Stranger Abduction Theories #2

[SurfieTX]

After hearing some of the witnesses (the very few that have been able to speak), I really think that Kyron and Terri split up after they took the picture in the classroom/dropped of the coat and backpack. Zimmerman said on Dateline (?) that Terri had asked her about the shirts. The way it was postured in the interview led me to believe that she asked her at a different time that morning somewhere else in the school, but I could be WAY wrong - JMHO. Also, there were kids initially saying that they saw Terri w/o Kyron.

Therefore, I think they went in the classroom, walked toward the gym and other classrooms, but Kyron and Terri stopped and chatted with others at some point and somehow split up. Then we have the stairwell issue. It was reported early on that they went up or down 2 separate stairwells.

In this scenario, it would be easier for a stranger or acquaintance to get Kyron's attention and whisk him off.

The only thing that pokes a hole in the stranger abduction plot, for me, is that I would think a stranger would not risk going back over to the parking lot to put him in a car. I firmly believe that Kyron was taken somewhere by a vehicle. The searches with the dogs early on around the school did not take that long and it seemed a pretty quick rule-out by LE that Kyron was not taken off of the school grounds on foot.

But, as others have pointed out, it could be a quick grab and shove and Kyron's in a car lickity-split. That takes some real cajones though with all of those extra adults there that day.

 

[TopTop]

At this point I pretty much believe that Terri is involved although I, like everyone else, have no idea what exactly happened. My belief is pretty much based on her behaviour and everything we have learned since the disappearance.

When Kyron first went missing I would not have been surprised if it was a stranger abduction. On any ordinary day my kids school is very high security but on any special 'show' day i.e. Christmas show or any other similar event there are tons of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings etc in the school. Everyone is coming and going during the shows as they stay to watch their child's class and often leave right after or show up just before their child is due to go on stage. It is total chaos.

On those days I am so concentrated on seeing my child, getting some pictures, trying to walk past people, saying hi to some people I know etc that I don't even notice other children around me. Even if I saw a child I know with someone I do not know it would not even make an impression on me enough to really 'notice' as it could be anyone in their family.

A child could easily leave with a stranger or someone they know only slightly and I really don't think anyone would really notice. As long as the child left happily enough, not kicking and screaming I don't think anyone would necessarily notice. If a school employee, an acquaintance or someone asking for help took a child there would likely be no kicking or screaming.

That is how I think it could happen although not how I think it did happen.

 

[PortlandMama]

After hearing some of the witnesses (the very few that have been able to speak), I really think that Kyron and Terri split up after they took the picture in the classroom/dropped of the coat and backpack. Zimmerman said on Dateline (?) that Terri had asked her about the shirts. The way it was postured in the interview led me to believe that she asked her at a different time that morning somewhere else in the school, but I could be WAY wrong - JMHO. Also, there were kids initially saying that they saw Terri w/o Kyron.

Therefore, I think they went in the classroom, walked toward the gym and other classrooms, but Kyron and Terri stopped and chatted with others at some point and somehow split up. Then we have the stairwell issue. It was reported early on that they went up or down 2 separate stairwells.

In this scenario, it would be easier for a stranger or acquaintance to get Kyron's attention and whisk him off.

The only thing that pokes a hole in the stranger abduction plot, for me, is that I would think a stranger would not risk going back over to the parking lot to put him in a car. I firmly believe that Kyron was taken somewhere by a vehicle. The searches with the dogs early on around the school did not take that long and it seemed a pretty quick rule-out by LE that Kyron was not taken off of the school grounds on foot.

But, as others have pointed out, it could be a quick grab and shove and Kyron's in a car lickity-split. That takes some real cajones though with all of those extra adults there that day.

BBM.

Thanks! I'll leap off your last point: If it was done after the 8:45 bell, then most of the adults would have already left. The ones remaining would be school staff and faculty, plus the parents who stayed behind to chaperone the small groups through the exhibits. They would all be occupied with their charges and tasks.

