SC - Heather Elvis, 20, Myrtle Beach, 18 Dec 2013 - #10

[OldSteve]

But rewards do NOT seem to bring about results, as far as I know. Or very seldom. And criminals who took part cannot collect the money, as far as I know, although if this reward is strictly raised by family, I guess they could give it to an accomplice. I cannot think of a missing persons case solved by a reward- anyone?

Also, I am searching, but unable to find, any history of South Carolina trying cases without a body, other than a mention here or there about a case or two. I wonder if that is something they are prepared to take on.

BBM - Clu, you've followed lots more cases than I have, and like you I cannot recall a case in which reward helped.
One thing that I've seen help is buying billboard space - especially when a case begins to go cold..

 

[Softail]

I understand we are not allowed to discuss anything on FB, whether it is an individual's page or the page to find her.

As a newbie, I am just wondering why that is and if that restriction will be lifted if someone is deemed a POI by LE.

It isn't allowed because it is considered rumor. Rumors are not allowed here.

Hope that helps.

 

[cluciano63]

As a local I keep hearing "they're waiting on a warrant." Its so frustrating bc I feel they have enough evidence. Especially if it isn't all leaked. and I wake up everyday hoping it finally verifies that in media.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Usually, there is no waiting, if they have the cause to get one. Judges sign these night or day. So that makes me concerned LE may not have what they need to satisfy a judge.

 

[PeterThomasFan]

IMO, a large reward isn't going to make someone come forward and talk that may be directly involved or related to the perp(s). There [obviously] needs to be another way around finding information out that will lead to an arrest(s). IMO, LE needs to look at past events leading up to HE's disappearance. Not just the current events. And, they need to look at ties to other locations outside of Myrtle Beach (Conway, Aynor, Loris).

 

[Hatfield]

Question about phone pings and triangulation.
Does anyone know how close to the exact location they can determine a particular cell phone is?
For example my phone is in my house right now. If someone were to look up my phones pings to try to determine where it is, could they come up with my exact address or a radius? If it's a radius, how tight is that radius?

IMO, I think they mostly just know the location of the tower that the phone pinged off of. What can give them more information though is if the phone begins to ping off multiple towers across a period of time, then they can much better determine the location of the phone using maps and triangulation methods. So depending on if they have multiple towers and different times of towers being used they can can more specific on their estiamte of the phone location.

Also, some phones have GPS capability which 911 can use if you are in trouble and they can sometimes get the exact coordinates BUT....I am not sure if that information is ever kept in the phone records and maybe can only be used if calling 911 or something. If GPS location is listed in phone records, then it would be exact location of phone at certain times. I kind of doubt they keep that in the phone records but not sure.


Do things such as mountains, or woods, or even tall buildings affect how tight the radius is? Or is it just the location of towers that make a difference?

No, just hits on towers, but the reception would affect whether or not a phone can even hit a tower so some information may not ever get recorded if a tower is not hit.


And last question is if you were in an area that your service provider (Verizon, AT&T, tmobile) gets bad reception in does that make a difference?
Example there is a small town nearby and in certain areas Verizon customers get no service. Your phone just constantly searches for a signal and wears down your battery. If I have Verizon and was in an area like that would my location be able to be determined?

My understanding is if reception is really bad and no tower is found by the phone, then the phone records would not have the tower location.

These are really good questions and this is JMO based on my understanding of what I have seen reported before. I bolded my responses above based on my understanding of how things work. Hope this helps.

 

[cluciano63]

BBM - Clu, you've followed lots more cases than I have, and like you I cannot recall a case in which reward helped.
One thing that I've seen help is buying billboard space - especially when a case begins to go cold..

Billboards may bring in a new wave of tips...but I am not sure they have ever helped solve a case?

Lol, in all of the "Cold Case Files" and other shows I have watched, either someone close to the suspect comes forward years, even decades later, or the detectives (usually new ones) find something of interest in the files that was overlooked earlier. But often, LE has to wait until marriages break up, or people die, etc. IMO if people are going to help LE, they usually do it right away, or much later.

 

[NotSoGrumpy]

It isn't allowed because it is considered rumor. Rumors are not allowed here.

Hope that helps.

It does. And following this parameter, I will assume it will be off-limits even after a POI is named.

 

[NotSoGrumpy]

I really hope this isn't a Brown's Chicken murders scenario. It took 10-15 years before someone spoke up and DNA testing confirmed who had committed the murders.

