Maybe there's someone out there who knows what it all means, but I've never found him (or her).

It seemed to make sense from posts you and laytonian have made. Thanks again for map and help, jaxon.

rd

 

[swjaxon]

It seemed to make sense from posts you and laytonian have made. Thanks again for map and help, jaxon.

rd

Eh... I wish I could see incoming/outgoing call/text and duration, along with a tower ID number or something specifying which exact tower was handling the call.

 

[Fairy1]

All this ping info is making me crazy! I wish it was a more exact source of information.

That being said, I would like to know how confident ya'll are that Steven did leave SCA and head to the Whitney Ranch area.

 

[gsmith]

In a circular area, several towers will overlap with a central one just based on logic. Also some phone carriers use the fact that a cell phone is in contact with multiple towers to provide a pseudo-GPS service.

rd

In a dense population of towers you can get about 50m accuracy. It is an approximation because the overlapping signals are weak enough to attain a position but not a phone call. The overlap causes some interference but it's not enough to disrupt the digital channel.

They purposely point the signal down in dense tower regions to minimize interference. This is especially needed If the towers are omni directional and close.

If the entire bandwidth is being used on one tower, how can another tower from a long distance provide more bandwidth on the same frequency set? It's like picking up another radio station from a nearby city ontop of a local station of the same frequency.

Plus the phone has to expend 100 times more power to transmit 10 miles verses 1. It makes sense that Steve's phone was communicating with the closest tower.

 

[Fairy1]

Just wanted to say - good to have you back around gsmith!

 

[rd_jfc]

In a dense population of towers you can get about 50m accuracy. It is an approximation because the overlapping signals are weak enough to attain a position but not a phone call. The overlap causes some interference but it's not enough to disrupt the digital channel.

They purposely point the signal down in dense tower regions to minimize interference. This is especially needed If the towers are omni directional and close.

If the entire bandwidth is being used on one tower, how can another tower from a long distance provide more bandwidth on the same frequency set? It's like picking up another radio station from a nearby city ontop of a local station of the same frequency.

Plus the phone has to expend 100 times more power to transmit 10 miles verses 1. It makes sense that Steve's phone was communicating with the closest tower.

We're not talking ten miles. The towers are what they are. Call communication was made with each of them and the southern two and the northern three are close enough together to handle a fixed SCA location and then a fixed Whitney Ranch locaton.

I just don't want to assume he was point A at 8am for one tower to handle the call, point B two hours later about three miles or so away from first tower for second call to be handled, and both within easy transmission distance from where car was parked. My feeling is that he was in a fixed location relatively near where car ended up being parked.

Same situation with towers in northern group in Whitney Ranch.

rd

 

[carbuff]

Although I don't post much here anymore, I still think about Steven every day and read every single one of your posts. Once again, I'm in awe of the level of commitment displayed here among what are essentially strangers, coming together to solve the puzzle of a missing man who it seems many others have forgotten.

And indeed this case does seem like a puzzle. IF Steven met with foul play, then that is an accurate description of his disappearance, as one would have to discover who the murderer(s) were, how Steven met them, if and how his driving 'binges' are related to his murder, etc. But what if it's not a puzzle, and this case is exactly how it appears? A 30-year old man whose life wasn't going as planned, jobless, under pressure from his upwardly mobile family to achieve a certain level of success, unmarried and Mormon, drives his car to a neighborhood in Henderson, Nevada and ditches it - to either walk into the hills and commit suicide OR to run away and start a new life. My opinion still changes daily on which of the three it is, and I do believe these are really the only three options.

If Steven met with foul play, I do think that is him on the video. I do think he drove to Henderson himself not under duress. I just can't get on board with someone murdering him on the night of Dec 12 in St. George, getting rid of every single piece of evidence that would indicate a crime was committed, driving Steven's car to Henderson, impersonating him on the phone with close friends, and just happening to look so much like Steven that Steven's own family mistakes the murderer for him on the videos. That, to me, seems very far fetched.

If Steven was murdered, he met his demise with someone he met in the SCA neighborhood, IMO.

Yes, I think the ping information pretty much wipes out any theories about a crime committed in St. George.

I think that's the only theory it really changes, though.

 

[Fairy1]

Yes, I think the ping information pretty much wipes out any theories about a crime committed in St. George.

I think that's the only theory it really changes, though.

Not necessarily. I, personally, am not of this opinion, but there are folks who believe that whoever harmed Steven was in possession of his phone after the fact. Theoretically speaking, he could have been killed in SG and the kiiller could have driven to Vegas with his phone just to throw everyone off.

 

[gsmith]

Just wanted to say - good to have you back around gsmith!

Thank you. I read this thread everyday. I just don't have anything to add unfortunately.

 

[Mia]

Wow, just caught up on this thread and just wanted to give a triple thank you to swjaxon for the new info on the pings, calls, and for revealing your "hunch" about what happened to Steven. You definitely breathed new life into this thread and case!

Re: the calls. I can understand the landlord calling, probably to either to try to find out where Steven is or because they were as yet unclear about the make-up rent arrangement. However I'll admit all the calls from TH make me a bit suspicious. I'd be interested to know just how many of these calls came from/were made to the landlords and how many from/to TH. IF Steven went to SCA for some gig or work to make a few bucks, and there is no evidence of contact with whoever he went to see in SCA on his phone or e-mail, it makes sense that his current boss, TH, may have been the one to set him up with the job or people. Perhaps when things started "going bad" or already went bad the SCA person/people gave TH a call, which in turn provoked all of TH's calls to Steven, to see if he was all right, out of worry/panic, etc. I'd be VERY interested in seeing TH's phone records for Sunday afternoon and evening based on this theory, though I know that will never happen in a million years.

