Excellent point, web. I totally agree and have felt from the beginning that SCA was a bizarre destination if suicide was the plan. I suppose all that driving around in the preceding week could have been an attempt on Steven's part to sort out his issues and contemplate his future. Even if he hadn't yet made a decision to end his life when he was out in the middle of nowhere, SCA would still be a weird place to make that final decision. IMO.
NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - # 7
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Excellent point, web. I totally agree and have felt from the beginning that SCA was a bizarre destination if suicide was the plan. I suppose all that driving around in the preceding week could have been an attempt on Steven's part to sort out his issues and contemplate his future. Even if he hadn't yet made a decision to end his life when he was out in the middle of nowhere, SCA would still be a weird place to make that final decision. IMO.
It's possible that he could have made a legitimate chunk of change over the holidays if he got a big job doing holiday decorations, like for a major family party, at a community center.
Someone could easily have met him passing out flyers, had a conversation, and invited him to come by their house to see about windows or decorating - to bid a job rather than completing it that day. Or they might have needed him right away, which would explain a Sunday drop-by. To hang Christmas lights at a house, you wouldn't need your own ladder if the homeowners had one. And if there was no fixed appointment, just a drop-by invitation, they might realize he is missing. Also, many second-home owners are out of touch with local news when they are not in residence, which is why I wonder what efforts have been made to check EVERY house and talk with EVERY homeowner.
More darkly, someone could have taken a shine to his blond, naive looks while he was passing out flyers and lured him somewhere in a similar way. He might have thought it would be legitimate work and when he got there, it wasn't, and things went bad from there.
It is disturbing that it seems as that less has been done in Anthem than otherwise would have because it's an HOA. Is someone, or several someones, covering things up there?
Someone could easily have met him passing out flyers, had a conversation, and invited him to come by their house to see about windows or decorating - to bid a job rather than completing it that day. Or they might have needed him right away, which would explain a Sunday drop-by. To hang Christmas lights at a house, you wouldn't need your own ladder if the homeowners had one. And if there was no fixed appointment, just a drop-by invitation, they might realize he is missing. Also, many second-home owners are out of touch with local news when they are not in residence, which is why I wonder what efforts have been made to check EVERY house and talk with EVERY homeowner.
More darkly, someone could have taken a shine to his blond, naive looks while he was passing out flyers and lured him somewhere in a similar way. He might have thought it would be legitimate work and when he got there, it wasn't, and things went bad from there.
It is disturbing that it seems as that less has been done in Anthem than otherwise would have because it's an HOA. Is someone, or several someones, covering things up there?
I've seen how miserable an HOA can make their residents. All their silly rules, hard core inspectors and board members with nothing better to do can be challenging. But I believe if LE wanted to search, the HOA would be powerless to stop it. So......that leaves me wondering if LE doesn't believe Steven WAS or IS there at all.
But if they don't think so, why were all the searches in that neighborhood and the hills behind it?
All? I only know of the one at the end of December - a little more than 2 weeks after Steven went missing. Perhaps since then, they've learned something that has them looking in another direction.
Doesn't it strike ya'll as odd that there are no further searches planned in the area where Steven's car was found and where he, supposedly, appeared on a surveillance video? Nothing. I also find it strange that LE didn't speak at the PC. They were there. The Henderson mayor was there. How could they have nothing to add?
There's been more than one. The family's been out there two or three times, at least once with a good-sized group of volunteers, and Det McKay has been out there searching by himself. But always near SCA, from what we can tell.
Unless they have new information, wouldn't they be retracing their steps? I don't know how such decisions are made, but I'm sure cost is a major factor. As much as we'd like to see a grid search, it's unlikely they'll fund anything like that.
Were they asked to speak? I didn't hear anyone introduce them, or ask them any questions.
Wasn't it the family's press conference? Rolf came in with his prepared remarks, and made them. Done. I think they controlled the agenda.
I'll bet LE *could* have added a lot, but I didn't hear the family invite them to make a statement ... nor did anyone else ask LE any questions. The questions I did hear, were asked of the family, and that's who answered.
Also, it was scheduled at the same time as the NASCAR press extravaganza across town - so that accounts for the small number of reporters who attended.
I asked LE some questions - but they wouldn't answer any of them!
I know it was the family's PC and who knows if they asked LE to comment? But why wouldn't they? Or why wouldn't they at least give the green light to share some tidbit of information that would move things along? Did they truly believe the reward would be enough? They asked people to be vigilant - but where? Henderson, Las Vegas, St. George, Ruby Valley, Sacramento?