I'm envisioning a point that feels like a mass exodus of parents/visitors around 8:45, then a much quieter hallway with most kids inside rooms with their adults, touring exhibits, and groups occasionally entering the hallway and exiting into the next room. The gym is near the door by the parking lot. If Kyron exited the gym alone (perhaps en route to the restroom or water fountain), immediately encountered a needy stranger (assumed by Kyron to be a parent) who asked for help bringing in a project, he could wind up in a car in a matter of moments, with no one witnessing. None of the windows on that side are low enough to see the parking lot through. And if the car is parked very close to that exit, that preserves the privacy.

I also agree with other posters that point out the risk is actually fairly low until that pivotal second or two, because the stranger could always claim he was genuinely just asking for help, no harm done. I.e., maintain the ruse with Kyron right until the shove into the trunk or backseat, and he won't do anything to attract attention.

Because the person is a stranger, it also minimizes the risk of being identified later, just in case someone does see Kyron with this person and realizes--after Kyron turns up missing--what they have seen.

 

[cluciano63]

Was it ever really confirmed by LE how many adults were there that morning between 8-9AM?

 

[gardeness]

My theories include the theory that Terri may have lied about how/where she left Kyron that morning. Her account has bothered me from the moment I heard about this case, and I wonder if she actually left him in the gym, but lied because she thought that would make her look "bad"...

1) Either a pedophile or a vindictive parent/school employee watched Terri leave the gym with K, then approached Kyron with a ruse to get him outside.

2) Kyron could have been with the group of children seen by the groundskeeper at the raised gardens (I wish we'd heard a follow-up on this--if the police ever identified these children). If a pedophile was waiting for an opportunity, this would have been perfect...

Something struck me as I watched the 48 Hours episode about Amber Dubois:

"According to Gardner, he was driving in the neighborhood at about 7 a.m. when he spotted Amber walking alone down an empty side street.

'She wasn’t anywhere where any of us thought she was… she was not anywhere near the school,' says Carrie [Amber's mother]."

What we might think we know about Kyron's disappearance might not be accurate--and that's disturbing...

 

[jat]

FR: Jaycee Dugards stepfather should never have been a suspect. This child was taken, (dragged into a car by a woman with a man driving) in front of her friends. This is very different, imo.

Jaycee Dugard was abducted while she was alone walking to the bus stop. The only person that saw her was her stepfather who tried to get in the car and chase after the abductors, but lost them.

 

[cluciano63]

Poor Amber's mom even came to suspect her husband of killing Amber...along with the police suspecting him.

 

[GrainneDhu]

Actually we don't know if anyone saw Kyron outside the school, since Desiree inadvertently implied during a press conference that someone saw him in the parking lot.

Who would be bold enough to walk into a school parking lot with a child that wasn't theirs, if they were about to abduct him? Not a teacher or custodian - their faces are too familiar and a casual glance of a student or another teacher out the window, or a familiar parent parking next to them would bust them immediately. And how would they explain their absence from their job once they drove away with Kyron?

So either a stranger-stranger, unfamiliar to most folks there (could be a parent who is otherwise never at the school, unfamiliar to other kids and teachers), or someone who has only a temporary but official purpose at the school - like a landscaper (only we know who he is already) or someone there to fix a school bus, or to apply for a job at the school, or someone who wanted to check out the school for their own child because they've recently moved to the district, etc.

How did they lure him out of the school? That's not as easy for me to imagine. Anything COULD work, on a given child, but then anything could also lead to the kid running away to tell a teacher, as they've been taught.

That part, for me, is the easiest part. I've seen way too many demonstrations of kids going off happily with strangers to think that "stranger danger" training works. In school, kids are already pre-conditioned to obey adults that they don't necessarily know, what with substitutes and volunteers.

