www.justiceforchandra.com

[rd]

trigger contacted me about Amber's disappearance. For background you can check out In Session's thread on Amber:
http://boards.insessiontrials.com/showthread.php?t=349380

trigger asked about analyzing images of a piclup going in and out of a bus maintenance lot near where Amber was seen on the sidewalk with a young 6' male. The truck is a bergundy colored two door cab with extensive chrome accessories, really tricked out. Great work done by cloudajo on websleuths on this in truck picture comparisons, maps, information, etc. The current thread with that info is:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81965

In scanning the forum threads to come up to speed on all the work done trying to find Amber Dubois, I ended up with a link to a San Diego news article that was so bad I had to post a comment:

http://www.10news.com/news/19669229/detail.html
Police: Truck In Dubois Case, Wal-Mart Cases Unrelated
Dan Diego 10News.com
June 5, 2009

rd commented:
This is one major league poor job of reporting. Unless the reporter has a clue s/he's not displaying, the title that the trucks are not related shows no comprehension of the facts reported whatsoever. The chrome accessories can be removed, and other than that they appear to be similar trucks.

To the person posting about searching, in my opinion Amber was removed far away to a remote area on Friday to be assaulted and murdered after being abducted. Likely the suspect did not return till Saturday afternoon when he tried her phone to see what messages had been left and quickly shut it back off when he couldn't.

However that identified location as North Escondido and that should be ground zero for finding the pictured man in the Wal-Mart sexual offenses with a bergundy king cab pickup that used to be tricked out big time with all the chrome trappings. Ped of this description strikes me as live at home with parent/s type.

To put it bluntly, I wouldn't be searching for where he hid Amber, I'd be searching for this guy. That he hasn't been found yet I think is a testament to the huge state of California budget problem. A match of drivers and trucks meeting this description could be had by any competent computer crew from the DMV database same day as request.

When he is found look for if he was not working that Friday Amber disappeared and probably won't be able to find any record of him being in area on Friday. Ideally any electronic records that were found would point in direction he hid Amber.

May she rest in peace.

end quote

So nothing like starting out at the end.

rd

Track offenders with GPS recorders!

Blowup of Jennifer Kesse person of interest / suspect

click to read the online true crime mystery novel Murder on a Horse Trail: The Disappearance of Chandra Levy

www.justiceforchandra.com home page

[rd]

from insessiontrials.com:

n/t wrote:
I agree with you that they need to look for the owner of that truck, however your post is directed at the wrong people. The reporter didn't rule out that truck at the Wal Mart, the cops did!

No, the article quotes the cops as saying they appear to be different but couldn't be sure without examining the trucks in person. If the title say they might not be related, then the reporter/editor has a clue. Saying they are unrelated is clueless.

Quite frankly, we all can see what the cops see, and it appears to be the Amber truck with the extensive chrome accessories removed as one would expect if your truck is all over the local news as it was with fairly distinctive chrome accessories.

Not saying they are the same, but don't see anything that distinguishes the two other than the chrome accessories, and no one has posted they can clearly distinguish the two, with many good eyes looking, so is quite clueless reporting, and yes, set off in that direction by the cops with their statement.

I think the age difference of the ped victims is overriding the actual truck comparison. Yes peds are focused on a certain age group which is why they are a ped and always will be, however I wouldn't rule out this murderer victimizing different age groups for different reasons.

rd

[rd]

from insessiontrials.com:

plzd2mtu wrote:
rd, were you able to make out anything more on the truck (either the Walmart truck OR the truck at the school)? Was hoping somebody would have the capabilities to zone in on the lic plate or maybe be able to catch the make/model and or year of it. Also curious as to what the white "thing" was in the back of it. You can see it as it is pulling away from the lot back onto Broadway.

Unfortunately no, I was unable to see any more detail in the pictures. There is just nothing there. The pictures are described as blownup so the detail has already been maximized by the police before being distributed I think. Also color is helpful in big ways such as knowing the truck is bergundy but doesn't lend itself to the extreme detail blowups I did on b/w Kesse suspect images, and the distance is so much further.

The white in the back of the truck is the chrome toolbox and a chrome wraparound of the tailend, clearly visible when it was parked. As it pulls out past the camera, the white is a couple of circular reflections but appear to me to be at the toolbox and tailend locations.

I haven't seen any info yet in posts if these two pictures are the only ones or just representative, and whether there were any intermediate ones that could rule out the 6' young man from walking away from the truck to meet Amber and asking her to come with him to show her the truck or something like that.

I assume it's quite possible that he was one of the ones she was chatting with in prior week and possibly was exchanging Valentine's Day gifts with. He would have lied big time about his age but might have said he went to a different high school, I don't know.

Are there intermediate pictures that rule out someone getting out of the truck and walking back with Amber, does anyone know?

rd

[rd]

from insessiontrials.com:

sickntired wrote:
I think that a SO would go for someone more like Amber than a more "grown up" looking girl. I think they are looking for innocense and purity. Amber is a quiet beautiful girl and would probably be better to control than a more experienced girl. And if she was walking alone, a much better target.

