Couple thoughts...
Oh, and hello and welcome to all our new WS'rs! My heart goes out to the friends and family members, as well as all of the local people who have a concern and interest in Gail -- which has brought us all together.
First, I'm not liking this at all. In my dreams, Gail is resting, regrouping and will emerge with new strength. In my mind, I'm feeling the same discomfort that the many of you have laid out: woman leaving children she doesn't leave, passport gone but not DL? etc. and so on...
So the loose thoughts...
Gail going to Alabama, not husband...
Maybe the husband didn't go to Alabama (or leave) because he was soused and the police could not say "you leave until the two of you cool off." If he has a drinking issue, perhaps he was pickled at the time, became aggressive (to the point that caused Gail to become fearful of getting hit -- re:blackeye), and it all drove Gail to the 911 call. If/when LE arrived, they probably noticed he was looped, asked Gail if she and the children had a place to go and suggested she go -- he stay and "sleep it off."
Someone following Gail...or someone "spying on" Gail or both?
Girlfriend checking to see if Gail's Jeep was gone? Did she leave it parked in plain view at home or did she garage it on a regular basis?
Maybe hubby had a PI following Gail for a while prior? Maybe he had someone else "watching her" prior?
What was Gail's routine with the car, let the kids out to go in the house, then pull the car into the garage? If so, Gail could have let the kids out, pulled into the garage, had someone jump in the car with her, get down in the back seat area covering her with a gun and telling her, "if you want the kids to be okay, back out and start driving." If that were the case, it would explain her not stopping to talk to a neighbor with whom she was friendly.
Jewelry gone...
If jewelry was gone, it is likely it was hers and if there was some of husband's family jewelry in the mix, it may have been gifted to Gail. Since it looks like they were winding toward a divorce, since there were hotel receipts, it is possible that Gail feared that her jewelry would be yanked from her by husband and gifted and/or remade for the girlfriend. If it was hers, she probably wanted to remove it before someone who may likely have given her the blackeye decided to get ugly with the jewelry too.
Changing pin numbers...
Big dang deal... If they were moving toward the divorce, she was doing what was normal, natural and wise. Whereas there may have been Gail handling some $420K, there is no report of how many K got left in funds that husband could touch. This is a two "nice home" family who presumably worked, earned well, and saved -- it is possible that some 800K was left in funds that received no pin change. On the other hand, it is possible that there was less, but that there was a lot of equity in the home, and Gail knew the husband would want the home i.e. "I'll take this, you have that." Also, it is possible that some of the funds handled were 401K funds that got rolled into something when Gail ended her work with one company or another in the past. Husband would have similar funds, I would guess -- both sets of funds would be in their "individual" names, by law. Gail might have known if these funds were relatively equal, thus she just changed the pins on hers.
Not knowing Gail, it is difficult to know whether she was thinking, "I will only take what is equitable" OR if she was thinking, "I'm going to wipe him out." My guess is that she was the equitable type, after all...it sounds like someone blackened her eye and didn't get reported. Sounds like she didn't want to "dirty" the image of the children's father to them, or she would have discussed some things in front of the neighbor with whom she spoke in Alabama on the 29th (wasn't it the neighbor in Alabama that said she didn't want to talk because the children were present?)
About the "she left the children" and then some type of wording like "alone"...
If that man didn't know whether his children could be left unattended for a few minutes and some brief errands while parent was away, then he was "out of touch." IF on the other hand he knew they could not be trusted, or safe alone, then he may have set someone up to deal with Gail, make it look like she disappeared of her own volition, and further made it look like she was irresponsible in leaving children like that. i.e. making a case for him to get custody due to a chick that disappears and leaves minor children alone.
I think it is possible that there was alcohol noticed by LE in two 911 occasions. If that did happen, we have a few calls and possible overt inebriation of one parent making it more of a case for the mom to get custody. Why not set something up, have a mom disappear, make it look like mom abandoned, separate/get custody, not have to pay child support, make it look like "I just know you left without the kids you bad mom" ... That's supposed to look like "we're just disputing, she's cuckoo and left, I just have to protect myself and the kids."
Oh...and about not taking the kids out of the country, do the kids have passports? IDs that would be needed if they were to be taken out of the country? Is there any proof that those IDs or passports are missing WHILE DL is not with Gail?
No...you don't leave your DL, you need that to prove that you are the person on the VISA or AMEX card at times. IF Gail had intended to leave for any length of time, she would NOT have left her DL.
More thoughts later... Keep thinking everyone, good to see all the thinking caps.
Oh...Redfish mentioned something of a theory, Gail returning home, then thinking that when husband wasn't home when she arrived she might go looking for him at some place she thought he might be?
How far away were those hotels for which she found receipts? Did she go looking there? Was husband supposed to have met up with her at the house at the time she arrived home and when he wasn't there she went hunting to confront him? Was she going to call a neighbor and say, "Could you check on the kids" or "Go get the kids?"
Or...did she pass the person who had been following her on the way to the house, drop the kids off quickly then head out to follow them or distract them from the children?
We know she was scared, we know she thought she was being followed, we know that her DL isn't with her (why why why), we know she didn't stop to talk to a friend on the way out... She was in a hurry for some reason and no one has heard a word since, BUT her phone mysteriously pings on the day that someone finally forces a missing person report.
I'm sad, I'm not at all liking how this looks. Sadder still is that there is too much that has gone unsearched for too long.