Plus, at that point, there's plausible deniability. On the very unlikely chance that Kyron ran off to tell a teacher, what has the predator actually done wrong? He came into a school on a day that at least looked like the school may have been open to the public (with the sign out front) and spoke to a child. He might have to do a little fast talking to school personnel, but so long as he didn't blurt out something like "yeah, I was looking for a juicy young one" it's unlikely anything more would be done.

The school would probably put some alert out but that would be easily avoided by avoiding schools for a while.

Plus walking out the door itself is just a complete danger zone. How could a stranger predict who monitors the door? Or know if there were security cameras (a parent or employee would know there weren't any - a stranger would have no way of knowing).

If there was no one at the door going in, then a predator could feel comfortable figuring there would not be anyone at the door on the way out.

If they guess wrong, easy enough to just abort the attempt right there, while there is still plausible deniability.

As for the question of security cameras, in a building that old, they clearly would not have been built in. They'd be mounted on the walls in plain sight. Maybe disguised to some extent by one of those orb thingies that stores use but those are simple to spot.

Even in new construction in stores, etc, it's usually easy to spot the cameras. I know, I look!

It seems very unlikely to me that a complete stranger would walk in to a school that's not in a very populated area and walk out with a student... what would they even be doing there to start with? If Kyron had been lured off the playground into the woods, that would be a more likely scenario, but from the center of a hallway with other kids by stranger danger? It just doesn't seem to work no matter how I twist it. Random crime of opportunity, yes, but premeditated snatch by a complete stranger from a school hallway... not so much.

So my own guess for a stranger abduction would be a temporary worker or visitor who is not overly familiar to the students and other parents, but who had or created a legit reason to be at the school that day and committed a crime of opportunity. Kyron may have exited the school on his own to look at the plant boxes by the soccer field, like other kids did, and an adult saw this and offered to walk him "back into the school" perhaps towards the front door. The side walkway was not immediately observable from the windows and once by the more front-facing parking lot, Kyron was put in car and driven away. LE was focusing on that section of the parking lot, I recall. I don't remember (but I'll look at the pics again) if that side walkway was indeed hidden from the side windows of the school.

I think that if it were a nonfamily perpetrator, it's obvious that person is bold and not at all averse to risk taking.

Such predators usually have more than one victim, though. I'd expect there to be other victims, probably in other jurisdictions (a common tactic with serial criminals, including serial killers).

Of course, without a body, it's much more difficult to spot a pattern.

I just don't know. I'm inclined to think of a nonfamily perpetrator as a low likelihood probability but, personally, I just can't rule it out completely at this point.

It is very creepy to think about.

 

[ami]

That part, for me, is the easiest part. I've seen way too many demonstrations of kids going off happily with strangers to think that "stranger danger" training works. In school, kids are already pre-conditioned to obey adults that they don't necessarily know, what with substitutes and volunteers.

Plus, at that point, there's plausible deniability. On the very unlikely chance that Kyron ran off to tell a teacher, what has the predator actually done wrong? He came into a school on a day that at least looked like the school may have been open to the public (with the sign out front) and spoke to a child. He might have to do a little fast talking to school personnel, but so long as he didn't blurt out something like "yeah, I was looking for a juicy young one" it's unlikely anything more would be done.

The school would probably put some alert out but that would be easily avoided by avoiding schools for a while.

If there was no one at the door going in, then a predator could feel comfortable figuring there would not be anyone at the door on the way out.

If they guess wrong, easy enough to just abort the attempt right there, while there is still plausible deniability.

Okay that's true, but think of this from a random pedophile's perspective. He's a stranger, he has no child or association with this particular school. There's no city or crowd to get lost in, there's no blending to speak of a small school's science fair isn't really all that busy in the grand scheme of things. So while a child MIGHT go off with him, while someone MIGHT believe a story of innocence on the off chance a child told an adult --- why would a pedophile have banked on that in the first place? I know, some like danger, but they also like success (nabbing a child) and from an outsider's perspective he stood very, very little chance of any success whatsoever and a very good chance of being noticed and observed. He'd have had his exciting danger plus far likelier chance of taking a child in a different setting - a playground, a park, a bigger school, a place with crowds to get lost in.

