Found Deceased TX - Alan White, 55, seen leaving LA Fitness, Dallas, 22 Oct 2020 #2

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Did the police ever catch the 7-11 robbers? If not, I think they are worth making an extra effort to locate as persons of interest.

The 7-11 was within two miles of the Racetrack. About 5 hours before Alan was at the Racetrack, the robbers fled the 7-11 after shooting the clerk. What the media articles did not mention was whether the robbers fled on foot or with a vehicle. And one of the media reports I saw was published around the same hour that Alan disappeared - and, at the time the article was published the robbers had not been found

If they were on foot - two miles is a distance most people can walk in well under an hour. So that suggests that there were two armed and dangerous criminals on the run from a crime scene within walking distance of the area where Alan passed through.

As previously mentioned, the DART station is a short distance up Inwood from the Racetrack.

Here is what I think might be worth looking into: Do a Google Maps street view search for the intersection of Inwood and Denton Dr. Then position the view to so that you are in the northbound lane of Inwood just before the traffic light.

There are two bridges that pass over Inwood at that location - bridges containing the DART rail lines. To the immediate right of the road are two support columns for the bridges. There are also some bushes right next to the road that appear to be perhaps two or three feet high.

Is it possible that the 7-11 robbers were seeking to flee that part of town by means of the DART rail and, either through observation or speculation, feared that the police had posted someone to keep a lookout for them at the station?

At the time that Alan was in the area, it was still dark. It occurs to me that the bridge columns and the bushes would work very well to obscure someone from being able to be viewed from cars traveling by on Inwood but, at the same time, allow them to observe the traffic on Inwood.

Perhaps they hid behind the columns or bushes to monitor the traffic light cycle waiting for just the right moment when a northbound car would be the only vehicle stopped at the intersection. Perhaps that was the situation when Alan approached the intersection. It wouldn't have taken more than a few seconds to spring from behind the columns/bushes and into the roadway in front of Alan's car with their guns drawn demanding to be let into the car.

If so, Alan would have had two choices: he could hit the gas and speed through the intersection hoping that they either don't shoot or, if they do, that they miss. Or he could assume that what they were after was just the car and that it would be safer to let them have it. But, of course, if it was the 7-11 robbers, their primary motive wouldn't have been to carjack in order to sell the car but rather to flee from the scene of their previous crime and do so without any witnesses.

I would think that if I could make such a connection between the robbery and Alan's disappearance the police would have already done so as well and looked into it. But that is a possibility that occurs to me.
Welcome to WS @Nebenbei!

That’s smart thinking. I can see this as a serious possibility. I don’t know if they’ve caught those guys or not. I think something like this happened anyway. For the car for the car OR for a getaway car like you are saying. I hadn’t thought of that. I wonder if Alan was someone who would roll down his window to someone who pretended to need help or ask him something?
 
In a carjacking gone wrong scenario, I think most of us would expect to find a body at the same location where the crime occurred. That clearly didn’t happen here, so I thought back on similar cases I’ve followed and was reminded of Andy Banks in NC.

AB wasn’t carjacked, per se... but he was killed while trying to sell his car. He posted an ad on Craigslist and then met a prospective buyer in the parking lot of a popular restaurant in broad daylight. I don’t know the particulars, but “the buyer” ultimately killed Andy before dumping his body in some ditch in Virginia.

Warrant: Missing Raleigh man was murdered in Wake County, body likely found in Virginia | myfox8.com

I guess a thief killing and dumping the bodies of his victims isn’t completely unheard of.
 
These are excellent speculations, the scenario you offer as a speculative possibility sounds all too probable to me. (Muddy tires, etc.)

I need to see what I can find with regard to carjackings in that area. (In in fact it was a carjacking). If this is a Perp situation, I absolutely think they live near the area where the car was found...because yeah, criminals are that dumb.

Amateur opinion and speculation

The one thing I don't get - some people are mentioning car jacking as a potential motive. But a car jacker doesn't want the driver - he/she wants the car. But let's go with this motive for a bit. So you're driving the approximately one mile home from your gas station stop to home - armed person approaches your vehicle. Do you
  • put the pedal to the metal?
  • Unlock the door, get out, and hand him the key?
Why did he leave the area with the perpetrator? Maybe the perp doesn't know how to drive and is demanding a ride. But how did the perp gain entry to the vehicle? I believe up thread someone commented that the doors lock automatically. So Alan unlocked the doors and let him in?

I dunno. I just don't feel this is a car jacking.

