TN - Gail Nowacki Palmgren, 44, Signal Mountain, 30 April 2011 - #12

Jade said:

There are hills and curves coming from her home that would alert her to car troubles before she got to E. Brow.

GP was close, very close to help of all kind if she had indication of brake problems.

SM has a decent sized commercial district [with at least one full service gas station] that she passed right through/by.

How would someone who tampered with the jeep know that the children wouldn’t be in the car when the brakes went out?

Also, In order for her to get pushed over the side the other vehicle would have to not only bump her but somehow get GP to turn the wheel towards the bluff and propel the jeep for the distance with force.

Anyone under attack would fight instinctively away from the bluff, imo.

The tire marks in the video are not churned up or ragged and deep like the brakes were being held down or the gear shift in Park and there is only one set.

The attacking car would have to keep propelling to get her to go in the direction of the bluff across the grass pushing the heavy rock thus making another set of tracks.

IMO, unless GP was going at a very high rate of speed a bump from behind would not have sent her that far out of control.

GP’s gentle nature doesn’t led one to think she would speeding through a quiet residential area known for walkers of all ages being present.

I think the HCSD is being delicate by calling it an accident.
All IMO

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F. Lee said:

"Highly unlikely" struck me in your quote. I agree.

I'm a local who has followed this case from the time it (finally) was mentioned in the media. I never met Gail and don't know anyone who knew her, but her case has touched me and so many people who live in this community. I feel more should have been done to help find Gail from day one. Many people are so sad for her and for her children. I'm grateful for the people who worked so hard to keep her story in the media. Without their help I don't know if Gail and the Jeep would have ever been found.

My house is about a mile from the site where her Jeep went over the bluff... the entire mountain now knows the exact spot. I know six people who this week decided to drive the East Brow Road site where the Jeep went over...including the man who lives across the road from it. None, except for me, had preconceived opinions. Each person, and that includes me, said the same thing: this had to be intentional.

Either Gail had an incredible plan devised, where circumstances aligned and she returned her children to her home even as she thought someone was following and threatening her. She told her sister as she drove that she was afraid and asked the police to meet her. Yet amidst all the drama of the past days and months she was then able to drive to the Brow Road site and execute a seemingly impossible 90' right angle turn at exactly the spot where the stone wall was just barely wide enough to drive a Jeep through, and continue on through grass and a hedge to fall to her death. Or something else happened.

I've driven East Brow Road hundreds of times. It's at such a high elevation and has such a sheer drop to the valley that it seems you're looking out an airplane window. It is, however, a perfectly straight road -- no curves or dips or undulations. When driving from the Hampton Road side and driving up toward the site the Jeep went over, I found it impossible to see how anyone could thread the needle to drive through that small opening without doing damage to something other than a rock -- and they are rocks, not huge boulders. The area there is a lot more narrow than the elongated view that Google shows. Coming from the other direction (from the W Road side) is just as bad -- the driver is on the "house" side of the road and has the smallest bit more of a view when driving. Still not enough that any of the six people I know said they would be able to maneuver.

As I said before, six people have this week driven the route and each one said there was no way this was anything except intentional. Their ages range from a 28 year-old man who drives a truck for a living and drives the road regularly, to the 70-something person who lives on the Brow Road and drives it daily.

If any other locals are reading this, it would be very insightful to hear from you with your thoughts about the accident site. Looking at it on the map and actually driving it makes a huge difference. Please take the time to drive it and see what you think. I hope this is thoroughly investigated and not pronounced a tragic accident. Many things that happen in our county result in being called a tragic accident -- we already know that much, but has every possible scenario been investigated as to what caused it?

It's sad to miss someone you never met. Many on this mountain feel that way.

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1&2&3 said:

My thoughts as to what happened is that whomever was following Gail sped up, getting closer to her, either as if they were going to rear end her or pull up beside her to force her off the road. Gail was speeding up to get away from her tail, which was the exact plan "the perpetrator" had in mind! :furious:

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Irish_Eyes said:

Gail is found, and that was one of the things I wanted most. Now I just want to know what happened to cause her death. Whether or not the investigators have an obligation to share that information with the public, I hope they do.

Did we ever figure out which convenience store Gail stopped at?

Remember MP said he got a change of address form on 5/4, and I think it was dated 4/30? So, did Gail do that online very early in the morning, or did she stop while they were driving back from AL and do that or what? That doesn't sound like something a suicidal person would do, IMO.

Some other things:

With the recent storms, maybe the ground was muddier than usual and that made it easier for the boulder to go over? Just trying to figure out how that plays in.

Also wondering if Gail dropped something, maybe her cell phone, and was reaching for it and lost control? Unlikely maybe, but not impossible.

I was one of those who suspected MP strongly in the beginning. I wanted him investigated and either exonerated or charged, as the case may be, in the interest of finding Gail. The circumstances as reported by Gail's family, LE, and even MP himself, were compelling. If I ever went missing under those circumstances, I would want someone questioning it too.

I've heard it said that AD is to blame for getting people all stirred up and thinking the worst about MP. Yet AD WAS NOT the source (or in the case of being afraid, not the sole source), of ANY of what made me the most suspicious.