So while I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying specifically, I'm playing with the idea of someone actually doing this, conceiving of the idea and thinking he stood a chance of successfully grabbing and exiting with a child.

(this is of course only about the stranger danger scenario - the complete stranger off the street...)

As for the question of security cameras, in a building that old, they clearly would not have been built in. They'd be mounted on the walls in plain sight. Maybe disguised to some extent by one of those orb thingies that stores use but those are simple to spot.

Even in new construction in stores, etc, it's usually easy to spot the cameras. I know, I look!

I think that if it were a nonfamily perpetrator, it's obvious that person is bold and not at all averse to risk taking.

Such predators usually have more than one victim, though. I'd expect there to be other victims, probably in other jurisdictions (a common tactic with serial criminals, including serial killers).

Of course, without a body, it's much more difficult to spot a pattern.

I just don't know. I'm inclined to think of a nonfamily perpetrator as a low likelihood probability but, personally, I just can't rule it out completely at this point.

It is very creepy to think about.

About the security cameras, I have a different experience. We also have old schools here and they've got cameras installed but aside from the two main exits I couldn't pick them out if you paid me, lol. They aren't obvious. And again, I keep thinking re: the stranger scenario... I can see one in which it was a crime of opportunity (a person already there who seizes the moment, so to speak), but I can't think of many less likely set-ups for a 'strange' person who wants to set out to snatch a child than walking into a small-ish town school and luring one out of the hallway. Again, I know there are ways in which it could happen, by 'luck', undetected, but the chances of that are so small I'd imagine someone who wanted to take a child would go to a place where he had a likelier chance of success... JMO.

 

[SusieMom]

well, I've thought all along that Terri's behavior that morning better fits a scenario that would include her having had a drastic change in plans for her day, rather than a well thought out and implemented alibi. Her "story" starts out strong.. she is seen at school, she takes the picture, she's seen at two stores, she has the receipts... but then it gets real sketchy and vague. That seems odd if this whole thing was a well planned out alibi. To me, it is as if she was going about a normal day until *something* happened something that she has a strong motivation to cover up. So the question was what happened and why would she need to cover it? My theory all along has been that Kyron was taken by somebody that Terri knows at least in some way and her motivation for covering it up is that this person has strong, concrete evidence against her, evidence that, for absolute sure, would completely ruin her life and prove her, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be the monster people already suspect her to be. I think the abductor may or may not have been an actual stranger to Kyron but, as that person is not TMH nor any known relative of Kyron, then I think it still counts as a stranger abduction. I think she did make an effort to find Kyron on June 4th, at least for awhile but for whatever reason, at some point on that day, decided to pretend she knew nothing about the situation at all. My fear is that her reason for keeping quiet is that she knew on June 4th, prior to walking to the bus stop, that Kyron was no longer alive and that finding the guilty party would result in her own destruction.

Did she hate Kyron? Yes.. and that is no surprise b/c it would be against what we know of her real personality to be as selfless as I perceive it takes to be a loving step-parent. Was she unhappy in her current situation? Yes, but that was a chronic condition with her. Does she show horrible judgement every chance she gets? Yep... and ....


She uses men to get what she wants. Its her method of temporarily curing her discontent... first seduction then manipulation.. then she's content, for awhile, but it doesn't last and then she's back at discontent and it starts over.

I, personally, think that this particular time she used the wrong person, a very very bad person. I think that person made it so that she would suffer the hell she's in right now and if she speaks up, then she moves to an ever hotter part of hell.

For me, that's the only "stranger abduction" theory that makes any sense and even then, its probably only a faint possibility. I actually think that true, the puzzle pieces don't fit a well thought out premeditated crime committed by TH, but that's b/c it wasn't all that well thought out. IOW, The pieces don't fit b/c its a crappy puzzle and we just have to get over the parts that don't look the way we think they should.