A few weeks after Alan went missing, there was an attempted kidnapping in North Dallas. Two armed guys forced a gentleman and a baby into his car and drove around. They took his cash and when he couldn't get more from him, they contacted his family for ransom. The perps were eventually arrested and jailed.

2 men arrested following kidnapping incident near Dallas Love Field | wfaa.com

While a kidnapping would be rare, I can't help thinking this is a similar situation that went very wrong when Alan fought back. And I'm not saying these same guys were involved, but I see 2 separate addresses for one of them that are bookends in proximity to where the car was dumped.

But I still struggle with how did the perp/perps gain entry to the car? It almost seems to me Alan would have needed to make another stop (like for coffee) that would give the perp the opportunity to accost him outside of the car and them force him to drive or get into the car at gunpoint. Or maybe a staged accident where they hit his bumper and he stopped to get their insurance information?
 
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The one thing I don't get - some people are mentioning car jacking as a potential motive. But a car jacker doesn't want the driver - he/she wants the car. But let's go with this motive for a bit. So you're driving the approximately one mile home from your gas station stop to home - armed person approaches your vehicle. Do you
  • put the pedal to the metal?
  • Unlock the door, get out, and hand him the key?
Why did he leave the area with the perpetrator? Maybe the perp doesn't know how to drive and is demanding a ride. But how did the perp gain entry to the vehicle? I believe up thread someone commented that the doors lock automatically. So Alan unlocked the doors and let him in?

I dunno. I just don't feel this is a car jacking.

A few weeks after Alan went missing, there was an attempted kidnapping in North Dallas. Two armed guys forced a gentleman and a baby into his car and drove around. They took his cash and when he couldn't get more from him, they contacted his family for ransom. The perps were eventually arrested and jailed.

2 men arrested following kidnapping incident near Dallas Love Field | wfaa.com

While a kidnapping would be rare, I can't help thinking this is a similar situation that went very wrong when Alan fought back. And I'm not saying these same guys were involved, but I see 2 separate addresses for one of them that are bookends in proximity to where the car was dumped.

But I still struggle with how did the perp/perps gain entry to the car? It almost seems to me Alan would have needed to make another stop (like for coffee) that would give the perp the opportunity to accost him outside of the car and them force him to drive or get into the car at gunpoint. Or maybe a staged accident where they hit his bumper and he stopped to get their insurance information?
If you google search Dallas car jackings, you will get info on some of the ruse's used by car jackers; you already mentioned some above. Some car jackers use a feigned distress situation to lure their victims.

But you're right, we have no conclusive evidence or statements from LE or MSM talking about the possibility of a carjacking. All we have to go on is that his car was found approx. 15 miles from where he was last seen, in a very bad neighborhood, abandoned and apparently concealed to some degree. Then of course, no Alan. So abandoned car, concealed in a very bad neighborhood surrounded by pawn shops, a jail, a landfill, and salvage yards.

Amateur opinion and speculation
 
In a carjacking gone wrong scenario, I think most of us would expect to find a body at the same location where the crime occurred. That clearly didn’t happen here, so I thought back on similar cases I’ve followed and was reminded of Andy Banks in NC.

AB wasn’t carjacked, per se... but he was killed while trying to sell his car. He posted an ad on Craigslist and then met a prospective buyer in the parking lot of a popular restaurant in broad daylight. I don’t know the particulars, but “the buyer” ultimately killed Andy before dumping his body in some ditch in Virginia.

Warrant: Missing Raleigh man was murdered in Wake County, body likely found in Virginia | myfox8.com

I guess a thief killing and dumping the bodies of his victims isn’t completely unheard of.

But AB’s situation has absolutely nothing to do with a carjacking. He willingly met his killers and (IMO) willingly entered his car with them for a test drive. Of course they have to dispose of his body somewhere.

The issue in Alan’s case is not, “what do killers do when they find themselves in a vehicle with a body,” it’s, “why would a carjacker who makes no (known) attempt to use his victim’s ATM card take him or his body with them?”
 
The one thing I don't get - some people are mentioning car jacking as a potential motive. But a car jacker doesn't want the driver - he/she wants the car.

My apologies for an earlier post: I wasn't aware that a car-jacking is always about the car. I thought it was just some sort of holdup involving the car -being stopped, getting into/out of the car. So, now that I have the definition straight(!):

I agree that it's most likely that he stopped and was approached getting into out of the car. Really, really wonder if LE has tried to get camera footage from business he could possibly have stopped at between the gym and home. Probably not, though, since he wasn't listed as "endangered missing" from the get-go.

