I have much empathy for PH's folks. The reality is as a recovering heroin addict, she was well-schooled in "handling" them. She lived under their roof where they lovingly believed they were protecting their daughter -- perhaps a false sense of security.
The signs to me that PH was vulnerable to accidental OD on 12/20 were immediate: within hours of reporting PH missing, her dad made the statement that PH plans for Friday night were to gather with her workmates at the TRB to spend time together and listen to music.
I believed this account of a seemingly safe, reasonable, pre-holiday outing was probably verbatim what dad heard from PH. I also posted how it had a sophomoric ring to me.
I also would not be surprised if PH alleged that her presence would be to look after a younger coworker that she perceived could be taking the ugly path that she took at her age.
To be fair, we have no verifiable info on the condition of the three friends that were at the TRB on Friday night. We don't know when they left TRB-- if one or all went home and passed out. We also don't know if they've done this before -- where PH would step-out to score and successfully return before their evening out was over-- or later find that PH made it home. (To be clear, I don't find FB group credible or verifiable regardless if PH mom a participant).
I think there's another missing piece. Investigators stated that there were multiple texts between PH and coworker but they only shared the final 12:15 AM text with the public. We don't know when the multiple texts occurred.
I think it's possible that just as PH would check in with her mother multiple times during her day, PH might do the same with the coworker she was out with-- especially if she was and had been using the coworker for her cover. (This is very typical behavior of an addict).
I find this would explain what's been deemed suspicious behavior on the part of the coworker -- right down to avoiding contact with PH's parents and the coworker's dad hiring an attorney to communicate with law enforcement on behalf of his own daughter (especially if she was a user). No matter how painful the information, I do believe that the coworker has been completely honest with authorities.
Most important -- nobody was responsible for 29-year-old PH actions to willingly leave the TRB and use but PH herself.
MOO
I agree with what you said above.
All of this below is MOO....
I don't doubt others were with her during the partying, now whether they were the coworkers or not, I'm unsure if we will ever know. She was a 29 year old woman with a lifetime of, oh, I don't want to say friendships, but acquaintances. I'm still unsure if she left with the intentions of doing
hard drugs or not, my gut says no, that she just went to "party" and it took a different turn than she expected. This is only based on the timeframe of when she left versus of when she sent the text. She didn't immediately feel in danger, that leads me to believe she knew someone(s) that she left with.
I also feel like the text message was sent when she knew she was going to slip back into that darkness of drugs. I said from the beginning that I felt like she left with people she knew, but at some point those acquaintances left and she was left with people she did NOT know. At that time she sent the text, party atmosphere changed, she was no longer with people she knew, she felt unsafe, but not unsafe enough to ask for a ride or help RIGHT then, just "if I call, answer". Because of her addiction, we have to assume she wasn't a stranger to not-so-good areas or partying at empty houses.
I don't feel like she left with complete strangers though, like others, I do feel there are more dots to connect, but I don't think we will ever find them out. And I'm not sure other bad things didn't happen besides just the drugs. But I don't feel like others MADE her do anything. All of you are right that as a recovering addict, she never should have put herself in that place, everyone can foresee the sad ending. She probably thought she could do it, she had done it all of the times before and survived.
Such a sad ending