Yeah, she could have gotten the pineapple herself. But then why did her parents say she wouldn't have?
That's exactly my point. If it's all a big cover up then why wouldn't they just say "She must have gotten it herself."
How does it benefit them to say she couldn't have gotten it herself.
Several years ago I was in a situation where I had to call compliance and HR on my boss who was this insane tyrant at work. I worked as an Operations Manager for a large thrift store. He was the kind of guy who would punch walls and sexually harass the women. He would also suddenly change people's schedules at the last minute because he felt like leaving early. I had an incident where a woman was told to stay longer after he left and she had to scramble to make arrangements for someone to pick her child up from school.
About an hour after the pick up she gets a phone call from her friend who asks where she is?? Apparently she thought the mother had picked her daughter up because when she got to school the girl was gone and one of the children said "her mom took her" Well mom is at work and where is her kid?
She panicked full out in the store and I reached into the register and pulled out a 20 and said GO! Get a cab and GO now. She was hysterical. Since I didn't have any money my self I just "didn't ring up one item" So basically I stole the money from the register and then we put it back the next day by ringing in the item.
But when I called compliance down to the store they interviewed everyone about the goings on of the situation. And then the HR and interviewers took me into the back and kept asking me about "money" being taken from the register. I honest to God completely forgot doing it. I knew they knew something and I was going to give them full disclosure because I was quitting anyway. I just didn't want the jerk of a boss to continue in his ways.
What I found interesting is that I absolutely did not remember doing it. They kept asking and asking by jumping around the question. I even begged them saying "If someone says they saw me do it I believe them, I seriously just don't remember it. Can't you just tell me the details and I'll probably remember it."
Well they wouldn't and they left me in a room to fill out a paper and write down anything I had done in my work history that was against company policy. After a while of sitting there the entire incident came back full on full force. I was so absolutely excited that I remembered it and I know the younger guy there totally believed that I had suddenly remembered it. I was so happy to remember.
My point in this, is that it seems like a lot of people have this "television show" version of what would happen to a family "if their daughter was murdered in their home." There's no accounting for stress or just blanking out and not remembering.
There's nothing about the pineapple that is something that would sway the investigation if these people were truly liars and trying to convince people that they were innocent. There are too many things that are thrown down as evidence that they are "covering up." There's no real acceptance that they might have confused details or forgotten something. And I don't get it.
I like reality. If you are going to look at reality you need to look at all the possibilities, not just one set track of thinking that supports a preexisting idea.
So for example, in my case in the store, it's completely reasonable for the HR guy to think I was lying and pretending I didn't remember because I didn't want to admit that I had basically stolen money from the cash register. He really thought I was trying to cover up my behavior.
I can see why he'd think that but at the same time why would I call HR and Compliance down to the store to do an investigation if I was stealing? Hello?