Ever since Jessica was found dead in the home of a neighbor within eyesight on her home, the circumstances of her death and final hours seemed vague. The investigators reported that while Couey was talking, he was so drug-addled that what he was saying was disjointed, incomprehensible.
It's now almost two months beyond her body's discovery and we must assume at least preliminary autopsy reports have been received. And the preliminary results are showing that Jessica Lunsford was buried alive.
I've seen it reported twice now with "unidentified law enforcement officials" by both CNN and Fox News. Which means this is not yet official. But someone in the Florida law enforcement is leaking the results. The news reports caution that the final autopsy report won't be in for another month. Which means some cells are being sent out to some lab or another for further testing. The Medical Examiner, ladies and gems, knows the cause of death is asphyxiation. And he knows it now.
Like any crime under investigation, there's still a lot of information unknown to the public. Like exactly what John Couey is telling investigators. And whether he's drug free enough now to be telling the truth. Said truth being now verified by Couey's partners in crime and the autopsy and said truth being so horrific.
John Couey had no vehicle. The claims are that he had Jessica in that trailer and judging by the lack of a car and her subsequent burial behind the trailer, she never left the trailer.
Initial reports are that Jessica was still alive on at least two occasions when the police visited the house. These initial reports are not confirmed and might well be inaccurate. Couey is said to have told the police that on the first occasion of their visit to his sister's trailer he was not home. On the second occasion of the police visit, he was home but was hiding from the police.
It's confusing but I heard it stated that way twice. By all accounts, Jessica was alive for at least two days in that trailer. While all around her police, her parents, friends, neighbors and search dogs were desperately trying to find her.
I must wonder about the search dogs. It's reported that the dogs did NOT find any of Jessica's scent beyond Jessica's own immediate home. Which would make sense in that according to Couey she never went beyond the distance to his sister's trailer. Yet they did not hone in on that trailer specifically. I don't know if that's odd or not.
There's so much still unknown and so much speculation right now. I've always believed that where there's smoke there's likely a bit of fire. News reports have been hinting about new info in the Lunsford case. I suspect that as the investigation and autopsy have been ongoing, Couey's statements have either been verified or debunked. It would seem that his first admissions, dismissed as the ravings of a drug-addled criminal, might well have been true. Perhaps the investigators just didn't want to believe it. Perhaps their hearts were broken that they didn't save the child, right under their noses. Perhaps they wanted to be kind and spare Jessica's family any unnecessary additional angst until it was absolutely necessary.
Now it must be necessary. Sooner or later the autopsy will become public. For sure the prosecutors will need the information to present their case. Thus the heartbreak of Jessica Lunsford, alive and held captive in a trailer within 150 yards of their home must be made known to Jessica's family and inevitably, the public.
What's unclear now is how Jessica was kept silent. And hidden. For John Couey allegedly swears that his "roommates" were totally unaware that Jessica was in the trailer. Said roommates alleged to range anywhere from four to six people. All these people in a mobile home could be unaware of a child being held prisoner within?
Is John Couey, in some weird sort of criminal code of honor, trying to protect his drug friends in the trailer? Could they too have been part of Jessica's torment while she was prisoner in the trailer? Could Couey figure that since his goose is pretty much cooked that he should just take the fall and spare the pitiful few friends he had until finally caught?
Could this make the prosecutors' case more onerous in what should be a somewhat simple case?
For if those people in the trailer, whoever they are, had any idea that Jessica was being held prisoner by Couey they are guilty of possibly several different offenses. First, obstruction of justice for hiding that knowledge. This obstruction of justice beyond obstruction of justice for harboring a known sex offender. If any of them had anything to do with Jessica's torment there would be, of course, that crime. If so, it must be proved. No mind Couey's kindness as he faces the needle, if anyone in that trailer molested Jessica they should be punished for THAT crime, not just obstruction of justice.
Could Couey have handled the murder and burial of Jessica by himself? Did anyone help him with this? If someone did and Jessica did die from asphyxiation by being buried alive, are not such participants also guilty of murder? Now that I think about it, how on earth did anyone manage to bury the child outside of the trailer without any of the searchers or police knowing a thing?
For sure there will be more news over the coming days.
John Couey is likely facing the death penalty. How many of his "friends" should be sharing it with him?