And WTH is up with his friends and fellow church members? Are they in shock? Too busy to put forth any effort to find Steven? Don't care?
I just don't get it. It's like they're collectively saying, "Oh well, Steven's missing. That's a shame. Hope he comes home or someone (else) finds him."
Dunno. I think, if the Mayor had been asked to open the PC, then he'd introduced the investigators....and then they introduced the family, it might have been different.
Probably because there's a difference between a prepared statement from LE, and questions asked after the PC?
I hear ya.
Look what WE have dug up, but we have lots of eyes and ears on one case...and we don't know how many resources are being put forth for Steven. .
Apparently, no one bothered to tell the family or LE that Steven had been at the temple on the evening of Dec 9th.....until Feb 3rd. And because it was misposted on the FB page, even we didn't pick it up for a few days.
I never knew about his sleep walking. I bet an old roommate would know. Unfortunately I don't have any contact info for them.
heres another possible twist:
whats someones definition of MY SON IS MISSING?
given this case and all i know - if i it was my son then yes i would consider him MISSING
but also if:
given this case and ONLY I KNEW that my son left a note in his car saying that he didnt want to be considered a failure by his friends and family and wanted to make a clean break and start over on his own and felt that he had to make a clean break and BLAH BLAH BLAH - I WOULD CONSIDER HIM MISSING but not dead AND WOULD STILL HAVE REPORTED HIM MISSING in the hope that he would contact me once in a while to say how he was doing THEN I WOULD REPORT HIM MISSING but not with the same sense of urgency if he had threatened suicide. the resulting media attention would also hopefully get my message out to him that i was concerned about him.
and as time went by i would draw less and less attention to the case and just hope and pray that he was okay after all he is 30 years old and his own man now and i would at least respect his decision although it would definitely still make me ache for him especially during his birthday and the holidays and evrytime i thought about him which would be evry waking hour
That's maybe why he parked there. He might have wanted his family to think he disapeared by some evil hand.
If he started walking and kept going for 24 hours he could have easily walked 20 to 40 miles. I could walk that far in that time.
If he wanted to really disappear why did he answer his phone and tell people where he was?
Good point. Do you have any reason, honestly, to believe Steven may have been suicidal? Not that I believe it's predictable all the time, but is this a place he could have wound up?
Just a reminder that I will be talking to my psychologist friends tomorrow. Will try to post the results tomorrow afternoon, probably around 4pm Pacific time. It will probably be a LONG post. . .but nothing new about that when my posts are concerned.
Just a couple things:
Just because he had things planned for the coming week and said he planned to have his rent caught up on Jan. 1 means virtually nothing. He still could have committed suicide. I personally don't think that is what happened. But, that he had future plans means nothing. You could go back through all sorts of suicide stories on the Internet and in 75 percent of them you will find something about how people were surprised because "so and so" was going to do this, was going to do that, etc. Future plans mean nothing. When a person decides to commit suicide, it's not like they say, "Oh, wait a minute, I can't do it today because I have plans this coming week. . ." A good friend of mine committed suicide in December of 2008. Had just gotten married in October. The day before she hung herself, she posted on her MySpace page how she was attending some theater event the coming week. Future plans mean nothing.
As far as LE still searching for him, they probably think they have done everything they can do. Too many people disappearing in this town and not enough LE people to keep track of them is also a problem. I mean, we don't know what they know. And it is very possible that the reason they aren't searching is because whatever they know takes them in a different direction. And that would not be odd because most of us on here don't believe he is still in that immediate area either. Plus, what did Steven do. . .go out in the desert and shoot himself? That would really be the only way he could do it unless he wanted to die from exposure-that would be both long and painful. And it did not look to me like he had a gun in the waistband of his pants. Possible? I guess. But walking through a neighborhood on a beautiful Sunday with a gun in your pants? Really? That's a bit of a stretch for me. All it would take would be for one person to stop him and the jig would be up.
And I still say if he wanted to walk out into the desert and commit suicide, he could have parked a lot closer, and still could have made people believe he got taken away by someone.
There has been talk in a few posts of Steven being desperate. I agree. And what was he desperate for: money and affection. Those two things keep coming up in everything that we hear about him. Trying odds jobs and driving to Ruby Valley to see a girl. So, when the question comes up as to what he was doing there in SCA when he would normally be going to church, I answer that he was in SCA because it was more important to be there than it was to be at church. And what were things in his life that could possibly pull him away? Things that he was desperate for: money and affection.
