Jeff Ashton to run for State Attorney?

The Orlando Sentinel and WESH are reporting that Jeff Ashton is poised to announce his run for state attorney. He will make his announcement on the steps of the Orange County Courthouse on Tuesday morning at 11:00 AM. WESH quoted Ashton and the Sentinel speculated.

Lawson Lamar is the present state attorney for the Ninth Circuit Court. He has enjoyed running unopposed in the past, so this should be interesting. Personally, I think Ashton would be a great choice. At present, he is taking care of his best-selling book responsibilities (Imperfect Justice) and, since the trial ended, working as a consultant for the Maitland, FL law firm of Troum & Wallsh.

Just after 6:00 pm today, this statement was made on his official Facebook page: “Please stay tuned we will be releasing more information on what next and how everyone can help, in the next few days. Till then have a happy new year.

Incidentally, Judge Stan Strickland left the bench today. We all wish him the very best in his future endeavors.

Hot off the press!

Anthony Colarossi is the senior court reporter for the Orlando Sentinel. While attending the court proceedings during the Anthony case, both the hearings and trial, we got to know and respect each other. I guess it’s because we were, pretty much, the only ones who actually published our stories instead of presenting them on-air - not to take away from Steve Helling of People magazine. Of course, Anthony is a well-respected journalist and I was just a blogger until I was hired by Orlando magazine to cover the story. One day during the trial, a CNN producer followed me around and wrote about it on the CNN Website. She told me I went into this as a journalist without portfolio and transformed myself into a journalist with portfolio. That’s not easy to do, she added, and I never forgot those words.

Anthony is someone I not only respect, I genuinely like him as a person. I think we talked every single day, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s someone you’d like to call a friend, and say so proudly. He’s a consummate professional and he, too, appreciated my writing on a professional level. I would not consider myself in the same league as him for a couple of reasons. We are different types of writers. Where I could write in-depth articles, newspapers won’t allow it while reporting on day-to-day events. An extreme example of this would be USA Today. Short and sweet. What you read there could be read off a telepromptor by a TV personality. Anthony’s articles go deeper than that, but not as deep as mine. Even so, he’s a better writer overall and there’s no real way to compare us.

In today’s edition of the paper, in print and online, he published a very compelling article (and more in-depth) about the Anthony trial and how much the case consumed us in 2011. It’s spread out over two pages and it’s an excellent read…

Casey Anthony case consumed Orlando, nation in 2011

Mike Plumadore, Big Daddy Fake Buster

Poor Tarah Souders. I feel terrible about what happened to her family and I’m not going to question what type of parent she is. In other words, I’m sure she loves her children more than anything in the world, but soon after her father became ill with emphysema, she had to downsize. Money was getting harder to come by, so she moved her three daughters and dear old dad into a ragtag trailer park in rural Indiana. She was aware that the small community held very, very real threats to her girls’ safety. She knew 15 registered sex offenders were the type of trash that lived there, but her own father assured her that all would be okay. Just before moving in, she mentioned two men in particular she was fearful of. One of them was 39-year-old Michael Plumadore. Her father reiterated his claim that no one would ever touch her children, especially Plumadore. So she decided to trust him.

What happened to Aliahna Lemmon was a real travesty, but it’s also a shame that grandpa didn’t live long enough to witness the inevitable; the murder of one of his grandchildren by the man he put so much faith in. Too bad he didn’t have the opportunity to find out the pretty, little, 9-year-old girl was dismembered and disposed of by the man he gave his blessing to; the one who bludgeoned her head with a brick. Too bad grandpa was a registered sex offender, just like Plumadore, and that they both had spent time together in jail. It was also a shame that Aliahna and her two sisters had been staying with Plumadore because mom had been too sick with the flu to care for them. Maybe she just needed a temporary break.

Why would a mother put her faith in any man who lived eons away from an exemplary lifestyle? Was she aware that daddy dearest was also a sexual deviant? Did she believe him because it takes one to know one? We may never know the answers, but common sense should have told her to stay miles away from that perverted playground for convicted child molesters. Who in their right mind would walk into a hornet’s nest of iniquity? With young girls?

