We are working on a huge weeding project at the library (new boss, new focus, new projects, etc.), and I've been coming home from work pretty tired every night. So I didn't do much blogging last week, hope to do better this week.
I have one title to review this week:
The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill - This is the first title in Susan Hill's Simon Serrailer mystery series. Prior to this book, Susan Hill was best known for The Woman in Black (recently made into a movie) and Mrs. deWinter, a sequel to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. The mystery series was recommended to me by one of our patrons who is an avid mystery reader. There is a serial killer at work in the small English town of Lafferton, a very clever serial killer whose victims appear to have nothing in common, which baffles the Lafferton police force. There are a lot of characters and the narrative skips around among their various stories, which is one of the few negative comments I can make about the book. Good psychologial suspense reminiscent of P. D. James and Ruth Rendell. If you like either of these writers, you will enjoy this series.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Literary Monday - Vanished Worlds
I have two titles worthy of note this week. I didn't totally love either one, although a lot of people did on Amazon.com.
Arcadia by Lauren Groff - I heard about Arcadia because it kept appearing on "best books" type of lists. A group of idealists and dreamers abandon their former lives and drop out of society to follow a Utopian dream of building a communal society, living off the land and off the grid. The story is told from the viewpoint of Bit, the first child born into their communal society in 1968. The first half of the book details their lives as they found a commune called Arcadia, through its high point and gradual decline. Bit watches his parents labor for the commune, doing backbreaking work, suffering poverty and hunger in the name of the greater good, until things fall apart. The second half of the book turns futuristic as Bit and the other commune residents return to the outside world, with most of this section set in 2018. The world has become a scary and dangerous place, with a pandemic looming. Bit longs for the Arcadia of his childhood, and when his mother becomes ill, he returns to Arcadia to care for her. But the community is long abandoned and Bit realizes that the sense of community that he craves has migrated to urban areas, since you can't have a community without people. I have to say that I liked the second half of the book more than the first half. Maybe it's because Bit as a child is definitely a watcher, while in the second half of the book, he is forced to be more involved in life. There are parallels to Animal Farm in the first half of the book, when one of the newer residents asks why some people lived in the splendid mansion on the grounds and did very little work, while others lived in hovels and were expected to labor from dawn to dusk. I was dissatified with some of the unexplored or unexplained relationships - why bother introducing them if they're just going to be left hanging? Recurring themes include hope, dreams, and love, found and lost and found again.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt - I waited a long time to get this book from the library, and there was a lot of hype about it, so I really wanted to love it. The narrator, June, is 14 years old. Her favorite uncle, Finn, who is a famous painter, is dying of AIDS. June believes she is a misfit and that Finn is the only person who understands her. When he dies, June learns that Finn had another "special friend," Toby, his long-time partner who knew all along about June and relates to her sense of loss. June feels betrayed because she thought that Finn belonged only to her. Like many children, June thought Finn's life revolved around her, and although she resents Toby, she wants to spend time with him to learn more about their life together. Tell the Wolves I'm Home is a coming of age story, and June does a lot of growing up during the course of the book. The author does a great job of capturing the paranoia of the early 1980's, in the days before AZT and other drugs when AIDS was still a death sentence and many people had no idea if AIDS could be transmitted through casual contact like a handshake. The parents are silent and secretive at a time when they should be helping their children to deal with their grief. In a lot of ways, June is a cool kid with a vivid imagination: she is interested in art and music, she likes to pretend she's from the Middle Ages, she wants to be a falconer. Greta, June's older sister, is the pretty, smart, popular, talented one, but she is incredibly jealous of June's relationship with Finn. The relationship between the two sisters is unneccessarily dramatic and overwrought. Greta is obviously meant to be the villain of the piece, the person you're supposed to hate - I just found her annoying. Only later in the book do you realize that Greta feels just as much a misfit as June does, but in different ways. I liked some parts of the book but others just dragged or seemed like filler.
