WA - Mackenzie Cowell, 17, Wenatchee, 9 Feb 2010 - #9

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From Cowell at boat launch on day she disappeared, investigators say (bbm):

"Investigators say recently received cell phone records indicate that the last activity on her cell phone was made in the area of the Wenatchee Riverfront Park boat launch near the foot of Orondo Street.

Doug Jones, spokesman for the task force investigating Cowell’s death, said the last activities on the cell phone were two text messages. They were between Cowell and her boyfriend at about 3:40 p.m. and each was, "Hey." The texts were made when the phone was at the boat launch.

Investigators are working under the assumption that Cowell, and not just her phone, were at the boat launch."

In light of the information here regarding the circumstantial nature of cell phone pings/texts and the seeming inaccuracy of using pings/texts to pinpoint location, then I have to wonder how LE can be so certain the phone was at the boat launch, or even boat launch area? GPS in the phone perhaps? And if GPS, then couldn't the locations of the phone be tracked from 3:40 to 5:42, the time of the last ping?

Maybe an eyewitness came forward and said the car was seen, but LE does not say the car or MC were spotted, just that the phone was at the boat launch, IIRC. This makes me wonder about the accuracy of the information that MC or her car were actually at the boat launch.

What makes them so sure? Since so much seems to hinge on the boat launch information, then if there is any doubt that MC or her car were not actually at the boat launch, but just her phone, then more questions can be raised about where she was during that time. It may be a reasonable assumption that she was there, but still just an assumption.
 
ajfa said:
From Cowell at boat launch on day she disappeared, investigators say (bbm):

"Investigators say recently received cell phone records indicate that the last activity on her cell phone was made in the area of the Wenatchee Riverfront Park boat launch near the foot of Orondo Street.

Doug Jones, spokesman for the task force investigating Cowell’s death, said the last activities on the cell phone were two text messages. They were between Cowell and her boyfriend at about 3:40 p.m. and each was, "Hey." The texts were made when the phone was at the boat launch.

Investigators are working under the assumption that Cowell, and not just her phone, were at the boat launch."

In light of the information here regarding the circumstantial nature of cell phone pings and the seeming inaccuracy of using pings to pinpoint location, then I have to wonder how LE can be so certain the phone was at the boat launch, or even boat launch area? GPS in the phone perhaps? And if GPS, then couldn't the locations of the phone be tracked from 3:40 to 5:42, the time of the last ping?

Maybe an eyewitness came forward and said the car was seen, but LE does not say the car or MC were spotted, just that the phone was at the boat launch, IIRC. This makes me wonder about the accuracy of the information that MC or her car were actually at the boat launch.

What makes them so sure? Since so much seems to hinge on the boat launch information, then if there is any doubt that MC or her car were not actually at the boat launch, but just her phone, then more questions can be raised about where she was during that time.
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Great response. That has been the issue I have is : the LE stating that her phone showed location at the boat launch area. We need info on locating car or MC at time of phone texts being made
 
MissAnonymous said:
I believe this is a feature you must pay an extra monthly charge for. I had the first EnV and it had a free trial and then I had to pay to continue to use it.

If that is the case, not only would she have had to have it turned on but she would have had to be paying for the service as well.
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I believe that the monthly cost is to use the VS Navigator feature but that GPS locator feature is no cost…and is on by default.
 
pachina said:
Great response. That has been the issue I have is : the LE stating that her phone showed location at the boat launch area. We need info on locating car or MC at time of phone texts being made
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I guess that where I am going with this is that up till now I have been treating assumption as fact. I have been thinking that cell phone activity was a reliable means of pinpointing location. With the advent of Dogdads's expert information, however, now I am not so sure.

Perhaps by 3:40 PM the horrible acts had already taken place, and the perp(s) drove down to that area of town to clear the head and make other arrangements for disposing of the body and car? He/she/they took the phone along with them, but used their own to make calls?

Introducing the thought that cell phone activity may not be reliable for pinpointing location raises more questions and opens up more possibilities.
 