For a woman who has her own Facebook account and some knowledge of the Internet, why didn’t it ever dawn on Tarah to look into the friend list of the man who confessed to killing her sweet daughter? In her time of grief, I’m sure she now realizes that she had no common sense or she would have known to look first. Any parent would do that, right?

Last night, I took a look at Plumadore’s Facebook page before it was taken down. What I saw were hundreds of impressionable young girls that made up a fair amount of his friend list. I didn’t have a chance to register each and every one of them in my mind, but a clear pattern emerged. The majority were young girls known as fake busters. Fake busters go after site models.

Fake busters and site models? Yes, and until last night, I didn’t know a thing about them. Site models, according to the Urban Dictionary description, are “average-looking girls who take pictures of themselves making kissy lips and peace signs and edit them excessively with Photoshop.”

“Someone who is insecure and unattractive and just wants other people to say that they’re good looking; someone who fishes for compliments but isn’t attractive enough to get them in person so they take pictures of themselves at indirect angles and over-edits them and uploads them to a site on myspace or facebook.”

Fake busters are trolls that go after site models. They, too, are mostly pre-teen and early teen girls and just like any other other Internet troll, their only mission is to “out” the site models for what they are not - world-class models, as if it’s anyone’s business. There is no difference between them and the trolls who go after anyone anonymously online. They are on a mission of empowerment. So one of them told me. Their goal is to rid the world of online people because they have nothing better to do. And they have certain things in common, like immaturity, low self-esteem and complete jealousy. Believe me, I have first-hand experience with trolls. I know how awful it is to have total strangers do everything they can to destroy someone they know nothing about. It’s lie after lie after lie. I also know how impressionable young people can be, especially girls. No sexism implied.

If only someone in the neighborhood - family and friends - had the insight to look into Plumadore’s past and Internet presence, they would have found a man obsessed with pre- and post-pubescent girls. I have no idea how he befriended most of them, but I saw scads and scads of them adding him to their list around the same time-frame, as if he was on a rampage for young and tender flesh. Who knows how he set them up… “I hate site models, just like you! Let’s go after them!”

His Facebook list of friends was 570 when I first saw it. How could the parents nearly 500 girls not know about this monster? Mr. Big Daddy Fake Buster, the grandest one of all!

If any school-age children were living in my household, you’d better believe I would know who they wanted to mingle with online, and until I could do a background check and whatever else I had available to research them, my children would not have permission to connect with anyone. Chat rooms would be SO off-limits. Period. I’m sure Tarah couldn’t afford a real background check, but she could have asked law enforcement what they knew about the men living in the neighborhood. I would be suspicious of any 39-year-old man, let alone asking or allowing him to babysit my children. And to be alone with little girls? In a deviant-infested trailer park? You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s horrible that Tarah had to learn the hard way - to meet the police this way - but after all, her father, her own flesh and blood, assured her over and over again that no one would touch her girls. He must have been the scrupled one - the one who would never go after his own grandchildren.

Yeah, right. And I’ve got a nice mobile home you can live in for free. Plus, all the candy you can eat!

Pictures from Mike Plumadore’s Facebook account

FOUND MURDERED!

Merry Christmas from Marinade Dave

This video is a combination of my work and cakefilm out of The Netherlands. The scenes of the hunter are cake’s work. The music and build-up after the final shot are my work. And the credits, of course. My friend Frank Foran sent it to me and I couldn’t resist.

Snakes and Rats and Spiders, Oh My!

Dr. Eddie DelValle is a humble man. He is the CEO and president of TBC Productions, which focuses on natural healing. He also runs With Love Ministries, a traveling Christian community service organization. Late Saturday afternoon, he was cleaning up the grounds on Suburban Drive, where Caylee Anthony’s remains were found on December 11, 2008. He does this at the request of the Chickasaw Oaks neighborhood, where George and Cindy reside, and for Bring Kids Home, the public charity that aspires to build a memorial on the Suburban site. While you may not recognize Eddie, he organized the Peace Walk for Caylee just hours after her mother was released from jail on July 17 of this year. He also put together the Suburban Drive balloon release, which I did attend, on August 5, Caylee’s 6th birthday. When Michelle Parker went missing, he was in charge of the candlelight vigil held for her on November 20. She disappeared 3-days earlier, on the 17th.

