NJ Lawyer
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2008
- Messages
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Just checking in with the group here. Not much to report. The (organized) search tomorrow (Sunday) is canceled due to expected weather. The search today was in Staten Island, and yesterday was in Old Bridge, NJ.
I spoke for a bit with Stephanie's father, Ed. I was relieved when he said that LE was very involved still, and in fact the Monmouth County prosecutor's office has an advocate for the family and even the detectives came to the family home for Thanksgiving. They are all working very hard and it seems they care very much for the family which isn't a hard thing to do, as they are all so likeable.
The search locations are said to be based on tips and other data. I feel that it doesn't make sense to try and get more information because I truly sense that the locations we search are based on very informed analysis by detectives and people who care deeply about the family. That's good enough for me and we just search where we're told.
The searches are very well attended and I think I'm going to start pacing myself and being useful in areas I can be most useful. Which for me means that I am best suited to going out there when its freezing cold, and when they need people to go through thorny areas and difficult terrain. I wear duck canvass (Carharts) that aren't made from duck of course, but are more like sail cloth. I can just walk into thorn bushes and plow through them. They don't penetrate the clothing. I also have river waders -- one piece overalls that have boots attached. Plus a little kayak. Plus a ridiculous amount of chutzpah. So I'll step in when the crowds thin out, or maybe go on more difficult searches.
As for prospects, there has been a lot of confusion over where the cell phone "pinged". A family member says JO's phone never "pinged" in Staten Island. But someone else has said there was a long black-out period where the phone was turned off and when the phone turned back on, it showed in Staten Island. Maybe that is different than a "ping" and everyone is just using different terminology. Because....there has been a lot of searching going on by law enforcement in Staten Island, including dogs, in a specific area (Long Pond Park). I can't imagine that they are only searching there "because JO knows a lot of wooded places and that area is where he used to live/work". So I'm sure there is a connection. Maybe there was concern that nobody would help search in New Jersey near SP's home if everyone thought the ping was only Staten Island. In any event, the family was able to see that people were not deterred from searching in New Jersey and at this point, the father (Ed) has said that he feels a lot of ground was covered in NJ and of course he organized today's search which was in Staten Island, not NJ.
Lots of varying facts, and at a certain point, people have stopped speculating because we all realize there are so many different facts flying around and we are going to search anywhere that makes sense so we don't need to know more. For example, one version going around was that JO was seen by a neighbor taking out the garbage in the morning/late morning at SP's home and that he told detectives he was there with her but then SP left for work late; she was "running late" for her job (as a nanny). Of course, that is not likely true as there are no reports of car accidents between her house and her job, yet she never arrived there and her phone never even left her house. But that could mean that JO could have taken SP somewhere local early in the morning and maybe that's why we were searching so much in NJ.
I know it's tempting to read into what I've said and find a new "fact" to form an opinion on about what happened. I understand that feeling, of course, that's why we are all on here and why I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying (on here) trying to figure out what was happening before they find poor Caylee Anthony. But in this instance, I think we have even more skewed versions of facts, so it doesn't make sense to try and formulate scenarios because every time one is created, the underlying fact turns out to be false.
We all have the space in our brain we want to use to make sense of missing persons cases, so I have been using mine to try and think about scenarios where SP could still be alive. I'm fairly certain she could not have left voluntarily. And it's hard to imagine she was trafficked somewhere because it's hard to go anywhere these days and escape detection. At least for a month. And then there's the suicide. I don't know if he'd have done that just because he had images of child *advertiser censored* on his phone. As shocking as it is, there are many people who have researched child *advertiser censored*, even just out of curiosity and he could have avoided embarrassment/shame by giving an excuse like that even if it wasn't true. So, yeah, the suicide was probably not an attempt to avoid prosecution on charges that didn't even involve his personally procuring the *advertiser censored* or trafficking the children in the images/videos. So...that pesky area of my brain that needs to be useful has been working harder to find scenarios that end with SP still being alive. But I'm trying. And I'm occupying it with search logistics, mapping, etc. And searching, donating, trying to help where I can.