Now, however, we have more information than we had before. We know where Gail was all this time. The new information makes me suspect him less. If the investigation reveals this was just a tragic accident, then so be it. If those who thought MP was involved were wrong, and those who thought Gail abandoned her kids were wrong, so be it.

I just hope that 1) we get some definitive answers, 2) Gail is memorialized in a way deserving of her memory, and 3) Gail's family can continue to play a part in the lives of her children.

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Jade said:

There are hills and curves coming from her home that would alert her to car troubles before she got to E. Brow.

GP was close, very close to help of all kind if she had indication of brake problems.

SM has a decent sized commercial district [with at least one full service gas station] that she passed right through/by.

How would someone who tampered with the jeep know that the children wouldn’t be in the car when the brakes went out?

Also, In order for her to get pushed over the side the other vehicle would have to not only bump her but somehow get GP to turn the wheel towards the bluff and propel the jeep for the distance with force.

Anyone under attack would fight instinctively away from the bluff, imo.

The tire marks in the video are not churned up or ragged and deep like the brakes were being held down or the gear shift in Park and there is only one set.

The attacking car would have to keep propelling to get her to go in the direction of the bluff across the grass pushing the heavy rock thus making another set of tracks.

IMO, unless GP was going at a very high rate of speed a bump from behind would not have sent her that far out of control.

GP’s gentle nature doesn’t led one to think she would speeding through a quiet residential area known for walkers of all ages being present.

I think the HCSD is being delicate by calling it an accident.



All IMO

Click to expand...

Jade said:

There are hills and curves coming from her home that would alert her to car troubles before she got to E. Brow.

GP was close, very close to help of all kind if she had indication of brake problems.

SM has a decent sized commercial district [with at least one full service gas station] that she passed right through/by.

How would someone who tampered with the jeep know that the children wouldn’t be in the car when the brakes went out?

Also, In order for her to get pushed over the side the other vehicle would have to not only bump her but somehow get GP to turn the wheel towards the bluff and propel the jeep for the distance with force.

Anyone under attack would fight instinctively away from the bluff, imo.

The tire marks in the video are not churned up or ragged and deep like the brakes were being held down or the gear shift in Park and there is only one set.

The attacking car would have to keep propelling to get her to go in the direction of the bluff across the grass pushing the heavy rock thus making another set of tracks.

IMO, unless GP was going at a very high rate of speed a bump from behind would not have sent her that far out of control.

GP’s gentle nature doesn’t led one to think she would speeding through a quiet residential area known for walkers of all ages being present.

I think the HCSD is being delicate by calling it an accident.



All IMO

Click to expand...

F. Lee said:

"Highly unlikely" struck me in your quote. I agree.

I'm a local who has followed this case from the time it (finally) was mentioned in the media. I never met Gail and don't know anyone who knew her, but her case has touched me and so many people who live in this community. I feel more should have been done to help find Gail from day one. Many people are so sad for her and for her children. I'm grateful for the people who worked so hard to keep her story in the media. Without their help I don't know if Gail and the Jeep would have ever been found.

My house is about a mile from the site where her Jeep went over the bluff... the entire mountain now knows the exact spot. I know six people who this week decided to drive the East Brow Road site where the Jeep went over...including the man who lives across the road from it. None, except for me, had preconceived opinions. Each person, and that includes me, said the same thing: this had to be intentional.

Either Gail had an incredible plan devised, where circumstances aligned and she returned her children to her home even as she thought someone was following and threatening her. She told her sister as she drove that she was afraid and asked the police to meet her. Yet amidst all the drama of the past days and months she was then able to drive to the Brow Road site and execute a seemingly impossible 90' right angle turn at exactly the spot where the stone wall was just barely wide enough to drive a Jeep through, and continue on through grass and a hedge to fall to her death. Or something else happened.

I've driven East Brow Road hundreds of times. It's at such a high elevation and has such a sheer drop to the valley that it seems you're looking out an airplane window. It is, however, a perfectly straight road -- no curves or dips or undulations. When driving from the Hampton Road side and driving up toward the site the Jeep went over, I found it impossible to see how anyone could thread the needle to drive through that small opening without doing damage to something other than a rock -- and they are rocks, not huge boulders. The area there is a lot more narrow than the elongated view that Google shows. Coming from the other direction (from the W Road side) is just as bad -- the driver is on the "house" side of the road and has the smallest bit more of a view when driving. Still not enough that any of the six people I know said they would be able to maneuver.

As I said before, six people have this week driven the route and each one said there was no way this was anything except intentional. Their ages range from a 28 year-old man who drives a truck for a living and drives the road regularly, to the 70-something person who lives on the Brow Road and drives it daily.

If any other locals are reading this, it would be very insightful to hear from you with your thoughts about the accident site. Looking at it on the map and actually driving it makes a huge difference. Please take the time to drive it and see what you think. I hope this is thoroughly investigated and not pronounced a tragic accident. Many things that happen in our county result in being called a tragic accident -- we already know that much, but has every possible scenario been investigated as to what caused it?It's sad to miss someone you never met. Many on this mountain feel that way.

Click to expand...

Irish_Eyes said:

I've heard it said that AD is to blame for getting people all stirred up and thinking the worst about MP. Yet AD WAS NOT the source (or in the case of being afraid, not the sole source), of ANY of what made me the most suspicious.

Click to expand...