Since I began writing about the Caylee Anthony case, way back in 2008, I have been as pragmatic as possible. I can’t tell you how many times I said that a memorial for her on the site where she was found was not only impractical, it was downright dangerous. I still believe that, but after seeing what Bring Kids Home wants to do, I have softened a bit. While I still believe a memorial would be better served elsewhere, I do admire the plans put forth by the charity. However, one of my main arguments remains the same - that Caylee did not die there, and a memorial would only serve to remind us that she was tossed out like a bag of trash. Literally.

Speaking of Trash

While the Bring Kids Home plan still remains a dream, reality brings me back to the same message I preached when countless people wanted it to be a permanent shrine. There’s a school at the east end of Suburban Drive. Children walk by it during the school year. Granted, the sidewalk is across the street, but leaving countless stuffed animals is very enticing to children. They act as magnets. The ground drops down several feet, and it’s sometimes flooded. In the world we live in today, you could say it’s not user friendly.

I was there Saturday afternoon, watching Eddie clean up. All of the stuffed animals, save one, were tossed into garbage bags. He takes them home and slowly has them, piece-by-piece, hauled away with his household trash. There’s just too much to take at one time. I told him I had a problem with the type of memorial that’s there now because it invites rats, snakes, and other types of vermin that could harm school-age children and unsuspecting visitors who just stop by to pay their respects. Eddie’s wife was sitting in the van, but she told me she had seen a huge spider earlier. Eddie made a good-sized fist and said it was all of that, if not bigger. We all agreed that it’s not the kind of environment conducive for a memorial. Not in its present form, anyway. The new memorial plan is to elevate the land and keep it clean. I’ve seen architectural renderings and they look magnificent, but now, it’s just a repository for filthy stuffed animals and one more very important thing… MOLD. Yes, bags and bags of moldy stuffed animals are thrown away each time Eddie makes the rounds. Mold and mildew is not good for the lungs. It is unhealthy and his message was clear - if you want to bring something in honor of Caylee, bring flowers. Almost every stuffed animal is thrown away, so your money is going to waste. Some of the animals were large, too, probably costing $50 or more, only to be hauled away to spend the their remaining days in a landfill. What a nice reminder.

Why not donate the money spent to a good charity instead? Why not donate money to Bring kids Home if you want the location to be a permanent marker for Caylee? Like I said, only one was good enough to save. Eddie told me that the good ones go to homeless or domestic violence shelters. Why don’t visitors do just that? Stop by and pay your respects; then give. Help others instead of the vermin. I noticed that some of those stuffed animals were ripped into, and stuffing was coming out. What a perfect for rats to collect bedding! Better yet, Eddie said, what a great place to make a bed. How inviting.

Let the pictures tell the story…

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Eddie said he watched a hawk follow me as I drove up, and as I was walking around taking pictures, he tried to point it out to me. He seemed somewhat amazed because the hawk kept it’s eyes on me. “He keeps watching you,” he said. I was rather unfazed, but it was an interesting part of my visit to Suburban Drive. I told him it was the same lightpole OCSO used for measuring where Caylee’s skull rested. It was a fixed point. I distinctly remember those coordinates. 89’ east of the lightpole, 19’8” due south. It’s the 6th photo down in this series - the one with the light brown teddy bear at its base. When I took the pictures of the hawk, his (or her) stare shifted away from me, but he knew I was there. It’s almost as if he proudly posed for my camera. In the bottom image, he seems to be keeping a watchful eye over that sad and lonely place in the woods.

Cautious Observations

I drove down to Carter Glen Condominiums and Townhomes late Saturday afternoon to poke around Dale Smith II’s neighborhood. When I put his address into my iPad 2 TeleNav GPS Plus app, it only directed me to the entrance of the development. While I had no problem gaining entry, I had no idea where to find his building, so I drove around. Fortunately, I did know the number and it didn’t take long to single it out.

