NV NV - Steven Koecher, 30, Henderson, 13 Dec 2009 - #22

My fellow sleuths, the book is legitimate. I’m told a paperback version is on the way. In it, there appears to be a totality of the case so far. Much of what we fellow sleuths have already known is in it, and yet, some of what was not known, is in there too, i.e., some police reports, and actual transcribed interviews with persons of interest. This work comes across as a conglomerate of all the clues, containing all the puzzle pieces, only needing to be positioned in a proper order, then re-investigated by LE as a homicide.


I hope no one takes this the wrong way but I'm not sure why most unsolved disappearances are equated to a murder..there are other things like coercion, kidnapping, abductions, drugs, human trafficking, freak accidents, suicide etc which exist in the world...and we have no body as of yet. How has it been confirmed as homicide and who killed him ?
 
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ChanceEncounterx, I don't think anyone here is saying that SK's disappearance has been confirmed as homicide. After following the case and discussing it over many threads, many of us have come to that conclusion though.

My own opinion is the SK met with foul play. I do think we likely have a pretty good idea of who was behind it. Not 100%, but some ideas for LE to follow up on.

Regarding a body, I'm of the opinion that it will never be found. It's so easy to discard a body via dumpster then landfill these days.
 
ChanceEncounterx, I don't think anyone here is saying that SK's disappearance has been confirmed as homicide. After following the case and discussing it over many threads, many of us have come to that conclusion though.

My own opinion is the SK met with foul play. I do think we likely have a pretty good idea of who was behind it. Not 100%, but some ideas for LE to follow up on.

Regarding a body, I'm of the opinion that it will never be found. It's so easy to discard a body via dumpster then landfill these days.


Oh ok. Are you able to lay out who you think it is or would have to be a private message kind of thing? I'd be interested to know who, and why, effectively.

The trajectory of his life is super winded and frustrating I can't imagine what it was like for him; just seemed like a regular dude trying to live a normal life. I think Steven's is a cautionary tale to not be so hard on yourself when you're younger and get assistance if you have to while you're still finding your feet. I would say a lot of young people don't realise that life on the open road is harder than they can imagine and not worth the hopelessness and heartache of becoming missing or dying. Hope he's at peace.
 
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Hey everyone....New here, I popped over from Reddit as I wasn't a fan of the direction most discussions were heading there (plus so many rules & regulations surrounding discussions) and find that a lot of you are far more receptive to different, opposing views so hopefully I can add something of value here and be welcomed with open arms..as much as that is possible online..lol.

I have been both fascinated and disturbed by Steven's case as of recently and can't seem to fathom what might have happened to him in what seems like such a short amount of time he was at the neighbourhood that day.

I don't think it's entirely out of the realm of possibility that he really was just looking for more window washing clients and that area seemed like a more lucrative place to do so due to the upkeep and maintenance those homes would constantly need (plus I believe it was reported that one of the neighbours at the time spoke to a guy who came to their door talking about his window washing service and what they offer but they declined), and seemingly Steven must have left to go back to his car or the next door.

In my opinion he noped out of the hunt for new clients pretty quick and headed back to his car to grab lunch or rest -at least from what I've seen from the security cam footage. So it's likely he had the one appointment that day or went to one house on his own accord, and it would explain him being non-chalant about turning back earlier to help out his friend at church as the door-to-door plans could be easily put on hold for the afternoon.

As for the road trips I believe at that point he was avoiding being home back in St. George as he would be there by himself and would've rather been out. By all accounts the landlord gave Steve's roommate at the time (Jordan) major creeps to the point he moved out at night without any notice. Good for him, btw, I completely believe him about everything he has said about the landlord and am glad he went with his instincts. In this particular case it may have been where Steven went wrong. I also can't help but feel very sad for him (I know it's by no fault of Jordan's as he is well within his rights to move and understand him and Steven weren't particularly good friends, but maybe cordial on occasion). I just can't help but feel for this naive guy still being there on his own with a character who was let's just say complete opposite in personality and possibly argumentative and bossy about Steve's accumulated overdue rent payments. So being unemployed I believe Steven took the opportunity to head out of state and maybe find areas he could go door-to-door to hopefully get more work/clients for his boss.

I'm really unsure up into this point of why he may disappeared or what events may have led to his subsequent disappearance that day. It's truly bizarre and feels like he had no reason to be going missing, and I don't think it's particularly violent in nature or completely the fault of just one individual. He was very work focused at the time so it's possible he got lured into something under coercion believing it was a legitimate job opportunity but turned out to be something major he didn't really want to let anyone in on and so he seems missing but simply went out of touch.

The only other things I can think of is possibly joining another community in the LV area and dumping his phone or simply a voluntary walk away for some unknown reasons. I don't think he was able to conjure up some master plan for going missing and just ended up somewhere where he's fallen out of touch unfortunately and has passed away.