Also, Dallas is alley-city. If he approached his own alley from a connecting one, or made any detour into an alley, he could easily have been stopped (and not seen on the cameras around his house). Not sure what I would do in the situation of someone blocking me in the alley, pointing a gun at my head, and demanding that I "give them the car". And then, there's always what happens next -perps panic, shove him in the car with gun to head, deal with him later, and hide the car. Hmmm.
 
But AB’s situation has absolutely nothing to do with a carjacking. He willingly met his killers and (IMO) willingly entered his car with them for a test drive. Of course they have to dispose of his body somewhere.

The issue in Alan’s case is not, “what do killers do when they find themselves in a vehicle with a body,” it’s, “why would a carjacker who makes no (known) attempt to use his victim’s ATM card take him or his body with them?”
Because they were amateurs and panicked; likely very young

Amateur opinion and speculation
 
Because they were amateurs and panicked; likely very young

Amateur opinion and speculation

This scenario sounds plausible to me as well. Also they might have placed AW in one location but were not willing to part with the car until later when they realized it was too hot to sell or be driven around. Hopefully analysis of the mud on tires could provide clues as to where the car went and where to search.
 
For those here who think it was a carjacking - what *exactly* leads you to think this? Please don’t just guess.

moo.

The one thing I don't get - some people are mentioning car jacking as a potential motive. But a car jacker doesn't want the driver - he/she wants the car. But let's go with this motive for a bit. So you're driving the approximately one mile home from your gas station stop to home - armed person approaches your vehicle. Do you
  • put the pedal to the metal?
  • Unlock the door, get out, and hand him the key?
Why did he leave the area with the perpetrator? Maybe the perp doesn't know how to drive and is demanding a ride. But how did the perp gain entry to the vehicle? I believe up thread someone commented that the doors lock automatically. So Alan unlocked the doors and let him in?

I dunno. I just don't feel this is a car jacking.

A few weeks after Alan went missing, there was an attempted kidnapping in North Dallas. Two armed guys forced a gentleman and a baby into his car and drove around. They took his cash and when he couldn't get more from him, they contacted his family for ransom. The perps were eventually arrested and jailed.

2 men arrested following kidnapping incident near Dallas Love Field | wfaa.com

While a kidnapping would be rare, I can't help thinking this is a similar situation that went very wrong when Alan fought back. And I'm not saying these same guys were involved, but I see 2 separate addresses for one of them that are bookends in proximity to where the car was dumped.

But I still struggle with how did the perp/perps gain entry to the car? It almost seems to me Alan would have needed to make another stop (like for coffee) that would give the perp the opportunity to accost him outside of the car and them force him to drive or get into the car at gunpoint. Or maybe a staged accident where they hit his bumper and he stopped to get their insurance information?

Okay, so here’s my thinking on a carjacking. First, I’m not convinced that’s what happened, but I haven’t heard anything at all that makes me think Alan was targeted in any way. That would leave leaving voluntarily or a random crime. I lean away from him running away or suicide because his family doesn’t seem to suspect that and his morning seemed just so routine and normal. (Although we all know suicide is almost always shocking.) But I just don’t believe that’s what happened.

So I’m leaning toward a random crime. Carjackings in Dallas are common, and it was a nice car. Could be a kidnapping for ransom, but I would think that would be less common than carjacking. Especially a grown man.

It’s true that carjackers are wanting the car, not the person in it, but there are scenarios that would end up with Alan in the car and the carjackers having to dump him. I’ve theorized earlier that maybe a person approached his car and asked him to roll down window. Asking for help, needing directions. Just a friendly enough looking face wanting to ask him something. Would he roll down window? He seems like a nice person who just might instead of speeding away. Weapon shown and he told to get out but he fights back and is killed right there in the car. Carjacker(s) have to jump in and leave area with Alan in the car and dispose of him (I think in South Dallas).

I’m going with a random crime and a carjacking just makes most sense to me, but it could be many things.
 
Also another reason I suspect a carjacking over some other things is that his credit cards/ATM weren’t used so it doesn’t strike me as a robbery. I think someone wanted that car. I think Alan was inside of it when he was killed and then disposed of. :( I think the perp(s) got nervous about it being a dealer car and/or Alan’s disappearance & car description hitting the news so they dumped the car too.
 
