The Ramseys had intended to make three stops to drop off Christmas presents before leaving on their trip the next morning, and then leaving right away again for the cruise. They stopped at the Walker's and then the Stine's. It was getting late so they decided not to stop at the Fernie's. What is suspicious about dropping off Christmas gifts to good friends whom you weren't going to see for a couple of weeks?
There was no room for Doug Stine on the plane. There were 6 passenger seats, 1 pilot seat and 1 co-pilot seat. It could accommodate 7 passengers if they flew without a co-pilot, which they were. So you have 1 pilot (Mike Archuleta), 4 Ramseys (JR, PR, BR & JBR), and then John's two older kids and his older daughter's fiancé for a total of 8 people. Maximum occupancy.
The bike rumors started 18 months later with Lou Smit's questions, and telling John that he had not seen pictures of the bikes in the crime scene photos. John says they were in the garage, which makes total sense since they were leaving on vacation and would be gone. To my knowledge, there are no crime scene pictures (none that I have seen anyway) of the garage. Good ole Lou who was not at the scene until weeks later and only looked at pictures, decided this was an issue. Just like he assumed that there was a wide open window in the basement that he saw in a picture, without bothering to confirm that in fact it had been opened like that by police for the crime scene pictures. No bikes were ever reported missing in police reports. It is not a fact that Burke's bike was ridden away on Christmas night.
By sometime in 1997, both Stines had lost their jobs at UC Boulder. There were some apparent improprieties that resulted in Glen's employment coming to an end, he was essentially forced to resign, and Susan was on a timed contract that had come to an end and not been renewed. They were trying to refinance their house and their financial situation was tenuous. When John and Patsy moved back to Atlanta, John finally found a job with another company. He was able to extend an offer of a job to Glen who had not yet been able to find permanent employment. So the Stines followed the Ramseys to Atlanta because of that situation.