If Jessica was yanked out of her bed in the middle of the night, wouldn't she yell and scream? Not if she knew the person. Not if a hand was over her mouth. Not if she was still asleep or very groggy and disoriented and whispers were calming her.
Also, the dog didn't bark.
Think it was the grandmother that said the dog liked to curl up under the bed covers or something. Might not have heard anything to bark at.
The grandparents were close by.
They didn't hear her alarm clock either, so why would they hear someone that was trying to be quiet?
It had to be someone she knew, who let her take her doll.
It wasn't a doll. It was a stuffed dolphin.
The alarm clock bothers me. The father hears it when he gets home but doesn't check on Jessica and ask her to turn it off.... ? the grandparents didn't hear it...... ? This was supposed to be a school day. Jessica would need to get up to get ready for school, so why not make sure she was getting up since the alarm was going and not being turned off???
Just my one cent worth here about the alarm clock.
I heard it was going off when the father got home. He took a shower and when he got out he could still hear it going off, checked in on her and discovered her missing. He then went into the sleeping grandparents' room to see if Jessica was in their bed.
I wonder if it was their routine that the father gets home right at 6:00 a.m. and gets Jessica ready for school, because if not I find it strange that Jessica's alarm would be set for a time before the grandparents even wake up.
I saw the story on "Prime Time" or a similar program the other night and it demonstrated the clock going off at 6:00 a.m. That is why I assume it was 6:00 a.m.
Another thing is when you comment that ...the grandparents did not hear the alarm clock either... If Jessica normally got up before they did I can believe it. You can quickly get accustomed to an alarm going off in the next room and in a couple days it's like you don't hear it anymore.
Albeit I still think it is odd that Jessica would be getting up earlier than the grandmother.
I can also picture the dog not barking, even if a stranger came in quietly. Sometimes these dogs, perhaps especially the little ones, really can sleep through things.
I never heard why the front door was left unlocked as the grandmother said. Did she forget to lock it or did she have a reason for leaving it unlocked or in the morning did she just find it unlocked? I'm not clear on the explanation.