Found Deceased MI - Venus Stewart, 32, Colon, 28 April 2010 - # 4 *D. Stewart guilty*

[spamelope]

A tarp covering a body is going to look like just that. It is going to look like a tarp trying unsuccessfully to hide the fact that there is a leaky corpse under it. He sure wouldn't stick around after that struggle to tie the tarp back down if he put her body in the cab.

 

[panthera]

(BBM) I agree. I wonder if the suspicious person then moved after being spotted, and perhaps the person who saw them figured he was then gone (not realizing the guy and truck were related?)?

As to #2, I guess I was just thinking if he took the tarp out of the wrapper, but maybe even still had it folded and setting on top of the wrapper, then if/when the tarp was grabbed, perhaps the wrapper then fell as he went to what may have then been a second hiding spot in the yard? I don't know...hard to try to imagine what a perp was thinking.

One article I read said the person who saw the man crouching by the truck only saw him there for about 5 minutes, so it's unclear how long he was there, but it seems the person didn't see him leave. I'm just trying to figure out how the abduction would've taken place with the perp having the tarp with him in order to drop the wrapper in the driveway. I'd just think it would've been left in the truck, unless like you suggested, it was accidentally still with the tarp. And I'm also beginning to think, if the truck this witness saw was related to the abduction, maybe he moved to a better location closer to the house? MOO

 

[panthera]

A tarp covering a body is going to look like just that. It is going to look like a tarp trying unsuccessfully to hide the fact that there is a leaky corpse under it. He sure wouldn't stick around after that struggle to tie the tarp back down if he put her body in the cab.

I was thinking of the body being put in the bed of the truck, not inside.

 

[spamelope]

Maybe they took the BG parking passes in case they found the truck at Busch Gardens they could explain/establish the evidentiary trail that led them to it? But, yeah, it seems superfluous given that Busch Gardens parking lot is a basically a public space and they'd only need Busch Gardens permission to search the lot for the truck, if that.

Or maybe DS's alibi is connected to BG?

I was just being persnickety in that they didn't request any evidence that placed him in VA, so legally, they couldn't take it. You just can't go on a fishing expedition and say, hmm, these look interesting, let's grab them and see where in the case they may fit in. I wish LE would do a doc dump lol. I've gotten spoiled from the Anthony et al cases where we see all the info LE has. I think parking lots are more or less public, and they wouldn't need any permission from anyone?

 

[spamelope]

I was thinking of the body being put in the bed of the truck, not inside.

I meant bed, not cab! Doh me! :blushing:

 

[panthera]

I meant bed, not cab! Doh me! :blushing:

I thought so ~ otherwise there could be a treasure trove of "evidence" inside that truck if her body had been in there. And yes I know a lot of perps are stupid, but if DS did it, he'd have to know he'd be the first one LE would look at. MOO

 

[spamelope]

I thought so ~ otherwise there could be a treasure trove of "evidence" inside that truck if her body had been in there. And yes I know a lot of perps are stupid, but if DS did it, he'd have to know he'd be the first one LE would look at. MOO

Exactly. He was wily enough to realize they would look for the vehicles and hide them, but dumb enough to leave all the evidence that points to him directly. He may be a brute, but he's not stupid. Why bother with a cap if you're going to be driving your own vehicles at the scene? There is a lot of contradictory things in this case. If I didn't think there was more to this than meets the eye, I would be on another thread already, mentally mourning Venus. I think and hope she is still alive.

 

[spamelope]

If I saw a man hiding out by his pick up, it would disturb me greatly. I wouldn't be able to just take off. I would at least take down the license plate number and his description. And I would report it before 5 days, too IIRC that's when it was reported. I believe that the tire treads will match up with the Stewart's truck. Everything pointing to DS thus far tells me this will be no exception.

 

[panthera]

Exactly. He was wily enough to realize they would look for the vehicles and hide them, but dumb enough to leave all the evidence that points to him directly. He may be a brute, but he's not stupid. Why bother with a cap if you're going to be driving your own vehicles at the scene? There is a lot of contradictory things in this case. If I didn't think there was more to this than meets the eye, I would be on another thread already, mentally mourning Venus. I think and hope she is still alive.

And, knowing he'd be the first one looked at, why not make sure the truck was completely cleaned out ~ including that receipt? Too bad the witness who saw a similar looking truck parked across from the house didn't get a license plate number so we could be sure it was him. I'd like to hope Venus is still alive too, but where could she be? MOO

 

[panthera]

If I saw a man hiding out by his pick up, it would disturb me greatly. I wouldn't be able to just take off. I would at least take down the license plate number and his description. And I would report it before 5 days, too IIRC that's when it was reported. I believe that the tire treads will match up with the Stewart's truck. Everything pointing to DS thus far tells me this will be no exception.

Honestly I didn't see this post before I just mentioned the license plate too! I wonder if forensics can tell if these are the exact same tires as on his truck or are just similar matches to the type of tires on his truck? Can they tell by how much wear is on them? Most manufacturers put the same type tire on all trucks, for example, so I wonder if he's on a second set of tires that may be unique to his truck? MOO

 

[spamelope]

Due to the explosion in foreclosures, there are many houses now vacant. Squatters are now a problem in many communities. Plus, MI has a lot of seasonal cabins owned by people in Illinois, etc. only used for maybe a week a year. Whoever was the driver of the second vehicle could be keeping her hostage in one such building. Even though there may not be tire tread from the Sable proving it was there, LE was certain enough the neighbors, who knew the Stewarts, saw it in Schoolcraft that they were able to get a search warrant for it. Because it implies DS didn't act alone, you can't discount that to fit your theory.

