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http://bringmethenews.com/2015/10/17/po ... -for-help/

18-Year old-Laura Schwendemann-last seen Wednesday night.

The Spocklette (14)knows her fairly well as they have taught Vacation Bible School together the last 2 years. So however this turns out(especially worst-case scenario)-The Spocklette will learn some bad things about the real-world.

Mrs. Spock and I know an aunt very well and Mrs S is acquainted with the mother and is FB friends with both. Mother and aunt are sisters and at one time were married to brothers (the aunt is since divorced from the brother) so their kids are double cousins.

It is kind of scary when the sheriff's department is asking farmers and hunters (harvest and hunting are in full swing) in a very specific localized area (including my area) to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

From a police procedural aspect it is kind of interesting (and frustrating) to watch.The police have released very little info and some of it is very contradictory -obviously, they have reasons for doing so, but, as I said it is frustrating. For example, they have not said if she was driving a car or what. Through family FB posts, we believe that she was not driving. They have also given 2 widely-separated locations as the point of the last known location of her and the place where she is believed to have disappeared. The gas station in Alexandria is about 20 miles from Kensington (points of last sighting and believed place of disappearance.

The request for farmers and hunters to keep an eye out in a specific area seems to indicate that they don't think that she took off for Kansas with a boyfriend-or whatever.

This summer we were on a dinner cruise with the aunt and we started talking about how much Laura(the missing girl) looks like her daughter and that is when she said they were double cousins.

The aunt also said something like "She has made things tougher for herself than they needed to be." I took that as that she may have been in some trouble and was with the wrong crowd-but that is pure speculation on my part and I won't tell real-life people (for example, my mother) any speculations related to that line of thought in the absence of further info.

We all watch too many police shows and films-but part of me is wondering if the authorities "Area of Interest" is misdirection.

A part-time tractor driver of ours came through another small-town in the area yesterday at 5:30 AM and the place was crawling with police presence-both inside town and in fields around it. Could be unrelated, but this town is also on the path from Alexandria (last known sighting) back to the University of Minnesota Morris-where she attends-Mrs S also saw unusual police activity in that rough area on Saturday.

OTOH, I was in the combining corn all day yesterday and I saw no police activity-given that we are in the "Area of Interest" one might expect at least some police presence driving through the area.

Sending good thoughts your way . . .

The activity may not mean much. About a million years ago, my idiot nephew escaped from the local constabulary. I lived about eight miles outta town at that time, and a neighbor told us that the yard was buzzing with Sheriff deputies for a couple hours. I didn't even know at the time that he had escaped.

Here's hoping for a good outcome.

SportsFan68 wrote:Sending good thoughts your way . . .

The activity may not mean much. About a million years ago, my idiot nephew escaped from the local constabulary. I lived about eight miles outta town at that time, and a neighbor told us that the yard was buzzing with Sheriff deputies for a couple hours. I didn't even know at the time that he had escaped.

Here's hoping for a good outcome.

Thanks-Sprots. The 5:30 Am police activity was unrelated. Somebody with a big pickup and trailer was driving 100 miles an hour and driving through fields of standing corn and so forth.

My lasting memory of the missing girl is from a couple of years ago-when L'il Spock and I visited that church (long story, but we are kind of members in several churches). L'il Spock is one year younger than the girl and I saw that she smiled at him-it is a small church and they were the only 2 in that age bracket. However, he was/is pretty oblivious to girls and he never noticed.

Here's hoping that regardless of the nature of this search, she walks out of this alive.

Through people in the know-we learned that it is drug-related and that the boyfriend is in custody, both as a possible suspect and for his possible protection. Explains the lack actionable released info.

Goes to show that this crap can happen even in the best of families (As if we needed a reminder).

This is turning into a John Sandford "Virgil Flowers" novel.

There are 4 townships, each 6 miles by 6 miles, located as a square, that are the announced focus of the investigation. We live in gthe southern part of the southwest township.

The other night, I said to Mrs. Spock-"Who lives in the exact middle of the study area?" It is a redneck family with a history of jail time/meth crap/poaching etc. Scuttlebutt is that the police are scared of these people and thus avoid cleaning the nest out. I would not want to be a juror in one of their trials

Now rumors are that, in fact-this family is involved. I was visiting with a friend about the situation and we both commented about how well that family knows every patch of woods and hole and swamp in the study area.

Bottom line-My guess is that if they had anything to do with the death of the girl-that body ain't gonna be found.

A farmer found the body while he was harvesting a field today-Closure time.

Law enforcement has been interesting to watch in this. They listed 4 townships as the main area of focus-but from Day 1-Law Enforcement search efforts have been concentrated 10 to 15 miles east of the "Area of Focus"-Very little media attention related to that area of the search-The body was found in that "Quiet" area.

Since the body was found in a corn field-my guess is that it was hidden by somebody with very little rural knowledge-Looks like a good spot-but the field was going to be harvested within a few days of the hiding.

The Spocklette and I attended a prayer vigil for Laura tonight. It was planned prior to the discovery of the body and they decided to keep it going. It was a full house.

I have never felt scared when I walked in a church before tonight. Immediately, upon walking into the door we were met by 3 police officers and I noticed that there were also police watching the back door. I felt a twinge of fear when I saw that and thought-just how big is this thing?

I had speculated today that she may have overdosed and the guy she was with panicked and hid the body. However, you don't have armed guards watching a church for a drug overdose case.

Comparing this case to other missing person cases-this was never a "Missing Persons" case- it was always a body recovery/murder investigation. For example, they never released what she was wearing-as is common in a missing persons case.

This story came out the day they found the body, but prior to the discovery.

http://www.echopress.com/news/3868851-u ... ssing-teen

<<<Other agencies that have been/currently are involved in the investigation include police departments from Alexandria, Starbuck, Glenwood and Morris; Pope County Sheriff's Office (PCSO); Stevens County Sheriff’s Office; the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension; State Patrol; Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; the FBI; West Central Minnesota Drug and Violent Crime Task Force; Douglas County Sheriff’s Posse and Pope County Sheriff’s Posse.<<<

This list of agencies (The FBI?) indicates that there is some very big game hunting going on here. It can't be a coincidence when several drug arrests happen in one small town on the same day. All indications point to the involvement of the Redneck scum that I referenced earlier in this thread. Scuttlebutt has it that she was with the 18YO son of the really bad one when she disappeared-it was his car. Scuttlebutt also has it that both he and his dad have been pulled in on various parole and weapons violations.

I'm so sorry about your neighbor, Spock. It's so horrible that it came down to a fatality.