Of utmost importance to me is to remind everyone that, while Smith is OPD’s only suspect in the disappearance of his ex-fiancée, Michelle Parker, he is innocent until (or if) a jury finds him guilty of a crime. Also, I cannot forget George and Cindy Anthony in one sense because, like Smith, they declined to take a polygraph test, and it really caused great consternation and suspicion. A lot of people decided right then and there that they were somehow involved in the murder of their granddaughter and of helping to dispose of the body, none of which turned out to be true. To this day, some still believe it. When people begin to argue with me, and they can be quite adamant and boisterous, I tell them to call law enforcement and the State Attorney’s Office to fight. Tell them they got it all wrong. Include Jeff Ashton please, because he exonerated them, too, in his book, Imperfect Justice. In Smith’s case, I’m not going to proclaim him innocent of anything, but since he is the only suspect, I want to look into whether he could be capable of being involved in Michelle Parker’s disappearance. Wherever it leads, my job at this point is not to be opinionated to any extreme; it is to present the facts for your consideration.

First, here are two overhead views of Carter Glen, Phase 2, where Smith resides. In the close-up shot, you can clearly make out his white van sitting in the driveway.

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

It wasn’t until I was ready to leave that I noticed a camera mounted near the entrance gate. I did not see one for exiting the complex. If the Orlando Police Department has a copy of the video showing Michelle pulling into the drive and putting in a code, or if she used an electronic gate opener, that would help to establish when she actually arrived.

While shooting the above pictures, I spoke with a man who had been walking nearby. I asked him if he was familiar with the case and he said he was, but not all that much. I was curious about the buildings. It was my understanding that the complex was made up of condos and townhouses. Were there any apartments? No, he replied. The two ends, on either side, are town homes with 2 levels. They have a single car garage. The middle two are condos and they share a two car garage. When I asked him what he thought happened to Michelle, he didn’t really have a clue.

Moments earlier, when I was in front of Dale’s building, there wasn’t much activity, but some children were playing in the driveway of the next building, to the left of his. I wasn’t about to confront them. Driving around, I did observe other people milling about, but for a Saturday afternoon, it was rather quiet. I was trying to see if it would be easy to commit the sort of crime Dale is suspected of, and to be able to escape unnoticed. On the surface, no, it couldn’t be done, but there were other factors at play. For one thing, he lives in a townhome and he has a two car garage, not a single. Secondly, the neighbor directly next to him has a security camera mounted on the small balcony that overlooks the driveway and street. Surely, Dale must have been aware of that camera on the afternoon Michelle dropped off her twins.

The next image is a still taken from the video shot by the neighbor’s security camera. You can see Michelle’s Hummer as it arrives at 3:18 PM on November 17, the time she was last seen by anyone other than Dale. The photo below that depicts the back of her Hummer with the GLOW decals in place. I took that photo where the vehicle was found abandoned, the next day. The last still shows a Hummer driving in the direction of the exit. It also shows the neighbor’s car in his/her respective driveway. The car has a spoiler that helps identify it. There are a few other observations I’ve made…

There is no GLOW decal or any other decal on the exiting Hummer. This is the only inconsistency reported by media, and it directly implicates Dale. However, I observed two more things that may help Dale. Or maybe not. Please understand, my only job is to find facts, and nothing more.

In the first still, the van is not parked on the street. Where was it? In the driveway? In the second still, the van is parked along the street. Why? Where did Michelle park when she arrived? Why was the van moved at all?

You can speculate all you want about it. You can assume that the Hummer was moved into the garage and the door was shut behind it in order to strip it of anything that directly links it to Michelle, but does anyone really know for sure?

Take a close look at the Hummer as it drives away. Do you notice anything other than the missing decals? How about the spare tire cover, as seen in the photo of fliers attached to the tree as a reference. This Hummer has no cover. Why? Was it removed, too, along with the decals? Or was it an altogether different vehicle?

