Post by mustangman on Jan 23, 2020 22:39:04 GMT
One quick note: for all the talk that Robin and David were marched down the long paths and boardwalks through the marsh (to the right in Cleo's picture above), there is a much more direct path to the water next to the bridge. See where the boat marker is located. I think 200 yards to the water from the parking area makes a lot more sense than walking 10-15 minutes or more down dark boardwalks and dirt/gravel paths to another point along the James River. We were just there a few months ago, and I walked the long path-- had to be at least a 10-15 minute walk.
Not saying that it is impossible, just that sometimes the shortest distance between two points is well, the shortest distance between two points.
Thanks.
Bill
"the shortest distance between two points is well, the shortest distance between two points."
-The shortest distance between two points would be if the kids were brought out to where they were found by someone with a boat. From the boat to the shore, maybe about 50 feet.
Bill said the following in this thread on 4-10-2019:
"Actually, I am not sure those bridges and paths were there at Ragged Island in 1987, or not as well developed."
"The shore was pretty wild looking from the photographs I have seen, and according to the family, Mr. Knobling was wearing waders as he walked along the shoreline."
The following quote is from *Notes From The Bunker* by Blaine L. Pardoe.
"There are only two paths that the killer and his victims could have gone. One was from the parking area straight to the James River Bridge. Lined by chain link fencing and a swamp, there was no avenue for escape. The second path is a winding trail through the swamp to the beach not far from where they were found. On a rainy night, with only the lights from the bridge, either path would have been dark and dangerous."
-Either way, if the killer walked the kids out to where their bodies were found, he needed a flashlight. The bodies also didn't show signs of having been handcuffed or bound, which makes it much more harder for the killer to have kept control of the kids as he walked them approximately 1 mile on dangerous paths, with no shoes half dressed, in the middle of the night with nothing more than tall reeds or cattails to conceal the beam of the flashlight from anyone driving from Newport News on the bridge towards Ragged Island. If the killer had come upon the kids, where David's truck was found, did he drive his own vehicle and leave it while he walked the kids out to East Island, leaving his vehicle where it could've been seen anywhere from 30-60 minutes or more? Some reports state that a Deputy and or a Sheriff had seen David's truck at the parking area early that morning, this implies that the roads in the area were being patrolled regularly making the scenario of the killer walking David & Robin out to East Island undetected very unlikely.
-There is no mud on the kids shoes that are found in David's truck, but it was raining that night, so presumably the kids never stepped out of the truck with their shoes or clothing on at Ragged Island (any clothing found in the truck wasn't wet).
-Nothing in the picture of David's truck bed looks wet, there is cardboard that would've been soaked and still wet? There is no mud on the truck? was the truck somewhere where the rain missed getting the truck wet? maybe a garage?
-Investigators believe the bodies had been dumped into the river near the bridge and floated to where they were found. This seems unlikely since the bodies would've traveled 1 mile and then ended up only 50 feet apart from each other?
-David/Robin could've been abducted somewhere other than the Ragged Island parking lot and removed from David's truck and taken in another vehicle to a location out of the rain where they were forced to remove some clothing & their shoes, then killed and transported by boat out to East island to dump the bodies.
-A boat would've made it very easy to get out to East island without the killer having to hang around the area very long and be seen, thus reducing the chance of being caught.
-Possibly David and Robin were shot at the spot where they were found, back in 80's that spot is only easily accessible at night by boat, LE had looked for 3 days and probably thought "no way the kids had walked out that far along the shore (approximately 1 mile), because of the rough terrain. especially since LE knew the kids had left their shoes and some clothing in the truck.
-Bill has said that Investigators believe that the kids were not killed where their bodies were found, this only adds support to the theory of a boat being used to dump the bodies at East Island.
-For discussions sake lets just speculate that the kids had been shot & killed at East island.
Cleo suggests that the killer used a boat to get the kids out to East island:
"When they got there they got out of the boat and ran inland, and he shot them as they ran."
The following quote is from *Notes From The Bunker* by Blaine L. Pardoe.
"Both had been shot. David had been hit twice, once in the back shoulder with the bullet angled up – the other shot to his head. Robin had been shot in the head from behind."
-"once in the back shoulder with the bullet angled up" would support the shooter being lower (on a boat) and David being higher (on shore) running away when he was shot.
-The one shot that hit David in the shoulder could've been a missed headshot due to the shooter being in a boat and the wave action making the boat rock.
Cleo also wonders how Robins body was found on shore behind a huge fallen tree and other tree roots?
-If the kids were "alive and running away inland", it would make sense that she was trying to hide behind something (the big fallen tree) when she was shot and that's how her body got behind all that brush and huge fallen tree.
Note:
In old historic aerial views, dating back to 1963, of the area around Ragged island and right on the other side of the bridge from the Ragged island parking lot there are DOT road crew depot/buildings. In a historic aerial photo from 2002 there are 4 boats on shore on the DOT property, there is large work building, there is even construction equipment that runs on diesel fuel & there was a boat dock right there!! The boat dock no longer exists, but it did between 1972 thru 1994 in the historic aerial photos.
Has anyone asked investigators about the DOT employee's who worked there at the time of David/Robins deaths?
Did the DOT workers use boats? Maybe to inspect the underside of the bridges?
Did the DOT workers from this building also perform work on the Colonial Parkway, I-64 or Shenandoah National Park?