I posted this earlier and feel like I was totally ignored. Both of these girls were the only girl in their classroom. The ratio of students was low at only 1 girl to 10 boys according to 2006. The ratio of boys might have been higher now. We're talking a real rural area and I wonder if they were targeted for some reason. The girls were known to frequently walk this road, so I suspect the killer was waiting for them. I know I might be reaching, but it might be something to look into.
I am sorry, Kahskye! I was in a fog yesterday. I promise we weren't ignoring you.
It is worth checking out, too.
I guess it doesn't surprise me that she could have been the only girl in her class in that small school. However, seeing her photo on the cheerleading squad, I would think there are others now.
At the age of 13 years old, the wrong person could have been pursuing her or visa versa. When the selection is so small in a rural area...the idea that the "competition" for the cheerleader and outgoing girl could be fierce. It isn't out of the realm of possibilities that she angered a female rival or a male resulting in a shooting. Jealousy is one of the oldest motives for murder.
While illegal, in a small farm community it is not out of the norm for kids as young as 12 or 13 yo to be allowed to drive farm trucks on backroads as they work with the parents tending cattle and fields...so this doesn't neccessarily have to be adults we are looking for. Also, it is normal for guns to be hanging in the cab of many vehicles and most kids are raised to know how to handle them if they work to kill snakes, hunt, etc.
LOL You had to go to all that trouble to figure out a bar ditch. Funny! While the ditches look shallow there...the bar ditch is probably over another few feet from the sides of the road. They are designed to help the roads not to flood and be a muddy impassable mess when it rains. They are usually overgrown with grasses, but actually rather deep allowing for the tin horns and cattle guards to allow access onto the side roads and driveways.