One of those articles says the police are considering having the husband come in for a polygraph. Aren’t those things mostly debunked? And in this kind of case, where it measures physiological changes and sweating when asked about a missing spouse, well, wouldn’t most people have emotional responses? Why don’t they tie a big rock to him and throw him in the lake to see if he’s guilty?
Question for the OP: If the missing woman is a friend, what about the husband? Have you met him and/or formed any opinion?
From the first link:
“According to court records, [Stephanie] Roller had sought a restraining order against [Dale] Bruner on Oct. 14, but that order was vacated on Oct. 28.”
The second link says that her husband was the last person to see her. I guess the kids were in bed sleeping at 10:00pm? When did he call the police to report her missing?
Polygraphs can’t prove anything, and can’t be used as evidence, but they do have some investigative utility for the cops, and sometimes they can scare people into confessions. In a case like this, it doesn’t hurt anything to wire the husband up and sweat him a little bit.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) is a clearinghouse for missing persons and unidentified decedent records. NamUs is a free online system that can be searched by medical examiners, coroners, law enforcement officials and the general public to solve these cases.
I’ve only met the husband once or twice. This is really the first I heard about any marital troubles. She never said anything to me, and I wouldn’t have thought that she would. It was just really a shock to see her name in the paper.
I know it’s hard to not speculate. I’m trying not to. A case in point – about 3 years ago, a tourist tried to walk home from a local bar and ended up freezing to death about ½ mile from the bar. He wasn’t found for months. Ya just never know.
Steph and I know each other through different projects we have worked on together at work. And, we both have the same type of Smart Phone and net book. So, we would share tips and tricks.
I agree that the polygraph is really a red herring. It wouldn’t work on me, I would be way, way to emotional in such a situation. For instance, once I was a little concerned that my wife was an hour overdue from when I expected her. Two police cars pulled into my property and I felt my legs go to rubber. The reason the police came had nothing to do with either my wife or I. They were looking for someone that claimed my address as a previous residence (um, no). Still, it scared me to death when they pulled up, I was sure something had happened to my Wife.
The first time was an asst manager at a Red Roof Inn, where I worked. Her name was Jackie. I was working overnight and I was there about 10:50pm at the shift change and Jackie shows up all mad.
The prior shift was closing out, her name was Gail and I asked her what she was doing at work so late, she said, “I hate this job and this place and I am leaving, I’m never coming back.”
She never showed up for work and her mother called and her didn’t take nothing from her apartment but a month later no one had ever heard from her. She just walked out and left her job, her flat, her possessions, just everything. Of course this was 1982 so it was easy not to leave a trace.
I remember the cops saying “When a person over 21, says she’s leaving and goes, she ain’t missing, she’s left.”
I worked on and off at that place till 1988 and no one ever found out what happened to her.
The other two ladies I knew who “disappeared,” were later found, they were having affairs with men and went voluntarily. I never understood why they didn’t make up some excuse to justify they were leaving other than going off to spend a week with someone. I guess they thought they could think of an excuse later on
My Wife is a triathlete. We had just returned from a race when I found out about Steph.
My Wife is often running in the mountains by herself or with the dogs. I always know where she is going, but there is always that itch in the back of my mind that makes me worry about her. Or worried when she is racing, or otherwise training. As a husband, or any spouse, it’s my job.
Hearing about Steph really reminded my about how fragile we all are.