Clearly, OPD has information we are not privy to. How many people living in Carter Glen own a black Hummer? Or are there visitors? How many black Hummers drove into the complex that day? If it’s not Michelle’s, it had to come from one of the buildings abutting the woods on the west side of the development because there’s no other reason why it would be driven past Dale’s, who lives on a corner lot. Assuming it is Michelle’s, 4:40 PM is a far cry from the time Dale gave police - that he and Michelle both left ten minutes after she arrived, around 3:30. It also negates his statement that he was at his parent’s house at 4:30. From the still, we can’t read the license plate. Most security cameras are not that good. Could law enforcement technicians use software to enhance the tag? All I know is that Dale could not drive the Hummer out of the complex alone. In order to dump it on the other side of town, over 12 miles away someone had to pick him up. Or someone else did it. He had no idea his home would be raided, so why wouldn’t he have driven it off the premises after darkness fell, knowing full well that his neighbor had a security camera that would capture it during the day?

When I left, and since I was down in the area of Suburban Drive, I took a ride over there, and I’m glad I did. That should be my next post. Meanwhile, let’s not jump to any conclusions. Not yet, anyway. Refusing to take a polygraph test is not an admission of guilt. Ask the state of Florida about George and Cindy’s involvement in Caylee’s death. As far as any other evidence that surfaces regarding this case, most definitely, have at it.

A Crowning Achievement

At the bottom of this article is a picture of my sister, Maggie, and my brother-in-law, Bud, taken today, December 16, 2011. Bud, many of you may recall, was diagnosed with AML (acute myelogenous leukemia) in December of 2003. His initial treatment, a brand new clinical trial, began in April, 2004, and ran through January, 2005. It failed.

Bud underwent a bone marrow transplant on April 19, 2005. The host donor remains anonymous, but he and my sister did find out the marrow came from a man in Europe. In April of 2012, they will be celebrating 7 years in remission. This is due to Bud’s incredible focus and will to live, my sister’s unrequited love and resolve, and the exemplary work and tenacity of the dedicated professionals at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas and Orlando, Florida, who saved his life.

In commemoration of Bud’s crowning achievement, Maggie made him a little blinking-light tiara, which he wore today when we ate lunch at Bahama Breeze on International Drive in Orlando. The “M” in AML used to stand for Myelogenous, but today it stands for Miracle.

I will be writing more about Bud’s journey in the near future, along with the work of St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which was brought to my attention by Simon Barrett. YES! That Simon Barrett. (See: DVD Review: Jingle Hell)

This holiday season, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and the producers of the independent film “Jingle Hell,” in conjunction with the film’s distributor Janson Media, are teaming up to raise money for kids’ cancer research.

If you would like to learn more about becoming a bone marrow donor, please visit the National Marrow Donor Program.

Maggie & Bud - December 16, 2011 - Bahama Breeze, Orlando

Lunch with Mom, Dad & Dave

For Michelle

I had a rather busy Saturday this past weekend, but before I go into that, I want to clarify a couple of things. One, Jeff Ashton is aware of my contest. There are no hidden agendas whatsoever, so don’t be afraid to enter. Two, the original media reports focused on the Hoffner Avenue bridge as the location where Michelle Parker’s cell phone was tossed and discovered after police received a tip. That information is incorrect. It is the Nela Avenue bridge location, and I made the correction on my Over Hell and Dale report. The maps now reflect that change. Sorry for the confusion.

•

On Saturday morning, I drove to Costco in Winter Park to have copies of Jeff Ashton’s book signed. You know, Imperfect Justice… the one I want you to win. From there, I drove down to the area where Michelle Parker’s Hummer H3 was found on November 18, the day after she disappeared. My trusty iPad GPS app guided the way to the 4700 block of Walden Circle, in southwest Orlando. While there, I had the opportunity to speak to several people who actually live in the immediate neighborhood. On the outside perimeter, I asked three or four men if they knew where the vehicle was found and what, if anything, did they know about it. The consensus was clear about where it was found and two of them stated that they had seen the Hummer parked in proximity of that spot 3 or 4 times over the past month. They said, because of her tanning business, she may have had a customer living on that side. They told me they had been questioned by law enforcement and that’s what they told them. If true, it could point to someone other than Dale Smith II as the perp. On the other hand, why would someone in that complex be involved and point evidence their way? The men all agreed that they had seen the vehicle with the “GLOW Mobile Airbrush Tanning” decal clearly visible. This time, they said, the decal was gone.

