<Prochaska>

some of the things were discovered in the parking lot and around her vehicle were like her hair dryer, her brush. The driver’s side mirror was actually ... ah, folded in the outward position, which a make it appear that someone had been had had brushed up against it and actually folded it in the outward position (deep breath) um of her red Mazda Miata.

You may have noticed that the police are rewriting history here. Out of the clear blue we have a situation where the blood has disappeared from the crime scene, huh? After eighteen years you decide to remove the blood! And you’ve moved the attack from the passenger side of the car to the driver’s side? Excuse me? Is this whole investigation a lie? What are we to believe? First we have the diary being leaked to the media, now the blood disappears from the crime scene. What are the odds that they don’t really have a palm print? I’ve got a feeling the whole evidence room has been compromised and tainted. What say you, Mason City Police?
JoAnn says she trust the Mason City Police Department ??? How? Why?

I know what was omitted as i read it before it was...A proper name was used pointing the finger definitively as Jodi's abductor. He had a boat and named it after Jodi...

Welcome to the forum, Godfather..As a rule, naming names(suspects or persons of interest) isnt allowed on here.... 

fasteddy8170 said
I watched the Disappeared episode on YouTube this morning. I thought it was well-done and it did spur a few thoughts regarding Jodi's disappearance that hadn't occurred to me before. Sorry this is long. Lots of stuff to explain.

 

1. The producer's first phone call to Jodi at a little after 4am. She said it took Jodi a long time to pick up the phone, and when Jodi eventually picked up, she sounded like she'd just woke up. There's something that strikes me as odd about that because when I think of somebody taking a long time to pick up a phone--even if it is 4am--I think the person probably wasn't close to the phone or was doing something that wouldn't allow her to answer the phone. From what I remember, going way back to 1995 before the spread of cell phones, it used to be everyone had a phone beside their bed. Did Jodi have a phone beside her bed? And even so, no matter how deep of a sleeper she was, would it take a "long time" to pick up the phone? I think a phone ringing right beside your bed would wake most people up on like the second ring, which wouldn't be consider a "long time." I guess what I'm saying is that I think she was already awake and the reason she didn't answer the phone right away was because somebody else was in the apartment with her. And, she faked sounding sleepy so she'd have a good excuse. I think this all jives with my idea that I have never believed somebody waited outside for over an hour (because she was late) to kidnap her. Furthermore, it was dark that morning and police say she was attacked from behind. With those facts, how could she ever yell somebody's name if she couldn't see the assailant's face? Maybe the lights in the parking lot were bright enough. But, maybe the reason she knew which name to yell was because the person had been with her inside her apartment moments before and she didn't need to see a face? I don't know, maybe it's nothing. But I've heard the producer say that before and it never struck me. This time it did. 

 **I dont agree here...I am a deep sleeper and have to get up at  4am for work...My cell phone, right next to me and on the loudest volume, can ring thru straight to vm sometimes, its set to on the 4th ring. I just dont hear it... This was also true back in the day with my bedside phone 

 

2. Billy Pruin--I happened upon iowacoldcase.org. Would anyone be surprised to know that, according to that website, there are only two cold cases involving adults in Mason City for the entire decade of the 90's? And those two people's incidences  happened with three months of each other, and the two people not only knew each other but were good friends. And the two cases aren't just cold cases but cases involving unusual circumstances. Those are some coincidences, wouldn't you say? Yep, Jodi and Billy. That Jodi wasn't going to let Billy's suicide-most likely-murder go away seems like a much more plausible reason somebody took Jodie than anything else I've heard, including the drug ring angle.

     As for Billy's suicide, it's not unusual for people to shoot themselves in the chest--that's how Junior Seau committed suicide. Yes, the bullet hole sizes are suspicious. But, I'm more interested in the gun--it was his own. That somebody chased him inside doesn't wash with me. If a person/people did come to his residence to hurt him--for whatever reason--they wouldn't show up without their own weapon, would they? And, do we really believe somebody or even a group of people wrestled the gun away from Billy without causing damage inside the house? I mean, it doesn't seem like Billy would've been the kind of guy to give his gun up easily.

     The scenario I like much better that fits the facts, including the bullet holes, is that someone who knew Billy very well shot him--somebody who knew where he kept his .44 Magnum. Shot him in the back, or in the chest, pick one--it doesn't matter. However, I will admit I can't rule out the suicide scenario for the simple reason that people do seemingly strange things before committing suicide. For example, within the last year a woman jumped off a bridge to her death near me on her way to work one morning. Ten minutes before she jumped, she stopped to get coffee at the local convenience store that she always stopped at on her way to work. The cup 'o joe, half full and still warm, was in her car--parked in the middle of the bridge--when the EMT's got there. So, Billy buying a tractor before possibly committing suicide isn't totally outrageous.

     One thing about .44 Magnum's though. Yes, I know, it's the "most powerful handgun in the world." I could swear I remember reading somewhere that the Magnum's muzzle velocity is actually what hurts it from having good stopping power. Because the bullet is moving so fast, if it doesn't hit any organs, it doesn't do a lot of damage to the human body. Whereas, bullets with lower velocities--like a .38--hit the human body and stop, and kind of bounce around inside. So, it is conceivable that the damage on Billy's chest was from the muzzle flash and air pushed against it and the hole in his back was the clean exit hole from a bullet flying really fast, because it will cut the skin very clean. I'm no gun expert, that's for sure, but for some reason I remember reading that.

