When I first heard that my friend steve had disappeared, I just assumed he was killed by some bad people. That was my first thought. After viewing the TV show and having thought about it for over a year, I have to agree with my first assessment.
My opinion:
He was there for a job and it turned out to be a scam.
My reasoning:
1. He spent over $100 on gas driving a thousand miles, his car was found with a half tank. He couldn't afford rent but all of a sudden he has all this cash for gas. New promising job, no?
2. He wasn't trying to dissapear, he answered phone calls and told people where he was.
3. He always seemed to take his religion seriously, it wasn't an act. I believe he'd move back home before being a drug runner. He attended the temple. In my experience, people begining to do immoral activities don't go out of their way to attend the temple.
4. GW told him on that Sunday morning: "do what you've got to do". I believe he meant: "good luck finding a job even though it's the sabath. You're so desperate, it's ok".
5. That is Steve in the video. 98% sure. He had a distinctive walk. To fake it, one would have to know steve's walk, be able to impersonate that walk and know a security camera was there to capture the impersonation. Not likely.
6. I do recall him taking programming classes before he moved to St George. He also did some web design. I would think he went to Vegas to get or perform a job related to one of his skills. Is it profitable to drive 2 hours to Vegas just to pass out fliers? He didn't pass out fliers to anyone on evening lights.
7. He was forgetful. I bet he was on his way to Vegas and realized he forgot something needed for the job. By this time he had reached mesquite.
8. If he didn't want anyone to find his body, why answer the phone and tell people which city to start looking?
9. He left his car right around 12pm. He had a meeting with someone. It's a nice round number. He didn't just decide to kill himself at 12pm. He could have done that earlier that morning.
10. He was in Vegas earlier that day. What was he doing? He must have had face to face contact with someone, else the police would have found an electronic clue. How did he know how to get to evening lights? Why didn't he go there ealier?
11. He was very naive and extremely friendly. Prime target for evil doers.
12. If he had some homosexual relationship or homosexual tendencies, there would be some electronic evidence somewhere on either his phone records or computer. If this were the case, the family would know this privetly. The family had us searching buses and fields. It doesn't seem they know anything about a possible homosexual connection.
13. Assuming he wasn't drug running. I bet the wendover drive was in efforts to see that gal pal and nothing more. He was trying to resolve any relationship potential before getting a job in Vegas.
14. He had resumes all over the trunk of his car. He told me, when working the fedex graveyard shift, that he had submitted 40 resumes with no luck. He wasn't a quiter. I send out 5 resumes and call it good.
15. Look at the list of movies he checked out from the library. I do believe one was a movie on Pistol Pete Meravich and another was about Pioneers. Who watches inspirational movies such as these and then kills themselves?
16. Would the bad guy have Steve park his car near his house or just some random place? If the bad guy is well aware of electronic giveaways (email, phone records), wouldn't he turn off Steve's cell phone and purposely turn it on near a freeway entrance. It may seem far fetched but no one knows what happened to Steve. Someone was smart enough to fool us all and I'm pretty sure it wasn't Steve.
Let's just assume that someone hurt him. Who did it, what was the motive? If he was a victim, it is worth our time to find out who did it so justice can be served. If he wasn't a victim. He chose to hurt his family. He chose his path.
