GUILTY IL - Melissa Best, 37, Round Lake Park, 15 April 2011

[Claudette]

Fox Lake is pretty populated, not much open space. I think the "driving into the lake accidently" is plausible.

 

[Claudette]

I thought they said her phone ran out of minutes a few days ago and had not yet been refilled...that would make a little more sense, but still, with teens, you would think you'd keep your phone going.

I don't know what to think...it is too long to be gone if she just wanted some space, yet I don't see how a van can go into a lake, presumably in daylight, and no one sees it happen.

This is a very spotty area in terms of population. You have McHenry nearby which has tens of thousands of people and every town around it, and every town around those towns, is under 10,000 people. My town is less than 5,000 I think. The way I drive to work, I pass by a HUGE development with hundreds of houses. Then it is forest for miles and then more developments, some forest, and then it gets consistently populated. I'm not from this area - my FI actually just last night said that in the last 5 to 10 years this area exploded in development, and then came to a screeching halt because of the economy. That is why it is so spotty with population.

 

[Claudette]

Also want to add, there's tons of farms. I have like, 5 farms that I can think of within a 1 mile radius of me. Also, the entrance to our development is government protected land and cannot be built on it or touched at all. There are signs everywhere about turtles and cranes and to watch out for them. There's a huge bog right north of me, and tons of little swamps scattered around. My backyard is a prairie. This is how most towns in this area are - developments surrounded by untouched land.

 

[stg]

People live on most of the lakes in the area, so I would find it unlikely nobody would see that happen. At this point, though, every avenue has to be kept open since there's no trace of her or the vehicle.

The husband was just interviewed on the news and said they had a great marriage. The reporter then confronted him about the two police calls for verbal disputes, and he played it off as normal for a married couple. While I don't consider it normal, still hard to say he's suspicious.

 

[Claudette]

People live on most of the lakes in the area, so I would find it unlikely nobody would see that happen.

Good point, didn't think about that.

My heart says he's not involved, but my brain says "there's a lot to question".

 

[stg]

It's always hard to read people in such situations, but he sure looked at ease in that interview. I would be a total wreck.

 

[Melanie]

I have no debit or credit cards.
I constantly forgot to write down my transactions with the debit card and got into trouble in college with credit cards.

A lot of people are using the dave ramsey cash envelope system as well lately due to the economy so there is some logical explanations...

You and me both Peeples. I have a cc that you pre-load with cash, but no cell phone. I'm certainly a homebody (just look how much time I spend here). I don't leave a financial or cell phone trail, but do post on FB. It's kinda spooky, because my life sounds a lot like Melissa's.

However, my DH would probably notice if I was gone for too long and come looking for me (unless I disappeared while he was at work).

MOO

Mel

 

[cluciano63]

I don't know if it is exactly normal to have domestic disputes on file...if the police are called. Kind of wonky to me, at least a little, combined with him not calling LE until the next day.

 

[KaylynnCouture]

Interview with her husband: http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/new...issing-round-lake-woman-melissa-best-20110423

 

[Charlie09]

i am wrong as often as I am right, and I just don't think he had anything to do with it. I would wonder if she has credit cards that no one knows about...
and if her kids may know about another cell phone...

 

[eleven]

I don't know if it is exactly normal to have domestic disputes on file...if the police are called. Kind of wonky to me, at least a little, combined with him not calling LE until the next day.

I totally agree. I have been married approximately (give or take a few years) the same amount of time as Melissa, and although we have had our share of "fights" (not physical, but knockdown drag-out verbals and whatnot), there has NEVER been an instance of calling the police. That ONLY happens when one feels truly threatened for their physical safety and well being.

 

[Melanie]

hmmm. I try not to throw out theories so early, but he reminds me of Josh Powell when he did his first interview.

1. The pizza place shows she goes to the apartment to drop off her daughter
2. The pizza place shows her coming back (assuming in the direction of her home)
3. The husband says they have a wonderful marriage (ACK didn't Scott Peterson say the same thing).
4. The reporter then notes "didn't the police come out twice during the last year?
5. Everyone has arguments! Yes, they do - but do the police usually come out (my note).

So here's my theory. Husband and wife get into a fight when she returns. She gets hurt, or he kills her. Then he has until the next day to clean up any mess, dispose of her body, and get rid of the car.

IMHO, he was just too darn calm in that video. He didn't even make a plea for her return!

Again, this is just a THEORY! I'm not saying the husband did it, only that he could have within the time frame.

Where was the other teenager? We're both at a sleepover, or did they come home that night. That would certainly change my thinking.