Arcadia by Lauren Groff - I heard about Arcadia because it kept appearing on "best books" type of lists. A group of idealists and dreamers abandon their former lives and drop out of society to follow a Utopian dream of building a communal society, living off the land and off the grid. The story is told from the viewpoint of Bit, the first child born into their communal society in 1968. The first half of the book details their lives as they found a commune called Arcadia, through its high point and gradual decline. Bit watches his parents labor for the commune, doing backbreaking work, suffering poverty and hunger in the name of the greater good, until things fall apart. The second half of the book turns futuristic as Bit and the other commune residents return to the outside world, with most of this section set in 2018. The world has become a scary and dangerous place, with a pandemic looming. Bit longs for the Arcadia of his childhood, and when his mother becomes ill, he returns to Arcadia to care for her. But the community is long abandoned and Bit realizes that the sense of community that he craves has migrated to urban areas, since you can't have a community without people. I have to say that I liked the second half of the book more than the first half. Maybe it's because Bit as a child is definitely a watcher, while in the second half of the book, he is forced to be more involved in life. There are parallels to Animal Farm in the first half of the book, when one of the newer residents asks why some people lived in the splendid mansion on the grounds and did very little work, while others lived in hovels and were expected to labor from dawn to dusk. I was dissatified with some of the unexplored or unexplained relationships - why bother introducing them if they're just going to be left hanging? Recurring themes include hope, dreams, and love, found and lost and found again.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt - I waited a long time to get this book from the library, and there was a lot of hype about it, so I really wanted to love it. The narrator, June, is 14 years old. Her favorite uncle, Finn, who is a famous painter, is dying of AIDS. June believes she is a misfit and that Finn is the only person who understands her. When he dies, June learns that Finn had another "special friend," Toby, his long-time partner who knew all along about June and relates to her sense of loss. June feels betrayed because she thought that Finn belonged only to her. Like many children, June thought Finn's life revolved around her, and although she resents Toby, she wants to spend time with him to learn more about their life together. Tell the Wolves I'm Home is a coming of age story, and June does a lot of growing up during the course of the book. The author does a great job of capturing the paranoia of the early 1980's, in the days before AZT and other drugs when AIDS was still a death sentence and many people had no idea if AIDS could be transmitted through casual contact like a handshake. The parents are silent and secretive at a time when they should be helping their children to deal with their grief. In a lot of ways, June is a cool kid with a vivid imagination: she is interested in art and music, she likes to pretend she's from the Middle Ages, she wants to be a falconer. Greta, June's older sister, is the pretty, smart, popular, talented one, but she is incredibly jealous of June's relationship with Finn. The relationship between the two sisters is unneccessarily dramatic and overwrought. Greta is obviously meant to be the villain of the piece, the person you're supposed to hate - I just found her annoying. Only later in the book do you realize that Greta feels just as much a misfit as June does, but in different ways. I liked some parts of the book but others just dragged or seemed like filler.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Wheat Belly Wednesday - Slow Cooker Chicken Stock
My biggest news this week is that I just adopted a new dog. My new boy's name is Zeke and he came from Best Friends Animal Society in Utah. He is a hound mix, not a golden retriever like Luke is. When I volunteered at Best Friends earlier in the month, Zeke was one of our sleepover dogs. He is 12 years old, a senior boy, and the sweetest friendliest old guy. His former owners had left him at Animal Control in Los Angeles (which is fortunately a no-kill shelter). Zeke had a number of health issues, including being quite overweight, needing to visit the doggie dentist, and having arthritis in his hips and knees, and Best Friends made sure he got the care he needed. After I came home from Utah, I kept thinking (and worrying about Zeke), so I contacted Best Friends about him, and the short version of the story is that he traveled via United Airlines to Chicago last Friday. He has been with us for a week and is settling in. He is still learning the household routine and establishing boundaries with Luke and Teddy (like letting them know when they are getting too close when Zeke is eating).
I often need chicken stock or broth for recipes and was quite surprised to learn that not all commercially available stocks and broths are gluten free. You need to read the label, and unless it specifically states that the stock or broth is gluten-free, assume that it has gluten in it or was made in a factory that also processes wheat. Even some of the organic brands contain gluten. Aldi, Trader Joe and Costco's Kirkland brand of stock or broth all state on the label that they are gluten-free.
