^^bbm
Except we know from the preliminary that GPS on the Bobcat was used to eliminate the Bobcat from having a part in SM's death or disappearance.
I do think it's possible that BM borrowed equipment belonging to others -- perhaps a loader from the river build site where loud equipment noise was heard by witness Branson. MOO
Right. So he had to leave it behind (which is another strand of evidence that he took the truck and not the RR).
That bit of information about the Bobcat not being involved (perhaps at any time at all, from its own GPS) leads me to think he unhooked it between about 2:45 and 4:45.
So we have three main options:
1. Barry had prepared a place for Suzanne using manual tools, sometime in advance;
2. Barry used someone else's equipment prior to May 9 to prepare a place; or
3. He had no prepared place at all, but had thought about where to push/dump her body in a manner that was consistent with "mountain lion took her up hill," or "abductor got her, killed her, threw her someplace" or "Suzanne had a head injury from her crash and fell off some place."
I am sure there could be one more. But I'm favoring #3, for several reasons. People like Barry play games in their own minds. Barry was constantly scanning his surroundings for...prey (saw an elk Sunday morning, that distracted him?) No, he was discombobulated. Vague in his thinking. Sleep deprived. He had executed all the main parts of his plan.
I also think Barry probably thought good places to toss illegally gotten elk carcasses, or enemies. You know, just as a daily thing. He paid attention to good places on back roads to dump things. In this scenario, he doesn't bury Suzanne at all, but perhaps puts her someplace he knows is frequented by various wildlife, is down a very steep slope, completely covered with brush/trees, and looks like about 1000 other places within an hour of his house.
If he tranquilized then suffocated her (not strangled her), removed her from whatever he carried her in (just in case she died in his truck), if her body had been found in those first weeks (keeping in mind that the first few days of the search were all centered very near the house), each passing day left less forensic evidence. And wild animals did discover her body. Maybe he had a place where he'd been baiting deer so as to attract mountain lions, and where there are mountain lion kills, there will be a host of less lethal scavengers to scatter the remains.
Either that or there's a heavy rectangular object in a body of water within 1 hour of Puma Path...