The circumstances here point to someone who was waiting for her, probably someone who she was chatting with in previous week. She's 14 years old, and that's an age peds would target online.

The odds that both a particular truck and a young man were seen near her at the time she disappeared and never identified as being someone associated with the school, but having nothing to do with her disappearance, are not very good in my opinion.

Being Valentine's Day, sounds very probable to me that it was to be an innocent exchange of a small gift / card for a new online friend who would have told her he was 16 or so, probably said he wanted to see her lamb with her.

It's pretty critical to know whether there were intermediate surveillance shots that show the truck sitting there for three minutes with no one getting out and walking away and back, or the time lapses are three minutes apart and those are the two pictures we have.

The simplest explanatiion that makes sense is the boy she was seen with near the entrance to the gate is the driver of the truck parked within the gate.

Intermediate pictures or a distance that is not as close to the street to quickly get back to the truck would rule that out though.

rd

[rd]

from insessiontrials.com:

trigger wrote:
Thanx RDwrites for trying and all your info...Im wondering if it might be a girl involved. Maybe this girl heard that she was giving a valentines card to their boyfriend and this girl got really mad. Thinking she was safe to get in her car maybe with other girls inside they yelled and screamed at her and just a horrible thought but they killed her thats why these girls took down her poster.

I would say no, trigger. That's basically trying to fit the fact that someone took down some posters into this. Most likely the posters were taken down because someone didn't like where they were.

Was there any details on who took them down or the exact locations they were taken down or anyone talk to anybody about it?

It's a real diversion to thinking about a murder that took place. Place yourself in Amber's shoes and walk through that and you'll see clearly through her eyes.

rd

[rd]

from insessiontrials.com:

trigger wrote:
RDwrites...heres a better video of the maroon truck..Also 1 pic.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/23/bn24amber202630/?northcounty&zIndex=87662

http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/Was-Missing-Escondido-Girl-Abducted-in-Red-Pickup/glZVEOPuJU6Tpv0R0QtFMw.cspx


Trigger, thanks, I saw the video, the picture of the truck is blown up in the San Diego local news, and I think in this case the police have zoomed in as much as possible on detail of both the bus maintenance yard truck and the Wal-Mart truck, which are likely the same with the suspect taking the chrome accessories off as one would expect when your truck is in the news.

As I posted previously, a DMV search for trucks of this type and color and drivers with trucks like that meeting the criteria of the Wal-Mart perp should have been done, I would hope has been done, and police are working off of it. Finding the Wal-Mart perp should have been straight forward and ruling him out first priority if something of any substance were to actually be accomplished in finding Amber.

Also parent 2 should have been asked if they would be able to positively rule out the Wal-Mart perp from the pictures as the tall boy they saw with Amber near the entrance to the driveway where that truck was parked.

Again, fundamentals such as whether there are intermediate pictures in the surveillance video that rule out the driver gettng out and walking to the sidewalk and back to the truck appear not to be available or no one here knows, so whether the truck driver was the tall boy or was the Wal-Mart perp with an accomplice, I can't tell, but the priorities are clear to me and I'm sure the Escondido police are doing what they can to id that Wal-Mart perp. I hope they can get some help on that.

thanks,
rd

[gozgals]

Anything new on this RD?

Goz

[rd]

goz, this is very touching, a very emotional auction for Amber's lamb that she was getting to raise the morning she disappeared on her way to school. She was last seen near the entrance to the barn and bus maintenance yard.

Surveillance shows a four door bergundy pickup stopping and leaving the yard a couple of minutes after a parent saw Amber out on the sidewalk with a tall young man or boy.

She didn't make it to the barn that morning. Here's this excellent column from Jeff Crank of the North County Times.

rd


Auction of lamb attracts bids from the heart
North County Times
By JEFF FRANK - jfrank@nctimes.com
July 7, 2009

http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2009/07/07/news/columnists/jeff_frank/za0b5d4dbc778591d882575ec0083ceb0.txt

[gozgals]

How very sad Rd. I hope you can find something- I know if anyone can, you will be able too. My thoughts go out to Amber that we get some news, and her family and friends.

Here is more news:

Information on the Amber Dubois search and trust fund can be found at bringamberhome.com.


The site is under construction or I would post it.

Thanks again.

[gozgals]

http://www.amw.com/missing_children/case.cfm?id=63583

Snip

Where Is Amber Dubois?

14-year-old Amber Dubois has been missing from her hometown of Escondido, Calif. since Feb. 13, 2009.


View Larger It's a question that's on many people's minds, even beyond the California town of Escondido. Since Feb. 13, 2009, Amber Dubois has been missing, and for months cops, her family, friends, and community are searching for the missing teen.

Family members say Amber is a strong-willed but bookish girl who loves animals to the extent that, despite being a freshman at Escondido High School, she was looking into college programs specializing in animal sciences.

On Feb. 13, 2009, Amber not only had her books and Valentine's Day gifts for her friends, she also had a $200 check to put a deposit on a lamb that she was going to raise as a part of her school's Future Farmer's Association.

