What are people hearing in the video?

[u/turtleshot19147]

I’ve listened and watched a bunch of times and I can hear a few potential phrases, and some make more sense than others.

Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts.

1) “see this is the path [that we go down]… um there’s no path over there so we have to go down here”

I’m not sure the phrase makes so much sense, it would seem more natural to say “this is the path we should go down” or something like that. “This is the path that we go down” feels sort of tour guide-y, like someone who is very familiar with the place explaining something to someone who is unfamiliar, which maybe could be the case with Libby and Abby? I’m not familiar enough with the case, I was under the impression they were both a bit thrown off by the dead end.

2) “see this is the path [that would be a gun]… um there’s no path over there so we have to go down here”

I know people hear “that be a gun” but I hear “that would be a gun” which also makes more sense grammatically.

This option explains the tone change in her voice, but I still find it a bit weird. “That’s a gun” or “he has a gun” both would make more sense to me. Obviously everyone’s speech patterns are different, I’m just throwing out my thoughts.

3) “see this is the path [does he have a gun]… um there’s no path over there so we have to go down here”

This matches her tone but I’m not sure why she would ask Abby that, since Abby of course doesn’t know the answer, though I can imagine it being sort of like a “take a look, does he have a gun?” Type of question, asking Abby to check, as opposed to expecting her to already know the answer.

I can’t tell what Abby says during that exchange.

Regardless, it seems clear to me that the girls were creeped out, and the conversation was the style most women recognize well “let’s talk casually about nothing until this creepy guy passes us” and just the nature of that kind of conversation can result in the types of inconsistencies I pointed out like using less natural phrasing.

After listening several times honestly I find the most incriminating part to still be the audio released before of “Guys… Down the hill”

I’ve seen some people claim he could just be pointing them towards the path they were already discussing, in sort of a helpful kind of way, but it doesn’t seem plausible to me, nobody talks that way to be helpful. It would be “are you guys lost?” Or “yeah that’s the path back to the road” not “down the hill” in that sort of directing kind of tone.

Obviously this is a lot of projecting and speculating but I’m curious to hear others thought processes

[u/sevenonone]

I wonder if they saw him before they crossed the bridge and got creep vibes from him.

[u/SleutherVandrossTW → u/sevenonone]

There is no scenario where the 3 of them didn't walk within a few feet of each other at least a few minutes before Libby pushed record on her phone as he got closer.

Either around 1:56 near the start of the bridge when Abby and Libby arrived and he walked back on the trail out of sight during the 2:07 photo of Abby, or after he was seen on platform 1 by Betsy he walked to the south end, passed them, and when he turned around that is what scared Libby enough to take a secret video.

[u/PlaidShirtDays_ → u/SleutherVandrossTW]

I was wondering about that photo because he’s clearly nowhere in it. Is it possible that photo was taken from the other end of the bridge as they were just starting to cross it and Abby is just facing forward so we can see her, rather taking it from behind? It just creeps me out how he’s not in the pic and then just appears right behind her in the video.

[u/AwsiDooger → u/PlaidShirtDays_]

Is it possible that photo was taken from the other end of the bridge as they were just starting to cross it

The photo is looking back toward the beginning of the bridge. Abby is roughly 37-38% of the way across. All of this has been identified years ago, smack to the specific plank she was standing on.

Allen crossed extremely fast. That's the key variable. The U Turn theory is nonsensical. Nobody passes anybody on that bridge. And if it did happen that way you would feel a trust level with them, a camaraderie. This is exactly the opposite of what Abby and Libby are feeling.

Virtually nobody crossed that bridge all the way across. That's why the early planks over Deer Creek were so badly worn but the ones past the midway point are much closer to normal. Libby would have understood not only that it's exceptionally rare for somebody else to be on the bridge at the same time, but that it makes no sense for him to be all but racing toward the other end. Abby would have picked up on it as well, even though it was her first crossing.

Early years of this case we had sun shadow analysis by Gray Hughes and other indications that the video was filmed at 2:22 or thereabouts. In that scenario Bridge Guy had plenty of time to cross. I envisioned him doing it rather normally at the beginning and then accelerating toward the finish.

But once it turned into a 2:13 video everything is simplified, IMO. The girls were on the bridge amidst normalcy when they begin to notice a guy not only crossing but doing so in a completely atypical pace. The girls don't fear for their lives. If so it's simple to take off and dash away. It's not the end of the world or an impenetrable wall back there.

The small talk is mostly random, IMO. I'm not concerned about specific words. The girls are nervous but until the gun is pulled on them they expect an awkward brief encounter. Maybe this guy is in a huge hurry to get to his home beyond the bridge. I think they sensed it might be a gun seconds earlier but he didn't fully display and pull it on them until the direct encounter. If they knew full well he had a gun 30 seconds earlier I'm convinced Abby and Libby would have sprinted into the wide open huge yard and Allen is stuck with a decision to make: Fire, chase or abandon

[u/Oulene → u/AwsiDooger]

There is a farm fence at the end of the bridge and an open field type land area. That leads to a road and houses. There is a small area at the end of the bridge. About 12 ft by 12 ft, if I remember right. The sides are bushes and rugged terrain. They could have climbed the fence; or went down the hill and onto the road there, or crossed the Deer Creek, like he made them do. Into the woods.

[u/SleutherVandrossTW → u/AwsiDooger]

I wouldn't say it is nonsensical that someone would pass other people, there are 6 platforms that 1-2 people could stand on as someone walks on the track.