The way I see it he was already pretty missing on the days before he was actually reported but his behaviour didn't indicate anything too out of the ordinary or unusual or stressful. By the way, has anyone else picked up on the fact there is an LDS church in Overton? I wonder if he stopped off there to check it out.

I do really hope he's found one day for his family's sake and for those of us who wish him alive and well, but I'm not sure of our chances currently. I do feel for his circumstances before he was declared missing and can't help but think he just wanted an out but still tried to keep some of his promises of getting new clients or finding work before the fact, so I don't find his behaviour too unusual at all. I did come up with a scenario of him trying to sell his car in the neighbourhood that day but I had too many holes in that theory so I've decided to essentially dump it now.

Anyway, hope y'all have a good day and let me know if you have any thoughts.
Welcome to Websleuths!
 
I think there's a solid chance Steven committed suicide. My gut feeling.


It could be a massive case of lost drugs/inventory if he had a sudden realisation of where his life has headed and freaked out and went into the desert somewhere instead, I'd imagine a little butterfly effect where tons of people would be screwed...
but I don't just mean drugs-wise , as I know police dogs didn't find anything, but dodgy documents or anything of that nature all apply here..


I'm inclined to now perhaps believe his mother's initial feeling (a mother's intuition is almost always right) that he walked away, and even LE has concluded that as well..
A lot of things point to Steven not knowing what to do anymore..

There's a lot of theories which fit but I don't think his mother's initial reaction is not significant/ for no good reason at this point.
 
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Hello all, I felt compelled to write to you on this somber day; the day Steven T. Koecher disappeared, Sunday, December 13, 2009, fourteen years ago today, at noon.

After reading the Arlo Hunter Kindle version of his new book, I'd like to share a sample of what I found intriguing. Most of us know a lot of the story, however some things we may have not known, stood out to me.

One; to say Steven's car was abandoned is nothing but inaccurate. It was unoccupied, and Steven was missing. Abandoned suggests he wasn't returning. He was definitely going to return. Two; "The anomalous road trip." Traveling over 500 miles one-way, to visit an acquaintance without first checking to see if she was going to be there? Does that make sense to anyone? For me, it does not. Steven tells an untruth when he is asked why he arrived there. He is traveling to Sacramento, he says. Why would he say that? As he is traveling back home, I believe he has a phone conversation with his mom and with his sister, and he does not mention one word to either about this trip he is on. That is odd to me too. But maybe I'm odd, idk.

In the interview with the lead detective, he states, the case was initially delayed for two weeks, because another detective had the case first. It was only after this first detective asked this now lead detective, to look at it, is when it officially started. And the detective's comment he made after his interaction with MD, once he was found and interviewed of course, calling him a "squirrely dude." Hunter points out, this interview alone should have been followed up with a question to MD regarding his whereabouts on that December day but was not. Why?

The interview with the corrupt landlord was quite interesting in that, there sounds as though there was indeed a plan, he had with Steven to resolve the rent. The landlord's wife says the same thing, remember? BB talks of the two speaking together often about various life topics. I sensed their relationship was a close one. Also in the interview, BB admits to recognizing the name of MD, saying, it might have something to do with rock crawler events BB was involved in. BB says he knew MD had an interest in remote controlled rock crawling. How the hell did BB know that? Therein lies the possible connection between the two persons. BB was also involved in a "closed-door pharmacy" enterprise. This allowed BB to legally deliver medications to nursing homes for example. He was evidently fired after anonymous allegations of theft surfaced.

Now, the interview with MD was quite revealing to me too. Number one, he could not account for his whereabouts on that day, December 13, 2009, to any measure of satisfaction. Saying he could have been here; he could have been there. But in the interview with his father, SD, he states, "the only one living in the Casida, was my son." MD also admits to the damage in the Casida, albeit he says it was before the disappearance. He also speaks of getting some meds, Roxicet I think, "from a friend." MD evidently, was involved in "a serious car accident" in Oct. 2009, I believe. He does admit to being on many medications at the time to manage his pain, and he comments about how it made him feel aggressive. Big wow! The book is worth the read, if this case interests you too.

After 14 years, and no further movement that I'm aware of by LE, I think Arlo Hunter's title fits; Steven and this case have been Abandoned in Henderson.

R.I.P. Steven T. Koecher
 
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Where could his body be? With MD's background
in constuction/events I guess he could have just
driven out into some desert locale and 'pick and
shoveled' buried the body into the ground... but
are there any mountain-like high lookouts around
Las Vegas/Henderson, say where a car could drive
at dark up a winding road to the deserted lookout
then drive say part way down (so no-one is coming
down the road and you can see from the lack of
headlights that no-one is driving up the road),
then stop briefly and throw a body over the edge
to fall far down some cliff face to lay unseen below?
Nobody would ever have any reason to stop a car
(and block a road) part way up during daylight, so
the chances of any-one ever seeing any bones far
below the roadside edge would be slim. Seems to
me, if such a place exists, it would be worth, on
a totally windless day, to fly a drone along the
cliffbottom just off such a road, just on general
principles of checking for body sites. Maybe you
could suggest this activity to Red Rock Search &
Rescue as a worthy activity, as that group seems
to be very proactive in doing such exercises.
Also, check your P.M.'s Glovey.
 
