Some of the info was from the same date, 10/24/89, but the St. Cloud Times. In addition to the man from the Avon motel, recently released inmates from the St. Cloud reformatory who had been convicted of sex crimes were investigated. One of the men was surveilled but his car tire treads did not match those at the crime scene.
Other cars that were looked at early on were dismissed for the same reason.
Hart was investigated early on according to several newspaper articles from January/Febuary 1990.
What I meant by the reference to not going public with the search for the one vehicle, is that they never publicly asked for help in finding the vehicle Rassier said he saw that night. I thought that was odd, given that LE asked for help in identifying several other vehicles that were up to 6 blocks away, and up to 2 weeks prior to the abduction. Why not ask for the one Rassier said he saw??
Everything else I've found out by doing real research, as you suggested.