HauntsforHope:
I remembered your earlier post (see #183) in which you had indicated that his scent was traced to Van Dam St, not a "marshy area".
I think you had written that you had gotten it from a Facebook page. All other accounts that I have read stated dogs had lost the scent near a marsh, then subsequently picked it up again at the subway station.
Did a little digging regarding bloodhounds. Seems like there is a distinction among tracking dogs (nose to the ground trailing), cadaver dogs and dogs that pick up the scent from the air.
The scent specimen the dogs get the scent from is often an article of clothing or a pillow case or something similar that not only has the scent of the object they are trying to find, but usually includes other people's scents too.
For example, a child's scented clothing (specimen) would have the mom's scent on it and possibly his teachers as well since a teacher may have touched him on the head.
So, the dogs will follow the primary scent on the article initially. Then, if they no longer can pick up the primary scent anywhere, they might follow the secondary person's scent instead.
Could be that at the subway they picked up may have been from some close family member like mom or grandma, or whomever's scent(s) was on the original specimen that the dogs were working from? It does not necessarily mean that it was AVonte scent picked up at the subway. I am no expert, but that is what I was able to learn from researching tracking/trailing dogs. In short, different dogs have specialized training to perform specific tracking tasks.
I am more interested in the discrepancy between the "marsh" scent and the "Van Dam" St" scent. Also, if the dogs were trail "nose to the ground" dogs and then suddenly lost AVonte's scent, does this mean the poor kid was snatched up and put in a vehicle like a car or truck?????
Which account is accurate??? Seems pretty important since near a marsh would imply a drowning and the busy, commercial intersection of Van Dam would imply an abduction I think. Any thoughts, anyone?
Also, what has me very terrified is that if you search the database of sex offenders for that area (11101) an address for a homeless veteran's shelter pops up more than once. I can not give the address here as I do not think it is allowed, but anyone can access the info themselves.
The address is quite close to Avonte's school.
It is extremely likely that that is probably one of the first places LE investigated. However, subways are not the only means of egress in that area judging from the number of railyards and trucking companies in close proximity to Avonte's school. There are a lot of construction sites there as well, but I think they probably would have been checked over and over again.
HauntsforHope, can you provide link for source re scent traced to Van DAm St as opposed to the "marshy area"?
Thanks.
Finally, lots of area residents have claimed that there is PLENTY surveillance in that area, yet LE says that it is "grainy" and that they are still reviewing them. Still? I am not convinced we are getting the entire story. On the other hand, I am not sure that the public should know all the details either since, to my knowledge, it remains an active investigation. I know plenty of reasonable, intelligent people that really believe that abduction as a theory for Avonte's mysterious disappearance is highly plausible.
Way too many unanswered questions. Why no amber alert??????????????????????
Anyone with experience with autistic people will tell you that these kids stand out by their unusual mannerisms, repetitive behaviors, general awkwardness, etc. It is the sine qua non of autism. It screams "autism" to the trained eye and "atypical"/ "abnormal" to the untrained eye. He was sure to have been spotted by more than one person, that I believe with all my heart. It is definitely not a case where he would have been mistaken for a mentally unstable adult. He still looks young for his 14 years and was probably capering around joyfully just like he was doing in the video showing him exiting the school. A disabled child would have attracted plently of attention, with or without an "escort".
Dear God in heaven, help us find this child.......
lease:
