Crime Seen by Kate Lines

be joined by Ken Lanning and gave them an overview of the training I had already received from him.
    After a few short hours filled with their sharing what their lives had entailed over the last weeks, the bar owner came to our table and apologized that the tavern was out of beer. I don’t think that would ever happen back home in Canada, but I took it as a signal that it was time to leave and get them to their hotel.
    The next morning I brought the guys to meet Steve and Ken in one of the small FBI Academy boardrooms on the second floor. They presented all the evidence gathered over the last twenty-nine days in the case and at the end of their presentation there was a good understanding of victimology, the abduction location and neighbourhood demographics. There had been no eyewitnesses. There was no physical evidence. But for the person who took Michael, there had been a high risk of being seen. With virtually no behavioural clues to interpret, there was little information for a crime-scene analysis. The likely personality descriptors of the unknown offender came from the FBI agent’s past investigative experiences and the research that Ken and others had conducted into these types of crimes more than anything else. The investigators were reminded that profilers dealt in probabilities, not possibilities. Anything was possible and investigators must keep their minds open to that.
    The investigators had explored every lead and were frustrated by the lack of information to move their case forward. They asked the same questions as all dedicated investigators do. Have they missed something? Was there something more they could do? Their time spent in Quantico was also an opportunity for them to stop and take a breath. New eyes had taken a look at their case from a different perspective: eyes that didn’t have the media scrutinizing their every move; eyes that didn’t have to look at the anguished faces of family members. At the end of our meeting, I was confident that Steve and Ken had given them a better understanding of the most probable type of offender responsible for Michael’s disappearance. (As this investigation is still an open, confidential Victoria Police Department cold-case investigation, I can’t share any information regarding the details of the consultation, unknown offender profile or investigative suggestions that came out of the meeting.)
    When the consultation was finished, lead investigator Detective John Smith thanked all of us for our time and signalled to his team to start packing their charts, reports, notes and photographs back into the banker’s boxes.
    I saw in their faces and heard in their voices the toll this investigation was taking. Ken Lanning must have noticed it too. He interrupted their task. “Sit back down a minute, guys,” Ken said. “Just listen to one more thing I have to say.”
    “There will come a time when this case will end for you,” Ken began. “All leads will have been followed up and in the end the person responsible for what happened to Michael Dunahee may never be found. Michael may never be found.” The room was silent.
    “If that is what happens, you are still great police officers who did a great job. You are doing everything you can to solve this case. You will never let down the public, the Dunahee family or Michael. Remember that. Please.”
    A few days later I went with the officers to the Washington studio filming of an America’s Most Wanted television episode featuring a segment on Michael Dunahee. The show’s host, John Walsh, was well known as a victims’ advocate since the murder of his own child, Adam, in 1981. The popular reality show first aired in 1988 and had helped to bring numerous missing children home. Detective Smith was featured on the syndicated show and dozens of tips were called in. The show rebroadcast parts of Michael’s story with updates on five separate occasions and later a $100,000 reward for information was offered but no