Went to McCleary today, some observations I made

danilee

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The town is right off Highway 8, which is a 4-lane highway between Olympia (the capitol) and Aberdeen (a major port). There is a sign on the interstate indicating the exit for the Shell. There are NO SIGNS OR BILLBOARDS INDICATING LINDSEY IS MISSING anywhere near the Shell, along Maple, or along Mommson- or anywhere in that town that I saw.

Maple Street is very open as far as visibility. The houses only have chain-link fences and not much vegetation to block your view. Lots of kids playing outside on the corner where Lindsey was last seen. Most houses have front porches where people would be outside on a nice summer evening- lots of potential witnesses in the event of an abduction. However, lots of escape routes off Maple...

The Shell is a LARGE, BUSY gas station and the parking lot is ADJACENT to the police station parking lot.

There is literally police cars and a police station right in the middle of the scene of the abduction- this is where I have a problem with the story. Who is going to abduct a kid in sight of a police station? There is a lot of traffic at the Shell station- TONS of potential witnesses. The police station is about 5 blocks from the friend's house on Maple and three blocks from Lindsey's house- easily in sight of her house!

However, NO cameras pointing along the sides or rear of the Shell, so Lindsey would have made it past the Shell and all the way home without being captured on video (unless the police station has video outside- they might have caught her walking- didn't check that building so can't say).

As for the "white vehicle" or white Honda Ridgeline possibly seen on Maple and the witness had to go around them when they saw Lindsey and told her to go home: A Honda Ridgeline in this neighborhood would stick out. They might as well have abducted Lindsey in a Lamborghini. This is a poor town, small town, everybody obviously knows each other. If there was an unfamiliar car, lots of people would have noticed it. People were staring at my car today like I was from the future or something. No way would something like this go unnoticed on Maple. How many people on this street know Lindsey from the stories I've read here? It seems like they ALL knew her- see what I mean? The story does not fit the reality of that street.

Mommson has less visibility than Maple and seems "tighter" and a smaller space than Maple. Also quite poor. Again, any car newer than 1997 would stick out on Mommson.

So here is what I think:

1. At least some of the townspeople know what happened to Lindsey

2. She was likely not abducted on the street- it is too open, too many witnesses outside on a summer evening, too many cops within a few yards of either house or the Shell. If someone took her from the street, they KNEW for CERTAIN they didn't have to worry about the cops right there in view of the abduction. Otherwise why not drive another 30 minutes to Aberdeen or Olympia to a neighborhood not in sight of a police station?

3. There is no visible effort to keep Lindsey's disappearance fresh in the minds of the townspeople. There are two signs on the entrance door to the Shell for lost pets but no missing child sign for Lindsey.

My theory: Lindsey either never left the friend's house or she did make it home. She was not abducted in between those houses, it is much more likely she was abducted AT one of those houses or within a few feet of either house- NOT in between.

Washington State is a major area for human trafficking with all of the ports in the area. I believe that Lindsey was trafficked- sold to pay off a drug debt.

http://www.atg.wa.gov/HumanTrafficking/SexTrafficking.aspx#.UTwWdDfNTMo
 
I've never believed that it was logical to assume 1) that she wanted to go straight home or 2) that she stayed on Maple. I still believe it's possible that she wandered up sixth and cut through the alley on the backside of the church...which is secluded.

Thanks for the great post Danilee. Some assumptions are not adding up.
 
Earlier I noted that someone had uploaded a picture of Anna Chebetnoy's grave on the anniversary of Lindsey's disappearance. There is another local connection to Anna; Kayla Croft-Payne disappeared around the same time as Lindsey and had a "Missing" Facebook page. There was a forum linked to this called "Kites in the Wind" Somebody posted a "map of the area" on this forum. When I opened the link, I expected to see the Centralia area, but instead, it was a map of Mudd Mountain Road, near Enumclaw. This is where the bodies of Anna and Kimberly Delange were found, as well as the clothing of Misty Copsey, another missing 14 year old. This was in the early nineties though...so it seems far-fetched. I don't know why somebody would post map though; it wasn't an accident. These two incidents have always nagged at me...although there is probably a logical explanation for both.
 
Hi danilee, thanks for that fieldwork! ;)

To reply to some of your points...

1. It's possible that the van stuck out enough that it was brought up as possibly connected to the case (but never found) but was a common enough ocurrence that people didn't notice it. For a local it may have been unusual, but if they often got different cars coming in from the highway or other parts of town to the Shell, they could have thought it was unusual in the back of their heads but not really paid enough attention. I do think that sometimes people see crucial elements but don't think much about them because there's some kind of logical explanations, and don't remember them later.

2. I read in some of the threads that there were fires in that area and the weather was warm so lots of people were on the streets (which is why Lindsey was outside too at that hour). In this sense, sometimes a busy scene with lots of people coming and going may mean witnesses but may also mean that nobody sees anything unusual going on. Let's say that someone calls her away from portions with more people, swiftly silences her, etc. then nobody would have heard anything and wouldn't notice anything going on. There's a reason why kids are sometimes abducted in malls; there's so many people around and so many kids coming and going, throwing tantrums, going with adults and older siblings, that nobody really notices.

3. If Lindsey was abducted by the shop owner, it also would not have been easy to notice unless someone was walking right past. Let's say she went in or he just called her inside to show her jewelry (IIRC she sometimes went in with friends to look at jewelry) then people who weren't looking directly at what was going on, may not have heard or spotted from afar that anything was suspicious.