MOO and all that....

 

[Shadowboy]

To me, it is as if she was going about a normal day until *something* happened something that she has a strong motivation to cover up. So the question was what happened and why would she need to cover it? My theory all along has been that Kyron was taken by somebody that Terri knows at least in some way and her motivation for covering it up is that this person has strong, concrete evidence against her, evidence that, for absolute sure, would completely ruin her life and prove her, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be the monster people already suspect her to be.

Respectfully snipped. ITA. And thank you!

IMO, stranger abduction is not out of the question; there are many sound "what ifs" in this discussion thread supporting that scenario. But I tend to agree, SusieMom. This case might be a strange amalgam of "TH caused it/knew it would happen" and a person who, while not necessarily a *total* stranger, knew just enough to lure Ky out of the building ... and has enough on Terri to keep her quiet.

 

[Billylee]

Was it ever really confirmed by LE how many adults were there that morning between 8-9AM?

I don't think they have any way of knowing. It was open to the public. How could they know that, as the school was not following established protocol where non-staff should have been required to sign in and wear a badge.

This particularly, makes me think ANYONE could have taken Kyron. Kyron was recently, according to Kaine, being versed on following any adult's instructions WHILE HE WAS IN SCHOOL. "C'mon Kyron, let's go see this cool electric project". "C'mon Kyron help me get the rest of xxxxxxx's project out of the car." "Hey Kyron, I need some help over in the cafeteria".

The possibilities are endless.

 

[cluciano63]

I would LE should know by now, approx. how many adults were really there, if they indeed interviewed all students and parents in those early weeks..but I don't recall any real mention of a number.

 

[Billylee]

The apparent lack of witnesses to seeing Kyron outside the school that day doesn't seem too unlikely to me. As far as the public knows, NO ONE saw Kyron outside the school, no matter if the perpetrator was TMH or a nonfamily perpetrator.

IF this were a nonfamily perpetrator, I think that one way that it could have happened is that the perpetrator saw Kyron temporarily alone in the school (maybe going to the bathroom? or straggling behind his group?). He asks Kyron to help him bring something in from his car and tells Kyron that his teacher or the principal said it was okay.

He walks out to his vehicle with Kyron, being alert for anyone who seems to be noticing them. Looks over his shoulder to make sure no one is watching through the school windows but since this was during the time of the science fair, everyone was engrossed with what was going on inside the classrooms. Coast was clear.

He arrives at his vehicle with Kyron.

If, at any point, anyone had seen them together, he would have aborted the attempted right there. Told Kyron that he just realised he had to go get something else, sent Kyron back to the school and no one would ever have been the wiser.

If this is the way it happened, then the actual danger period for the perpetrator was literally only a couple seconds. Up to that point, the perpetrator had plausible deniability if anyone had seemed to notice them. Once he enticed or placed Kyron in his vehicle, that was the danger point where there would be no way to believably explain what he was doing. And that period when he was in the act of getting Kyron into his vehicle could have literally taken a couple seconds.

I once saw a video of a simulated abduction by vehicle. The driver drove up to the young adult woman pretending to be the victim and got her to come over to the vehicle by asking for directions. As soon as one of her arms was within reach, he grabbed it, then grabbed the neck of her sweater and used his two grips to drag her into his vehicle through the driver's door window.

It was so incredibly fast, if you blinked you'd miss it. One second there was a normal looking scene of a pedestrian talking calmly to someone in a car, the next second, poof, the pedestrian was gone.

The person playing victim tried to struggle and scream but it was over so fast, she was not effective. Even though she had the advantage of knowing that the attempt would be made. The car had tinted windows so once the window was rolled up, there was nothing to see.

IF this were a nonfamily abduction, that's how fast I think it went down. One second, everything seemed normal to Kyron, the next second he was in some way trapped in the vehicle.

