“We’re looking for everything and anything, any trace, shoe impressions, ground disturbances, indications of a shallow grave. Nothing more has been discovered yet,” she said, nodding to Carillo.
“Yeah, all available residential security camera footage is being collected to be studied. It should be noted that there are no cameras along the wooded stretch near the area her car was discovered. So, off the top, we don’t have much hope of video evidence yet,” he said.
The fenced gate with access to Blueripple Woods was being examined with a mind to who maintained the gate, its lock, and who had access to it.
Kozak continued. “Given its ping-ponging history, we’ll ask your help with county, state, and federal agencies, checking employee lists... You know the drill.”
“Our Toolmarks Unit can do a lock and key examination, after you process it for latents,” FBI agent Gary Dungey said.
Kozak nodded her thanks, saying that case updates had been submitted to all local, regional, state, and national databases, including ViCAP, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, and NCIC, the National Crime Information Center. More investigators were being brought in to help with checks with the New York State Sex Offender Registry.
“We’re looking at all risk levels of registered sex offenders within a ten-mile radius of the scene, checking alibis. We’ll expand it from there,” Kozak said. “We’re also working with Corrections, checking recently paroled offenders and their whereabouts.”
Pictures of Trailside Grove, the Griffins’ street and house appeared on the screen as Kozak provided complaint history and patrol logs for the zone that covered the family’s neighborhood and those nearby, noting they were being reviewed for reports of suspicious activity, vehicles, people, anything that raised a concern.
“Anything we flag will go into the case database we’ve established,” Kozak said. “It will also encompass information from tips we have coming in from the public. All of it will be assessed and prioritized. It means we’ve got a lot more work ahead of us.” Kozak turned to Becker. “But that covers the major elements at this time.”
“Thanks, Claire, Ned,” Becker said. “Let’s open this up to questions, brainstorming, and theories.”
“Any indication of a kidnapping for ransom, or extortion?” Carrie Deakman, with Erie County, asked.
“Nothing so far,” Kozak said.
“Sticking to the key facts,” said Detective Tony Letto with Buffalo PD, “we need to know how her car got into Blueripple. There’s a locked gate and it’s driven deep into the forest and concealed.”
“We’re thinking she was stopped on Ripple Valley Boulevard,” Carillo said.
“Was stopped?” said Louise LeBrie, with the state police.
“By someone official possibly.”
“Someone with a flashing light,” Letto said. “A cop.”
“Or someone pretending to be a cop pulls her over?” LeBrie said. “Makes the stop, overpowers her, then drives her car into Blueripple.”
“She might’ve been stopped by someone she recognized,” FBI agent James Goldman suggested.
“In the dark? While driving?” Letto said.
“Pulls up beside her, drops the windows, she recognizes the car, the person,” Goldman said.
“What about the husband, Claire?” LeBrie consulted her notes and those scrapes.
Kozak typed a few commands and the photos Trooper Menza had taken of Greg’s hands, his T-shirt, dirt-streaked face, and messed hair, after he’d reported his wife missing, appeared on the big screen.
“Greg Griffin said the scrapes came from removing a traffic cone he hit at a patch of roadwork on Ripple Valley Boulevard when he was out looking for his wife,” Kozak said. “And there are traffic cones and roadwork on the boulevard. We’ll process them.”
Clint Freely, a veteran homicide detective with Buffalo PD, had been scrutinizing the reports and his notes. “There’s financial stress in the home, correct?” Freely asked Kozak.
“An indication, yes.”
“Are we taking a close look at his books?” Freely said.
“It’s on our to-do list,” Kozak said.
“We should check her medical records for any indication of abuse,” Freely said.
“In progress,” Kozak said.
“Looking at your reports here,” Freely said, “we see the husband’s business is shaky, they contemplated moving west. Their son says they argued about money, that he thought his parents were getting a divorce. The husband’s got a three hundred thousand dollar policy on her. Connect the dots.”
“That’s a lot of circumstance, Clint,” Carillo said.
“So, she leaves the book club around ten thirty,” Freely said. “The husband says he goes looking for her around 2:45 a.m. No matter the time spread, from the time she left until the time he called it in, he has opportunity to flag her down, dump the car, get rid of her then make the call. Look at those incriminating pictures of him, his hands.”
“What about her purse?” LeBrie said.
“He tosses it deep into the bush, makes it look like a robbery,” Freely said.
“With all her cash and cards intact? I don’t buy that part,” Kozak said.
“Or, she was running away,” Carillo said. “She escaped from whoever had attacked her. Terrified, no time to even call for help, or her phone was already dead, panicked and fleeing, she loses her purse in the night. That’s why everything’s there.”
“What does FIU have from the scene?” Special Agent Goldman asked.
“No obvious signs of violence or a struggle,” Kozak said, “but everything’s still being processed.”
“What about an online hookup?” Letto asked. “She was having an affair, tried ending it, and it got out of hand with her boyfriend, or girlfriend?”
“It’s a possibility,” Kozak said. “We still have to analyze all their phones and devices. We could get something from that.”
“Are we going to search the house?” Freely asked.
“We are,” Carillo said.
“Polygraph the husband?” Freely asked.
“We intend to,” Kozak said.
Without looking from her notes, LeBrie said: “Her son, Jake, told you that there were times his mother would sit alone, quiet ‘like she was sad about something.’ What do we know about her mental health? Was she under care, using medication? Could she have harmed herself, had some sort of episode, and run off disoriented?”