OK, let me play devil's advocate here for a moment via speculation.
What we know is Kiomarie was interviewed at nearly 10PM on July 19. Kio grew up on Hopespring drive and her dad still lives there. Kio has a friend named Bailey who also lives on Hopespring very close to the Anthony's. Bailey had already spoken to Brian B. and learned he had spoken to LE about the shovel. So Kio and Brian get to talking about KC, and when Kio heard about the shovel, she starts thinking about the secret hiding area off Suburban. Bailey calls Brian and gets the detective's phone number, gives it to Kio, and Kio calls the detective.
Neighbors are obviously talking. It probably does not take long for word to spread about Kio's interview and suspicions about the woods off Suburban. Maybe neighbors kind of are convinced that the area is a high-probability area, but are afraid to spend a lot of time searching themselves because 1) they are neighbors and 2) they figure LE will be able to do it.
So LE does an initial search of the accessible areas (some of it was wet), and they come up with nothing. TES comes out and searches same area - no luck. Problem is - as we know today -
the body was not quite in the spot Kio had pointed out. In fact it was several hundred yards away, up the street close to Hopespring.
Neighbors though grow convinced that area is a highly probable area. They know of Kio's story. They know of the shovel. They know TES and LE could not get into all areas. They are unconvinced the unsuccessful searches to date have ruled out the area.
Now throw into the mix speculation that the MR's supervisor is also a neighbor of the Anthony's. Since neighbor's are talking and still think the body could be found up there,
the supervisor speaks to his good buddy the MR and asks him to take a look when he does his route. He may even have assigned him to do that route in August just because he is trusted. An official utility vehicle parked up in that area would not look suspicious.
So the MR takes a look and finds a suspicious-looking bag. We know he called it in three times, and the bag was not located. Fay comes in, floods the area, and no searches can be done until early November. Note that rumor has it Kronk was not on that route in Sept., Oct., or Nov.
This next bit of speculation is going to infuriate a lot of Lee haters here when they read what I am thinking. :scream:
Meantime, Lee, I believe, is not drinking the KC Koolaide the way Cindy is. He knows KC did something. He does not know the details, but has suspicions, and does his best to pull information from KC without raising her ire and having her shut him out. He loved Caylee and wants to know the truth. He gets enough KC code to believe her body is nearby, but no details.
Lee becomes aware of Kio's and the neighbor's suspicions. Maybe he hears about the MR's finding and subsequent failure of LE to locate the body. After Fay, this gets filed in the back of his mind.
He starts to drop from public view. He loves his mom and feels she is in a deep denial over KC's crime. He knows - feels - KC did something to Caylee and does not want to get caught up in the maelstrom Cindy is creating.
In early Nov. TES finally can get out and do a search. But they find nothing and pull out earlier than expected.
Bewildered, Lee talks to the PI and says:
"Look, there was a MR out up on Suburban near the area Kio pointed out, and he found a very suspicious bag. LE went out there with cadaver dogs but could not find it. Then the MR met them out there but they could not get into the area because of a rattlesnake. He wanted to try again but Fay came along. This past weekend TES went up there, but once again they were too far up in the area of the school. As I understand it, the MR found the bag somewhere along Suburban between the corner at Hopespring and before the school.
Not sure of the exact location. Can you check it out?"
So the two PIs hike up there several times to look and video-tape. The information they have is that Caylee's body was found in August, but not recovered. They find nothing. They are close, but not quite in the right spot. Anyone that has seen the psychic videos will agree the area was very dense.
They report back to Lee: nothing.
Nejame catches wind that Lee sent the PIs up there and he decides he has had enough. Time to bail out. They privately think the child is dead but publicly berate LE for not searching for a live Caylee. Well, Lee believes she is dead, and probably George does too, but Cindy won't admit it. He's had enough and resigns.
Lee gets word back to the supervisor neighbor and tells him the PI's could find nothing. Can we get the MR back out there. So the supervisor reasigns the MR to the route and asks him to see if the bag is still there. The MR is back on the route, finds the bag, sees the skull...and Caylee is brought home.
IMHO