When they pointed to the spot where the Hummer was found, I drove across the street, parked my car, and walked around. Several men were sitting on their small enclosed porches. I asked them what they knew. I told them about the men across the way and what they said. They showed me exactly where it was found, and a couple of them told me there was another black Hummer that used to park toward the back area as the apartments (or condos/townhouses) extended inside the perimeter.

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE - LARGER IMAGES ARE HIGHER QUALITY

HUMMER FOUND HERE

AREA WHERE OTHER HUMMER PARKED

My real point of Walden Circle and what I found out is very important in one sense. Dale and Michelle had been broken up for a fair amount of time by then. How would Dale know about the Walden Circle location unless he was stalking her? Or if she had this very customer while they were still together, as in long-term, why wouldn’t the witnesses have said they saw it over a longer course of time than a month? Something isn’t quite adding up as far as I’m concerned.

After I left the complex, I drove to the intersection of Vineland and Conroy Roads. On the southeast corner is a patch of woods, and on Vineland, there is a utility road into those woods that’s used to access two elevated billboards. If I was in the neighborhood looking to hide evidence, there’s a place I would consider, so I decided to take a look. Don’t let the overhead view fool you. The brush is a lot thicker in there, as the photos will show.

LOOKING INTO WOODED AREA

I didn’t investigate further because of the tangled brush and, well, the place just gave me the creeps. I left.

What an Incredible Outpouring of Support

From there, I hopped on I-4 and drove up to The Barn in Sanford, where she tends bar. I milled around snapping photos. There was a $10 admission charge and all of the gate money was to go to Michelle’s children and family for search efforts. [This could be a legal issue if Dale Smith II demands the money as father of the twins.]

There were plenty of vendors plying their goods, and they all donated a percentage of the take, mostly 50%, to the same worthy cause. There was food, music, clothing for sale, a bounce house, face painting and more. Lots of fun! I didn’t hang around too long because I’m not much into large crowds any longer and my health cuts into the amount of time I am out and about. I stayed for an hour or so, and when I left, the nice woman at the gate answered “at least a thousand by now” when I asked her how many people were there. I was really hoping for a second wind so I could return, but it just wasn’t in me. Anyway, the festivities continued until 2:00 am after it was moved inside around early in the evening. Not only was the parking lot filled with people, the very large bar also held quite a few. There was a silent auction that you could bid on all day, with donated goods and services, and highest bids picked that night. There was a truck tug-of-war and other challenges, including a cornhole contest.

SILENT AUCTION

Like I said, I wish I could have spent more time at The Barn, but by late afternoon, I was beat. Yesterday on the local news, one station reported that at least 2,000 people showed up. The event was a huge success, in other words. Now, if we could just have the same success with Michelle, she’ll be back to her bar this week, waiting on her loyal customers.

NEVER GIVE UP!

It was 3 Years Ago Today...

Over Hell and Dale

November 17

Until I carefully studied a map of the areas where Dale Smith II lives, where Michelle Parker’s cell phone was found, where Dale’s parent’s live, and where Michelle’s Hummer H3 was found, I couldn’t really make a solid assessment of the particulars in the case. Everything was so spread out and information was sporadic at times. Now, it’s all becoming clear. Take the text message made from Michelle’s iPhone when her brother asked her where she was. The response was simple - one single word: Waterford.

Waterford is located in east Orlando, around the Colonial Drive (S.R. 50) and Alafaya Trail (S.R. 434) neighborhood. Most sources affirm that Michelle was not there; that it was a ploy to confuse law enforcement later on, after she was reported missing. If it did, it wasn’t for long.