 

[SharetheLight]

I'm wondering if OM was in love with Heather? Was OM really going to leave his wife?

I will speculate that I think OM did love Heather. I think they stopped seeing one another because possibly his wife found out, and if he had kids things get really really complicated and icky when a marriage with kids breaks up. So OM tried to do right by his kids (totally my speculation) and stay with wife. Then Heather goes on a date with another guy and OM comes to the realization that he cannot live without Heather because he loves her.
He reaches out to her to tell her this and that's all we know.

Then Heather disappears.

The fact that Heather goes out on a first date with someone and hears from OM on the same day cannot be a coincidence. I think it speaks to OM's lingering feelings for Heather.

 

[SharetheLight]

These are really good questions and this is JMO based on my understanding of what I have seen reported before. I bolded my responses above based on my understanding of how things work. Hope this helps.

Thank you. I think cell pings are going to be important and I think some local said some provider doesn't get good service by PTL. It also looks like a lot of woods so I just wondered how this may or may not affect ping info.
I also note that searches are being done a certain distance from PTL and wonder if this is due to information that has come in that wasn't an exact location but more of a radius.

Just my random thoughts today.

 

[Tracee27]

Hi new member here. Does anyone the amount of area covered by a cell tower? It seems all the locations of importance are close together and may use the same tower. Meaning whom ever is involved in Heathers disappearance may use the same tower at home or work as where her car was located and then ping info may not help LE? Does that make sense?




ETA: I did a google search and got a basic answer of 3-45 miles(thanks that narrows it down) depending on age and type of tower. I wasn't able to find specifics on the Myrtle Beach area.

 

[Topcat]

IMO, a large reward isn't going to make someone come forward and talk that may be directly involved or related to the perp(s). There [obviously] needs to be another way around finding information out that will lead to an arrest(s). IMO, LE needs to look at past events leading up to HE's disappearance. Not just the current events. And, they need to look at ties to other locations outside of Myrtle Beach (Conway, Aynor, Loris).

I'm hoping someone in the work places/bars that HE and her friends frequent or even places that those named in the police report frequents might know something.They might have heard something or seen something that might not even directly be related to the disappearance but cause some insight on habits or places of interest that was talked about. Sometimes ,one doesn't understand the importance of something they seen or heard until the big picture is drawn if you KWIM and these avenues must be explored.

 

[OldSteve]

Hi new member here. Does anyone the amount of area covered by a cell tower? It seems all the locations of importance are close together and may use the same tower. Meaning whom ever is involved in Heathers disappearance may use the same tower at home or work as where her car was located and then ping info may not help LE? Does that make sense?




ETA: I did a google search and got a basic answer of 3-45 miles(thanks that narrows it down) depending on age and type of tower. I wasn't able to find specifics on the Myrtle Beach area.

:welcome: to WS!

ETA:
Because her car was found at place she had been to before and knew of, (sorry to repeat saying this) I'm convinced this was not a random or stranger crime.. Has to be someone known to her, and should be a solvable case IMO... but time was of the essence in checking all those who knew her for scratches, etc... also interviewing and using the fact that someone being questioned does not know what you (LE) knows and you can spook them, see if they get nervous.... ask for DNA sample,,, etc...

 

[SharetheLight]

Hi new member here. Does anyone the amount of area covered by a cell tower? It seems all the locations of importance are close together and may use the same tower. Meaning whom ever is involved in Heathers disappearance may use the same tower at home or work as where her car was located and then ping info may not help LE? Does that make sense?




ETA: I did a google search and got a basic answer of 3-45 miles(thanks that narrows it down) depending on age and type of tower. I wasn't able to find specifics on the Myrtle Beach area.

Welcome!
Your initial info in post makes total sense and those thoughts contributed to some of my questions in my earlier post.
Your eta info depresses me. hoping it's a little tighter in MB.

 

[Salem]

As a local I keep hearing "they're waiting on a warrant." Its so frustrating bc I feel they have enough evidence. Especially if it isn't all leaked. and I wake up everyday hoping it finally verifies that in media.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

I really believe they are waiting to find Heather. LE will only make a move if they have to, without Heather, I think. They are in the process of doing the legwork. It is not impossible, but it is much more difficult, to prosecute a case without the victim. All t's have to be crossed, all i's, dotted. Everyone interviewed and questioned, all the information/evidence put together.

This is the tedious, time consuming process. And they have to do it, while taking care of all other crimes in Horry County.

