GUILTY TX - Alanna Gallagher, 6, Saginaw, 1 July 2013 - #4

[SCHMAE]

Could they take the pool chemicals plus water from the hot tub and compare what % of each are in it. Then take the wet bathing suit, compare the water and determine if that suit was in that water vs . the pool at the camp ?

 

[human]

Yes, "store bought" perhaps. Like these black restraints, for example, that are used to secure camping equipment to the roof of a vehicle.

http://www.bushranger.com.au/bushpak.php#.Udu2f23YGzg

We call them bungee straps.

I believe they are sold with that name.

Of course I am not from Texas, but I have never heard snyone refer to them as anything but bungee straps. Never restraints

 

[BeginnersLuck]

Speaking from perspective of someone in neighboring community......

LE statements (Ing specifically), have really only frustrated me. If it wasn't family or accident (so far called homicide), then how are you sure it's isolated? That we're "perfectly safe", etc.....

Then yesterday Ing made a statement to the effect of needing coroner results quickly to get a better idea of what they were dealing with. Far less confident than statements made last week.

It was a red truck. Then yesterday in the neighborhood blitz it was 2 black vehicles.

Last nite a link was posted (thread 3) that they are looking into suspected abduction attempt May 31st. Red truck, again. And if associated with this or other recent local abduction attempts (I linked in thread 3)......these are not isolated, no one is perfectly safe, and clearly "these types of things" do happen here.

It doesn't make me panic personally to feel that something very dark may be going on, but the way LE has addresses this with the public over the last week really decreases my confidence that they have a handle on this.

Did they spend too much time initially focused on family?

Is this a focused search based on what has been discovered so far, or did the family suspicion not pan out and now they're essentially throwing spaghetti at the wall?

I could go on...... I guess all I'm saying is that if inspiring a sense of calm & relative safety, and confidence in LE ability to close this quickly was the goal......they have failed. At least for me.

I hope I'm wrong, though!

Again, JMO but unless there is a flat out confession or a witness to the entire event, it takes time to build a case. I am basing this on other cases I have followed. It has only been a week. I am wishfully hoping here that they know a lot more than what is appears to the general public. I hope they have footage on camera that will help put the pieces together.

I know this has to be horribly frustrating for the community. Please know that I am in no way trying to diminish that frustration at all. I am just observing and comparing to cases I have previously followed.

I have to agree with the other poster that said their statement about it being a "isolated event" is due to there being no other current cases like it. I wouldn't take it as anything other than that without more information.

Just a note on the drowning theory. Yes, I do believe that it's possible that the creep that did this may have drowned her and that may end up being her COD if she had water in her lungs. I think I mentioned before that their could possibly be multiple COD's that they have to work through.

 

[Donjeta]

Folks, I'm just talking based on the evidence. Since the warrant was leaked, last 12 hours or so, I'm noticing that any non-parent theory gets jumped on and beaten to death, so I'm going to stop annoying people by posting them. Awaiting more infI.

Just curious and FTR, I am considering several non-parent theories:
Why would staging an accidental drowning to look like murder be a non-parent theory specifically? Assuming people do it sometimes, I suppose both parents and non-parents could have, and expect parents mght be even more likely to because neighbors can just shrug and say, sadly I wasn't aware that she was in my pool, or I thought she had left but she must have come back. Parents, babysitters and other designated caretakers might be expecting negligence charges and want to avoid them. (Although I'm not sure if its any better to have the child murdered by a stranger than drown accidentally if she wasn't supervised ether way.)



.

 

[SCHMAE]

Again, JMO but unless there is a flat out confession or a witness to the entire event, it takes time to build a case. I am basing this on other cases I have followed. It has only been a week. I am wishfully hoping here that they know a lot more than what is appears to the general public. I hope they have footage on camera that will help put the pieces together.

I know this has to be horribly frustrating for the community. Please know that I am in no way trying to diminish that frustration at all. I am just observing and comparing to cases I have previously followed.

I have to agree with the other poster that said their statement about it being a "isolated event" is due to there being no other current cases like it. I wouldn't take it as anything other than that without more information.

Just a note on the drowning theory. Yes, I do believe that it's possible that the creep that did this may have drowned her and that may end up being her COD if she had water in her lungs. I think I mentioned before that their could possibly be multiple COD's that they have to work through.

Good point. I live close enough, however, to worry if this is the " first incident' in a string of more, Fortunately my kids are much older, but that means little since we have no idea what's going on.

 

[Threeplus1]

I was so hoping to have some resolution to this case this morning. With everything LE took from the home, all the resources of the Texas Rangers and the FBI, surely they have evidence that points either directly at the family or away from them at this point! Given the amount items taken and the man power/equipment available, why hasn't there been an arrest? That makes me think there's something that doesn't match...the tp (if there was tp on or with the body) was different, the belt notch didn't match, the "red tape" was a different brand, etc. Was there foreign DNA found? There's no "chatter" about who she was last with, who did she play with that day?

And I hate to bring up Opal Jennings again, but what if there was some similarity to Opal's case?

 

[jjenny]

I was so hoping to have some resolution to this case this morning. With everything LE took from the home, all the resources of the Texas Rangers and the FBI, surely they have evidence that points either directly at the family or away from them at this point! Given the amount items taken and the man power/equipment available, why hasn't there been an arrest? That makes me think there's something that doesn't match...the tp (if there was tp on or with the body) was different, the belt notch didn't match, the "red tape" was a different brand, etc. Was there foreign DNA found? There's no "chatter" about who she was last with, who did she play with that day?

And I hate to bring up Opal Jennings again, but what if there was some similarity to Opal's case?

An arrest? After one week? Why do people expect an arrest after a week? Lots of cases I have been following drag on for months and years.

