Maybe it's just me, but I never left either of my boys ANYWHERE while I drove off in a car. I did not leave them in a crib, did not leave them on the floor or in a carseat, if I was leaving the house. I certainly did not give them snacks and a DVD. Do people actually do these kinds of things? I sincerely hope not, and if they are, I hope they stop. It's dangerous.
I am going to try to erase that horrid thought from my brain. I will say that it makes no sense that a woman who's supposed only motive for killing her stepchild is that it was competing with her child certainly would not leave that child alone while they run off to murder the stepchild. Ludicrous.
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I have thought it possible that SM left school, and rather than running errands as she claimed, actually met up with someone in the area searched. Perhaps for a tryst, maybe for drugs- who knows? Maybe she'd been overspending and was borrowing money that nobody knew about. There are plenty of reasons she could have lied- obviously, including murder. Maybe that was the reason initially no info came out- because SM admitting to 'something' that wouldn't look good- she just didn't admit to doing it that day. This is exactly why I'm glad I took my parent's lessons to heart and avoid lying... it's not worth getting caught for, and it makes even simple things worse.
If she had 'something' else planned for that day, it would explain why she wasn't chaperoning, and why she missed the talent show. Although, as someone else mentioned, unless it's in the evening, I often miss events like that at my children's schools- sometimes because I have other plans, sometimes because the children or school don't notify me, and to be honest, sometimes because I don't really want to do the activity, and my kids don't care if I miss it. Between all their sports activities that run me ragged, I just can't go to all of them. My bad.