Lisa Marie Kimmell car sightings

[JannTosh]

I watched the Lisa Marie Kimmel case for the first time on Amazon and it loojs like about a thousand people said they saw her car AFTER she was murdered. Can someone explain how this could be? Lying or mistaken?

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by JannTosh

I watched the Lisa Marie Kimmel case for the first time on Amazon and it loojs like about a thousand people said they saw her car AFTER she was murdered. Can someone explain how this could be? Lying or mistaken?

Mistaken about the dates is the most likely explanation, IMO.

[Hambone2421]

Originally Posted by JannTosh

I watched the Lisa Marie Kimmel case for the first time on Amazon and it loojs like about a thousand people said they saw her car AFTER she was murdered. Can someone explain how this could be? Lying or mistaken?

People who saw the car but had the dates mixed up or people who just wanted to insert themselves in an investigation.

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

Yep classic proof of eye witness testimony being unreliable. There's at least a few of those in the first season.

[wonderwall]

I believe this question was asked when Lisa's mother posted here, and she replied that somebody else drove a car very similar to Lisa's (or perhaps the same make/model/year) in the area a lot of the sightings were reported. So I am sure seeing that car plus wanting to be helpful/confusing dates greatly contributed to the sightings.

ETA: I found the post about this, and here is what she responded:

2. Ironically another young couple in Casper had also bought a nearly identical car and amazingly, at a glance, the female owner looked a lot like Lisa.
So, hence, I think that is why we got a lot "false-positive" sightings of her car.

[asmitty]

Originally Posted by wonderwall

I believe this question was asked when Lisa's mother posted here, and she replied that somebody else drove a car very similar to Lisa's (or perhaps the same make/model/year) in the area a lot of the sightings were reported. So I am sure seeing that car plus wanting to be helpful/confusing dates greatly contributed to the sightings.

ETA: I found the post about this, and here is what she responded:

I'd seen this post before. I feel like if this scenario were proposed without knowing it is true, it could be easily dismissed as a dumb idea with the odds stacked heavily against it. This is something I try to keep in mind whenever I'm reading a theory from a poster that I'm tempted to dismiss because it would be too coincidental or the odds of their theory being true are far-fetched.

[Clockwork]

The sightings aren't overly reliable I don't think. I agree that they saw the car, and saw Lisa, but they have the dates mixed up. Her license plate is unique so I truly believe they saw her, but they saw her before she was killed. The guy at the gas station who claims he was looking out the window and saw her with another guy sitting in the car and then when he turned around again they were gone, well, how do you even remember that? And it was enough that he gave the police a description? Why would you even remember a car like that? You would have seen hundreds at that time working at a gas station.

My question with this case is what on earth happened to Lisa from the time the cops pulled her over for speeding to the time she died? It was only a few hours, what could have led to her ending up being dead? My thought has been that it was a hitchhiker that she picked up by chance. I don't know what else could have led to that. It isn't as if that sort of scenario hasn't happened. Look at Philip Fraser.

[Zero]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

The sightings aren't overly reliable I don't think. I agree that they saw the car, and saw Lisa, but they have the dates mixed up. Her license plate is unique so I truly believe they saw her, but they saw her before she was killed. The guy at the gas station who claims he was looking out the window and saw her with another guy sitting in the car and then when he turned around again they were gone, well, how do you even remember that? And it was enough that he gave the police a description? Why would you even remember a car like that? You would have seen hundreds at that time working at a gas station.

My question with this case is what on earth happened to Lisa from the time the cops pulled her over for speeding to the time she died? It was only a few hours, what could have led to her ending up being dead? My thought has been that it was a hitchhiker that she picked up by chance. I don't know what else could have led to that. It isn't as if that sort of scenario hasn't happened. Look at Philip Fraser.

Not exactly.

This was Wyoming. Not many CRX’s in that state then. If you were around back in the late 80’s/early 90’s you’d know that there were certain unique, Japanese cars produced. They weren’t like the cars of today; cookie cutter designs, just different colors.

The CRX stood out. Like Toyota’s MR2. Like the Acura Legend and Integra when they first came out. Like the RX7’s of the day. These days only super cars and beyond stand out, but this wasn’t the case cir. 1990.

Trust me, you would NOT have seen “hundreds” of CRX’s in Wyoming. Not even at gas stations. I grew up in LA and even then, those cars weren’t that common of a sight when they were new.

If Lisa was seen driving around Wyoming before she was killed, then it begs the question; why did she abandon her plans to meet up with her boyfriend, and family in Montana to just be riding around Wyoming of all holes? Especially where she was allegedly spotted. Nothing alluring about that part of the country.

I’ve honestly never knew what to make of the sightings, definitively.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Zero

If Lisa was seen driving around Wyoming before she was killed, then it begs the question; why did she abandon her plans to meet up with her boyfriend, and family in Montana to just be riding around Wyoming of all holes? Especially where she was allegedly spotted. Nothing alluring about that part of the country.

She was driving from Colorado to Billings, so she would have had to have gone through Wyoming. IIRC, she was supposed to pick up her boyfriend in Wyoming as well.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

She was driving from Colorado to Billings, so she would have had to have gone through Wyoming. IIRC, she was supposed to pick up her boyfriend in Wyoming as well.

I thought she was just going to visit him? But.. that's pretty irrelevant. Ok. She was visiting him in Cody, WY, then going to Montana to visit her parents.

Has it ever been established how Eaton abducted her in the first place?

I mean, we all know the story, he buried her car on his property.. But.. Where did he encounter her? Where did he first abduct her? So far as I know.. That's never been made public or isn't known to anyone other than him?

Looking at maps.. If she hit Casper, it might make sense to head towards Moneta on 26, then north on 20 and finally west into Cody on 14.. Though.. Most people would probably take the interstate to get there.

