A passenger Grabbing a steering wheel of a car in motion is imho a an emotional cry for help born of emotional desperation. Gabby was saying in so many words Ian not psychologically well. The police could have brought her to get psychological evaluation under the Utah equivalent of a California penal code 5150. However they did not.
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We are only told that the bf has lawyered up and is not cooperating. The reality might be different. In a more perfect world, the bf gave all relevant info to a cutout who then gave it to police, who are now hot on the trail of a real suspect. There might be reasons for playing possum in public— reasons such as lulling a potential suspect into a false sense of security as police follow promising leads. Mistake #2.
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Imho the mother should have called police after the third day without a callback from the daughter. Which imho would have been warranted under their informal protocol. Mistake #3 (not counting tabby’s parents divorce and resulting collateral damage to gabby).
Tabby -> gabby (autocorrect)