The reference to Waterford came at 4:26 pm, moments after her brother, Dustin Erickson, asked for her location. Why that text message is so important is because it establishes that Michelle was not in control of her cell phone by that time. It means that sometime between 3:18, the time she dropped her twins off at Smith’s condo, and 4:26, just over an hour later, something happened to the pretty mother of 3 children.

Smith’s attorney, Mark NeJame, said that he had taken his children to visit their grandparents at 4:30, minutes after the ficticious text message. What transpired in his life between 3:18 and then is anyone’s guess.

We do know that the day Dale & Michelle’s legal row over a lost engagement ring appeared on The People’s Court, she was never seen again. How do we know? A security camera recorded her dropping off her twins at the condo just off Goldenrod Road. Because of the camera angle, her departure was not recorded and no one else reported seeing her subsequent to that time. Three minutes earlier, at 3:15, she and her boyfriend, Nathan Mitchell, exchanged flirty text messages. They had enjoyed breakfast together in the morning.

At the moment, I’m not going to second-guess anyone - not Mr. NeJame, Smith’s attorney - and certainly not law enforcement. While Dale Smith is innocent until a criminal court deems otherwise, if ever, the maps I’m providing sure do implicate him in a big way. What it looks like to me is that he is either very stupid for leaving a huge clue next to a bridge, along the most convenient path between his place and his parent’s, or someone else is setting him up to cause his macro-downfall from grace. Other than well documented anger management issues and run-ins with the law, nothing directly implicates him of any wrongdoing. However, in 2009, Michelle tried to obtain a restraining order against him, but it was denied due to lack of evidence.

Any way you look at it, assuming Dale Smith was somehow involved, where Michelle Parker’s vehicle was found sure does point to an accomplice, in my opinion. The drive from his parents to the drop off point is 3.5 miles. Something tells me the real perpetrator or accomplice did not walk away from there unless he/she lives nearby, within walking distance. There’s just too much traffic in Orlando to escape being seen, although the dark of night does offer a practical cover. Still, it’s a long walk, and remember, the longer a person is exposed to the public, the greater the odds of witnesses.

The Orlando Police Department is keeping tight-lipped about what it has, and rightfully so. My understanding is that it’s a lot, but not necessarily enough. In law enforcement’s favor at this time, because this is an ongoing investigation, is that Florida’s sunshine law does not apply. Not yet, anyway. Meanwhile, let’s hope Michelle’s iPhone and cell phone pings offer up enough evidence that justice will be done. Most of all, let’s pray for Michelle and her loved ones.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Maps courtesy of Google

Missing Michelle

I had to take care of a few things in the Sanford/Lake Mary area today, so I decided to stop by The Barn, a famous country music nightclub known for hosting some of the genre’s best artists. It’s right up the road a spell from where I live, but in the 30-plus years I’ve been here, I’ve never been there. I stopped by to take a couple of photos of the exterior to show you where Michelle Parker works as a bartender. Michelle, in case you are not aware, disappeared without a trace 2 weeks ago, on the day she and her ex-fiancé, Dale Smith II, appeared on a taped episode of The People’s Court. On that day, she dropped off the one-time couple’s 3-year-old twins at his residence and was never seen again. (Michelle also has an 11-year-old son from a previous relationship.) The Orlando Police Department recently named Smith as the only suspect.

When I arrived at The Barn, two men were about to enter the establishment. I decided to walk up to them to explain why I was there. One seemed to be the in-charge, go-to person. I told him who I was and that my only intent was to do whatever I could to get her name out, not that I expected my site to do all that much, but you never know. Every little bit helps. He invited me in and said he would show me Michelle’s bar. This was about 3:30 and the bar doesn’t open for business until 6:00, so the interior wasn’t all that well lit. Certainly, it was enough to see how large it is inside. I told him I’d never set foot in the place, but I’ve always wanted to. We walked past a main bar and I could clearly see that it was big enough to accommodate several bars, and it does. The Website touts seven in all, including one in an upstairs loft that overlooks the dance floor.