 

[Ladylub]

Good point. I live close enough, however, to worry if this is the " first incident' in a string of more, Fortunately my kids are much older, but that means little since we have no idea what's going on.

BBM My worry also. If the other incidents of attempted abductions are linked to Alanna then we have someone who finally succeeded in what he was doing.

 

[Threeplus1]

Did they spend too much time initially focused on family?

LE only gets one chance to have immediate access to what could be the primary crime scene. (I know they can go back, but I'm talking about within hours of the crime.). I would think they'd grab everything they could (like they did). Given the statistics, I would think the family HAS to be ruled out first unless there's compelling evidence that points to someone else (like witnesses).

I just hope that if they truly have ruled out the family, they will come forward and say that because they are being hung in the court of public opinion (not here on WS, but in local social media).

 

[carbuff]

I wonder if they had any visitors that day?

I've been wondering that myself, since the items LE collected seem to point to at least the possibility of a connection to the house but LE has repeatedly said in so many words that the parents aren't suspects. On the other hand, the items that were collected are so common that many if not most suburban houses with kids would have them. I guess we can probably infer that something similar to those items was found with the body or might be thought to be connected to the murder site, but most of it seems to be related to being able to distinguish DNA, fingerprints, etc. that could be expected to be there versus "stuff" that came from somebody else.

 

[Threeplus1]

An arrest? After one week? Why do people expect an arrest after a week? Lots of cases I have been following drag on for months and years.

Thats exactly my point. If they have the body and they have matching evidence that they believe ties someone to the homicide, what would be the hold up? Unless something doesn't fit.

 

[Mitsana]

There are a few things that make it seem like it's possible that Alanna drowned in this case. Some people have speculated on the possibility that she may have drowned by accident, and a panicked person was trying to cover it up. Another possibility is that a perp drowned her and was on the way to place her body in a location where that might have plausibly happened, but oopsied and the body ended up in the street. If so, was there a pool in the neighborhood that the perp might have been trying to get to? I suppose the perp might also have already gone to a pool, saw that there was no way to discretely place a body there and decided to dump it in the street. In that case, is there a pool that the perp may have been driving away from?

 

[Threeplus1]

We call them bungee straps.

I believe they are sold with that name.

Of course I am not from Texas, but I have never heard snyone refer to them as anything but bungee straps. Never restraints

Could be like soda vs pop vs Coke, but bungee cords are stretchy cords with hooks on the end...at least that's what they are here in north Texas. :twocents:

 

[carbuff]

I haven't seen a thing posted about a "parent" theory around here.

When somebody looks at the items on the search warrant and comments that they can't see a non-suspicious reason for having such-and-such an item, it comes across as a "parent" theory. This has happened for a number of different items in the last 12 hours and there was a big blowup last night. So people are sensitive to the implications.

LE has said several times that the parents aren't suspects, in language as specific as LE ever uses.

eta: I'm not talking about any comment in particular, and I think most of the people who make comments like that aren't aware of how it can come across to others. I'm not accusing anyone of deliberate malice or deliberately violating TOS, either. Just wanted to clarify that.

 

[Donjeta]

Originally Posted by GingerzMomma
Did they spend too much time initially focused on family?

There is no such thing imo. Regardless of who it turns out to be they need the evidence fresh from the home because if they want to have a good case against the real perp, they need to be able to show that the family was investigated thoroughly and ruled out, and you never know, they might find clues to the real perp in the victim's home as well (say, a RSO's fingerprints in a candy wrapper or something).

 

[jjenny]

There are a few things that make it seem like it's possible that Alanna drowned in this case. Some people have speculated on the possibility that she may have drowned by accident, and a panicked person was trying to cover it up. Another possibility is that a perp drowned her and was on the way to place her body in a location where that might have plausibly happened, but oopsied and the body ended up in the street. If so, was there a pool in the neighborhood that the perp might have been trying to get to? I suppose the perp might also have already gone to a pool, saw that there was no way to discretely place a body there and decided to dump it in the street. In that case, is there a pool that the perp may have been driving away from?

If a perp was trying to place a body in location where drowning could have possibly happened, I doubt he body would be bound with tape, belt, put into trash bag, etc.

 

[jjenny]

When somebody looks at the items on the search warrant and comments that they can't see a non-suspicious reason for having such-and-such an item, it comes across as a "parent" theory. This has happened for a number of different items in the last 12 hours and there was a big blowup last night. So people are sensitive to the implications.

LE has said several times that the parents aren't suspects. I don't know what is so hard to understand about that.

Nowdays LE doesn't call anyone a suspect. I don't put much stock into LE saying so and so is not a suspect anymore.

 

[human]

I posted this before. I know of a case personally , in Canada, where the BF murdered his girlfriend. LE arrested him right after the funeral.

They knew it was him a few days after she was found in the trunk of a car,

He even helped search for her and was extremely kind and helpful to her parents.

I am not sure how much time he served, but he has been out for a few years.

 

[Mitsana]

If a perp was trying to place a body in location where drowning could have possibly happened, I doubt he body would be bound with tape, belt, put into trash bag, etc.

In this possibility, which I am definitely not saying is likely, the perp may have bound Alanna during the crime. The bag on the head "sealed" with tape may have been an attempt to limit the spread of evidence. The perp may have intended to remove all that when staging at the pool/supposed drowning site.

 

[jjenny]

I posted this before. I know of a case personally , in Canada, where the BF murdered his girlfriend. LE arrested him right after the funeral.

They knew it was him a few days after she was found in the trunk of a car,

He even helped search for her and was extremely kind and helpful to her parents.

I am not sure how much time he served, but he has been out for a few years.

They don't give you much time in Canada, do they?