Of course, the best chicken stock is the homemade kind. Not only do you know for sure that it's gluten free, it's delicious! You can also control the amount of salt in the recipe. The recipe for slow cooker chicken stock is based on my grandmother's chicken stock recipe, except she used to simmer the stock on the stovetop. When she would roast a chicken on Sundays, she would pick as much meat as she could off the bones and save the carcass, the neck, the back, and the drippings from the roasting pan for chicken stock. She would scrape everything into a big kettle, add vegetables and water, bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and let it all simmer for hours. Making the stock in the slow cooker means I can turn the slow cooker on when I leave for work and come home to at least a half gallon of hot chicken stock and a house that smells like heaven. Since you're working from cooked bones, there is no foam to have to skim off the top like there is when you make broth from raw chicken. This method works well with turkey bones, too, so don't throw out that Thanksgiving turkey carcass (note that turkey stock is usually fattier than chicken stock). The dogs absolutely LOVE a ladle of warm stock over their kibble. Enjoy as is with vegetables and/or cooked rice, or in recipes.
Slow Cooker Chicken Stock:
1 chicken carcass or the bones from 4 chicken breasts or leg quarters, with cooked skin and roasting pan drippings
1 large onion, peeled and cut into eighths
2 carrots, washed or peeled and cut into four pieces
2 celery ribs, washed and cut into four pieces
1 t. salt
5 peppercorns
1 T. dried parsley
water
Place all ingredients except water into the crock of your slow cooker. Add enough water to cover everything and stir to mix ingredients. Water should be about 1/2 inch from the top of the crock. Cover, plug in, and turn on low setting. Allow to cook for 8-10 hours - don't lift the lid while the stock is cooking, as this will just add to the cooking time. You can let the stock cook for up to 14 hours, since the slow cooker heat is so low and even.
When the stock is finished, allow it to cool slightly. If you have the lift-out kind of crock on your slow cooker, remove the crock and place it on a cooling rack for about an hour. Strain the stock into a large storage container or a 3-quart stockpot. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, remove and discard any fat that has hardened on top. If the stock has jelled, it will liquify as soon as you heat it. Makes 2-3 quarts of chicken stock.
I often need chicken stock or broth for recipes and was quite surprised to learn that not all commercially available stocks and broths are gluten free. You need to read the label, and unless it specifically states that the stock or broth is gluten-free, assume that it has gluten in it or was made in a factory that also processes wheat. Even some of the organic brands contain gluten. Aldi, Trader Joe and Costco's Kirkland brand of stock or broth all state on the label that they are gluten-free.
Of course, the best chicken stock is the homemade kind. Not only do you know for sure that it's gluten free, it's delicious! You can also control the amount of salt in the recipe. The recipe for slow cooker chicken stock is based on my grandmother's chicken stock recipe, except she used to simmer the stock on the stovetop. When she would roast a chicken on Sundays, she would pick as much meat as she could off the bones and save the carcass, the neck, the back, and the drippings from the roasting pan for chicken stock. She would scrape everything into a big kettle, add vegetables and water, bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and let it all simmer for hours. Making the stock in the slow cooker means I can turn the slow cooker on when I leave for work and come home to at least a half gallon of hot chicken stock and a house that smells like heaven. Since you're working from cooked bones, there is no foam to have to skim off the top like there is when you make broth from raw chicken. This method works well with turkey bones, too, so don't throw out that Thanksgiving turkey carcass (note that turkey stock is usually fattier than chicken stock). The dogs absolutely LOVE a ladle of warm stock over their kibble. Enjoy as is with vegetables and/or cooked rice, or in recipes.
Slow Cooker Chicken Stock:
1 chicken carcass or the bones from 4 chicken breasts or leg quarters, with cooked skin and roasting pan drippings
1 large onion, peeled and cut into eighths
2 carrots, washed or peeled and cut into four pieces
2 celery ribs, washed and cut into four pieces
1 t. salt
5 peppercorns
1 T. dried parsley
water
Place all ingredients except water into the crock of your slow cooker. Add enough water to cover everything and stir to mix ingredients. Water should be about 1/2 inch from the top of the crock. Cover, plug in, and turn on low setting. Allow to cook for 8-10 hours - don't lift the lid while the stock is cooking, as this will just add to the cooking time. You can let the stock cook for up to 14 hours, since the slow cooker heat is so low and even.
When the stock is finished, allow it to cool slightly. If you have the lift-out kind of crock on your slow cooker, remove the crock and place it on a cooling rack for about an hour. Strain the stock into a large storage container or a 3-quart stockpot. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, remove and discard any fat that has hardened on top. If the stock has jelled, it will liquify as soon as you heat it. Makes 2-3 quarts of chicken stock.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Missing Tuesday - Jeffrey Lynn Smith
Minorities who go missing frequently receive less police and media attention than Causcasians do. This was was true 25 years ago when Jeffrey Lynn Smith disappeared while she was on her way home from school, and it is unfortunately still true today.
