Kozak moved on.
“We’ve recently learned that Jennifer Griffin was seeing a psychologist. The reason is unknown, but we’re pursuing it.”
Eyebrows went up, acknowledging the development as Kozak continued.
“Valerie Vera submitted the results of Greg Griffin’s polygraph exam. They’re inconclusive,” Kozak said. “She speculated that Greg could be harboring guilt over issues with his wife, or other unrevealed matters.”
Kozak went to the updates from the Forensic Identification Unit’s analysis of the scene where the Toyota Corolla was located. They showed some partial shoe and tire impressions. Further investigation was ongoing to determine if they were consistent with Greg or Bollman.
“No significant trace, blood, hair, or fiber has yet been recovered from the car,” Kozak said. “However, one key fact has emerged. The last person to move it was five-ten, or taller.”
“What points to that?” someone asked.
“Jennifer is five feet three inches,” Carillo said. “The driver’s seat was pushed back, and FIU says anyone under five-ten would have had trouble reaching the pedals.”
“How tall is Greg?”
“Six feet.”
“Now,” Kozak said, nodding to FBI agent Gary Dungey, “Gary will give us the FBI’s analysis of the padlock on the gate to the section of Blueripple Woods where Griffin’s Toyota was driven.”
“Our Toolmarks Unit determined the padlock is a cheap, substandard model, sold everywhere.” Dungey read from his tablet. “It has a four-pin style keyway. The lock is keyed to a key code used for one of the most common keys in the country. Just about anyone who owns one of these locks could, with a little finesse, open the one on the gate.”
Dungey nodded to the Erie County deputies. “In working with Erie County, we know Public Works and their contractors have used the Blueripple Woods site to store equipment and supplies. We’re confident most contractors would have the style of key that could open this padlock. We are still investigating to confirm if Solid and Strong Contracting had access.”
“Thanks, Gary.”
Kozak continued with updates on forensic analysis of the Griffins’ phones, computers, and other items arising from the search warrants. It frustrated investigators that information extracted from the phones and computers, including browser histories, had not presented any clear leads.
“Other than communication between Bollman and Greg, including the night Greg reported Jennifer missing, there’s very little to go on.”
“Anything else from the warrants on the house?” Detective Tony Letto, with Buffalo PD, asked. “Complaint history, strange calls, trades, or service people?”
“A couple things,” Kozak said. “In the spring, SparkleThru, a student window-washing service, did all the windows, and two months ago, the Griffins’ cable went out. Their provider, Distinctly Connex, sent a cable guy to repair it. No incidents. And there’s this.”
Kozak tapped her keyboard to replay the video of Jennifer at the Korner Fast store. They watched her looking for something before leaving. Then the figure who entered the store after she did, about six feet tall, wearing a dark hoodie, the hood lifted, their face obscured by a ballcap, watching Jennifer exit. “Among Greg’s clothing, we found a dark hoodie,” Kozak said. “It proves nothing, but there it is.” A photo of Greg’s hoodie appeared on the screen. It was unclear if it matched the one in the video.
“And,” Carillo added, “the forensic people who looked at all of the Griffins’ finances found that in the last few months, about one hundred dollars a week from Jennifer’s salary is unaccounted for.”
“That’s odd,” Louise LeBrie, with the state police, said.
“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Letto asked.
“Let’s get through the rest and we’ll discuss theories,” Becker said.
Kozak resumed by noting that monitoring of all local, regional, state, and national databases, including ViCAP and NCIC, had yielded no useable response to queries and cases in other jurisdictions.
“No links, or similarities, have surfaced. No unidentified female remains have been discovered that fit the description.”
Carillo added that investigators assigned to check with Corrections on the locations of recently paroled offenders, and those in the New York State Sex Offender Registry, had presented no leads of suspects.
“To date, we’ve followed up on over half of the listed offenders within a ten mile radius of the car and nothing has emerged,” Carillo said. “All have been alibied for the night of Griffin’s disappearance.”
Carillo said every anonymous tip has and is being followed.
“The photos of Greg and Bollman are the strongest leads to come to us that way so far,” Carillo said. “We don’t know who sent them. Anonymity is absolute through the tip line and servers.”
“What about security cameras in the bar?” Letto asked.
“A washout, nothing useful,” Carillo said.
Reported crimes and complaint history, particularly concerning Ripplewood and Trailside, had not shown any leads, as well as the extensive canvassing of the entire region.
“I can’t believe that in this digital age with phones and cameras everywhere, that we didn’t get something more than we got,” Letto said.
“There are no cameras along the curving stretch through the forested area adjacent to where her car was discovered. However,” Kozak said, tapping at her keyboard, “one home security camera on Ripple Valley Boulevard recorded what we believe to be Griffin’s Corolla heading east at the time. We need to review it further.”
A short grainy recording encompassing a partial view of a vehicle passing along a street at night played.
“All right,” Becker said. “Let’s kick around theories, bearing in mind that it is crucial that we not get locked into making something fit.”
Clint Freely, the homicide detective with Buffalo PD, leaned forward.
“Look at the car’s location and the hard facts,” Freely said. “Financial stress in the home, Greg’s got another woman, and he argues with his wife. She has bruises. He’s bleeding the night she disappears. The car seat’s pushed back. His poly is inconclusive. Connect the dots.”
“But,” Carrie Deakman, with Erie County, raised her finger. “There were traffic cones on a repair section of Ripple Valley Boulevard.” Deakman checked her tablet. “Blood traces on one cone match Greg’s blood type, indicating he truly ran over it.”
“So,” Freely said. “He could’ve done so purposely to disguise his injuries.”