I do not know any law enforcement in the area, and I do appreciate the uniquely difficult job they have to deal with in these types of cases; however, not having seen the evidence, I still find it likely that:
1) It's a limited manpower police force.
2) They were inexperienced at handling this type of case (missing persons and/or murder where the suspect is not immediately evident), where serious detective/investigation techniques are used on suspects, scene preservation, "evidence preservation/collection!', who to look at, and how hard you address those suspects. Video taping & photographying an entire home to observe/preserve it, etc.
I know it's not the end all and TV is made for drama, but there is sime common sense that must be used immediately, along with investigative rule/process to preserve and collect evidence. Even basic things, like: limit cross contamination/#ppl on scene/ Don't let everyone walk through a scene trapsing willie-nille over foot prints, truck tracks, other vehicle tracks, wander into the woods to look around, etc., ++ I think they fouled up blocking off evidence collection, and what to do with it once you have it.
3) They called in law enforcement agencies from at least 4 other agencies rapidly (not to mention search groups, etc.)., but I think as a whole they were very ill equipped at handling/coordinating the efforts and expertise being offer, and the various agencies chains of command, while maintaining a clear internal command lines for information or evidence, so a lot of what occurred was ineffectual and probably frustrating for outsiders (especially highly driven professional specialists with limited focus areas like: search, profiling, etc.) coming in town with a sincerely desiring to be of real assistance.
I don't know where the evidence is, but I would not be surprised if much of it has been lost, through lack of proper procedures for handling the chain of evidence, evidence collection, maintaining the evidence and even where all of the information is to go or how to kept up with all of the evidence within a specific timeline/limit (ex:30,30,120 days), and how long evidence should be kept and where.
I still believe that an experienced investigator would have to go back to square one and over come all prejudices, and local obstacles, to just push through them and keep going until he gets to the truth of case..
While I think that there were glaring mistakes/inconsistencies, I also think those mistakes were not owned up to, but instead glossed over/swept under the carpet, with no paper trail to boot (and in an attempt to c.y.a.)
As I said, I appreciate law enforcement, but as with any group, there are those who are good at what they do, and those that have no business in law enforcement doing what they do.
I think for those reasons this case has remained unsolved for so long. Oh Where, Oh Where is an obsessive Detective when U need one? *smiles*
----***** Praying for the Jamison Family where ever They may be! ******
