The Atlanta Police Department reported that they now have the body of Stacey Nicole English, according to the AJC. They have conducted interviews regarding her disappearance since she was reported missing, as well as sent 14 divers into a nearby lake. And they've espoused how hard they have been working to bring this case to a successful conclusion. But the one thing they haven't done--and which Maj. Keith Meadows stated on Jan. 25, 2012--is firm up the timeline in the case.
"I think it's important that we go back and try to develop the timeline," Maj. Meadows said. "There's some gaps in the timeline, and that's what we're asking the public to help us with."
Actually, a timeline is one of the most crucial first steps in any investigation. So far the APD to say that there are gaps in the timeline would indicate one of two things:
- That the APD made every effort to gain the support of Stacey's family, friends, and associates when completing the timeline--but encountered obstacles along the way, or
- The APD did not make the effort required to complete it at the onset of the investigation.
The APD and other law enforcement agencies, however, have no vested interest in dropping the ball on a missing person case--or any other investigative effort. These are individuals who risk their very lives--and sometimes that of their families--in order to bring law and order to our streets everyday, as well as rescue us from certain harm.
Law enforcement officers (and leaders within their agencies) want the positive press gained from solving a case or finding a victim. They desire to be "the good guys." That's actually why they sought the positions they are in, for the most part. So they would have wanted to have done a complete timeline at the beginning of the case.
APD's Chief Turner said that when Stacey English was reported missing on Dec. 31, his men
conducted not one search, but that they
"conducted several searches of the surrounding area," where the 36-year-old woman's body was eventually found, according to the AJC.
"I cannot say for sure that we searched that particular area," Turner also said.
Yet, even if the APD had searched that area previously, where Stacey English's body was ultimately found--and she wasn't there then, she could have been put there at any time thereafter.
Thus, the only advantage investigatively to the police searching and not finding her body there previously would be to indicate a more definitive timeline of when it was placed there. However, the autopsy likely revealed when Ms. English died--and how long she had been in the elements.
The hurting family, however, would have benefited from an earlier finding, for sure. But there is no guarantee at this point that the PD didn't search the area--and that Stacey was not there when they did.
Profile
What does make sense in this case, however, is that someone who knows Stacey Nicole English--either intimately or as a casual acquaintance (either longterm or recent)--has attempted to thwart the efforts of police by not giving them enough information to complete the timeline. Or by providing erroneous information to confuse the timeline.
And the logical reason for that is that they would want to limit their own potential for arrest (as a result of Stacey English's possible murder or death) due to a drug of some kind being introduced into her system or life by them.
There may even be more than one person involved or withholding knowledge or information about such an event or occurrence preceding the disappearance of the Buckhead woman.
The Atlanta Police Department Major Meadows, therefore, is on the right track when he told the AJC that they need to fine tune that timeline. Hopefully, however, the law enforcement agency will also conduct a thorough victimology of Stacey Nichole English, as that is going to produce timeline leads that aren't readily forthcoming from recent (and longterm) friends and associates.
References: AJC, Radell Smith criminal profiling education/experience
A thorough victimology on a victim of a crime, including cold cases that are decades old, can lead to suspects and witnesses that fail to appear in a police timeline.
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