But seeing as Eaton's place was in Moneta.. Maybe that makes sense that she was going the backroads? But, still.. At some point, he has to stop her, or she has to stop, for him to abduct her. where did that happen?

[dynoguy88]

I would suggest watching the 2011 episode of 'On the Case with Paul Zahn,' where they covered this story. (It's available on streaming.) During the episode, they drive out to the actual rest stop where they are convinced Lisa came in contact with Dale Eaton.

They also show pictures of the inside of his van where Lisa was tied up and held prisoner for multiple days, raped repeatedly and GOD knows what else. Seeing those pictures was...hard, knowing what happened to her there. Every murder is a tragedy but the instances where the victim is tortured for such an extended period of time before finally being killed just creeps me out waaaaay more.

[schmave]

I think the more recent special profiling this case, an episode of Forensic Files from last summer, said the Kimmells were going on a ski trip. That was never mentioned by Unsolved Mysteries, and almost no mention was made of Ed Jaroch in Forensic Files.
Both of them completely glossed over how Lisa Kimmell and Dale Wayne Eaton could have crossed paths. An especially glaring omission by Forensic Files considering how much more time they devoted to the case.

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by schmave

I think the more recent special profiling this case, an episode of Forensic Files from last summer, said the Kimmells were going on a ski trip. That was never mentioned by Unsolved Mysteries, and almost no mention was made of Ed Jaroch in Forensic Files.
Both of them completely glossed over how Lisa Kimmell and Dale Wayne Eaton could have crossed paths. An especially glaring omission by Forensic Files considering how much more time they devoted to the case.

I think it's because it's just not known. One of Eaton's cellmates claims Eaton confessed to him that Lisa gave him a ride but when he made advances, she pulled over to order him out of the car; then things escalated from there. Eaton himself has never admitted to authorities how they encountered each other, but as dynoguy said, it's believed that it was at the rest stop. One prevailing theory is that she pulled over to use the restroom or nap and he took advantage of the opportunity.

[Labonte18]

What's scary to think about.. What if he had just buried her inside her car vs dumping her body back in Casper? Or.. I think he killed her at the bridge, but.. If he had just killed her on his property and buried her with her car..

He'd probably have never been caught.. At least for this. The guy was a psychopath, so I have little doubt he would have been caught for something else, which might have led to her car being discovered.. But, it was the DNA from her body that got him.

Edit - Is a psychopath.. I keep wanting to think of him as dead, even though he's not.

[Zero]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

The sightings aren't overly reliable I don't think. I agree that they saw the car, and saw Lisa, but they have the dates mixed up. Her license plate is unique so I truly believe they saw her, but they saw her before she was killed. The guy at the gas station who claims he was looking out the window and saw her with another guy sitting in the car and then when he turned around again they were gone, well, how do you even remember that? And it was enough that he gave the police a description? Why would you even remember a car like that? You would have seen hundreds at that time working at a gas station.

My question with this case is what on earth happened to Lisa from the time the cops pulled her over for speeding to the time she died? It was only a few hours, what could have led to her ending up being dead? My thought has been that it was a hitchhiker that she picked up by chance. I don't know what else could have led to that. It isn't as if that sort of scenario hasn't happened. Look at Philip Fraser.

Just watched this segment again. And the episode Forensic Files II released last season (Lil Miss Murder.) Lisa was supposed to stop at her boyfriends house in Cody Wy for the night, then take him with her up to Montana the next day, Sat. March 26th.

She was pulled over south of Casper, which is at the junction of I-25 and whatever two lane highway she would have taken to get to Cody. Apparently, there was an unconfirmed sighting of her at a grocery store in Casper that same night around 10 pm. If this was her, it may have been after she was pulled over, tried to get money out of an ATM, etc. Maybe she stopped there to get snacks and drinks.

The highway she took from Casper to Cody would have taken her through Moneta. Police believe Eaton used the rest stop there at times, but he probably went into Casper to buy supplies. He could have run into her there.

Anyway, the next morning (03/26) she was seen by two people in Buffalo Wy, which is over 100 miles north of Casper. Then the next day (03/27) she was seen driving around Casper.

Initially, police believed she was killed the same night she was abducted, but I think we know now this wasn't the case.

Was it her behind the wheel in Buffalo and Casper? Maybe, as you said, the witnesses got their dates wrong. But by how much?

I think we know Lisa was held captive, so it most likely wasn't her driving around. Could her killer have let someone else drive the car? The gas station man said the male in the car was "small" and seemed to "fit" into the car. The CRX was small inside and out. I don't know what Eaton looked like back in '88, but I don't think "small" was it. Also, he said the man had "fine" features. Eaton looks like a monster, and probably did back then, too!

But the fact that they are all convinced they saw the distinct plates on that distinct car is what makes their sightings hard to *just* toss out, at least in my opinion.

If you really believe she was spotted before she was killed, that's fine. This is what was shown on unsolved mysteries with the question of, "Why did she not single for help?" And why I asked in my previous post, what was she doing riding around Casper and Buffalo, abandoning her plans to meet up with Ed and her family? If she wasn't kidnapped by Eaton on 03/25, she just decided to hang around small towns in Wyoming all by herself?

If she had been kidnapped by Eaton, she was twice spotted alone. At any time she could have driven away to safety. And I don't think the male spotted with (allegedly) Lisa at the gas station was Eaton.

It's easy to dismiss the sightings as mistakes but I don't think they were. If I think about it long enough, I tend to believe it was the same car with some other woman behind the wheel, but I don't think we'll ever really know for sure.

Lisa would have never picked up Eaton. He most likely wasn't hitch hiking if he encountered her in Casper. Her family is adamant she would have never picked up any man hitch hiking and I tend to believe them.