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Maddie Bell

Fletch

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SMH..... I have to agree with you Brock. Nothing but a bullet to the head....Nothing Less Than.
Praying daily for her safe return. Yer Awesome for caring so much Brock. Sure makes a difference!
Rick.... Gotta disagree with you... Bullet would be way too fast... I'm thinking maybe tree shredder, feet first, but with a rope attached to arms and fed in very slowly... These scum bags need to suffer...
 

Jackalope

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Brock. I haven't seen much about dad in the news or interviews, is he part of the family unit?

I've read that the boy lived with Maddie and them for 4-5 years. That would put them both at roughly 13 years old when he moved in. Where was his family during that time, are they still around?
 

brock ratcliff

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Yeah, Dad is still there. He’s quiet, good guy. Mom is more vocal and I suspect she is just quicker to get in front of a camera or microphone. She’s going to be on with Nancy Grace tomorrow and Dr Phil Friday. She thinks the only chance they have to get Maddie back is to get her face across the country and she is doing every interview she can to make that happen. I don’t think she’s been asleep since she woke up Sunday morning.
Cody’s family has been there too. They aren’t bad folks, didn’t abandon him or anything like that. I don’t know how it came about that he essentially lives with them. Those kids have been together since junior high.
 

Jackalope

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Yeah, Dad is still there. He’s quiet, good guy. Mom is more vocal and I suspect she is just quicker to get in front of a camera or microphone. She’s going to be on with Nancy Grace tomorrow and Dr Phil Friday. She thinks the only chance they have to get Maddie back is to get her face across the country and she is doing every interview she can to make that happen. I don’t think she’s been asleep since she woke up Sunday morning.
Cody’s family has been there too. They aren’t bad folks, didn’t abandon him or anything like that. I don’t know how it came about that he essentially lives with them. Those kids have been together since junior high.

Thanks. Unfortunately from what I've seen human traffickers usually don't go with the snatch and grab unless they're close to a border town. Their preferred MO is to lure at-risk girls away from the family by entrapping them or making them believe something. Usually, they target girls who have a troubled history and people aren't going to look very hard for them. Aka ate very active online, have a habit of running away, or stacking up, they're already troubled. Girls like Maddie are rarely the target while in the US. Now on vacation in Cozumel, that's a different story. Unfortunately, it is usually someone close. Someone they know or she knows. Even the theory that it was a random kidnapper who lured her by pretending to be broke down isn't really a productive strategy. So a guy pretends to be broken down and nobody sees it, nobody else happens to stop, and the only person that does is his intended victim a pretty 18-year-old girl. There's just too much exposure risk there for that to be the set up for a random kidnapping. Even then she probably would have gotten out of her car phone in hand in case they needed help. It just fits the MO that she knew the person.
 

Cogz

Cogz
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Thanks. Unfortunately from what I've seen human traffickers usually don't go with the snatch and grab unless they're close to a border town. Their preferred MO is to lure at-risk girls away from the family by entrapping them or making them believe something. Usually, they target girls who have a troubled history and people aren't going to look very hard for them. Aka ate very active online, have a habit of running away, or stacking up, they're already troubled. Girls like Maddie are rarely the target while in the US. Now on vacation in Cozumel, that's a different story. Unfortunately, it is usually someone close. Someone they know or she knows. Even the theory that it was a random kidnapper who lured her by pretending to be broke down isn't really a productive strategy. So a guy pretends to be broken down and nobody sees it, nobody else happens to stop, and the only person that does is his intended victim a pretty 18-year-old girl. There's just too much exposure risk there for that to be the set up for a random kidnapping. Even then she probably would have gotten out of her car phone in hand in case they needed help. It just fits the MO that she knew the person.
That’s what I’ve been struggling with, hoping they find something on her phone. Sounds like she didnt make it into the market parking lot at all, so an ambush and driving her over to their parked car at the church is unlikely. An intentional fender bender would’ve been in the press if they saw damage. If it was a stranger they had to be searching for someone or were simply opportunistic. Why was her car at the church.
 