Jeffrey Lynn Smith vanished on December 4, 1985, from Hot Springs, AK, as she walked home from school. She was last seen a few blocks from where she lived, walking with her boyfriend. She never arrived home and has not been heard from since.
Jeffrey Lynn was born on October 12, 1969. Jeffrey is an unusual first name for a girl, and she went by her middle name Lynn. Lynn’s mother named her for President Bill Clinton’s stepfather, Jeffrey Dwire; she had worked for Clinton’s mother as a maid and babysitter while she was pregnant with Lynn. Clinton’s mother, Virginia Dwire, was a nurse anesthetist and helped during Lynn’s birth. Lynn’s mother remembers preparing a meal in the kitchen of the Dwire home while she was pregnant, and young Bill Clinton (at that time a Rhodes scholar studying in England) coming in and chatting with her.
Lynn’s older sister Lisa Murray remembers her pretty younger sister’s bright smile, her sweetness. She recalls that Lynn was very low-key and vulnerable, not the kind of girl to stand up for herself. Classmates remember her as a quiet girl that everyone liked. Just two months before Lynn disappeared, her family celebrated her 16th birthday with a party.
On December 4, 1985, Lynn attended school as usual. Friends remembered seeing her walking home from school with her boyfriend. According to Lynn's sister, the boyfriend was abusive and Lynn wanted to end the relationship. Somewhere between the high school and her home, Lynn vanished without a trace.
While other people were shopping for Christmas and attending parties, Lynn’s family was frantically searching for her, going from house to house, posting flyers, trying to find any shred of information about Lynn, filing a missing person's report with the police, and praying that she would come home to them. Lynn was close to her family and they knew she would never have gone away or left the area without telling them.
At first, the police believed that Lynn had run away from home although she had no prior history of running away, and they were slow to investigate her disappearance, even though she was a minor. The family felt that because Lynn was African American, the police paid less attention to her case than they would have had Lynn been Caucasian. The Hot Springs police actually harassed the family, at one point contacting Lynn’s mother and stepfather to tell them that they had news about Lynn, but when her parents arrived at the police station, they arrested Lynn’s stepfather for an outstanding traffic warrant. As time passed and there was no word from Lynn, police came to suspect that Lynn had been abducted and that foul play was involved in her disappearance.
Lynn always wore a gold ring with an opal stone, her birthstone, that she had received as a birthday present from her mother for her 16th birthday. Her sister said she cherished the ring and never took it off. Smith’s boyfriend pawned the ring shortly after her disappearance. The ring showing up in a pawnshop was the only real clue that police had to Lynn's disappearance. The boyfriend was later imprisoned for assaulting another girlfriend.
Lynn's sister Lisa, her mother, and her brother moved to Pennsylvania several years after Lynn vanished. In 2005, Lisa Murray and her mother returned to Arkansas in an attempt to get Lynn's case reactivated. Lisa had learned that Lynn’s former boyfriend had assaulted at least two other women, shooting one in the face and serving jail time for the assault. Lisa tracked down the two women and interviewed them by telephone. Both women told of being abused at the hands of Lynn’s former boyfriend. Lisa transcribed the interviews and turned them over to the police.
When they had the opportunity to examine Lynn’s case file in 2007, her family learned that Lynn’s boyfriend, the last person she was seen with, was never questioned in depth by the police. Police officers had gone to his house, stood at the door and asked him a few questions, and then left. Lynn’s parents know this is true because they were present at the time, waiting outside. The boyfriend was never re-interviewed. In 2010, on the 25th anniversary of her disappearance, a team coordinated by the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children and the Morgan Nick Foundation searched three heavily wooded areas with cadaver dogs. Police did not say what, if anything, was found during the search. They said those searches were based on information from a possible suspect. A person of interest in Lynn’s disappearance was identified but no arrest has been made.
Thanks largely to Lisa’s persistence, the Hot Springs police agreed to reexamine the case in 2012, with a new detective assigned to the cold case. Detective Lee Ann Clem, a compassionate and hard-working officer, reviewed Lynn’s case file, looking at every detail. She re-interviewed countless witnesses in an effort to connect the dots, even tracking down people in other states. Detective Clem has since been re-assigned to another case, but Lisa is hopeful that whoever takes over her sister’s case will continue to keep the case active. She feels the Hot Springs police department has a different mind-set now and if Lynn had disappeared today, her case would have been treated completely differently and her life would have been accorded the value it deserved.
