Jashrema - we have asked the police whether the seat was moved back in the car -- they will not tell us either way.
Jane -- As I stated before, the pre-planned visits were not out of the ordinary. The middle child was with her biological father for a pre-planned week-long visit. The oldest child was with her grandmother for a pre-planned week-long visit. This was a normal occurrence during summer months. There were times when the grandmother would get both girls for a week, and other times when she would just get the oldest daughter. During the visit, they would typically talk to Joey at least once a day by phone. For example, she may call before bed time to say good night. At first, when Joey could not be reached by phone, it was dismissed as perhaps, with a newborn and all, she was tired, and dozed off and missed the bedtime call. By day 2 or 3 (I can't recall which) the father of the middle child (who also happens to be the father of the newborn who died) called Joey's mother to see if she had heard from her. That's when they began to worry. Joey's mother lives 4+ hours away. The father of the youngest two children lives about an hour away. The next day he went to Joey's house and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. A day or so later, after still not hearing from Joey, he went to the police to file a missing persons report. The report was filed several hours after the start of the fire. The baby's father learned of the fire while at the police station filing the missing person report.
Joey didn't "leave her children" -- these were family visits that happened all the time. Our grandmother has a very close relationship with Joey's children, and got them for visits all the time. This happens in families all the time. It certainly happened to me growing too -- visiting different sets of grandparents during the summers were often the highlights of the summer!
The fire happened on July 12, 2007. The last time anyone heard or seen Joey was either July 5 or July 6.
Regarding Joey considering adoption. It is true, that early on in her pregnancy, Joey had considered adoption. But it must be said that she considered adoption only at the persistence of some in the family. She did not have long-term stable employment, she already had two children, and she was just barely getting by. Her relationship with the father was described as "on again / off again". So Joey did CONSIDER adoption among her options, but before the baby was born -- in fact several months before -- she declared her intention to keep the baby.
I do not think it's fair to consider the adoption thing as relevant in this case. Joey was being a good mother, and thinking about the best interest of her then unborn son and her other two daughters. She also looked into adoption at the insistence of some family members. So she looked into it, and decided it wasn't right for her.
Regarding these article:
http://www.tribune-democrat.com/archivesearch/local_story_365205657.html and
http://www.tribune-democrat.com/local/local_story_362233345.html -- the woman found turned out not to be Joey. The police identified the woman who was from North Carolina. Her name was never publicly released, at the request of the woman's family.
Regarding the three women who went missing around the general time frame in the region. I believe (though I could be wrong) that one of the missing women was found in a different state, unharmed and had left on her own free will. I believe the other woman is still missing. As is, of course, my aunt, Joey Offutt. If the police believe the cases are related, they haven't hinted that to us.
I'll continue to answer your questions as best as I can. There are tons of theories of what could have happened... and as the family has wrestled with each theory, some theories could be plausible, but only up to a point, and then something else in the case contradicts the theory. Given what we know of the situation, and what we know of Joey, we believe someone else was involved in this. As to who it may be, we have no idea... and apparently, neither do the police.