I haven’t been hanging around any bars these days, but there’s an aroma that you can only detect inside a place that pours alcoholic beverages. I guess it’s from all of the liquor bottles and spilled drinks over the years. This place had no carpet that I recollect, so there was nothing to soak up the spilled drinks. Still, it was there. We walked all the way across to the other side, and there it was - where Michelle tends bar.

I could sense the anguish and desperation in this man’s heart. As a person in my position, that of a journalist, I asked him a few questions. He told me he couldn’t really say much, and I understood that. This is, after all, an ongoing investigation. He wasn’t really told by law enforcement to remain quiet, he said, but I know it would do no good for him to tell me his true thoughts of what went down. I told him I had read on one of the Orlando Sentinel threads where several people were stating that if it wasn’t her ex-boyfriend, it could surely have been someone who had been stalking her at the bar. Of course, there’s no really good reason or need for anyone to speculate like this. I did say it sure seemed strange that she would disappear on the same day the court segment aired. Yes, he said, and we mentioned another couple of peculiarities, but we left it at that, with neither of us voicing any sort of strong opinion one way or another.

He told me something that really stuck. He said that Michelle is a really good girl. By that, I knew exactly what he meant. She’s got it all. Aside from being very pretty, she’s a great friend, a loving mother, and an all-around caring soul. The girl has no enemies. She’s incredibly popular and none of it makes any sense, but it never does. I’ve never had someone I know go missing, nor have I ever felt that kind of frustration and helplessness. But throughout my years of dating and befriending many bartenders, their bosses always treated them like family. That’s precisely what this man was all about. It’s as if a chunk of his heart has been torn out, and to a person, his staff feels the same way. Everyone loves and misses Michelle.

I asked him if he managed or owned the bar. He told me he owns it. Eric Thims is his name. He’s a very proud man, and he’s doing whatever it takes to bring Michelle home. This is what’s posted on today’s Website:

PLEASE READ AND REPOST!!!!!!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU MICHELLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight is Thirsty Thursday as always with all you can drink at The Barn in Sanford, but tonight it is about soooo much more than that! We are having a benefit to raise money for Michelle Parker. It will help the continued search efforts for her as well as her children and family.

Tonight we are having a Bartender Handoff where bartenders from all over Central Florida that know or have worked with Michelle in the past will stand in to support Michelle and work in her place. ALL TIPS raised on Michelle’s bar tonight will go directly to her family.

We are asking that anybody who has a Missing Person shirt with Michelles picture on it wears it tonight! We will have national coverage here like the Today Show and others and we want to be sure that Michelle’s face is EVERYWHERE that they turn their cameras!

So come show your support for Michelle with your shirt and checking out all the bartenders rotating through Michelles bar by the DJ booth. They will be happy to make you a drink and your tips will help bring this AMAZING woman home!

We have the following bartenders standing in for her tonight so come show some love!

Michelle’s sister Lauren
Michelle’s best friend Heather (from Manny’s Chophouse, and worked with Michelle at Cowboys)
Erica (from Hooter’s)
Jess (from Hooter’s)
Carrie (from Cowboys)
Brandi (from Lavish Photography, and formerly from The Barn)
April (The Barn)
Carrie (The Barn)
Dracy (The Barn)
Michelle W (The Barn)
Lisa (The Barn)
Erica (The Barn)
Krissi (The Barn)
Liz (The Barn)
John (The Barn)
Crystal (The Barn)
One Bartender from Rodeo’s in Mount Dora

And if any of her other previous co workers would like to join us we would still love to have you!

See you all there, come help us support Michelle!

Tomorrow night, there will be a silent auction. Local firemen will be auctioned off for dinner. So will Eric. Ladies only. Anyone willing to help out, please do. On Saturday, Dec. 10, a big benefit will also be held all day and night. I may try to attend for a few hours. I wish I could do more because this is eating away at me, too. I never met her, but she’s my neighbor and yours, because this happens every single day somewhere around the world, including your own back yard. Now, I do feel like I know her better. Look at all the countless hearts she’s touched.

Watch the Today Show for more on Michelle. Tim Miller from Texas EquuSearch arrived in Orlando today at the behest of Mark NeJame, who is representing Dale Smith.