Just a couple things:
Just because he had things planned for the coming week and said he planned to have his rent caught up on Jan. 1 means virtually nothing. He still could have committed suicide. I personally don't think that is what happened. But, that he had future plans means nothing. You could go back through all sorts of suicide stories on the Internet and in 75 percent of them you will find something about how people were surprised because "so and so" was going to do this, was going to do that, etc. Future plans mean nothing. When a person decides to commit suicide, it's not like they say, "Oh, wait a minute, I can't do it today because I have plans this coming week. . ." A good friend of mine committed suicide in December of 2008. Had just gotten married in October. The day before she hung herself, she posted on her MySpace page how she was attending some theater event the coming week. Future plans mean nothing.
As far as LE still searching for him, they probably think they have done everything they can do. Too many people disappearing in this town and not enough LE people to keep track of them is also a problem. I mean, we don't know what they know. And it is very possible that the reason they aren't searching is because whatever they know takes them in a different direction. And that would not be odd because most of us on here don't believe he is still in that immediate area either. Plus, what did Steven do. . .go out in the desert and shoot himself? That would really be the only way he could do it unless he wanted to die from exposure-that would be both long and painful. And it did not look to me like he had a gun in the waistband of his pants. Possible? I guess. But walking through a neighborhood on a beautiful Sunday with a gun in your pants? Really? That's a bit of a stretch for me. All it would take would be for one person to stop him and the jig would be up.
And I still say if he wanted to walk out into the desert and commit suicide, he could have parked a lot closer, and still could have made people believe he got taken away by someone.
There has been talk in a few posts of Steven being desperate. I agree. And what was he desperate for: money and affection. Those two things keep coming up in everything that we hear about him. Trying odds jobs and driving to Ruby Valley to see a girl. So, when the question comes up as to what he was doing there in SCA when he would normally be going to church, I answer that he was in SCA because it was more important to be there than it was to be at church. And what were things in his life that could possibly pull him away? Things that he was desperate for: money and affection.
RubyRed
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Fasteddy4 You said before that you felt he had passed on. Do you feel it was because of some type of get rich quick scheme, or an affair that went horribly wrong? I stated before that I thought an affair, however we are hearing from friends that he broke up with a woman because he felt God did not want him to be with her. So would he really have an affair? I have known people that I never thought would have an affair and they have. So I guess it is possible. I am just wondering what others are thinking?
I have no idea. A year ago when I talked to him he didn't seem suicidal. I've never been close to someone that had killed themselves.
I'm just looking at all the possibilities. I agree that the simplest solution is probably what happened. If he really wanted to get away he could have just told everyone and moved to say, California.
As a kid I was taught that if I went on a mission and went to school I'd have a great life just like my parents. I knew life had its ups and downs but I always just figured everything would turn out ok.
Steve had the same type of upbringing. Yet he was 30 years old struggling day to day. He finished school, went on a LDS mission and stayed faithful to his religion. Maybe he was feeling he had no more options.
I too went on a mission, finished school, yet I still don't have a great job. The other day I had a moment of dread realizing I'm turning 30 this year and have not accomplished, career wise, what I had planned all my life. Luckily, I'm about to get another degree in Electrical Engineering, have a wife who makes big bucks and just bought a house. If I hadn't gotten married a 1 1/2 years ago I'd be struggling the same as Steve.
I just can't imagine what was going on in his mind.
As I write this I remembered that he took a couple of classes at the university a year or two ago. I remember him telling me how hard they were. I think one of them was a Java class. He was trying to build up his resume.
Thank you - once again - gsmith, for your insights. I'm not an LDS man nor have I ever been suicidal. HOWEVER, during the most difficult time of my personal life, I did distance myself from friends - but not family. Then again, I had two babies who needed to be cared for and protected.
I do feel that Steven may have become disillusioned. It seems he was doing everything he was supposed to do, yet the things he wanted most were eluding him. His faith not withstanding, how much can one man take?
That being said, there was something that brought him to the Las Vegas area on a Sunday when he was expected elsewhere. Was it the possibility of love or work or the desire to be anonymous?
I do feel that Steven may have become disillusioned. It seems he was doing everything he was supposed to do, yet the things he wanted most were eluding him. His faith not withstanding, how much can one man take?
That being said, there was something that brought him to the Las Vegas area on a Sunday when he was expected elsewhere. Was it the possibility of love or work or the desire to be anonymous?