Another couple seconds lets the perpetrator get into their vehicle, start it (unless it was one of those with remote start, which makes it even easier) and calmly drive away.

The other theory I have wondered about is based on the many descriptions of Kyron being somewhat shy, timid, etc. I wonder if, while he was in the school, some other kids started teasing him and he left the building in distress to get away. A predator saw a small boy unattended near the school, grabbed him and left. If it happened this way, then it was opportunistic in nature: a predator who was constantly on the alert for a possible victim. It could have been a kid separated from a parent at a store by just a couple feet, a kid who chased a ball behind a tree at the park, anywhere and any time there was a couple seconds' gap in adult supervision. IF this is what happened, it was Kyron's misfortune to intersect with a predator.

I guess I'd dub my second theory the Adam Walsh type theory. Who could ever have predicted that his mother would turn her back for a few minutes? Adam had joined a small crowd of kids looking at a video game system, who could possibly have predicted that none of them would notice Adam? If the security guard info is true (one rumour that has gone around is that a store security guard asked the group of kids to leave the store due to rowdiness), then who could have predicted Adam would be outside the store and alone?

No one. And yet, it did happen.

I'm so sorry for what you had to go through as a young girl. From what I've read that grooming process is extremely common amongst these creeps! If Kyron's life at home was as Kaine described it, someone indeed may have been grooming him. When a child's (or anyone's for that matter) self esteem is low, they are vulnerable to abuse.

Your third paragraph hit home with me, because I was almost victim of that same scenario. I had just gotten off the bus, we used muni buses to go to and from school, and no one else got off the bus with me that day as I was later than usual, just before dark. I walked a little ways and there was no one around, a man pulled up behind me very slowly in a car (I was about 16 at the time), (I can see his face today!), he told me he wanted directions to the nearest hospital. He motioned me toward the car and his pants were down around his ankles, he did have a handkerchief over his privates, he said "I cut myself in the shower and I need to know how to get to the hospital". There was no blood apparent, nothing like that, he was, ahem, handling his junk, I backed from the car, pointed in the direction he was going (even though I knew it was the wrong way) and told him to get on the freeway or something like that, he motioned me back toward the car, and said something about not being sure of how to get there and I immediately ran behind his car and across the street, I went into a 7-11 and stayed there until I was sure he was gone. When I got home, looking over my shoulder all the way, I told my mom and she called the PD. I felt a little bad, thinking well maybe he really was hurt. Wrong! Got a call back from the PD, no one ever showed at any of our local hospitals with such injuries that night. This was only my first brush with creeps where I'm still thanking my lucky stars that I did not trust them!

 

[Mylou]

I still think it is quite possible that a stranger abducted Kyron.

We have not been given a whole lot of information regarding his disappearance at all. Alot of information about TMH that may or may not even relate to his disappearance.

I do believe that TMH was not the only adult at that school that day with the knowledge of how bad security was at that school. Add to that how many may have discussed it with outsiders.

What bothers me so much with what we do know, is Kyron being schooled on listening to adults at school.
TMH's description of how Kyron had been acting the last few weeks.
It makes me wonder ......was there a reason why Kyron was not listening to adults at school ?
It also bothers me that it happened so close to the end of the school year.
I would love to know what LE knows about the adults from the school.

 

[Billylee]

In the beginning I posted my theory and it was a lot like some of yours, a man or someone he sort of knew, asked for him to help with getting something out of the car or truck. That is an old ruse and works well on a day like the school was having. People coming and going, no cameras, lots going on, distractions, and projects being loaded and unloaded not to mention, lots of people not normally on the school grounds. So very possible, but where I became convinced TH had something to do with this, was the after behavior. The behavior felt guilty to me, but maybe she was guilty of something else, not Kyron. Was she hiding an affair or the fact she didn't like him or worried what will people think when everything comes out? IDK, I still can't figure out means to carry this off, unless, she had help. So it's all on the table for me. I feel in my gut, she passed him off to somebody. That is the only thing that would fit into this tight time frame for me and the fact they haven't found a body. iIt takes time to hide a body that well.

ps anyone see Criminal Minds last night??? Made me think of Kyron and his family.