That's all I got. Good night.
I spoke for a bit with Stephanie's father, Ed. I was relieved when he said that LE was very involved still, and in fact the Monmouth County prosecutor's office has an advocate for the family and even the detectives came to the family home for Thanksgiving. They are all working very hard and it seems they care very much for the family which isn't a hard thing to do, as they are all so likeable.
The search locations are said to be based on tips and other data. I feel that it doesn't make sense to try and get more information because I truly sense that the locations we search are based on very informed analysis by detectives and people who care deeply about the family. That's good enough for me and we just search where we're told.
The searches are very well attended and I think I'm going to start pacing myself and being useful in areas I can be most useful. Which for me means that I am best suited to going out there when its freezing cold, and when they need people to go through thorny areas and difficult terrain. I wear duck canvass (Carharts) that aren't made from duck of course, but are more like sail cloth. I can just walk into thorn bushes and plow through them. They don't penetrate the clothing. I also have river waders -- one piece overalls that have boots attached. Plus a little kayak. Plus a ridiculous amount of chutzpah. So I'll step in when the crowds thin out, or maybe go on more difficult searches.
As for prospects, there has been a lot of confusion over where the cell phone "pinged". A family member says JO's phone never "pinged" in Staten Island. But someone else has said there was a long black-out period where the phone was turned off and when the phone turned back on, it showed in Staten Island. Maybe that is different than a "ping" and everyone is just using different terminology. Because....there has been a lot of searching going on by law enforcement in Staten Island, including dogs, in a specific area (Long Pond Park). I can't imagine that they are only searching there "because JO knows a lot of wooded places and that area is where he used to live/work". So I'm sure there is a connection. Maybe there was concern that nobody would help search in New Jersey near SP's home if everyone thought the ping was only Staten Island. In any event, the family was able to see that people were not deterred from searching in New Jersey and at this point, the father (Ed) has said that he feels a lot of ground was covered in NJ and of course he organized today's search which was in Staten Island, not NJ.
Lots of varying facts, and at a certain point, people have stopped speculating because we all realize there are so many different facts flying around and we are going to search anywhere that makes sense so we don't need to know more. For example, one version going around was that JO was seen by a neighbor taking out the garbage in the morning/late morning at SP's home and that he told detectives he was there with her but then SP left for work late; she was "running late" for her job (as a nanny). Of course, that is not likely true as there are no reports of car accidents between her house and her job, yet she never arrived there and her phone never even left her house. But that could mean that JO could have taken SP somewhere local early in the morning and maybe that's why we were searching so much in NJ.
I know it's tempting to read into what I've said and find a new "fact" to form an opinion on about what happened. I understand that feeling, of course, that's why we are all on here and why I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying (on here) trying to figure out what was happening before they find poor Caylee Anthony. But in this instance, I think we have even more skewed versions of facts, so it doesn't make sense to try and formulate scenarios because every time one is created, the underlying fact turns out to be false.
We all have the space in our brain we want to use to make sense of missing persons cases, so I have been using mine to try and think about scenarios where SP could still be alive. I'm fairly certain she could not have left voluntarily. And it's hard to imagine she was trafficked somewhere because it's hard to go anywhere these days and escape detection. At least for a month. And then there's the suicide. I don't know if he'd have done that just because he had images of child *advertiser censored* on his phone. As shocking as it is, there are many people who have researched child *advertiser censored*, even just out of curiosity and he could have avoided embarrassment/shame by giving an excuse like that even if it wasn't true. So, yeah, the suicide was probably not an attempt to avoid prosecution on charges that didn't even involve his personally procuring the *advertiser censored* or trafficking the children in the images/videos. So...that pesky area of my brain that needs to be useful has been working harder to find scenarios that end with SP still being alive. But I'm trying. And I'm occupying it with search logistics, mapping, etc. And searching, donating, trying to help where I can.
That's all I got. Good night.
