Quote: Then she is found later in a Shallow grave ............This will go a long way with his application. Can anyone imagine trying to dig a grave on the beach or anywhere with a dead body on your hands by yourself? He can open his own cemetery with no help needed...............
Add to that the fact that he was drinking, probably not thinking clearly, it was still dark, and her weight is 120 lbs. He’s a big guy, probably very strong, but no criminal mastermind. Search teams and cadaver dogs combed the beach areas extensively. I highly doubt he had the presence of mind to concoct a scheme to bury her in a shallow grave. I still think she drowned, he didn’t notice it until it was too late to save her, and the weather conditions at the time carried her body out to sea quickly.
I don’t know if the prevailing winds were onshore or offshore at the time. If they were offshore, the winds combined with the resulting wave action would override the prevailing currents and carry a floating body offshore against the surface currents. Objects floating on the ocean surface move at a rate of approximately 5% of prevailing wind speed. That section of beach is really just open ocean. No protection other than a reef just offshore. The fetch, the distance offshore the wind can generate waves, is unlimited in that area.. Dangerous wave action is common in that area judging by the number of people that have drowned along that section of beach.
I don’t know how quickly responders arrived at the scene and deployed search boats. Even an hours delay would make the offshore search more complex. Shoreline searches would have had limited value after any delays.
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