Lucas paused to let the comment sink in, then he detailed the timeline. “On Friday night, Taylor James and several other people saw Candace Swain leave the party shortly after midnight. She was angry and upset about an argument that witnesses state was critical of her for not calling the police about the presence of Joseph Abernathy on campus.
“On Sunday afternoon, Candace was seen in Kingman, Arizona, by a student, at approximately three o’clock. She was in her blue Volkswagen. On Sunday night around ten p.m., Candace was seen in the same vehicle driving into the Mountain View parking garage, which is dedicated to the sorority dorm. Her card key was used to access the dorm at 11:10 p.m., but no one saw her enter or exit. On Monday afternoon, her phone was found on the charger by her roommate after she couldn’t reach Candace. Her vehicle was found in the parking garage on Tuesday morning. There’s no indication as to how long it was there.
“According to the autopsy report, Candace was alive and well almost the entire time she was missing—no signs of captivity, malnutrition, or dehydration that might indicate that she had been kept against her will for any length of time. She was killed between ten and one Saturday night, a full week after the party, and her body was found early the next morning, Sunday, in Hope Springs Lake. People rarely disappear into thin air, and I believe there are more people out there who saw Candace. One reason I asked Ms. Merritt to join me this evening is because of her experience interviewing witnesses. Ms. Merritt, after three years do you think that the information from the caller on Friday and the email my podcast received last night are valid? Do you think they remembered the information accurately?”
“Yes. People often attach memories to specific events, and those are more reliable than, for example, a witness to a bank robbery giving an accurate description of a suspect. Because the caller had mentally attached her sister’s birthday—a fixed date—to her memory, I would rank the memory as valid.”
“And the email?”
“I put some credence on the email. However, I would want to ask the writer follow-up questions. How does she know it was a Sunday night? She says it was at ten o’clock. That means it was dark. How can she be accurate about the time and day three years later? If it was dark, how could she be certain it was Candace’s car? A jolt of fear can etch a memory—such as almost being hit by a car—but if she was angry or fearful, did she mention the event to anyone? Did she see Candace exit the parking garage or enter the dorm? We can assume that she didn’t know that Candace was missing—no one reported it until Monday afternoon.”
“Is that unusual?”
“No. With an open college campus and an adult student with a vehicle, no one would be suspicious unless she didn’t show up when expected.”
“That confirms what the community relations officer told me,” Lucas said. “People might leave campus for the weekend, not think to tell anyone, come back before classes on Monday.”
“Exactly.”
Lucas said, “I would ask the Concerned Sister who emailed me to consider Ms. Merritt’s questions. How can you be certain of the day? That this wasn’t another day before the party? That it was Sunday night? That it was in fact Candace?”
“Yes,” Regan said. “But let’s assume that she is confident in her memory. One reason I used the bank-robbery example was because fear creates certain stressors, and memories can be clearer—or completely off. If you’re scared, you may see a threat as worse than it is or a person as physically more imposing than they are. For example, I once helped investigate a string of bank robberies because a fugitive I was pursuing was involved. The fugitive was five feet ten inches tall and one hundred sixty pounds—not a large man. Virtually every witness identified him as over six feet, and one said he had to be two hundred pounds. But it was my fugitive, who has a distinctive tattoo on his neck, and that is what ultimately identified him. Yet, of the three witnesses I personally interviewed, no one had the tattoo accurate. One said it was an eagle, one a naked woman, and one a blob of blue ink. It was in fact Pegasus from Greek mythology. They all remembered, however, that it was on the left side of his neck.
“Fear can taint memories, but it can also solidify them. Interviewers need to be careful when drawing out details from a witness. We start with easy-to-confirm facts—time of day a crime occurred, day of the week, the purpose of the witness’s visit to that location, things like that. Make the witness comfortable with mundane, easy-to-remember details, and then start asking more specific questions about the event—in fact, asking the same question in different ways can help gain more accurate information. It’s also important to keep witnesses apart. There is a very real problem of confirmation bias, when a group of witnesses will agree to something that just isn’t accurate.”