I did drive the route from the racetrack gas station towards his house today although I’m not sure about any new revelations. I was surprised how many homeless there were at the gas station. At least half a dozen loitering and sleeping in the area dividing it from the Church’s chicken. Am curious what additional footage shows and why he went in the store and stayed any longer than absolutely necessary. I think would have stood out a lot with the nice car here. The dart station bridge/intersection at Denton rd does have plenty of places to hide in the columns and a stoplight with the rail station directly overhead. I hope there is camera footage from this area. There are a lot of apartments in a tall complex that sort of overlook this intersection on the SW side. Also Pulaski’s donuts is on the right soon after that and could have been a place to stop where carjackers would know people would be getting out of their cars early for donuts. There is no drive through window. Closer to Lemmon it gets much safer feeling especially near his street. There is the Starbucks at Lemmon, however that is a busy intersection and well lit looking. There isn’t a drive through at that Starbucks. Hope this helps...
 
Several posts have mentioned that "it all comes down to the cell phone records". To take that a step further, what would really be interesting to me is whether or not he was currently signed on to any particular app that tracks exact time and place information. For example, I have an iPhone, but I am always signed on to YouTube (I have an account) and since YouTube is owned by Google, every single movement of my phone is tracked as far as exact locations, as well as how fast the phone is moving. There is a great podcast called "To Live and Die in LA" and that podcast describes how a LA reporter and private investigator was able to track Chris Spotz' every movement, showing where he stopped on the way to his dad's house, where he killed Adea, and how long it took, all the way to pinpoint all the dumpsters he stopped at to dispose of her belongings. All this type of data is written to a cloud server that google owns somewhere. People have been tracked by their FitBit data pinging a server every one or two minutes to update their location, etc. I am a data analyst for a major retailer, and we can tell you how many people shop on our mobile app while the phone is travelling in excess of 35 mph. Hopefully, those folks are in the passenger seat and not driving lol.

I say all this to say, apps on his phone should have tracked his exact location to the minute until the phone was turned off, had the battery die, or destroyed.

Those are the bread crumbs that law enforcement should focus on.
 
I did drive the route from the racetrack gas station towards his house today although I’m not sure about any new revelations. I was surprised how many homeless there were at the gas station. At least half a dozen loitering and sleeping in the area dividing it from the Church’s chicken. Am curious what additional footage shows and why he went in the store and stayed any longer than absolutely necessary. I think would have stood out a lot with the nice car here. The dart station bridge/intersection at Denton rd does have plenty of places to hide in the columns and a stoplight with the rail station directly overhead. I hope there is camera footage from this area. There are a lot of apartments in a tall complex that sort of overlook this intersection on the SW side. Also Pulaski’s donuts is on the right soon after that and could have been a place to stop where carjackers would know people would be getting out of their cars early for donuts. There is no drive through window. Closer to Lemmon it gets much safer feeling especially near his street. There is the Starbucks at Lemmon, however that is a busy intersection and well lit looking. There isn’t a drive through at that Starbucks. Hope this helps...
Thank you for this @Mr. Teddy This is very helpful! Yes, this is exactly what I remember about the area. The Love Field area where the RT is is super sketchy, but where they live is almost Highland Park and a lot nicer and safer feeling.
 
Several posts have mentioned that "it all comes down to the cell phone records". To take that a step further, what would really be interesting to me is whether or not he was currently signed on to any particular app that tracks exact time and place information. For example, I have an iPhone, but I am always signed on to YouTube (I have an account) and since YouTube is owned by Google, every single movement of my phone is tracked as far as exact locations, as well as how fast the phone is moving. There is a great podcast called "To Live and Die in LA" and that podcast describes how a LA reporter and private investigator was able to track Chris Spotz' every movement, showing where he stopped on the way to his dad's house, where he killed Adea, and how long it took, all the way to pinpoint all the dumpsters he stopped at to dispose of her belongings. All this type of data is written to a cloud server that google owns somewhere. People have been tracked by their FitBit data pinging a server every one or two minutes to update their location, etc. I am a data analyst for a major retailer, and we can tell you how many people shop on our mobile app while the phone is travelling in excess of 35 mph. Hopefully, those folks are in the passenger seat and not driving lol.

I say all this to say, apps on his phone should have tracked his exact location to the minute until the phone was turned off, had the battery die, or destroyed.

Those are the bread crumbs that law enforcement should focus on.
Yes a million times to this! Agree and hope they are able to get warrants for all this data.

Hang around... I’d love to learn from you! Thanks for the podcast recommendation.
 
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