One thing I have never understood is why the timeline seems to be misreported. It may not be critical but strange. According to the news accounts, the last reported function the girls were at was broken up at 1:50 AM. The girls went from there to Janelle’s house in Battlefield. That was 57 “city blocks” due west. A reasonable time of arrival would be 2:00 AM.
It was at that time they learned the original plans were scrapped because of relatives in town for the graduation. Allowing for normal parting conversations, etc. they may have left for the Delmar address at about 2:10 AM. Using a map service it said it would have been 11.6 miles and about 20 minutes. That puts it at 2:30 AM. However, Janelle’s mother said she looked at her alarm clock at 2:20 AM as they drove away. In any event it has been widely reported they arrived back at the Delmar address at about 2:00 AM. Clearly that would not be possible.
So my bottom line question is why has the timeline been so misreported? This may sound to be unimportant but unless I misunderstand how criminal cases are handled one of the first things to be done is to assemble a timeline. Obviously this helps to eliminate certain initial suspects when it can be established that someone could not be a suspect as they couldn’t be in two places at the same time. This is to be distinguished as different from “contract” murders. Most will recall the infamous case of the NASA astronaut who drove a great distance using adult diapers to confront a rival who she viewed as a threat to her love interest.
So in summary, what is the consensus of the time of arrival at the Delmar address. Thoughts?
