NV NV - Steven T. Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - # 7

[laytonian]

Please, no sub-threads/forum. Fewer people post when a forum is created, and it's harder to read all the posts as well/keep up with all the sub-threads. I'm quite happy with how things are!

The more I think about it, the more I think we're better off as is.

When "new news" comes in, where would it be posted? ALL the sub-threads?

We need all the minds we've got, and more, thinking....as messy as we think

 

[RubyRed]

The more I think about it, the more I think we're better off as is.

When "new news" comes in, where would it be posted? ALL the sub-threads?

We need all the minds we've got, and more, thinking....as messy as we think

I agree and like Fairy1 said your timeline is sufficient.

 

[RubyRed]

So which direction do we head in with this case ? Nothing new is coming forth, that we know anyway.

 

[laytonian]

So which direction do we head in with this case ? Nothing new is coming forth, that we know anyway.

Every time we hit the wall, something springs loose.

 

[Fairy1]

But it was safe for four days. The elder patrol didn't even start calling about it, until it sat there for two days.

Honestly - I've always had a hard time believing it took them so long to call. My boss has 2 rental homes in a hoity-toity HOA subdivision and they are on every, single little thing they can find - daily.

All he'd have had to do was return to St George, and report his car stolen.
They don't investigate stolen cars that heavily. My neighbor's wife reported HIS car stolen from their garage; it turns out that dh had parked it a block away, two days earlier. (No, there has never been an explanation for that bit of silliness, and the police never asked.)

And how was he supposed to get back to St. George? And how was he going to explain where HE had been for the past 4, 5, 6 days?

And thanks a lot for the neighbor story - now I want to know what happened there!

 

[Fairy1]

I can see Steven falling for some kind of "deliver this" scheme....presented by an acquaintance.

IMO - it would had to have been someone he knew - and who knew him. And it would had to have been something illegal or that person would have come forward long ago.

 

[wannab1]

Every time we hit the wall, something springs loose.

I wish I had new ideas or suggestions, but I really don't! That being said, I am so impressed with all your thoughts, ideas, etc. with the limited info you do have. I have found the timeline put together by Laytonian to be very insightful. I have had some thoughts and hope you don't mind if I revisit a few things from past posts...These are things that I have been baffled by.
I could never understand Steven not cashing the check his grandma gave him...when Grandma's give you money it is different than when parents give you money! Kind of a no strings attached deal! I always wondered if Grandma thought it was strange he didn't cash the check or if it make her feel bad...
We used to have a condo in St. George close to where SK was living. We would visit about every 5 weeks for a couple of days. St. George was great for R and R, good weather and doing some hiking or swimming...but we decided we couldn't really live there full time because there is just not a lot to do there! It is great weather for seniors, would be okay as a college kid with friends to hang with, study with and party with...a nice place to raise a young family if you had a job, a social group, etc. But for a 30 year old unmarried, uninvolved, unemployed LDS guy? When I think of that I just think he was very isolated, lonely and bored! I can't imagine what he filled his days and nights with? It would be different if friends were posting about hanging out with him or saying he was totally in to hiking or biking or rockrepelling...I can almost see him just driving around aimlessly out of sheer boredom! I think Steven could have been getting increasingly desperate...not necessarily suicidal...but desperate! What were his options? Moving home with Mom and Dad...that would have been very humbling...or possibly getting a job offer from the LDS church at the Deseret Industries! Nothing wrong with that, but in Steven's culture having a college degree and getting a job at the DI would have been ego bruising...How was he filling all those hours? Really no phone calls, emails or texts? If that is true it is very sad and a red flag to me...

 

[laytonian]

But it was safe for four days. The elder patrol didn't even start calling about it, until it sat there for two days.

Honestly - I've always had a hard time believing it took them so long to call. My boss has 2 rental homes in a hoity-toity HOA subdivision and they are on every, single little thing they can find - daily.

All he'd have had to do was return to St George, and report his car stolen.
They don't investigate stolen cars that heavily. My neighbor's wife reported HIS car stolen from their garage; it turns out that dh had parked it a block away, two days earlier. (No, there has never been an explanation for that bit of silliness, and the police never asked.)

And how was he supposed to get back to St. George? And how was he going to explain where HE had been for the past 4, 5, 6 days?

And thanks a lot for the neighbor story - now I want to know what happened there!

Why would he have to explain where he'd been? What's the worst they'd charge him with? "Illegal parking in a cul de sac"?

The neighbor?
Mr Neighbor's story is that he was helping a friend move some wood, and decided to just walk home through the back yards, leaving the car in front of the friend's house. (Supposedly, the wood was taken to a house whose back yard adjoins his own). His wife went to the garage the next morning, saw the car wasn't there, and called the police. (Mr Neighbor was asleep at the time, so apparently she didn't bother asking him.) HOWEVER, after the car sat there for two days, somebody in the adjoining neighborhood called in "abandoned vehicle" to the police. Yes, it was a cul de sac. No, we don't have elder patrol.