**Of your entire post, this bit of statistics seems the most intriguing...I havent checked it myself, but if thats true then there is very little chance it is coincidence..I dont really believe in coincidence 98% of the time, so this nugget of info could be a part of the puzzle that helps define and eventually lead to a resolution of this case...

 

 

 3. I saw the interview with JVS in the show. Yes, he used the past tense. But, I was more struck by his demeanor. I would expect him to say nice things about Jodi, of course. But, he was doing it with almost a smile on his face. I mean, she's gone. Disappeared. Vanished. Shouldn't he have been shaking his head, looking down at the ground, etc., showing some signs that he was really worried. He didn't look worried to me, no matter what was coming out of his mouth. I remind everyone: women are most likely to be harmed by a man they know, not a stranger. I'm just sayin' . . . It also said on the show that JVS left his house at 5am to take a walk the morning Jodi disappeared. Did he always take a walk then? Or, did he say that to establish an alibi if someone saw him coming back to his place later that morning? Did anyone actually see him leave his place at 5am?

**Yes yes and yes....though people do express worry differently from each other, and perhaps having the media focus on him could cause this strange demeanor, but Im not sure i believe that..

 

 

4. I totally dont believe Ms. Ohl. Maybe I should re-phrase that. It's totally possible some informant told her the police had something to do with Jodi's disappearance. But, when I watch the interview she conducted and all she can say is something like: the taxpayers should be angry that their tax dollars are going to these officers. Hey, Ms. Ohl how about: the taxpayers should be angry because some of their officers could be killers . . . ? She seemed more interested in the policeman losing their salaries than any justice being doled out. Her words tell me she isn't totally buying into the informant's story--if there even was a story--either. It was a money grab by her and that pastor--my opinion. Disgruntled for whatever reason--maybe good reasons, maybe bad, I don't know, I wasn't there.    

I guess reading all this stuff (sorry it's long) establishes what I think happened. And, of course, I'm not alone. I think it's very possible that JVS had something to do with Billy and Jodi. I say that because I don't believe Billy and Jodi's cases are separate, given what I stated in #2. It very well could be JVS got jealous of Billy. Met him at his house. Knew him well so he might've known where the .44 was. (For example, JVS is waiting for Billy when he gets home. Billy, surprised to see JVS there, forgets to take his boots off before he goes inside. JVS wanders over to where the gun is kept. Etc.)  Then, those weeks later, in a fit of weakness and knowing Jodi might be on to something regarding Billy, JVS confessed to her early that morning she disappeared, thinking she'd stop her investigation because they were close friends, especially since he just threw a party for her. When he discovered she was going to continue, he couldn't let that happen, no matter if he had his boat named after her or not. So, he follows her down the steps from her apartment and assaults her in the parking lot. In the end, it was a friendship triangle gone bad--it happens all the time.

Neither do i. 

 

 

 

  

 

 

TheGodfather said
No worries folks.  Rookie mistake.

 

Let's try this again...

 

This is obviously a very complex case, with lots of theories, speculation and conjecture.  My point, getting back to The Usual Suspects line, is that sometimes the right answer is the obvious answer, the one right under your nose.

 

I have always(mostly) believed that too and have even considered his son may have been involved also. I have allowed myself to get caught up with other plausible theories but at the end of the day this one, the most obvious and simple, always comes back to take the lead.    

Hi Ann,

To the best of my knowledge, no one has been cleared of the crime.  One man held a press conference to say he passed a lie detector test, but the police never confirmed, so, to me, that means he continues to be a "person of interest."

Another man's palm print didn't match the print from Jodi's car. One detective said they had come to the end of the line in that particular branch of the investigation, which might mean they had dismissed him as a possible suspect or they had no further evidence they could assess to possibly link him to the murder.  

I agree with your admonition to keep it simple. I've always thought Jodi's celebrity status was blue smoke and mirrors, which unfortunately MAY have kept the police from focusing on someone close to Jodi. I really regret that certain vehicles weren't searched, apartments weren't searched, clothing wasn't analyzed for blood evidence, certain people weren't watched more closely in their activities during the critical 24 - 48 hours following Jodi's disappearance.

If you're interested in learning even more about the case, you might want to watch Fade to Black on this website.  It's worth the small donation. Notably, iit was co-written by one of the founders of Find Jodi, who, to me, dropped some very valuable information into the mix. I've been following this case for more than 17 years and I read Dead Air closely, but I still learned several new things from watching the play: the name of a woman who was close to one of the persons of interest, information about some very odd behavior on the morning of Jodi's abduction and also some extremely suspicious behavior 24 hours after Jodi disappeared.  It has caused me to reassess my certainty that Jodi was dead by the time the police were alerted and that only one person abducted her. I now think her abductor may have had a cohort, Jodi might have been alive 24 hours laterOR that her body was not immediately disposed of, as I thought before.  Anyway, the play is very thought provoking.