Sorry if this goes off-topic but I couldn't find a thread dedicated to discussing the Leticia Hernandez case specifically. I remember seeing this on TV in the late 80's. I myself was 10 at the time and remember the reports of sightings across the nation along Interstate 10 and then her body being found 15 months later right near where Amber's has now been located.
Was there ever a definitive answer as to whether those sightings were decoys or coincidences or if her abductors indeed did get her cross country, bring her back, and bury her nearby? I know her killers have not been found so this may be purely speculation.
I also realize technology wasn't at the caliber that we have now, but it's so odd that there was report after report of seeing her and then always being just a split second too late, as if they would vanish into thin air. It was harder for information to be communicated and as a result act on reported sightings or tips.
With that said I do recall that these sightings only lasted for 3 months, and it was determined that she had been killed between 3 and 12 months of her abduction, so the window of opportunity was there to transport her across the south and then potentially bring her back.
This is my opinion only. I think those sightings may have been of girls who resembled the girl, but not the girl herself. There are a lot of Hispanics where the "sightings" had been reported.
Apparently by where the body was found, she never left the area. I doubt anyone would parade her across the country with police looking for her, and then bring her back to the area.
One thing I found odd while reading about her case is the description of a marroon truck..??
OT, but...
I think that in some of the missing children cases, the perpetrator is easily recognizable. The problem is that there is not much tangible evidence to file charges against them.
Examples:
The Mellon case, the 13-year old girl who disappeared while the step-dad went to walk the dog in 20 degree weather in the middle of the afternoon the day she stayed home sick from school. She disappeared wearing bed clothes, fuzzy slippers and... a blue blanket... !?! She wrote in dairy of molestation prior to her disappearance.
The case of Jahi M. Jones, the 2-year old boy who vanished in a park while his step-dad went to get a coke and left the kid unattended for what he says was 15 minutes. He detailed the boy as being "listless" and he hoped the boy would forgive him for a "transgression." There was no proof that he was even at the park that day, the step-dad had no stroller (his apartment being 1 mile from the park,) and similar type of playground equipment was available at his apt. complex.
I hope that with the advent of DNA technology, that most of the missing children cases still without resolution will be solved, to the surprise of those who have gotten away with murder and swear they will never be found out.
:snooty: