I see a lot of posts about Maiden Lane. While I think this is a definite possibility, I have questions about that hole in the fence to the hwy. As I understand it, there has been some road construction going on there and traffic is slowed. Correct? It looks like from the Google map that the area where the bikes were found can be seen from the highway. .. when you take the little yellow man for a walk. This bothers me immensely. I can see some perp/perps cruising through town and seeing the girls on their bikes, hopping on the hwy and then seeing the bikes on the trail, taking that exit and looping around the lake to that spot.
In a different scenario, I can see the hole in the fencing being used as a point to dump the bikes and the purse after the girls were already taken. It seems that people are really thinking about the perps being well hidden (Maiden Lane) but it's been my experience that sometimes "well hidden" means right in front of your face! Would anybody cruising down the hwy really think, say, a service van on the side of the road would be odd? What about that hwy? Is it an interstate? Would the people in those cars at that particular time be travelers that wouldn't necessarily know to report something. . .especially if it didn't seem odd? I know if I was driving across state (let alone if I was on a long road trip and not in my home state) would I think to report a work van (or any vehicle really) parked on the side of the freeway in a missing child case if I didn't even realize I was in the right spot at the right time to see something. KWIM?
I have more thoughts, but I'll save them. I really think this was an abduction, crime of opportunity. It reminds me of the woman in eastern Montana (Sherry something). And the attempted abductions on the case map bother me. . .the dates and the frequency. . screams desperation and urgency.
I don't have a good feeling about this case. .but I pray everyday that I'm wrong.
lease:
SBM
Yes, the road by Meyer's Lake is an interstate, I-380 (also called Hwy 20). It has been pretty much ruled out as a means of getting to or away from the bicycle site, though, based on several factors.
On 13 July, one side of I-380 had been closed down for construction, so all traffic was on one side of the road. It's a heavily used bit of interstate because it's the main route from the south to the Cedar Valley area.
With all traffic forced onto one side of the interstate, it was close to bumper to bumper traffic during the day.
Additionally, the lanes and shoulders were not standard width. The shoulders were not wide enough to allow a vehicle to be parked and also allow two semis going in opposite directions to pass safely. Any vehicle parked on the tiny shoulder would be immediately spotted (and probably towed).
The construction crews were questioned by LE. There hasn't been any information released to the media about the results of those interviews but I think if someone on one of the crews had seen anything revealing, LE remarks to the media would have placed more importance on I-380.
At that point, the area between the shoulder of the highway and the fence is a steep slope. The hole in the fence is there because someone went off the interstate a few years ago and crashed into the fence. To my eye, the slope is steep enough that the only way to take a vehicle down it without rolling the vehicle would be to go straight down. In which case, the turn onto the trail would be impossible (trail being only 10 feet wide).
Likewise, someone carrying two bicycles down the slope would have a difficult time of it. And would stick out like a sore thumb. Irate truckers would probably be on their cellphones screaming at 911 for the jerk on the side of the road to be arrested. <LOL>
I've driven through that area many a time although not in the last 6 years. I have a friend who lives in Evansdale, so I have some familiarity with the area. As I remember it, in the summer, Meyer's Lake is just a flash of water through a small clearing in the trees. The bike trail is not obvious from the interstate. The weeds and trees mostly conceal whatever is on the trail from the interstate.
Finally, there is no signage from the interstate for Meyer's Lake. So if someone happened to be travelling on the interstate and saw the girls on the trail, it would not be immediately obvious how to get from the exit to Meyer's Lake.
The location of the bicycles, no matter if that is the scene of the abduction or if the bicycles were placed there afterwards to stage a scene, seems to argue for at least a certain level of familiarity with the area.
Most of the trail around Meyer's Lake is visible from either the west end of the U shape or the east end. The place the bicycles were found is the one place on the trail that is not open to view from afar. The double fences plus the vegetation plus the dip in the trail all work to conceal a very short (500 foot or so) section of the trail.
So the perp would have to know more than just the location of Meyer's Lake, I think they would have to know there was a section of trail that is hidden from sight, even though that concealment is not readily apparent from a car.
