GUILTY MT - Sherry Arnold, 43, Sidney, 7 Jan 2012 - #1

~n/t~ said:

I wonder why she got up to go jogging if she allegedly told the husband she was tired and wanted to sleep in Saturday.

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I wonder what time she normally woke on a saturday? Maybe 6:30 is late for her?

My aunt thinks she is sleeping in if she doesn't get up until 5:30am she's normally up by 3:30!

I found it odd that they both went out before dawn for a walk and a run, but did not communicate with each other about it at all. Seemed kind of strange, imo.

cluciano63 said:

I thought that was a little odd, too...and also, if she isn't in the bed or the house, why would you have to count on droplets in the sink to tell you she isn't home...

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I am certain the police and now the FBI asked him this question immediately, to determine if she actually left the house: how exactly did he know what she had done that morning? I would have done precisely the same thing, for my children, looked around the sink - they leave a small little mess with water and wet toothbrushes, which today I am actually finding endearing. I heard longing in his voice, like he wished she had left those droplets around that sink the day of the interview.

I am also thinking that, if there is suspicion of a hit-and-run situation, the authorities and family would be giving out less information, keeping the idea of abduction out there, while they quietly question and canvas the town, to put the perpetrator at some ease.

I appreciate what others have said about the running shoe as a decoy or deliberate message. I lost one once during a track meet in high school and it never happened again while I was a jogger. Especially as she had lost a part of a leg bone to cancer(sorry, I do not know which one) it makes me think she was probably fastidious about securing her shoes, especially as most rural roads have gravel this time of year from sanding, etc. My first thought was that she had thrown it herself, as a sort of clue. The fact that we have seen only the tread disturbs me. I am sure we don't have all the evidence the authorities do about that shoe.

I also think it is well within the realm of possiblilty that a 43 year old woman could be a target of sexual predation. I am reminded of the well publicized abduction and murder of Kristi Cornwell. Rape is a crime of violence against women, not just younger women, all women. That is yet another reason the crime is so frightening - half of us are at risk, from the minute we are born, and we don't outgrow it.

It is 15 degrees Farehneit in Sidney right now, with a wind chill of 3 degrees.

How did the clothing description come about? Husband or the witnesses?

I would like to know that too. It was dark at that time of the morning, so I'm assuming the description came from the husband, but I don't know for sure.

cluciano63 said:

I thought that was a little odd, too...and also, if she isn't in the bed or the house, why would you have to count on droplets in the sink to tell you she isn't home...

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Re the droplets, I thought it was odd too--is he a science teacher ? I need to look that up. It seemed oddly detached and analytical.

Another comment of his struck me as odd. In a video, when he told the reporter it was agonizing having his wife missing, he emitted an inappropriate laugh, and said something like "I guess that is how you feel when you are waiting for a missing loved one to come home". I'm paraphrasing but it was something along those lines. It's possible the laughing is nervous, but it makes me feel uneasy. Is he just trying to detach himself from the worry and distress of having Sherry missing?

ETA: I see he is an assistant principal--no academic field indicated.

Columbo said:

Re the droplets, I thought it was odd too--is he a science teacher ? I need to look that up. It seemed oddly detached and analytical.

Another comment of his struck me as odd. In a video, when he told the reporter it was agonizing having his wife missing, he emitted an inappropriate laugh, and said something like "I guess that is how you feel when you are waiting for a missing loved one to come home". I'm paraphrasing but it was something along those lines. It's possible the laughing is nervous, but it makes me feel uneasy. Is he just trying to detach himself from the worry and distress of having Sherry missing?

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I am one of those people who laugh when nervous, so I won't hold that against him.

RT51 said:

I am one of those people who laugh when nervous, so I won't hold that against him.

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I sometimes laugh when I'm nervous, too, but I feel like if I were in this situation, I wouldn't have it in me to laugh. However--I've never been in a situation where a loved one was missing, so I don't know how I would behave.

bdawk20 said:

Sadly, I agree with the staged crime scene theory. I would really like to know what evidence is on that shoe, though. I definitely see where people are coming from with the hit by a car theory, but it seems too "lucky" that no blood was found, noone heard or saw anything, and that the person would have taken her to cover it up and then had their wits about them enough to make it so she hasn't been found as of yet....

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I live in a rural area but nowhere near as thinly populated as Montana.

In my area, most farmers have more than one vehicle. They usually have a pickup or two, plus a smaller car for town runs (better gas mileage).

There has been more than one hit-and-run accident in my state that was solved after LE found that the vehicle involved had been parked in a machine shed right after the accident and just never taken out again.

No one has to allow a search of their property in this country without a warrant and simply refusing to allow a property search is not considered probable cause.

liltexans said:

Do we know the last time her children saw her? Or anyone besides her husband?