I just wonder what would cause TH to call Steven multiple times on a Sunday. He couldn't have been that desperate to have fliers handed out, could he?

Of course this is all speculation on my part based on this new info. IMO, MHO, IMHO, etc.

 

[Fairy1]

Wow, just caught up on this thread and just wanted to give a triple thank you to swjaxon for the new info on the pings, calls, and for revealing your "hunch" about what happened to Steven. You definitely breathed new life into this thread and case!

Re: the calls. I can understand the landlord calling, probably to either to try to find out where Steven is or because they were as yet unclear about the make-up rent arrangement. However I'll admit all the calls from TH make me a bit suspicious. I'd be interested to know just how many of these calls came from/were made to the landlords and how many from/to TH. IF Steven went to SCA for some gig or work to make a few bucks, and there is no evidence of contact with whoever he went to see in SCA on his phone or e-mail, it makes sense that his current boss, TH, may have been the one to set him up with the job or people. Perhaps when things started "going bad" or already went bad the SCA person/people gave TH a call, which in turn provoked all of TH's calls to Steven, to see if he was all right, out of worry/panic, etc. I'd be VERY interested in seeing TH's phone records for Sunday afternoon and evening based on this theory, though I know that will never happen in a million years.

I just wonder what would cause TH to call Steven multiple times on a Sunday. He couldn't have been that desperate to have fliers handed out, could he?

Of course this is all speculation on my part based on this new info. IMO, MHO, IMHO, etc.

BBM

No - I've never heard of a flyer emergency.

But the LL calls bother me too. We have been told the situation had been resolved when Steven told him he would catch up entirely soon. Why would he keep calling?

 

[Fairy1]

Thank you. I read this thread everyday. I just don't have anything to add unfortunately.

Glad to hear you're still following along. I think we're all frustrated and praying for something new to work with. We're probably just days - or even minutes - away from discussing an alien abduction!

 

[jmarple]

Glad to hear you're still following along. I think we're all frustrated and praying for something new to work with. We're probably just days - or even minutes - away from discussing an alien abduction!

How close is this to Area 51?:takeoff:

 

[Fairy1]

How close is this to Area 51?:takeoff:

Hahahaha! Close enough!

 

[laytonian]

All this ping info is making me crazy! I wish it was a more exact source of information.

That being said, I would like to know how confident ya'll are that Steven did leave SCA and head to the Whitney Ranch area.

Not necessarily EXCEPT that the pings do leave a trail in that direction.

 

[laytonian]

Also, there's something I forgot to mention that might be important or not. This is the model of phone Steve used.

You have mystical powers; we asked for that info previously, and were only told "don't know".

 

[laytonian]

I had an interesting few moments yesterday while driving into Boston. As I was going through the Allston tolls, I noticed a guy on a motorcycle in the turnout area. He took off his helmet, and I thought, "My God, that's Steven!" Tallish, slightly pudgy, same slightly hurt lost look, and the same nose -- and something about the way he moved, even though I've only seen those two small videos.

He had put his helmet back on and left by the time I got there, so I didn't get to talk to him. The cop who was there hadn't spoken to him either, but he said he'd tell the rest of his crew to keep an eye out. He wasn't going to put out an APB or anything, but I think he meant it. (Or maybe he got on the radio and said, "Dudes, watch out for a crazy lady in an old Toyota, she's seeing missing people in the toll booths!")

I've seen guys who look like Steven before. For a while I was seeing them everywhere. So this is probably just another incident of that. I only bring it up because of the ping map and what RD noticed about walking speed -- I wonder if he might have met someone who sold him a motorcycle? You can live on the road a long time that way not leaving much in the way of a footprint...just being free.

You didn't see Steven in Boston. I swear, he was in Trader Joe's in Santa Rosa, CA yesterday. (Really -- it was the first time I'd seen someone who looked like what I thought Steven would look like -- but he seemed much thinner and was more than 2" taller than I am.)

I wish he had a big blue mole on his nose, or a tattoo on his chin.

 

[laytonian]

Sounds like TH had a reason to be concerned and frantic about not having contact with Steven. Why was he?

Because Steven was the guy who "marketed" the business? (Besides the flyers, there were business cards -- which SS mentioned him giving her at the church Christmas party).

I can understand the guy he worked for, calling. I can't understand someone else being so insistent; I'd like to know if Z was called that much.

 

[CONCRNED CTZN]

Wow, just caught up on this thread and just wanted to give a triple thank you to swjaxon for the new info on the pings, calls, and for revealing your "hunch" about what happened to Steven. You definitely breathed new life into this thread and case!

Re: the calls. I can understand the landlord calling, probably to either to try to find out where Steven is or because they were as yet unclear about the make-up rent arrangement. However I'll admit all the calls from TH make me a bit suspicious. I'd be interested to know just how many of these calls came from/were made to the landlords and how many from/to TH. IF Steven went to SCA for some gig or work to make a few bucks, and there is no evidence of contact with whoever he went to see in SCA on his phone or e-mail, it makes sense that his current boss, TH, may have been the one to set him up with the job or people. Perhaps when things started "going bad" or already went bad the SCA person/people gave TH a call, which in turn provoked all
f TH's calls to Steven, to see if he was all right, out of worry/panic, etc. I'd be VERY interested in seeing TH's phone records for Sunday afternoon and evening based on this theory, though I know that will never happen in a million years.

I just wonder what would cause TH to call Steven multiple times on a Sunday. He couldn't have been that desperate to have fliers handed out, could he?

Of course this is all speculation on my part based on this new info. IMO, MHO, IMHO, etc.

I thought and I just confirmed by reading past articles that TH specifically is quoted saying that Steven did not have a job for him that day when asked by whoever questioned him.