Since the dog barked, I tend to think it was a
stranger, but different dogs behave differently of course.
One thing that makes me think it was not a close friend was that she was
not just lured away.
If she really trusted someone as she did her boyfriend or some other person known & trusted
he could have just said
'hey, let me show you this really cool something.
(fill in your own 'something')
It's just over there. '
And once she was in the woods out of sight she could have been waylaid.
There would have not been any need for force at knifepoint from the very beginning.
On the otherhand, someone known to her but not trusted or someone not
known
well to her & thus not very trusted would have some explaining to do
if he showed up at her home unexpectedly & would not gain her cooperation to walk
away from home with him suddenly without the use of a knife or other weapon.
I suspect a knife was used because of the blood left behind (at least
some of which might have been from the abductor because thrusting with
a knife can cause a knife to slip and result in the perp being cut on the
hand holding the knife.) I suspect he poked her with the knife quite hard
and fast but that is all just guessing.
I have, for now, sort of avoided the stranger abduction scenario because
LE have been quoted as saying they believe this was a crime by someone
who knew something about the area.
All I can say from the event description is that this abductor was not
someone she would trust to follow into the woods without being
threatened and harmed enough to cause her to comply.
This was not someone she would have expected to have show up at her home like he did.
To me that says he was not a close friend but maybe not a total stranger
or at least not a stranger to the area if LE is correct.
'. . .The person responsible for Holly's disappearance lives in the area,"
said Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
"Because of the terrain, you have to know where you're going, entrances
and exits. We feel the person is in the community. . .'
http://abcnews.go.com/US/holly-bobo-search-police-make-significant-find-hunt/story?id=13448569
'. . . Police believe that whoever abducted Bobo is a hunter or someone
familiar with the area near her home, which is surrounded by rugged
woodlands. . .'
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20055417-504083.html