I do think that whoever did it was probably someone who had nothing to fear... not necessarily because of a conspiracy theory involving the police, but for other reasons, maybe. If it was someone who had drug debts or was a criminal in any way, they could have been bold enough to not care (heck, for anecdotal value, one of my cousins when he was a kid was nearly abducted when he was standing near his mother, the abductor was just quick enough but fortunately my aunt looked at him right on time). If they were a local who knew the area and had no reason to look suspicious being in the area, too.

That's not to discount your theory that she was killed at one of the houses. I don't she was killed at her family's though. But it sounds more likely to me that it happened on her way home. I think that maybe she even took a detour down a side street for some reason.
 
3. There is no visible effort to keep Lindsey's disappearance fresh in the minds of the townspeople. There are two signs on the entrance door to the Shell for lost pets but no missing child sign for Lindsey.

Respectfully snipped.

I can't speak for the Shell station itself, but there actually are a few signs/posters/displays around town. Admittedly, it's been over a year since I've been to McCleary, but when I was there, there was a very large banner up on Simpson, the main Highway leading into town. I believe it's the same poster as below (just in a different spot), but I could be wrong.

100_0898.jpg

http://www.mcclearychronicles.com/2012/07/homeward-bound.html


Also, there is a very prominent display at McCleary's only park, Beerbower Park. Lindsey has a "Tree of Hope" there.

http://www.graysharbordown.com/2012/06/june-26-2009.html http://www.mcclearychronicles.com/2012/12/holiday-decorations-for-lindseys-tree.html

 
you mention the police station but this is a small town and that station probably isn't manned all the time. And then probably by a very small force. Probably out driving around more than sitting in a bldg.

Does anyone know the line of sights from this building? How often is there someone manning the post and doing nothing but looking out the windows vs sitting at a desk doing paperwork?

While most small towns are pretty observant about strangers, if they are constantly getting in people off the interstate for gas and such then you stop noticing them unless they call attention to themselves or hang out more than is typical for a gas-up and bite to eat. And if it's a local then no one's going to be paying much attention to them anyway.

However, I do think that there is a local connection which might not be uncovered until someone gets mad at someone else and wants to even the score by turning them in OR investigation of another sitatuation uncovers the first.
 
The town is right off Highway 8, which is a 4-lane highway between Olympia (the capitol) and Aberdeen (a major port). There is a sign on the interstate indicating the exit for the Shell. There are NO SIGNS OR BILLBOARDS INDICATING LINDSEY IS MISSING anywhere near the Shell, along Maple, or along Mommson- or anywhere in that town that I saw.

Maple Street is very open as far as visibility. The houses only have chain-link fences and not much vegetation to block your view. Lots of kids playing outside on the corner where Lindsey was last seen. Most houses have front porches where people would be outside on a nice summer evening- lots of potential witnesses in the event of an abduction. However, lots of escape routes off Maple...

The Shell is a LARGE, BUSY gas station and the parking lot is ADJACENT to the police station parking lot.

There is literally police cars and a police station right in the middle of the scene of the abduction- this is where I have a problem with the story. Who is going to abduct a kid in sight of a police station? There is a lot of traffic at the Shell station- TONS of potential witnesses. The police station is about 5 blocks from the friend's house on Maple and three blocks from Lindsey's house- easily in sight of her house!

However, NO cameras pointing along the sides or rear of the Shell, so Lindsey would have made it past the Shell and all the way home without being captured on video (unless the police station has video outside- they might have caught her walking- didn't check that building so can't say).

As for the "white vehicle" or white Honda Ridgeline possibly seen on Maple and the witness had to go around them when they saw Lindsey and told her to go home: A Honda Ridgeline in this neighborhood would stick out. They might as well have abducted Lindsey in a Lamborghini. This is a poor town, small town, everybody obviously knows each other. If there was an unfamiliar car, lots of people would have noticed it. People were staring at my car today like I was from the future or something. No way would something like this go unnoticed on Maple. How many people on this street know Lindsey from the stories I've read here? It seems like they ALL knew her- see what I mean? The story does not fit the reality of that street.

Mommson has less visibility than Maple and seems "tighter" and a smaller space than Maple. Also quite poor. Again, any car newer than 1997 would stick out on Mommson.

So here is what I think:

1. At least some of the townspeople know what happened to Lindsey

2. She was likely not abducted on the street- it is too open, too many witnesses outside on a summer evening, too many cops within a few yards of either house or the Shell. If someone took her from the street, they KNEW for CERTAIN they didn't have to worry about the cops right there in view of the abduction. Otherwise why not drive another 30 minutes to Aberdeen or Olympia to a neighborhood not in sight of a police station?

3. There is no visible effort to keep Lindsey's disappearance fresh in the minds of the townspeople. There are two signs on the entrance door to the Shell for lost pets but no missing child sign for Lindsey.

My theory: Lindsey either never left the friend's house or she did make it home. She was not abducted in between those houses, it is much more likely she was abducted AT one of those houses or within a few feet of either house- NOT in between.

Washington State is a major area for human trafficking with all of the ports in the area. I believe that Lindsey was trafficked- sold to pay off a drug debt.

http://www.atg.wa.gov/HumanTrafficking/SexTrafficking.aspx#.UTwWdDfNTMo
To reply to your number 3. Since she went missing there were pictures of her put onto every telephone pole in the neighborhood and surrounding areas. There was a sign hanging at the park constantly.
Then recently the McCleary mayor took down the sign from the park and made a heartless snide rude comment that everyone witnessed and there has been a huge effort to put more signs up looking for her kidnapper/murderer all over the county.

I agree with some of your theory. I personally think it was a Hunter due to where they found her remains.
 

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