SaintGirl, in her excellent post, offered a logical opinion followed by a great point: "Both the phone and key situations are confusing at best. Personally I think Christina's last communication from her phone was the call to SN. I think the last communication from Christina to Hunter came from EA's phone, more than likely because hers was low on battery. Not real sure, however, it's going to matter all that much. Just my opinion."
The great poiint was this: "Not real sure, however, it's going to matter all that much."....If we accept what we otherwise know from LE, and then examine the possibilities of a text made by CM at 3:58, I think you've nailed it. Whether it existed or not, it really leaves us with the same ensuing possibilities either way!
Without a 3:58 text by CM. In this scenario, at 3:58 CM left in some part of EA's car (several implications that LE thinks she was a passenger, but not specified) and then came to be in the trunk by or before the trip to his residence in the 4:56-5:32 window. She had to have been in that car at some point, and also have been in the trunk at some point (based on DNA evidence), there's no evidence she left that garage in any other fashion, so she had to have been traveling with him in order for her DNA to somehow get into his trunk at some point. The pings from her phone - when combined with the DNA - kill the idea she was never there.
With a 3:58 text by CM. If you add in a 3:58 contact, what changes? We're still left with her leaving the garage with him, and no way to say which way, because the DNA and ping evidence is still the same. If she had her phone, and is sending out a text at 3:58 that isn't an SOS, that certainly would point to her leaving willingly at that point. Then again, if he had overpowered her, he could have gained control of her phone and sent a text himself to allay any suspicion. So we're left with a text at 3:58 by someone, and she's in the trunk or she's not, but she's in the car somewhere.
The same applies to a key. If she had her keys (which LE seems to believe) or if she didn't, she still ended up in that car based on the pings and DNA. And we still won't know whether she was in the trunk, or in the passenger seat, when she left, nor where the car traveled. Or where she is today.
So with or without a 3:58 text, and regardless of the key questions, we're still left with the same set of possibilities, which means ascertaining whether there was a 3:58 text and a missing key, or whether they were mythical, isn't going to really help us anyhow.