Gone Too Soon said:
[Response to comments in lighter blue]
What if (speculation) she really wasn't teased all that much for SO many years by her peers? What if there was a close family member who obsessed about the deformity that to most was relatively insignificant? What if the focus was shifted to thinking "others" persecuted her more about her jaw than someone intimately close to her? JMHO >> just wondering? :sick:
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That's a very interesting observation. I have always wondered what the big deal was about her jaw. She looks beautiful to me and her slight overbite doesn't appear to be that noticeable. I wouldn't have noticed it unless it was pointed out.
 
ajfa said:
Investigators are working under the assumption that Cowell, and not just her phone, were at the boat launch."[/B]
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Respectfully snipped by me.

So thanks to Dogdad, we now know the pings are not quite as accurate as we hoped.

Can someone tell me exactly where WC's place of employment is? Someone in a previous thread made it sound like it was right there next to the boat launch. Could someone have been parked at WC work when that ping went off? I'm not saying it was WC, but could JF have had the phone, stopped by to grab something, maybe keys, ping goes off and LE assumes it is at boat launch??

But then why would they say they know her phone was at the boat launch if there is a possibility it was somewhere else? I'm so confused.
 
justiceformackenzie said:
That's a very interesting observation. I have always wondered what the big deal was about her jaw. She looks beautiful to me and her slight overbite doesn't appear to be that noticeable. I wouldn't have noticed it unless it was pointed out.
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FYI, in the photos of MC, her UNDERBITE, (not overbite) is not very visable. Her lower jaw was postitioned too far forward, placing her lower bridge of teeth in FRONT of her upper arch of teeth.
 
ajfa said:
I guess that where I am going with this is that up till now I have been treating assumption as fact. I have been thinking that cell phone activity was a reliable means of pinpointing location. With the advent of Dogdads's expert information, however, now I am not so sure.

Perhaps by 3:40 PM the horrible acts had already taken place, and the perp(s) drove down to that area of town to clear the head and make other arrangements for disposing of the body and car? He/she/they took the phone along with them, but used their own to make calls?

Introducing the thought that cell phone activity may not be reliable for pinpointing location raises more questions and opens up more possibilities.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Because of the response of just "hey" ?
This makes me suspect that it was not MC that sent that text
I as you believe that she had been subdued by that time! That gave whom ever did this time enough to make plans. Also the actions of " cause of death" appears to be more than one person.So the time gap from 3:40pm -7:10pm is alot of time to move without suspicion.According to her normal routine , no one would have been alerted during that time frame. And yet after that time of 7:10pm the car was not reported for another hour from the time seen parked up PC. This gave 41/2 hours of time for driving to CBR , PC road etc
Anymore thoughts you might have ?
Just my thoughts on this at this time with the info out there of facts
 
ajfa said:
I guess that where I am going with this is that up till now I have been treating assumption as fact. I have been thinking that cell phone activity was a reliable means of pinpointing location. With the advent of Dogdads's expert information, however, now I am not so sure.

Perhaps by 3:40 PM the horrible acts had already taken place, and the perp(s) drove down to that area of town to clear the head and make other arrangements for disposing of the body and car? He/she/they took the phone along with them, but used their own to make calls?

Introducing the thought that cell phone activity may not be reliable for pinpointing location raises more questions and opens up more possibilities.
Click to expand...

It sounds to me that some of the information concerning locating cell phone users that has been disseminated might be pretty old.

It is my experience that there has been a huge push to get GPS locating into cell phone by first responders. In the past there were many tragic stories about people in distress calling 911 without any way to locate them.
By the end of 2005 all cell phone providers in the U.S. were required to be able to trace a cell call to with 100 meters.

http://www.travelbygps.com/articles/tracking.php
 
pachina said:
My thoughts exactly. Because of the response of just "hey" ?
This makes me suspect that it was not MC that sent that text
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It could very well have been someone else, but I know it is VERY common for teenagers to just text each other "hey" randomly with no more communication. My own teenager has complained about this many times. If it was someone else that sent the text it could well have been another young person that's familiar with this common practice.
 
Just to follow up on my previous postings, even if location can be determined by cell phone activity, LE is still assuming that MC was where her phone was. What gets my attention is the phrase "Investigators are working under the assumption that Cowell, and not just her phone, were at the boat launch."

If location can be determined by cell phone activity, it is still an assumption she was there.
If location cannot be determined by cell phone activity, it is still an assumption she was there, just based on weaker circumstantial evidence.