Amber's dad, Maurice Dubois, says the lamb was something that Amber was already cherishing the thought of and she wouldn't have missed turning in the deposit for the world.

But police say somehow, that's what happened. At 6:45 a.m., Amber sent four text messages to her grandmother before heading out the door to school.

The one mile walk from her home was something she did everyday. At around 7:15 a.m., she was seen by two family friends just about 300 yards from the school's front gate.


Snip

Click link for whole file

[gozgals]

The latest Update

The Amber Dubois Disappearance - Six Months Later
It's been six months since 14-year-old high school freshman, Amber Dubois, vanished on the way to her Escondido, Calif. high school. Authorities in Southern California are looking at a maroon or burgundy colored pick-up truck that can be seen on surveillance camera footage entering and exiting the parking lot of Amber's school on Feb. 13, 2009 -- the day she went missing. Now, the Dubois family hopes that AMW viewers can help generate new clues that will lead police to Amber.

[rd]

from websleuths, Cloudajo wrote:
Leads by the hundreds have come and then been dismissed. A suspicious red pickup parked near the school and seen in surveillance-camera videos turned out to be that of a parent of another child and is not connected to the case.

[snipped]
Last summer, dogs from Texas hired by the family appeared to have traced Amber’s scent to the community of Pala, specifically to the Pala library. But no one in Pala remembers having ever seen Amber. Bloodhounds used by the FBI smelled no hint of her in Pala several months later.

[snipped]
Two witnesses who knew Amber saw her walking on North Broadway near the football field north of the school’s entrance with a tall, dark-skinned, but not black, sort of “doughy” boy who has yet to be identified, Benton said. Security cameras near the front of the school show Amber never made it that far.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/10/ambers-mystery/


Hi Cloudajo, do you have any idea when this identification of the truck was made? It had not been made months after Amber had disappeared. There was a San Diego news article on a similar red truck at a Wal-Mart that a young man caught in surveilance photo accused of maybe attempting to kidnap a girl there (don't remember the exact details), but was too blurry to know how similar. If same truck the chrome had been removed.

The reporter writing that was not aware the truck had been id'ed at that time. I am curious how a parent came to be identified some time later when a massive search for owner of that truck took place at the school when Amber disappeared. (and IIRC, you did a great deal of work comparing pictures of models of trucks, etc. at the time.)

Much thanks as usual for keeping us informed.

rd

[rd]

Here's a source:

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_17edfcec-657a-5398-8295-4b1ada991f56.html

ESCONDIDO: Where is Amber Dubois?
A year later, police remain mystified by Escondido teen's disappearance
By EDWARD SIFUENTES - esifuentes@nctimes.com
North County Times
February 13, 2010

Early in their investigation, police said they were looking for a red truck that was seen on the school's blurry security tape for a moment shortly before Amber's disappearance. Police sent the video to Department of Defense image laboratories for sophisticated analysis.

The truck was identified as an early 2000s model red Dodge Ram with aftermarket chrome rails and running boards.

Detectives later learned that the truck belonged to the parent of a student at the high school. They questioned the parent and determined the truck probably had nothing to do with the girl's disappearance.

and another:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/10/ambers-mystery/

Amber’s mystery
With no solid clues since the Escondido teen disappeared a year ago, family and police remain frustrated and heartbroken over …
By J. Harry Jones, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 10, 2010

The Escondido Police Department has one detective assigned full time to the case and, with the assistance of the FBI and many other agencies, continues to check tips and leads as they come in. Just last week police were at Escondido High re-interviewing Amber’s friends.

Leads by the hundreds have come and then been dismissed. A suspicious red pickup parked near the school and seen in surveillance-camera videos turned out to be that of a parent of another child and is not connected to the case.

No one in the school could be found that was associated with the truck, and now they're saying that it turned out someone was? One day they're parked in the bus parking lot and pulling out as seen on the surveillance tape, with pictures widely distributed in San Diego media, and then do not identify themselves as parent and never drive the truck to the school again lest they be seen?

Reporters/detectives seems pretty nonchalant over something so strange.

rd

[rd]

Sadly, Amber's remains were found in a rural, rugged area in northern San Diego County. I felt from the beginning that she was taken to a remote area based on her cellphone being tried for voice mail the next afternoon in the northern part of Escondido where she disappeared.

It was apparent to me the murderer was returning at that time and was trying to fake out people that Amber was nearby and checking her voicemail.

Catching John Gardner last week, the murderer of Chelsea King in a San Diego County park (see Chelsea King Missing- 17 yr old - SO arrested SDiego County), brought renewed focus on searching for Amber as another possible victim of Gardner. They may not have physical evidence of Gardner found with Amber after a year, but Gardner only lived a couple of miles from Amber's high school where she disappeared, and he's clearly a pedophile stalker, so, unless there are records of him being at work that morning, for all intents and purposes justice for Amber will have been done when they execute him for Chelsea's murder.

Amber, may you rest in peace. We didn't protect you well enough from scum predators like Gardner. I wish it were him that was taken off the street instead of you.

rd

Police: Remains of California teen Amber DuBois found
CNN
March 7, 2010
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/07/california.amber.dubois/

[trigger]