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Two; "The anomalous road trip." Traveling over 500 miles one-way, to visit an acquaintance without first checking to see if she was going to be there? Does that make sense to anyone? For me, it does not.
Do we know for sure the sole purpose of Stevens trip that day was to stop at that girl's parents home? I would think he would have been doing something else that wasnt tracked (no cameras, receipts, etc) and happened to be along that route, or close enough to warrant a stop. What if no one was home that day? Although it was a "ranch" so maybe he assumed/knew the parents worked from home

there sounds as though there was indeed a plan,
This is something that really annoys me. The police AND the interviewer apparently don't ask him what the plan is??! That could crack the case! or at least give more clues. But the problem for me is, if it was a legit plan, why would BB never mention it? Sounds shady to me. Also his wife did say something about him and BB working something out by "paying back whatever he could, when he could" which makes no sense. No landlord is going to let 3 months rent slide, especially when he called his dad telling him he's 3 months behind on the first week of December. Sounded urgent to me.

BB says he knew MD had an interest in remote controlled rock crawling. How the hell did BB know that?
I cant recall where I read/saw this online before (that he was into remote controlled rock crawling) (i saw a picture of one that he must have owned on a blog or something and his name was mentioned). Unless he did not legitimately know MD, obviously he did some research on the case and saw it
 
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Hello all, I felt compelled to write to you on this somber day; the day Steven T. Koecher disappeared, Sunday, December 13, 2009, fourteen years ago today, at noon.

After reading the Arlo Hunter Kindle version of his new book, I'd like to share a sample of what I found intriguing.

I hadn’t heard about the above mentioned book release before, thanks for mentioning it. Looking at the first chapters though I noticed that the last call to the voicemail from Steven’s phone is mentioned again. I find this perplexing considering that the Henderson police report (link posted earlier in this thread) seemed to indicate it was an outgoing phone call (number was blacked out) and not a voicemail check. Information mentioned in this book regarding the last activity on Steven’s phone doesn’t align with the police report? @Glovey can you confirm the last call was to an outgoing number which was not revealed? This was discussed earlier in this thread..see below
The other interesting thing is on page 5 of the St. George report - "The records indicated that the last out-going call from the phone occurred on 12/14/2009 at 8:04 hours. The call was to the phone number of (blacked out). It is not known who the call went to. The call only lasted 10 seconds. There are several incoming calls after that call, but no further out-going." Because this has elsewhere been reported as being at 7:04 AM, this leads me to believe the call occurred at 8:04 am MST (St. George time) / 7:04 AM PST (Las Vegas time). Traditionally, this has been reported as Steven checking his voicemail, but the police report shows that this isn't true. Furthermore, usual reports have said this was the last activity on his phone, but the report here says that further incoming calls came in after this.
 
I hadn’t heard about the above mentioned book release before, thanks for mentioning it. Looking at the first chapters though I noticed that the last call to the voicemail from Steven’s phone is mentioned again. I find this perplexing considering that the Henderson police report (link posted earlier in this thread) seemed to indicate it was an outgoing phone call (number was blacked out) and not a voicemail check. Information mentioned in this book regarding the last activity on Steven’s phone doesn’t align with the police report? @Glovey can you confirm the last call was to an outgoing number which was not revealed? This was discussed earlier in this thread..see below
Yes, the police report is correct. The question of who this blacked-out number belongs to has been brought up before. However, I find it somewhat irrelevant. The bigger question is, why was the landlord attempting to reach Steven so many times that day and into the next? Remember too, SK was on a phone family plan, the relevance being, was this call showing as outgoing, or was it a family member utilizing the family plan's abilities. I'm careful in giving too much credit to the HPD. I find it hard to believe any calls were made outgoing on SK's phone after 12/13. JMHO
Glovey
 
It’s great to have the case information summed up in the book. This should be very helpful to anybody trying to get an overview of the events and connections quickly, hopefully the Cold Case Unit in the future.

It sounds like the PI is in possession of the hard drive. I know Stevens computer was analyzed originally by the police without any findings but is a renewed analysis planned? It’s been more than 10 years later and I am sure forensic computer analysis has come a long way.
Steven has been driving all over the place that morning and the days leading up to it, I think it’s very likely he had some sort of route planning information or at least an address written down somewhere that eventually led him to park where he did. It’s possible that he had information about possible destinations on his phone, maybe in the form of text messages? No print out was found in his car, so he might have taken a route print out with him or had all information solely on his phone. It’s reasonable to take another look at the computer in my opinion and get a “second opinion”.
 

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