Just my 2 cents,

Salem

 

[Topcat]

How many people are still missing in Horry County in the last 5 years?

 

[Tracee27]

:welcome: to WS!

ETA:
Because her car was found at place she had been to before and knew of, (sorry to repeat saying this) I'm convinced this was not a random or stranger crime.. Has to be someone known to her, and should be a solvable case IMO... but time was of the essence in checking all those who knew her for scratches, etc... also interviewing and using the fact that someone being questioned does not know what you (LE) knows and you can spook them, see if they get nervous.... ask for DNA sample,,, etc...

I agree this is not a random act. I believe that LE is gathering the evidence needed to obtain their search warrants. Treading lightly here.....Normally cell phone pings may be helpful in that but that certain cell phone info may not help LE if the suspect(s) are common users of that same tower that covers the area where her car was found. I hope that isn't breaking any rules.

 

[fitmix]

Welcome!
Your initial info in post makes total sense and those thoughts contributed to some of my questions in my earlier post.
Your eta info depresses me. hoping it's a little tighter in MB.

Just wanted to chime in here referring to STL's earlier post. Pings and coordinates of a cell phone can be narrowed down VERY close to a location, often times exact. We've had 911 hang ups that can be narrowed down to a house or 2. Over 4 years ago, my mom had the police knock on her door saying they believe someone called 911 from her yard. I currently have the Lookout app on my phone, and if I was to go online now and log into my account, it will show my phone being in my house. I can even get a street view of the house. My sister's phone was stolen, and we remotely put an app on her phone AFTER it was stolen and was tracking it online as the person was driving around with the phone. Once the phone was stopped at an address, she got the police to meet her at that address to get her phone back.

A little off topic, the lookout app is amazing. It will email you a picture taken using your phone's camera when someone enters my password wrong 3 times. You can also remotely send signals to your phone to engage either the front or rear camera, engage the mic, or even to scream if you can't find your phone because it's on silent. It's actually kind of freaky but I've caught my niece trying to get into my phone on many occasions. It was worth it for me after my phone was stolen while at a restaurant, and I never got it back and lost ALL of my 1000+ pictures.

 

[Tracee27]

Just wanted to chime in here referring to STL's earlier post. Pings and coordinates of a cell phone can be narrowed down VERY close to a location, often times exact. We've had 911 hang ups that can be narrowed down to a house or 2. Over 4 years ago, my mom had the police knock on her door saying they believe someone called 911 from her yard. I currently have the Lookout app on my phone, and if I was to go online now and log into my account, it will show my phone being in my house. I can even get a street view of the house. My sister's phone was stolen, and we remotely put an app on her phone AFTER it was stolen and was tracking it online as the person was driving around with the phone. Once the phone was stopped at an address, she got the police to meet her at that address to get her phone back.

A little off topic, the lookout app is amazing. It will email you a picture taken using your phone's camera when someone enters my password wrong 3 times. You can also remotely send signals to your phone to engage either the front or rear camera, engage the mic, or even to scream if you can't find your phone because it's on silent. It's actually kind of freaky but I've caught my niece trying to get into my phone on many occasions. It was worth it for me after my phone was stolen while at a restaurant, and I never got it back and lost ALL of my 1000+ pictures.

That will be helpful! I wasn't sure how close they could get it.

 

[Topcat]

Just wanted to chime in here referring to STL's earlier post. Pings and coordinates of a cell phone can be narrowed down VERY close to a location, often times exact. We've had 911 hang ups that can be narrowed down to a house or 2. Over 4 years ago, my mom had the police knock on her door saying they believe someone called 911 from her yard. I currently have the Lookout app on my phone, and if I was to go online now and log into my account, it will show my phone being in my house. I can even get a street view of the house. My sister's phone was stolen, and we remotely put an app on her phone AFTER it was stolen and was tracking it online as the person was driving around with the phone. Once the phone was stopped at an address, she got the police to meet her at that address to get her phone back.

A little off topic, the lookout app is amazing. It will email you a picture taken using your phone's camera when someone enters my password wrong 3 times. You can also remotely send signals to your phone to engage either the front or rear camera, engage the mic, or even to scream if you can't find your phone because it's on silent. It's actually kind of freaky but I've caught my niece trying to get into my phone on many occasions. It was worth it for me after my phone was stolen while at a restaurant, and I never got it back and lost ALL of my 1000+ pictures.

Lookout is excellent for an Android phone,,,can it be put in remotely?