BUT...that begs the questions of (1) Why didn't he tell his wife that he'd walked home? (2) Why, when his wife reported the car stolen "from the garage", didn't he just tell her where he'd left it? (3) WHY did he let his wife report it stolen? (4) Who is Mr Neighbor fooling around with and obviously sneaking home late at night AND who'd be desperate enough to fool around with Mr Neighbor?

Great laughter has broken out among most of the neighbors; the rest just believed every word of it, without question. Hinky-meters are important. Many lack them.

 

[laytonian]

IMO - it would had to have been someone he knew - and who knew him. And it would had to have been something illegal or that person would have come forward long ago.

Guilt, too.

 

[Fairy1]

I wish I had new ideas or suggestions, but I really don't! That being said, I am so impressed with all your thoughts, ideas, etc. with the limited info you do have. I have found the timeline put together by Laytonian to be very insightful. I have had some thoughts and hope you don't mind if I revisit a few things from past posts...These are things that I have been baffled by.
I could never understand Steven not cashing the check his grandma gave him...when Grandma's give you money it is different than when parents give you money! Kind of a no strings attached deal! I always wondered if Grandma thought it was strange he didn't cash the check or if it make her feel bad...
We used to have a condo in St. George close to where SK was living. We would visit about every 5 weeks for a couple of days. St. George was great for R and R, good weather and doing some hiking or swimming...but we decided we couldn't really live there full time because there is just not a lot to do there! It is great weather for seniors, would be okay as a college kid with friends to hang with, study with and party with...a nice place to raise a young family if you had a job, a social group, etc. But for a 30 year old unmarried, uninvolved, unemployed LDS guy? When I think of that I just think he was very isolated, lonely and bored! I can't imagine what he filled his days and nights with? It would be different if friends were posting about hanging out with him or saying he was totally in to hiking or biking or rockrepelling...I can almost see him just driving around aimlessly out of sheer boredom! I think Steven could have been getting increasingly desperate...not necessarily suicidal...but desperate! What were his options? Moving home with Mom and Dad...that would have been very humbling...or possibly getting a job offer from the LDS church at the Deseret Industries! Nothing wrong with that, but in Steven's culture having a college degree and getting a job at the DI would have been ego bruising...How was he filling all those hours? Really no phone calls, emails or texts? If that is true it is very sad and a red flag to me...

Thank you wannab1.

Ya know, you bring up (again) some good points. There are some things that just can't be overlooked in Steven's case. The fact that he moved away from his family - for no really compelling reason. The fact that he didn't have a full-time, well-paying job. No wife or children. No friends or social life outside of his church - or so it seems. Isolated. I agree.

This is the type of person who would likely spend a lot of time on his computer - particularly someone with his background. Chat rooms, singles sites, something. Yet, as far as we know, there is no evidence of that. Of course, we do know that he was using the computers at the library from time to time and we don't know what he was doing there. But it just seems so impossible to believe that a person who really didn't have anything to hide, would have left NO TRACE of his life behind. That seems like someone who does have something to hide. IMO.

 

[wannab1]

Just another thought...what if his car hadn't been reported by the HOA? What if it had sat there for a bit longer? Would anyone have reported Steven missing? How long would it have been before they realized he was gone? Till the next church meeting he didn't show up for? Would they have cared or tried to find him? Would someone have called his parents to say he was missing? Would he not be missed until he missed Christmas?

 

[Fairy1]

Why would he have to explain where he'd been? What's the worst they'd charge him with? "Illegal parking in a cul de sac"?

The neighbor?
Mr Neighbor's story is that he was helping a friend move some wood, and decided to just walk home through the back yards, leaving the car in front of the friend's house. (Supposedly, the wood was taken to a house whose back yard adjoins his own). His wife went to the garage the next morning, saw the car wasn't there, and called the police. (Mr Neighbor was asleep at the time, so apparently she didn't bother asking him.) HOWEVER, after the car sat there for two days, somebody in the adjoining neighborhood called in "abandoned vehicle" to the police. Yes, it was a cul de sac. No, we don't have elder patrol.

BUT...that begs the questions of (1) Why didn't he tell his wife that he'd walked home? (2) Why, when his wife reported the car stolen "from the garage", didn't he just tell her where he'd left it? (3) WHY did he let his wife report it stolen? (4) Who is Mr Neighbor fooling around with and obviously sneaking home late at night AND who'd be desperate enough to fool around with Mr Neighbor?

Great laughter has broken out among most of the neighbors; the rest just believed every word of it, without question. Hinky-meters are important. Many lack them.

I'm on the great laughter side for sure!

I don't mean Steven would had to have explained anything to LE - but to his friends and/or family.

As far as we all know, he told GW he was in Vegas but could go back to St. George if need be on 12/13. He didn't say he was going to be out of town for several days or a week or two weeks or whatever. So if he called for a ride because he lost his car or because it had been stolen, it would have been difficult for him to explain why he had been gone so long.

Though I suppose he could have called whoever sent him on his little trip - if such a person exists.

 

[RubyRed]

Thank you wannab1.

