Mac - I read that one when you first posted it, and I agree that the missing girlfriend angle is among the most nebulous of all the currently unexplained aspects here. I think what Niall Bradley isn't factoring in is just how
well known Nancy Lanza and her family were to police.
“On behalf of Nancy’s mother and siblings, we reach out to the community of Newtown and express our heartfelt sorrow for the incomprehensible and profound loss of innocence that has affected so many,” said Rockingham County Sheriff Michael Downing, reading a statement from the Champion family here last night.
In this tiny hamlet, the personal connections to the tragic shootings in Newtown are everywhere. Police Chief Donald Briggs Jr., knew Nancy from school, he said. Her brother, James Champion, was a longtime police officer in Kingston, where he earned the rank of captain and retired in November 2011, Briggs said. Many alumni from the Sanborn class of 1978 still live in the area, either here or in Plaistow.
"Last night" meaning the night of the 14th of December.
Niall Bradley wrote:How did they even know at this point that Ryan had a younger 20-year-old brother when there are no public records of Adam Lanza since 2009 and the two brothers had not seen each other since 2010, as claimed by Ryan? How could they have known on Friday morning that Ryan had a girlfriend and that she and another friend were missing in New Jersey? How did they even know that Ryan had any connection to New Jersey at all? The Lanzas’ mother was dead at this point and their father only found out later through a reporter asking him about Adam, who had by then become the ‘lone gunman’ in the official narrative.
Several of the above questions are answered by the simple fact that the chief of police of a neighboring city was a personal friend of the family. I imagine this would streamline the investigation considerably at the outset.
I would also imagine that Ryan Lanza's ID might point the way to Hoboken. It's certainly not out of the question. It was in police hands by 10:00. Fallback position on that would be information in the Lanza residence. Corroboration on that could easily have come from Capt. James Champion. All this could easily have happened within minutes of 10:00, and then a phone call to the Hoboken Police and Bob's your uncle.
If I was forced at gunpoint to make a call on where I would guess the missing girlfriend report happened, it would be at this point, in discussion with neighbors in Ryan Lanza's NJ apartment. But outside of such a circumstance I can't imagine even beginning to have an inkling of where, because there's no information around about that at all.
And along those lines, why was the father originally listed as dead? I come up empty. Fog of war? Dunno. Look at this mess:
2:15 p.m. CST -- The Associated Press reports: A law enforcement official says the suspect in the Connecticut school shootings is 24-year-old Ryan Lanza and that his younger brother is being held for questioning as a possible second shooter. The law enforcement official said the boys' mother, Nancy Lanza, works at the school as a teacher. The official also said Ryan Lanza's girlfriend and another friend are missing in New Jersey.
Not a single item in that wire report is factual, afaik. But as to the question of this forming a kernel of
prima facie evidence regarding a conspiracy to set up Adam Lanza... there's just no way that would fly in my court. Because first of all, who are you accusing of this crime? And secondly, where in all this do we see a
self-evident conspiracy? Especially if the body found at the school is Adam Lanza. To do so, you have to produce affirmative evidence showing that some persons in particular illegally entered into agreement to engage in an unlawful act with intent to carry out that act and probably also engaged in the actual commission of that illegal act in furtherance of the agreement.
Prima facie evidence of a conspiracy such as this strikes me as a rare animal, indeed. On its face, the evidence must indicate that the defendants acted by agreement and with intent towards the commission of a crime against the victim. It would probably take a videotape or a sound recording of the planning phase to even begin to qualify.