MOO

Mel

 

[STEADFAST]

I totally agree. I have been married approximately (give or take a few years) the same amount of time as Melissa, and although we have had our share of "fights" (not physical, but knockdown drag-out verbals and whatnot), there has NEVER been an instance of calling the police. That ONLY happens when one feels truly threatened for their physical safety and well being.

I totally agree, too.

However, even if she did feel threatened during a fight with her husband, it doesn't mean he knows where she is. There was a case in my area fairly recently. A woman went missing after a domestic dispute. The husband seemed hinky as all get out the whole year she was missing, didn't seem all that worried about her, told the news she had contacted family members (not true), etc. I was just sure he killed her. But it turned out he had nothing to do with her being missing.

One thing I've been considering is that her hs friends and her relatives are mostly in Zion. Maybe she drove over there that evening. Parts of Zion have gotten very dangerous in the past decade or so. I agree with cfreyja23 who wrote that no one is going to carjack a '93 minivan, but maybe taking the car was just incidental to a robbery.

On the other hand, there's nothing to indicate that she hasn't just run off.

Baffling.

 

[Charlie09]

I totally agree. I have been married approximately (give or take a few years) the same amount of time as Melissa, and although we have had our share of "fights" (not physical, but knockdown drag-out verbals and whatnot), there has NEVER been an instance of calling the police. That ONLY happens when one feels truly threatened for their physical safety and well being.

Doesn't mean a scared kid, or well meaning neighbor didn't call....

 

[SurfieTX]

I totally agree, too.

However, even if she did feel threatened during a fight with her husband, it doesn't mean he knows where she is. There was a case in my area fairly recently. A woman went missing after a domestic dispute. The husband seemed hinky as all get out the whole year she was missing, didn't seem all that worried about her, told the news she had contacted family members (not true), etc. I was just sure he killed her. But it turned out he had nothing to do with her being missing.

One thing I've been considering is that her hs friends and her relatives are mostly in Zion. Maybe she drove over there that evening. Parts of Zion have gotten very dangerous in the past decade or so. I agree with cfreyja23 who wrote that no one is going to carjack a '93 minivan, but maybe taking the car was just incidental to a robbery.

On the other hand, there's nothing to indicate that she hasn't just run off.

Baffling.

Similar to Wazineh's case. She got scared and went to a women's shelter. Everyone suspected her husband, and although he was the catalyst to her disappearing to a women's shelter, he didn't harm her....yet....

 

[Melanie]

Trying to get an answer of FB as to where the 2 teenagers were that night -- not getting a response. Has anyone heard if they were home? Was the one child dropped off at the apt complex there for a sleepover? The other is not even mentioned.

Odd....

Mel

 

[SurfieTX]

Records show that Melissa Ann Best lived in Kenosha in the late nineties and during the last decade. Her most recent address is in Round Lake Park, Illinois.

http://www.wisn.com/r/27649331/detail.html

 

[SurfieTX]

Picture of van from: http://www.facebook.com/pages/FIND-Melissa-Best/211956618832124

 

[panthera]

I thought they said her phone ran out of minutes a few days ago and had not yet been refilled...that would make a little more sense, but still, with teens, you would think you'd keep your phone going.

I don't know what to think...it is too long to be gone if she just wanted some space, yet I don't see how a van can go into a lake, presumably in daylight, and no one sees it happen.

If the phone "ran out of minutes" it sounds like a pre-paid disposable phone rather than something on a plan, which is unfortunate as she had nothing to use to call for help as well as no tracking device for LE to follow. I am curious about the type of road she would've used to return home, and if, for example, it is elevated above a deep ravine, has sharp curves, etc which she may have gone off the road and her vehicle can't be seen. Another thought is - what type of neighborhood was she driving through leaving the friend's apartment? Any chance of a carjacking? MOO

 

[STEADFAST]

If the phone "ran out of minutes" it sounds like a pre-paid disposable phone rather than something on a plan, which is unfortunate as she had nothing to use to call for help as well as no tracking device for LE to follow. I am curious about the type of road she would've used to return home, and if, for example, it is elevated above a deep ravine, has sharp curves, etc which she may have gone off the road and her vehicle can't be seen. Another thought is - what type of neighborhood was she driving through leaving the friend's apartment? Any chance of a carjacking? MOO

That area is fairly flat. The housing areas are carved out of farmland and there aren't dangerous curves (there are barely any curves at all.) She was last seen (on video tape) driving through a mixed rural/suburban area at about 1:00 p.m. in Round Lake Park (where she lives and also where she dropped her daughter off.) Round Lake Park is barely 3 square miles large and the crime rate in Round Lake Park is about 20% lower than the national average.