LA - Mickey Shunick, 21, Lafayette, 19 May 2012 - #5

[mommyof6]

That's not true. They could have dumped the bike and then tossed the body off the bridge at any point. I wonder how many cars pass on the basin bridge at 2-3 am??

I've been on there late at night and there aren't many cars especially on weekdays. On weekends, I would think there would be a little more but it's so dark that he could have easily done it very quickly in between cars passing. What the police should be asking now is if anyone saw any occupied vehicles on the side of the basin bridge in the last week.

[JDB]

Hoping if there are cameras . They are the type that don't loop over the flim for at least a few days. At least that way they could get more info on the truck.

[SurfieTX]

For the locals, how would a person be able to dump the bike? Would it have to be via a boat, or could it be done by car?

[JW1893]

But if you are going to dump a body from the bridge, why not dump the bike in the water too?

Diversion? Or because he didn't have enough time to dump both? (such as he was dumping the body, and saw a car/cars approaching and decided he didn't want to risk being stuck in one place too long). I really don't know....but you can't rule it out. I think that (since it's just being found) that he dumped the bike off more recently.

[JW1893]

For the locals, how would a person be able to dump the bike? Would it have to be via a boat, or could it be done by car?

From what I can tell by the pics of the search on the exit, they would have driven off the exit, dumped the bike near the overpass, and then got back on the interstate.

[mommyof6]

Meaning... a perp worth his salt, with a boat, would have dumped the bike in the water.

Sooo... assuming the bike has been there since the night of the abduction..I see a hurried exit from Lafayette, a pullover 25 minutes later at dark Whiskey-Bay exit to sort things out (maybe secure Mickey better) and a hurried run into the bushes with the bike, and then peel out down I-10 heading east, with Mickey, w/o the bike.

OR, Mickey held somewhere and the bike disposed of... but why? If she's held somewhere, why not keep the bike?

Again, if they had a boat, the bike would be in the water and not found. So..... this looks like "dump the bike and split."

Crucial is going to be whether the police had already searched the area and not found the bike. The timing of the bike's appearance is critical.

What I don't want to think about it if Mickey and the bike were left there at the same time.

Excellent points!

[chicken fried]

"But if you are going to dump a body from the bridge, why not dump the bike in the water too?"

Exactly. Why dump the bike separately? I have to get back to some work. We'll have to let LEOs do their work. Was the bike on the bank? In the weeds? The disposition of the bike will give lots of clues.

[Artis]

I'm sorry, I really haven't focused on that. I'm checking back here a couple times a day to catch up. I want to go out to check the river again (I'm partially disabled and can't do the hiking searches, which is why I searched by boat), but if it's true that the bike has been found, I may take my boat to Whiskey Bay now. Need to see if the police are making a search grid, so I can check places everyone else hasn't already checked. the Atchfalaya is BIIIG. Gonna need all the boats they can get. But I'm glad that there is a lot of debate on the truck. The more minds, the better.

It's full of alligators out there, isn't it? Freaks me out (I'm up north). I'd be scared to go in any of that water.

Does it seem, to you, that where the fishermen found the bike would be a place where fishermen would have been every day? In other words, it would mean the bike was just dumped there.

[RWRNHZ40]

Meaning... a perp worth his salt, with a boat, would have dumped the bike in the water.

Sooo... assuming the bike has been there since the night of the abduction..I see a hurried exit from Lafayette, a pullover 25 minutes later at dark Whiskey-Bay exit to sort things out (maybe secure Mickey better) and a hurried run into the bushes with the bike, and then peel out down I-10 heading east, with Mickey, w/o the bike.

OR, Mickey held somewhere and the bike disposed of... but why? If she's held somewhere, why not keep the bike?

Again, if they had a boat, the bike would be in the water and not found. So..... this looks like "dump the bike and split."

Crucial is going to be whether the police had already searched the area and not found the bike. The timing of the bike's appearance is critical.

What I don't want to think about it if Mickey and the bike were left there at the same time.

Unless, as mentioned, that the person dumped the bike to throw the police off; but that seems like a heck of a lot of work to throw someone off the scent. They dump that bike, and there's the possibility of evidence being found. Would have been smarter to just keep the evidence unless they panicked and, like you said, dumped and split. Makes me wonder if they probably weren't sure if anyone had saw anything and notified the police.

[T3kt3hgrrl]

For the locals, how would a person be able to dump the bike? Would it have to be via a boat, or could it be done by car?

Both, it really depends on how determined the person is and timing. I've seen random junk down there often. Sometimes floating and sometimes on land. Even if the body were there, anywhere along there, finding it will be hard. Especially with the amount of predators we have. (aka alligators.)

[notlaw]

I'm re-posting this image from last night. I'm not convinced that the truck shown on University by the graveyard has a bed cover.

[Wheelz]

Alot will depend on where the actually found the bike. Under the bridge?...Most likely driven down and dumped....along side the bridge but "down there"...banged up"?...thrown over the bridge which could be done in a matter of seconds from a truck bed.

[Artis]

Chicken fried,

It would be interesting to find out exactly where the bike was found. You were out there last tuesday to search the water. I am sure if that bike was just lying out in the open alongside the road, that you would have seen it, or someone else would have. Seems odd it was just found now.

No, he said he didn't go out there. He was in the Vermillion (sp) River.

[JW1893]

It's full of alligators out there, isn't it? Freaks me out (I'm up north). I'd be scared to go in any of that water.

Does it seem, to you, that where the fishermen found the bike would be a place where fishermen would have been every day? In other words, it would mean the bike was just dumped there.

Alligators, snakes...a lot of swamp wildlife.

And it's a boat access point to get into the Basin, so there are generally people down there daily. Not knowing exactly where the bike was situated, it's hard to say if it would have been seen during the last week, but because it wasn't, I'm leaning towards it being dumped later as a diversion.

[Amster]

Wasn't the bike found under the overpass? In the pics, it looks like a dirt road runs underneath there....