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I saw a video (I think ABC) that included a short interview with one witness who said he saw someone that he is "almost" certain was her that morning, around 6:40 am along one of her known routes.

I think if there were any other women out running at that time of day, they would have come forward by now. So I'm thinking the witness probably did see Sherry Arnold.

I saw or heard that quote too, but I don't place a lot of stock in eye witness accounts of this type. It was still dark and I got the impression that the witness saw the runner through a window.

I would like to know when her children last saw her.

She had 2 pairs of pants on though, right? I guess her husband knew that she wore one specific pair under another when it was cold?

~n/t~ said:

I wonder why she got up to go jogging if she allegedly told the husband she was tired and wanted to sleep in Saturday.

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All my life (54 years), my father has gotten up at 5 am. For someone like my dad, sleeping until 6 am is "sleeping in."

I think the description said leggings and pants or something. I'm not a runner so I don't really know the terminology for runners' clothing.

GrainneDhu said:

I saw a video (I think ABC) that included a short interview with one witness who said he saw someone that he is "almost" certain was her that morning, around 6:40 am along one of her known routes.

I think if there were any other women out running at that time of day, they would have come forward by now. So I'm thinking the witness probably did see Sherry Arnold.

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Investigators interviewed a local resident Tuesday who believed he was the last to see Arnold when she jogged past his car at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

"I'm not 100 percent sure, but I have a strong feeling it might have been [Arnold]," local resident Lonnie Lyttle told ABC News.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/missing-montana-teacher-sherry-arnold-fbi-joins-search/story?id=15337011

She jogged past his car in the dark, and he "has a strong feeling it might have been her". Far from conclusive, imo...

liltexans said:

I think the description said leggings and pants or
something. I'm not a runner so I don't really know the terminology for runners' clothing.

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This is what it said from the first published article:

She was last seen wearing a blue sweatshirt with a white stripe, red nylon pants with black leggings.

http://www.kbzk.com/news/search-underway-for-missing-montana-teacher/

Curious that it is such a specific description, and yet no one really saw her up close in the light that day that we know of anyway.

Columbo said:

I sometimes laugh when I'm nervous, too, but I feel like if I were in this situation, I wouldn't have it in me to laugh. However--I've never been in a situation where a loved one was missing, so I don't know how I would behave.

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My mother died in hospice several months ago while I was holding her hand. I had been instructed to ring for the nurse if she stopped breathing but I was so overwhelmed, that went completely out of my head and I just sat there for about ten minutes holding her hand.

Her doctor came in and asked "how is Mrs {lastname} this morning?" and I said "she's dead."

The doctor looked absolutely stunned and I gave a nervous giggle. I didn't feel like laughing and I certainly wasn't laughing at him. I was just so overwhelmed that my nervous laugh escaped. It was just a reflex.

I'm glad the doctor didn't seem to take offence or find it abnormal in any way.

That's what's confusing. "She was last seen wearing", but by whom? Her husband says she wasn't home when he got back from his walk and the eye witness isn't completely sure he saw Sherry.

bdawk20 said:

Investigators interviewed a local resident Tuesday who believed he was the last to see Arnold when she jogged past his car at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

"I'm not 100 percent sure, but I have a strong feeling it might have been [Arnold]," local resident Lonnie Lyttle told ABC News.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/missing-montana-teacher-sherry-arnold-fbi-joins-search/story?id=15337011

She jogged past his car in the dark, and he "has a strong feeling it might have been her". Far from conclusive, imo...

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Thank you for digging that up. So much for my memory!

Ordinarily, I would agree with you except that this is a small town. I doubt there were many people out running at that hour of the morning (or any hour, for that matter).

With such a small town, I find it hard to believe that there are any adults in town who have not heard of her disappearance. After all, they had 1000 out of the 6000 residents out searching for her.

Under the circumstances, I think if there had been anyone else out running at that hour, they would have come forward to say so.

GrainneDhu said:

My mother died in hospice several months ago while I was holding her hand. I had been instructed to ring for the nurse if she stopped breathing but I was so overwhelmed, that went completely out of my head and I just sat there for about ten minutes holding her hand.

Her doctor came in and asked "how is Mrs {lastname} this morning?" and I said "she's dead."

The doctor looked absolutely stunned and I gave a nervous giggle. I didn't feel like laughing and I certainly wasn't laughing at him. I was just so overwhelmed that my nervous laugh escaped. It was just a reflex.

I'm glad the doctor didn't seem to take offence or find it abnormal in any way.

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Of course, it's not funny that your mother died,GrainneDhu, but in a way, there is some black humor in the fact that you had to answer the question "how is she doing?" and obviously, being dead is not doing well. Again--not funny, but I can see why you might have giggled. Or maybe it was just a reflex.