All speculation and opinion:
I wonder if there is any way to find out when, and for how long, CLB’s phone pinged at/near the river? (and specifically where? - though I assume it was near where Abbott’s Bridge Rd crosses the Chattahoochee River)
Interesting to learn that LE searched near that location on 3/1. I had seen a helicopter flying over that area of the river on 3/2 that I posted about earlier in this thread.
Re: someone’s earlier question re: cctv, I believe there is a plate reader or traffic cam or cctv camera of some kind on the telephone pole next to the entrance to Northside Trucking (it’s at the corner of the small retail strip there, next to the granite store).
Oddly, if you use Google earth today and do a street view at that location, it shows 3 or 4 Johns Creek LE cars stopping traffic at that end of the bridge, almost as if something had just happened or a search was underway at the time of the street view recording (I have no clue when the actual Google earth street view recording was done, and the LE cars were not there when I checked an earlier Google street view of same location several months ago -- also reported in this thread).
It’s possible I suppose that XB did something with CLB on the way up to Indiana, but I highly doubt it. I got the impression that she was not seen at a gas station stop where XB alone got out of the Tiguan on the way back to Carmel. I think whatever happened, happened late that night (24th) / overnight (25th), likely at XB’s mom’s house. CLB was seen at door of the house at 7:17 pm on the 24th, and I’m guessing XB would’ve had to have left Johns Creek by around 2 pm the next day (25th) to have gotten back to Carmel by 10-11 pm that night (again, guessing at the time, but supposedly he reported her missing approx 24 hours after he arrived back home - and he reported her missing around 10-11 pm on the night of the 26th)
I read earlier (can’t find to link now) that whenever they visited XB’s mom, XB and CLB basically stayed in the bedroom with the door closed - almost as if he were keeping her there. I think something happened overnight on the 24th into the 25th, and that XB’s mom wouldn’t have necessarily known about it the morning of the 25th as she wouldn’t have normally been expecting to see CLB and the baby before leaving for work anyway (that’s obviously all speculation on my part, and I cannot find links to some of what I read way back when I was more active on this thread).
My guess is that sometime after CLB’s text to her father at 11:17 pm on the 21st (saying she would be coming home tomorrow, the 22nd), and her brief text response to him on the 22nd (saying she wasn’t feeling well), XB may have discovered that CLB was planning to take Jaxson and the dog and go back to her fathers - to stay. I’m also speculating that XB may not have known about one or more of CLB’s phones - or he may have somehow been able to access her recent texts. I think CLB may have had a personal phone, a business phone and a third, possibly burner phone, for her safety. XB may have discovered the phone and/or text communication indicating she was planning to take the baby and dog and leave.
I think CLB was trapped - as XB wouldn’t let her leave the house with their son Jaxson, and she wasn’t willing to leave the house without Jaxson. I’m guessing he had the phones and the car keys. So, I think (all speculation) that she may have briefly acted as if they could patch things up - maybe for a day or two - even looking at houses near Alpharetta in the Tiguan - but then he found out about her plans to leave
I’m guessing that XB may have put her in the river overnight on the 24th into the 25th, either from the bridge, or from just east/north of the bridge (there’s a two track storm maintenance road there that’s kind of hard to see), or from west / south of the bridge, somewhere near Abbott’s Bridge Recreation Area. I searched the Recreation area the day of the second organized search.
The reason I think she might be in the river is that if LE searched the east/north (storm line) area and the boat/recreation area with dogs, I think they would have come up with something, especially if that search was done as early as 3/1. They must’ve gotten those phone ping records pretty quick.
The conservation officers I spoke to (who just happened to be at the recreation area on the day of the second search) told me that they doubted she could be in the water at that location as that area of the river gets a fair amount of use (relatively speaking - tubing, a few fishermen, and people who just picnic or recreate at the Abbott’s Bridge Recreation Area), but idk. If she was perhaps in the missing black duffle (just a wild guess, pure speculation on my part - as CLB’s mom told me when I spoke to her that day in the Crunch Fitness parking lot that a large black duffle was missing), and if it was weighted down..(again, all pure speculation).
I wonder if some outfit like Adventures With a Purpose could do a search of the river at (and just downstream) of that location? At one time I assumed they’d get the elite Hall County Marine Rescue squad to search that area (maybe they did and I just don’t know about it ), but I read that that elite SAR outfit (mostly rescue) has lost about half its members recently over the county’s decision to repurpose the unit more toward using drones for recovery than toward active water/marine rescue ops (mostly Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River).
A note about the Hall County Marine Rescue unit: it’s based in Hall County, not Fulton or Gwinnett (which are on opposite sides of the river where Abbott’s Bridge Rd crosses), but the unit has always handled difficult Lake Lanier and Chattahoochee River rescues as far back as I can remember, and they are some very brave and talented people). The river is extremely dangerous imo. In addition to extremely dangerous quick-rising water when the Corps releases water from Lake Lanier (you only hear the sirens if you’re up near the dam, and the releases are not on a set schedule as they are based on lake water level), the water is faster than you think, deeper than you think, more filled with fallen trees and boulders than you think, is cloudier/muddier than you think, and has more drop offs than you think.
All the above (sorry such a long ramble) is pure speculation on my part and my own opinion. Just thinking out loud hoping it might help find Ciera