In general, I feel like he is not with us anymore because that is what statistics and experience say. People who have disappeared for this long are usually found dead or are never found. A very small percentage are found still alive.
I reason everything out the same way when it comes to the idea of him having some psychological break. Different people on here have brought up the people who have been found who came down with amnesia or suffered some psychological break or just simply had mental problems. That may be true but we only know about these people because they disappeared and were found in the first place. We don't hear about the thousands of people who had these same mental things happen to them but don't disappear at all. But, get help instead. So, the percentage of people who disappear from having some type of mental problem is very, very low.
We are only layman here so we don't have the facts that the police have. So, I think the easiest way to go about this is to go by probabilities and possibilities based on what we all know about other cases such as this. And apply those lessons to what we know in this case.
Now, as far as specifically what went wrong with Steven? Until I hear anything different, I think he was here in Las Vegas to meet a woman. Well, a person he thought was a woman. I open to either him meeting someone online. . .like Craigslist. . .OR. . .if it was really a woman, someone he met on Dec. 12 night. If it was a Craigslist thing, Steven showed up, found out the girl's a guy, and it goes bad from there.
On the other hand, I am still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Webb and Steven were in Las Vegas at the same time and didn't know each other would be there. The odds of that are very, very low. Webb called Steven at like 8 in the morning from Vegas. Steven then tells Webb he himself is in Vegas. . .and the two don't bring up meeting up? Don't even meet for breakfast? It just seems strange. So, until I have facts to prove otherwise, my guess is the two met up. Went to some clubs. Met a girl who was a working girl. Steven thinks she's just a regular girl. They make a date for Sunday at noon. He drives down there. Parks. Maybe he jumps in her car. He of course can't pay her fee. Things go bad from there. I know this sounds crazy but I just did a recent post about the working girls here. Due to the struggling economy here, I have seen hooking where I work like never before. Women in regular clothes. You would swear they were just tourists. But. . .they aren't. A naive guy like Steven could have been easily fooled. In addition, I have mentioned stories about drug rings and prostitution rings being broken up in very nice parts of Vegas, places like Sun City Anthem. In addition, I used to work for 7-11 as a field consultant and a fellow female consultant was a prostitute for years!!! And you would have never known it. But, she ended up getting caught hooking while she was on 7-11 time. And this wasn't some cashier. . .this was a woman with a company car, expense account, etc. True story. They come in all shapes and sizes here.
So, an affair? Uh. . .not quite. He was too busy driving all over the Western US to be the "other man".
As far as any type of work appointment that Sunday? Like a get-rich-quick scheme? I think it's possible but in my head I just can't put together a scenario where Steven would have run into someone like that. In my mind, he would have had an easier time running into a bad woman with a deadly pimp than a deadly person posing as a schemer. Just sayin'. . .
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Fire captain charged
According to an arrest report, Vohwinkel posted in his ad that he was "looking for a very young girl" in the casual encounter section of Craigslist. An undercover officer responded to Vohwinkel's ad and posed as a 14 year old girl. The report says Vohwinkel sent over a naked picture of himself and a picture of himself in firefighter uniform.
http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12065646
Speaking of craiglist and in Henderson too.
According to an arrest report, Vohwinkel posted in his ad that he was "looking for a very young girl" in the casual encounter section of Craigslist. An undercover officer responded to Vohwinkel's ad and posed as a 14 year old girl. The report says Vohwinkel sent over a naked picture of himself and a picture of himself in firefighter uniform.
http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12065646
Speaking of craiglist and in Henderson too.
This is the kind of thing that I agree could have happened. He trusted someone he met passing out flyers or off Craigslist, something went bad, he was disappeared pretty easily. He was not a careful, savvy guy but a naive, trusting guy. And needing money and affection, as you say, can make you overlook usual cautions.
Mia
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Um, if I wanted to disappear and start anew and had left my parents, at my age of 27, a note when I left saying as much and they STILL reported me missing, contacted LE, gave interviews to the media about my 'disappearance', and conveniently left out that I had WRITTEN A NOTE(!) then I would certainly never want anything to do with my parents ever again. Even if I had been planning on contacting them maybe one day in the future, I certainly wouldn't now. Anyway, I seriously doubt this is what happened with Steven. His parents would potentially be in serious trouble with the law if he had left a note and they had withheld that information from LE, they'd know better.
I'm curious what the current consensus, if there is one, is on what happened to Steven. With the information we now have, and at this point in time, are people leaning toward that he ran off? Or are we still split on this?
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