First of all, I know that it's been established that of course she was not abducted from the rest area on the Northway, but the location that he said she was abducted from has bothered me since it came up, so I do want to give some local insight into why it might have raised a red flag pretty quickly So ... Just a thought as a local. The "rest stop" (it's just a parking area, no facilities) at exit 22 on 87 that he reported her being abducted from is very difficult to access if one is headed North on the Northway (87) - you have to leave the highway and take other roads to get back to the on-ramp for the southbound lanes. So the story of them being headed home (northbound) and ever being in that parking area is odd to begin with There are no signs headed northbound to indicate this parking area. I don't remember any headed southbound, either, but I could be wrong on that. The "van" being headed southbound out of the rest area makes sense, because that's the easiest exit from that spot and the signs are prominent, although there are other alternatives on the signage for lesser roads. But getting to the parking area in the first place is almost exclusively from being headed southbound on the Northway (87) unless you essentially jump through some weird hoops to get there. It's possible, but if you're not a local, you either wouldn't know it was even there while headed northbound or would have difficulty finding it. I'm sure that if he said they were headed north to Montreal, the cops would be scratching their heads wondering why he was in a parking area that was much more easily accessible while one was traveling southbound.
troopers.ny.gov
www.orangecountygov.com