I did watch criminal minds last night and yes I thought of Kyron. Kids being taken right out from under the noses of loving parents in a crowded place, scary stuff indeed. All with a simple diversion tactic.

I know that it is assumed by many that LE has some substantial evidence against TH, even though they insist (even in today's current media report) saying she is not a suspect, however, IIRC, they have never retracted the statement that "no one has been cleared" in this matter. To me, that's huge, LE is saying, yes we're concentrating on TH, but.......we cannot rule out stranger abduction....that is IMO a monumental statement. So, since they haven't ruled it out, neither should we, and I personally have not.

I'm hoping this thread stays as pure as the original poster intended:

Given the "evidence" we've been provided, is it possible that a stranger abducted Kryon?

IMO, you bet your sweet patootee it is.

 

[cluciano63]

While I have come to believe that Terri is the most likely candidate for having taken/killed Kyron...the longer it goes without him being found, the less certain I am. I just don't think she did a very good job of giving herself an alibi, for one thing, and feel that he should have been found by now if she had dumped his body someplace in her travels that day.

But that being said, I do not believe LE would have 48 divers going into icy water looking for a phone, or a clue. I do think they were looking specifically for Kyron's body. If he is there somewhere, they may be able to tie Terri to that locale, that is if they ever find him. They may have had to give up on searching the waters off of SI.

 

[GrainneDhu]

I would LE should know by now, approx. how many adults were really there, if they indeed interviewed all students and parents in those early weeks..but I don't recall any real mention of a number.

I would have thought so as well but when the groundskeeper complete with a white pickup trick came forward, that really shook my thinking up.

I think if someone who was present were to have slipped through the net somehow, I think it would be because each person who saw that person thought they were with someone else, who would report them. Kinda the same way teens slip into paid events by walking between two or more separate groups just close enough to appear to be with one group or the other group (do teenagers still do that? they did in my day but my day was close to 40 years ago!). Each group assumes the teen is with the other group and so they don't pay any particular attention to them.

I know one of the principles of investigative interviewing is to try to keep witnesses as separate as possible to cut down on the risk of them contaminating each other's memories, make collusion more difficult, etc. But in a case like this, in order to get the best picture, I think LE would almost have to get all the witnesses together and interview them as a group to let them check each other's stories.

It could be enlightening to do a couple re-enactments. Once with someone playing the part of TMH, to see if there are holes in her reported movements at the school. And once with someone walking through pretending to be a predator to see just how difficult or likely it is that they would have been spotted.

I wish I could remember which book about which serial killer I read that had a quote that went something like "I was able to get away with it over and over because I am an expert in seeing what normal people never notice." Sounds like Ted Bundy but for some reason I don't think it was him (although it may have been from the Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth book about him).

I don't know if I'm explaining myself very well.

What I'm trying to say is that when I finally became a competent dog trainer, I was surprised at how much behaviour the vast majority of dog owners miss because they don't watch their dogs. Even people who brought their dogs to me because they had serious behavioural problems usually did not keep their dog under good observation.

I realised that the "rules" or habits of social interaction mean that when there is more than one human being present, most people start missing a lot of what happens around them because they are so busy with the human-to-human interactions.

IF this were a nonfamily abduction, then I believe it was someone who was able to exploit the constant lapses in attention that normal people have many times per minute.
.

 

[cluciano63]

I was just trying to determine if we really knew that there was a large, busy crowd possibly providing cover for an interloper or someone with an evil agenda, or just a few dozen parents at a time, passing thru on their way to work...

 

[Kimster]

After walking around the school and thinking about what it would have been like with the events going on, the only way I can fathom a stranger abduction is if they exited out the back way and through the field that leads to the trees. Maybe Kyron was wandering around back there and someone got him that way? That's the only way I can see that happening.