Jackalope

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That’s what I’ve been struggling with, hoping they find something on her phone. Sounds like she didnt make it into the market parking lot at all, so an ambush and driving her over to their parked car at the church is unlikely. An intentional fender bender would’ve been in the press if they saw damage. If it was a stranger they had to be searching for someone or were simply opportunistic. Why was her car at the church.

That's what's really strange. Nothing really fits and it's just all to perfect. I mean random kidnappings happen but the vast majority of the time there is a contact first. The person stalks or tries to lure them first and the kidnapping is the last resort. Everything is a dead end and there's not one thing that would make a person question anything like they would if she had a troubled past, chatting with random people online, always had a desire to go live with dad who isn't in the picture, a wild streak, lesbian who just came out and wasn't accepted at home etc. Things that would make someone think maybe she just ran off. That's why I was asking about the BF and if dad was in the picture. Crazier shit has happened where the daughters BF and mom develop a thing over time. With dad in the picture at home that doesn't seem likely though. That's what makes this so frightening. Nothing makes sense or fits the mold in a persons brain around why these things happen. I hope it turns out that she just ran away with a long distance BF and will pop up soon. Its a sad and frightening.
 

brock ratcliff

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Wishful thinking that she ran off. They had a dozen things planned for this week - her graduation week. She did not take her glasses. When she was preparing to leave she asked Cody if he wanted to go. There are other examples that I can’t recall right now. The deputy tried to push that line of thinking to start and mom about whipped his tail.
They found another video today and think it shows her being chased or followed. The detectives were looking at it last I heard. The current thought is that she was nabbed on the way and her car was dumped at the church lot where this dude had been seen waiting around for an hour or so. Who knows... at this point no one really does.
One thing I haven’t bothered to mention here because I don’t know that it has any bearing on anything; Friday night a weird dude was in the shop. He said he had just flown in from California. I happened to notice his license plate was a Wisconsin tag, small white sedan similar to the car they are looking for, but it supposedly had California tags. I just assumed it was a rental car. He was mid to late 20s, and my daughter did not know him. Anyone that grew up and here and was back visiting, she would have known. I called the police chief this morning and told him about the guy. He said they had cleared a car w Wisconsin tags already but it was a female occupant. Every one is grasping, including me. I just spoke with the bank President. I’m going to start a reward fund tomorrow, providing the FBI approves. If it becomes a thing I’ll post information for anyone that wants to donate. A cousin of Maddie’s issued a 15k reward. Bill, Maddie’s dad, told me today he hoped that was enough to get someone talking. I’m taking that line of thinking and hoping to make a much larger reward to go with the original. I’m pretty sure our little town will raise a substantial fund to bring her home. I just hope the FBI doesn’t view it as a ransom payment and that is why I’ll check with them first.
 

brock ratcliff

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Could be. No idea at this point. Her mom and dad cannot guess how this happened. They both say she was afraid of her own shadow and would not have stopped just to help someone. However it happened, it did and she is gone, at least for now.
I forgot to mention too, Sunday was her dad’s birthday. Yet another reason to believe there is no way she left of her own will.
 

Jackalope

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Its just crazy man. The human mind works in a funny way. When bad shit happens our brain always seeks out something to point to. Something to get our head around it. Something to blame or say "that's probably it", or " I bet it has something to do with XYZ". Even the most illogical thing can become that if nothing else exists. In the absence of anything to point to, and where nothing makes sense, our brains can't handle it. We're left in a state of confused shock. As humans we need something to point to, the unknown is a scary place where nobody feels safe and our emotions show through. Closure is vitally important. I'm holding out hope.
 

Fletch

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Hope that today produces some kind of lead or break in this sad event... Even me being so far away, yesterday had me checking every white car for California plates and checking out the occupants...
 

brock ratcliff

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This is most of where I was yesterday. I gave the search parties one area to look at more closely today.
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