 

[spamelope]

Honestly I didn't see this post before I just mentioned the license plate too! I wonder if forensics can tell if these are the exact same tires as on his truck or are just similar matches to the type of tires on his truck? Can they tell by how much wear is on them? Most manufacturers put the same type tire on all trucks, for example, so I wonder if he's on a second set of tires that may be unique to his truck? MOO

LOL Great minds think alike? Tire treads are a lot like fingerprints. They are unique. BeanE posted a great link to the forensics of tire treads, I think it's in this thread somewhere lol.

 

[BeanE]

MCNEILL: Police have told us that he has -- his lawyer claims that he has two witnesses who will say he was in Newport News, Virginia where he has a home on that morning. And I`m sure that they`re checking those alibis, but so far haven`t shaken them.

John McNeill is the news director for WKZO radio, one of the local media out of Kalamazoo.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1005/03/ng.01.html

Aha! So two witnesses morphed into two friends which morphed into two loyal friends.

Thanks for finding that, puf!

 

[thinkaboutthis]

At this point, the only theory that could possibly have a positive outcome for anyone is that she disappeared herself and tried to frame DS and she is really in hiding somewhere waiting to see if DS actually gets arrested for this.

It's been nearly 3 weeks. If DS abducted her, she is likely dead. If an accomplice of DS abducted her, she is likely dead. If a stranger abducted her (which I can't see happening) she is certainly dead. But if she and others close to her were worried that DS was planning to move back to MI with his job and attempt to get custody of the kids, and if the people closest to her believed her allegations of sexual abuse, it may have been enough of a compelling arguement to (in their minds) justify a drastic attempt to alleviate DS from the picture so that at the very least, LM & TM or other family members of VS would get custody of the children and make sure they were safe. They may have even considered it an honorable or righteous thing to do. People's emotions run high when they feel children are potentially harmed or at risk of further harm. It's much more likely that someone would put themselves at risk to help somoene they believe is a battered, scared, abused wife and mother of a sexually abused child, than it is to believe that a friend or co-worker would go driving accross country for someone because he was mad that his wife took off.

If there was a mountain of evidence pointing to DS and his abusive past, this would be a no-brainer. If he had an arrest record, military infractions, documented drug or alcohol problems, medical documentation of mental disorders or depression, history of sexual assault, or anything like that. I would jump on the bandwagon...but this case is puzzling because there is nothing like that.

I hope she is alive. It would be the best possible outcome. Even if she was found to be the mastermind behind it. She would at least be alive and her kids would not have a murdered mom and a killer dad.

 

[BeanE]

LOL. I needed that.

Douglas still rents an apartment in Newport News. Newport News police found a gray pickup truck near the apartment days after Venus vanished. The truck, belonging to Venus, is similar to one witnesses reported seeing in Michigan around the time she went to the mailbox.http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/apparent-blood-in-couples-truck

Michigan State Police said investigators also found a receipt from a Walmart in Ohio inside Douglas Harrie Stewart’s Dodge Ram for a tarp, gloves, shovel and hat purchased April 25, a day before 32-year-old Venus Stewart went missing.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/05/post_50.html


So BeaneE... Is it his truck or her truck? BTW is reporting just crappy on every major case or is it just me? :waitasec:

Hers in title, his in possession. What's that saying? Possession is nine tenths of the law?

LE considers it in his possession. That's what counts. The titling is completely meaningless.

 

[Natal]

One article I read said the person who saw the man crouching by the truck only saw him there for about 5 minutes, so it's unclear how long he was there, but it seems the person didn't see him leave. I'm just trying to figure out how the abduction would've taken place with the perp having the tarp with him in order to drop the wrapper in the driveway. I'd just think it would've been left in the truck, unless like you suggested, it was accidentally still with the tarp. And I'm also beginning to think, if the truck this witness saw was related to the abduction, maybe he moved to a better location closer to the house? MOO

No, the witness saw the truck/man, then five minutes later he was gone. They didn't say how long the person was there. It could have been an hour or it could have been a few minutes.

 

[BeanE]

That may well be spot on.

Remember, the mother said in one her interviews that the blood was Doug's. We were confused as to how she would know that when the lab results were not back, and blood isn't something you normally expect to find in a vehicle, let alone two. But given the domestic violence history of these two, it might not be that surprising to find his blood in the vehicles if he was injured in some of these altercations and fled the home in one of the vehicles.

Actually, the mother said she heard the blood was not Doug's. But we don't know where she heard that, and the test results aren't back yet or haven't been publicized yet.

 

[thinkaboutthis]

Actually, the mother said she heard the blood was not Doug's. But we don't know where she heard that, and the test results aren't back yet or haven't been publicized yet.

Maybe someone can come up with the clip from NG where she says it. I thought too that she said the blood belonged to DS.

 

[Natal]

Actually, the mother said she heard the blood was not Doug's. But we don't know where she heard that, and the test results aren't back yet or haven't been publicized yet.

That is not what you said here:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - MI MI - Venus Rose Stewart, 32, Colon, 28 April 2010 - ABDUCTED - #3

 

[thinkaboutthis]

Hers in title, his in possession. What's that saying? Possession is nine tenths of the law?

LE considers it in his possession. That's what counts. The titling is completely meaningless.

It's not completely meaningless, because it leaves the door open that someone else would have a very good reason to be in possession of keys to this truck. Plus he was not in the vehicle when it was located, it was found a few blocks from his apartment building. We don't know the circumstances behind how it arrived at that location or who's possession it was in prior to it arriving there. If my spouse and i own a bicycle and we both ride it from time to time and someone takes it from my garage and it's found 2 blocks away at a park, am I in possession of it?