My guess is murder-suicide. Everyone’s seat belt was unbuckled. I’m sure that wasn’t normally the case. No skid marks.
StG
Or the drivers foot was clamped down in terror. Even if it was deliberate, she might well have been terrified and stomping down on the pedal all the way down.
But it’s easy to contrive a scenario that suits us on way or the other.
From when I first heard the story, I must confess, this was the only thing that made any sense to me. I mean, I’ll wait it out to hear the rest, but I’m definitely biased towards expecting this outcome.
So, was there an update where they confirmed finding all six kids? Last reported in this thread (in Shodan’s link), only three kids were accounted for.
CNN has some additional information:
(and perhaps a tiny glimmer of hope that not all the children died):
I’m hoping the three kids unaccounted for were given to close friends.
They are the older kids and would have tried interfere with the Thelma & Louise plan.
Maybe one of the off-the-grid families that doesn’t follow the news is faring for them.
Forensics should provide answers. Police searched the home for any potential evidence.
Ok, I guess the question is how the hell are these three kids not accounted for? If they’re dead, they’re presumably in or close to the van for their remains to be found. Is the thought that they survived the initial impact, wandered off some distance, and then died there? This doesn’t make any sense to me.
2 options I think - their bodies were washed away or something happened to them before the crash. Something could be they were killed somewhere else, dropped in the woods on the way down, left with friends… I hope they find them.
This isn’t true. A nineteen year old and two fourteen year olds are confirmed dead. The sixteen, fifteen and twelve year old are missing. The two missing teens aren’t much older than the teens whose bodies have been located.
I don’t understand how this happened. People are allowed to avoid CPS by refusing to answer the door? Why didn’t the police get involved and force them to cooperate?
You’re right. I mistakenly remembered that the older kids were missing. I forgot about the 19 year old that died.
I assume this was an upcoming step in the process.
That step should immediately follow “parents enter home and refuse to come out.” The social worker came Friday, Monday and Tuesday. In a completely unsurprising move, the parents took off on Saturday.
Eh, it’s government work done by government employees. Mediocrity and mistakes are what they excel at. I don’t know why anyone would be surprised. Across the country in Florida the FBI just got done ignoring warnings about the latest school shooter.
Maybe they didn’t have enough evidence of wrongdoing to use any kind of force. I imagine there has to be some level of information that warrants knocking on the door to make inquiries (which is just free speech) but not forcing people to cooperate (which requires cause).
I don’t know if the social workers weren’t able to call the police given the information that they had, or if they decided not to, but if it’s the former, the law should be changed. No one should be able to decline a child welfare check.
I have some concerns with this proposed policy.
I can’t buy the notion that 3 kids were washed away. And since no one has heard anything from any of them as far as I know, I have a sickening feeling they’re in a shallow grave somewhere.
It doesn’t seem that improbable to me if they were all unbuckled. I can imagine the bodies being thrown clear from the vehicle, then hitting the ocean below.
It seems very possible to me as well. This article has a photo of how high the surf can get in this area. If the incident occurred with no one seeing it, it may have been hours of high tide to carry anything loose away from the wreck. It also reads that authorities think ocean currents may have been keeping the missing children in the area.
I found the turnout on google maps - 20.8 miles north of Fort Bragg at Juan Creek. I have been by that area on bike trips - a very scenic and remote section of coast.
Very sad and disturbing story.
Apparently the surf in this spot is so dangerous that the authorities had not even been able to get divers into the water, last I heard.