What I remember of her testimony, such as I was able to read quotes from it, was: she said she was about to drive away and she saw the dog standing in the street "looking at me". Then she got out and checked the dog's tags to be sure it was McKenzie. Then she said, "I saw that he had his leash on..." Later, she again referred to the leash when she said, "so I took hold of the leash..."
That's what I remember.
I've occasionally seen a dog with a leash on, running loose. When I was a child, I didn't think much about it, but as an adult, seeing that usually makes me look around to see if there is some person running after the dog. Often there is. But before I heard of this case, it NEVER occurred to me that the absence of the person who had (apparently) been walking the dog meant that anything BAD had happened to that person. I mean, it only meant, in my mind, that the dog had lunged forward and gotten away, and that the person would no doubt be coming after him soon.
LOL, as a dog owner, I can tell you that the times our dog has gotten loose wearing his leash have been many. For a while, one of my sons wasn't quite strong/big enough to hold onto the exuberant dog, and sometimes the dog would give him the slip.
For all Karen S. knew, it could've been Scott who'd been walking McKenzie, and had had McKenzie lunge forward and break free with his leash on. In fact, IIRC, Scott was the one who walked McKenzie usually. McKenzie had been HIS dog b/f they were married. I remember at least one neighbor saying that they had NEVER seen Laci walk the dog alone (w/o Scott being with her), whereas they had seen Scott walk the dog alone.
Certainly in a nice, pretty decent, friendly neighborhood like Laci's, I don't think that the sight of the dog w/o the leash would have made anyone automatically think that something was wrong with the dog's owner. Now if McKenzie's owner had been an 85-yr-old lady with osteoporosis, maybe they would. Otherwise, I don't see it as being a source of automatic concern.
Does your w/o stand for without? Because if it does then you are correct. A dog running loose (without) a leash probably wouldn't be a concern. But in my opinion since it was dragging a leash I would have been concerned especially if I didn't see anyone around and knew who the dog belonged to. Surely she knew Scott and the dog well enough to know Scott could hang onto him and if she thought that Laci was walking the dog then their definitely should have been concern.
This is just my own opinion. I know if I was the neighbor I would have been concerned and would have made calls to find out what happened.
And you can bet your bottom dollar if the dog belonged to an 85 year old I would have been out searching for her. I am on pins and needles keeping an eye out for my 87 year old neighbor across the street. Whenever I don't see her blinds open by 8:00 a.m. I am going oh! oh! is this the day.
Friends of ours had a dog that at least once run off with a leash, then returned home after an interval. Of course, Scott could have let the dog out at some spot. But wouldn't the dog have put out a fight if someone had tried to kidnap Laci?