Cheryl happens to be late;
Happens to forget the badge:
Happens to text the carpool;
Happens to have the phone off imediately after warning the colleague.
Happens to disappear that same very morning that she was late, forgot the badge, texted, etc, etc.
Happens to appear 6 days later in a culvert not far from all the scenes.
When a perp takes a person it uses to be to hide the vicitm and usually far, in shalow graves, to make it difficult to find.
The perp would have taken Cheryl to put her so near in that culvert? To do that 'job' he would instead have left her there in the same place she was assaulted.
If she was distracted it was really an oportunity to grab her purse or her phone, even to assault her leaving her there on the floor. Not to take her to that culvert.
Happens to appear in a culvert 6 days later, near her home and near all the places we learned she was.