Ya know, you bring up (again) some good points. There are some things that just can't be overlooked in Steven's case. The fact that he moved away from his family - for no really compelling reason. The fact that he didn't have a full-time, well-paying job. No wife or children. No friends or social life outside of his church - or so it seems. Isolated. I agree.

This is the type of person who would likely spend a lot of time on his computer - particularly someone with his background. Chat rooms, singles sites, something. Yet, as far as we know, there is no evidence of that. Of course, we do know that he was using the computers at the library from time to time and we don't know what he was doing there. But it just seems so impossible to believe that a person who really didn't have anything to hide, would have left NO TRACE of his life behind. That seems like someone who does have something to hide. IMO.

I agree with that , but people that are into something illegal, probably don't think they are going to go missing. So why isn't there a trace. Personally I think it is someone he spoke to on a regular or semi- regular basis. Did he have a facebook or my space acc.?

 

[laytonian]

I wish I had new ideas or suggestions, but I really don't! That being said, I am so impressed with all your thoughts, ideas, etc. with the limited info you do have. I have found the timeline put together by Laytonian to be very insightful. I have had some thoughts and hope you don't mind if I revisit a few things from past posts...These are things that I have been baffled by.
I could never understand Steven not cashing the check his grandma gave him...when Grandma's give you money it is different than when parents give you money! Kind of a no strings attached deal! I always wondered if Grandma thought it was strange he didn't cash the check or if it make her feel bad...
We used to have a condo in St. George close to where SK was living. We would visit about every 5 weeks for a couple of days. St. George was great for R and R, good weather and doing some hiking or swimming...but we decided we couldn't really live there full time because there is just not a lot to do there! It is great weather for seniors, would be okay as a college kid with friends to hang with, study with and party with...a nice place to raise a young family if you had a job, a social group, etc. But for a 30 year old unmarried, uninvolved, unemployed LDS guy? When I think of that I just think he was very isolated, lonely and bored! I can't imagine what he filled his days and nights with? It would be different if friends were posting about hanging out with him or saying he was totally in to hiking or biking or rockrepelling...I can almost see him just driving around aimlessly out of sheer boredom! I think Steven could have been getting increasingly desperate...not necessarily suicidal...but desperate! What were his options? Moving home with Mom and Dad...that would have been very humbling...or possibly getting a job offer from the LDS church at the Deseret Industries! Nothing wrong with that, but in Steven's culture having a college degree and getting a job at the DI would have been ego bruising...How was he filling all those hours? Really no phone calls, emails or texts? If that is true it is very sad and a red flag to me...

You've put it together nicely. Some of his church friends have blogged about going to Mesquite or Wendover (hinted about gambling and how Mesquite "owed them"), but Steven seems to have been ultra-private.

Maybe he filled his lonely nights by reading from the BOM and his Triple Combination?

Friends of friends tell me that there's quite a bit of social life there, if you get into a group -- with some of those groups being part of a pretty good sized gay culture, who have parties and various other get-togethers. But apparently, none of them recognized Steven (I sent his info in that direction).

Grandma gave him the check just before his birthday, when grandma and Mom went south for a few days. It never made sense that he didn't cash it (unless he lost it, and was embarrassed to ask for another!)

I'm just the timeline organizer; the info has come from far and wide. I just wish we had his entire week filled in. He had to have done other things, than what we have logged.

 

[laytonian]

I agree with that , but people that are into something illegal, probably don't think they are going to go missing. So why isn't there a trace. Personally I think it is someone he spoke to on a regular or semi- regular basis. Did he have a facebook or my space acc.?

Here's his Facebook account: Steve Koecher

 

[Fairy1]

I didn't have a chance to go look for Evening Twilight in SCA this weekend. Does everyone still think that's a worthwhile endeavor?

 

[laytonian]

I didn't have a chance to go look for Evening Twilight in SCA this weekend. Does everyone still think that's a worthwhile endeavor?

I don't think *any* search in SCA is worthwhile at this point, unless there's more info.

By SCA, I mean the developed portions of the area, not the barren parts.

 

[Sono]

Does anyone know if he had an iPod touch? I am constantly online with my iPhone, hardly ever use the computer unless I have to print something.

 

[renn3434]

Does anyone know if he had an iPod touch? I am constantly online with my iPhone, hardly ever use the computer unless I have to print something.

We asked the same question and got the response that he didn't have one. I too have an iphone and spend way too much time on it. Wifey hates it! I think he still could have had one without many people knowing about it. I personally don't rule out that he had an ipod touch.

 

[Sono]

Thanks renn... Another question along the same lines... Did he have a skype account? I know nothing about Skype but I hear you can talk to people long distance for free. I've seen newer models of cordless phones that are Skype compatible and I'm pretty sure it's also accessible online. Maybe Skype records aren't as obvious as phone calls and chat rooms? Just a thought because I'm thinking that unless he had another means of communication, one of the last people he spoke to knows more than they are saying... Most likely the guy who was already in Vegas.
Can anyone point me in the direction of where that's been discussed here previously? Thx