GUILTY TX - Alanna Gallagher, 6, Saginaw, 1 July 2013 - #5

[Pensfan]

I meant if the perp was driving to dump her in a body of water or somewhere she wouldn't be found quickly, but the body fell out of his car accidentally, why bother with the staging?

I have no idea.

 

[fred&edna]

I found the link to the picture in this thread and in one of the posts it quotes the word "plastic" being used to describe it.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I meant if the perp was driving to dump her in a body of water or somewhere she wouldn't be found quickly, but the body fell out of his car accidentally, why bother with the staging?

More packaging and concealing for transport. <modsnip>..? IMO

 

[ArianeEmory]

How did she get to be a mile away?

Yep, that I don't know. I thought nothing of walking a couple of miles to friends' house when I was 6, but while we know AG's parents let her roam a bit, the sense I got was that she was not supposed to roam *far*, and that she was often seen on *her* street.

 

[fred&edna]

What is considered "staging"? Lack of clothing?

 

[Hejlena]

I found the link to the picture in this thread and in one of the posts it quotes the word "plastic" being used to describe it.

It looks like a jumper to me. Like overalls-in my minds eye I see the two buttons/snaps on the front bib toward the top of the picture and one of the buttons/snaps for a strap closer to the bottom

 

[human]

Yes, thank you. Does anyone have bike helmets sitting around? Please look inside where the straps attach and see if this looks similar. tia
The last helmet my daughter purchased had a triangle thing which attached to the helmet. The straps attached to the triangle plastic thing.

Yup. Same for my bike helmet

 

[Pensfan]

What is considered "staging"? Lack of clothing?

yes, anything used to divert attention

 

[jjenny]

Nobody staged a murder. They simply dumped a body. The cause of death wasn't even apparent.

Let's pretend for a minute that she was wandering around and saw the pool of the neighbor 3 doors down. She knocks but nobody comes to the door. She takes off her clothes and jumps in the pool in her underwear, and drowns. The neighbor comes home and finds her floating in the pool.

Hypothetically, that neighbor doesn't have homeowners insurance. He FREAKS out -- "I don't even know this kid! I'm not going to risk losing my home and everything I own because the meddling kid used my pool!" So he wraps her in a tarp, binding her legs for easier transport, drives her a mile away and dumps her, then quickly drives home and disposes of her clothes.

I think we need to consider this as a possibility! Seems entirely possible to me!

If she drowned, her cause of death would be obvious since water would be found in her lungs.
So we can rule this theory out now-assuming ME actually can't determine cause of death.

 

[fred&edna]

It looks like a jumper to me. Like overalls-in my minds eye I see the two buttons/snaps on the front bib toward the top of the picture and one of the buttons/snaps for a strap closer to the bottom

I'm glad you can see something... I can't make any sense out of that photo.

 

[Hejlena]

Yes, thank you. Does anyone have bike helmets sitting around? Please look inside where the straps attach and see if this looks similar. tia
The last helmet my daughter purchased had a triangle thing which attached to the helmet. The straps attached to the triangle plastic thing.

I can almost see it, except it seems too big and floppy

 

[human]

The only thing I can think about the item in the road is that it must not be very big or it would have been noticed sooner.

I am thinking maybe it is only a couple of inches long, but how would I know

 

[Confusion]

Trying to come up with something different, but I'm not sure if I could even sell this idea to myself.

Maybe she was playing near another house while waiting for her friend to get to the grandmother's place, and there was just a guy (old man, teenager or somewhere in between). He decides to take advantage of the situation, goes out, gags her and throws a bag over her head so she can't see who he is. He brings her into the house, starts removing her clothes but someone calls or comes to the door, so he tapes her hands and feet to keep her from leaving, and takes care of whoever it was. When he gets back to her, he finds that she had suffocated, so he puts her into a trash bag and takes her out to his car/truck. There's a tarp in there, or in the garage, and he wraps it around her to make it harder to see what's in the bag.

As he's driving to find a place to dump her, he sees the two boys riding their scooters and nobody else around, and he dumps her down the street hoping they'll find her and be blamed for her death. :drumroll:

 

[Linda7NJ]

I can almost see it, except it seems too big and floppy

.......

 

[human]

Yep, that I don't know. I thought nothing of walking a couple of miles to friends' house when I was 6, but while we know AG's parents let her roam a bit, the sense I got was that she was not supposed to roam *far*, and that she was often seen on *her* street.

I walk three to five miles a day. Two miles is a long way for little legs. Two miles seems like a long way to me ,too , and I am used to walking farther. She just turned 6 a couple of weeks before she died.

I really have never seen a little child walk that far on their own.

She was said to ride around on a scooter. I wonder if she used her scooter that day or if it is missing.

 

[Hejlena]

.......

Sorry-I'm not sure what that means?

 

[CluelessWonder]

Do any locals know if they have an ice cream truck in Saginaw? We have one here. I've never seen anyone flag it down.

Speaking of which, I wish someone would create a timeline for us if it hasn't been achieved already. One thing I'm curious about is hydration. I don't know how hot it is there, but it has to be fairly hot. After all, it's July. How long could a little girl stay outside before deciding to head in for a drink or popsicle or something. Not long, I would think. My kids would be parched and thirsty after an hour.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Sorry-I'm not sure what that means?

I edited myself I had been on the sidebar thread elsewhere and I was being silly.

 

[jjenny]

If the cause of death truly is not obvious before toxicology, then another possibility is poisoning (either actual poisons or drugs (prescription or otherwise). It would not be obvious until toxicology comes back.
Of course an unusual method for a killer to use but a possibility.

 

[Pensfan]

If she drowned, her cause of death would be obvious since water would be found in her lungs.
So we can rule this theory out now-assuming ME actually can't determine cause of death.

I wonder if the ME just cant state the COD until all tests have returned.

The ME said Alanna wasn't shot, stabbed or strangled. For some reason he/she didn't mention drowned which could be easily determined in his/her lab. (Pool supplies were taken by LE.)