IMHO much hinges on the word "assumption."
 
From in light of all the information to be facts : What we need is someone who would have been located at the boat launch/park area at the time of the text's being made who would be able to state all vehicle's, people on foot etc. that were present. This would help narrow the search .
Help me here ? Any other thoughts ?
 
ajfa said:
Just to follow up on my previous postings, even if location can be determined by cell phone activity, LE is still assuming that MC was where her phone was. What gets my attention is the phrase "Investigators are working under the assumption that Cowell, and not just her phone, were at the boat launch."

If location can be determined by cell phone activity, it is still an assumption she was there.
If location cannot be determined by cell phone activity, it is still an assumption she was there, just based on weaker circumstantial evidence.

IMHO much hinges on the word "assumption."
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lbpom63, repost what your experience with LE at the boat launch was. They did not tell you it was an assumtion, right?
 
pachina said:
From in light of all the information to be facts : What we need is someone who would have been located at the boat launch/park area at the time of the text's being made who would be able to state all vehicle's, people on foot etc. that were present. This would help narrow the search .
Help me here ? Any other thoughts ?
Click to expand...

I wish I could. Any statement to the effect that witnesses saw Cowell's car at the park/boat launch would be very helpful. I apologize if that was stated in news articles, or here at WS, and forgot or missed the information. I would not want to lead anyone on a wild goose chase (unless the goose swallowed the phone).
 
dimples37398 said:
I haven't been following this case as close as I normally follow cases, but is it possible that MC was pregnant? Maybe she went to meet the person who she suspected got her that way and told him. He freaked out for fear of certain people finding out and being angry. Maybe it was consensual or maybe it wasn't and that is why he didn't want anyone to find out. It could be possible that she just told him she thought she could be pregnant, but wasn't sure. Just the possibility of that could have made him snap.

JMO I don't believe this crime was commited by a female...no basis for that, it is only a feeling I have. Also when I was growing up the wanna be gangs were pretty bad around where I grew up, I dont believe it was gang related either. I do believe whomever did this did have some help after the fact.
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I'm just getting caught up and saw this post, so I hope I'm not answering it for the 50th time. It just dawned on me though - death certificates have a place for pregnancy - there's a box for yes and a box for no. If the WW was able to get a copy of MC's death certificate, it would have shown if she was pregnant or not. Since they printed the COD against LE wishes, my guess is that they would have stated that she was pregnant too, IF that was the case.
 
notmyrealname said:
“Unfortunately, in this case, we have no witnesses, at least none that have stepped forward, and we have no obvious evidence that points to anyone in particular." (Wenatchee World on March 12)

In light of this comment, by police spokesman Doug Jones, a few questions:

1. Why do people continue to believe LE knows who did this and is just being thorough before making an arrest?

2. Why are so many people still so convinced that JF had something to do with this? (With no "strangers" to investigate, that we know of, LE has had a month to investigate those closest to MC. I'm guessing mom's deadbeat boyfriend has gotten a lot of attention, so if he did it, don't you think LE would have figured it out by now?)

3. Scale of 1-10, how confident is everyone that police will have an arrest a month from now?
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(1.) The word "obvious". I think they can place a prime suspect with MC around the time she went missing, but they have no "obvious" evidence he/she actually committed the murder.

(2.) I, for one, am not convinced JF did it. I do believe he was seen with MC before she went missing. I think he can explain being with MC, (either innocently or because of a illicit relationship with MC), therefore LE still needs definitive proof tying him to more than just being with her before she disappeared.

(3.) 1-10 how confident am I that police will have an arrest within a month? Because police have yet to identify the location of the murder -- ZERO confidence. (Although I believe they have been to the crime scene they just didn't find obvious evidence to identify it).
 
What could you locals possibly have to do that is more important than driving by a few "points in question"... Get a coffee, get a friend and go for a drive, and report back later!!
 
pepsi said:
Ozz said:
i would love to move out of this town. not to many nice people here
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I already have and this is still breaking my heart. It's hard to see my hometown figuratively going up in flames over this.

I still think it was someone high up, things got out of control and now they have to either come up with some STRONG evidence or let the case go unsolved.
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