Lisa volunteers with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. She says that while she still seeks justice for her sister, she and her family are at peace with the fact that Lynn is deceased and have forgiven the person who took Lynn from them. Lisa wants to bring her sister’s remains home, to be buried beside her other sister who passed away as a baby.
Jeffrey Lynn Smith was 16 years old at the time of her disappearance; today she is 43 years old. She is an African American female, with shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes and a medium complexion. She is 5’3” tall and weighed around 110 lbs. when she was last seen. She has pierced ears and a mole on the right side of her chin. She was wearing a brown jacket, pink pants, and brown shoes when she was last seen.
Jeffrey Lynn Smith’s family has been looking for her for a long time, almost 27 years. Her sister fears that if the case remains unsolved much longer, those who know what happened to Lynn will all be dead. Lynn’s mother is in her 80’s and fears that she will pass away before learning what happened to her daughter.
If you have any information about her, please contact the Hot Springs police department, 501/321-6789.
Jeffrey Lynn Smith vanished on December 4, 1985, from Hot Springs, AK, as she walked home from school. She was last seen a few blocks from where she lived, walking with her boyfriend. She never arrived home and has not been heard from since.
Jeffrey Lynn was born on October 12, 1969. Jeffrey is an unusual first name for a girl, and she went by her middle name Lynn. Lynn’s mother named her for President Bill Clinton’s stepfather, Jeffrey Dwire; she had worked for Clinton’s mother as a maid and babysitter while she was pregnant with Lynn. Clinton’s mother, Virginia Dwire, was a nurse anesthetist and helped during Lynn’s birth. Lynn’s mother remembers preparing a meal in the kitchen of the Dwire home while she was pregnant, and young Bill Clinton (at that time a Rhodes scholar studying in England) coming in and chatting with her.
Lynn’s older sister Lisa Murray remembers her pretty younger sister’s bright smile, her sweetness. She recalls that Lynn was very low-key and vulnerable, not the kind of girl to stand up for herself. Classmates remember her as a quiet girl that everyone liked. Just two months before Lynn disappeared, her family celebrated her 16th birthday with a party.
On December 4, 1985, Lynn attended school as usual. Friends remembered seeing her walking home from school with her boyfriend. According to Lynn's sister, the boyfriend was abusive and Lynn wanted to end the relationship. Somewhere between the high school and her home, Lynn vanished without a trace.
While other people were shopping for Christmas and attending parties, Lynn’s family was frantically searching for her, going from house to house, posting flyers, trying to find any shred of information about Lynn, filing a missing person's report with the police, and praying that she would come home to them. Lynn was close to her family and they knew she would never have gone away or left the area without telling them.
At first, the police believed that Lynn had run away from home although she had no prior history of running away, and they were slow to investigate her disappearance, even though she was a minor. The family felt that because Lynn was African American, the police paid less attention to her case than they would have had Lynn been Caucasian. The Hot Springs police actually harassed the family, at one point contacting Lynn’s mother and stepfather to tell them that they had news about Lynn, but when her parents arrived at the police station, they arrested Lynn’s stepfather for an outstanding traffic warrant. As time passed and there was no word from Lynn, police came to suspect that Lynn had been abducted and that foul play was involved in her disappearance.
Lynn always wore a gold ring with an opal stone, her birthstone, that she had received as a birthday present from her mother for her 16th birthday. Her sister said she cherished the ring and never took it off. Smith’s boyfriend pawned the ring shortly after her disappearance. The ring showing up in a pawnshop was the only real clue that police had to Lynn's disappearance. The boyfriend was later imprisoned for assaulting another girlfriend.
Lynn's sister Lisa, her mother, and her brother moved to Pennsylvania several years after Lynn vanished. In 2005, Lisa Murray and her mother returned to Arkansas in an attempt to get Lynn's case reactivated. Lisa had learned that Lynn’s former boyfriend had assaulted at least two other women, shooting one in the face and serving jail time for the assault. Lisa tracked down the two women and interviewed them by telephone. Both women told of being abused at the hands of Lynn’s former boyfriend. Lisa transcribed the interviews and turned them over to the police.
When they had the opportunity to examine Lynn’s case file in 2007, her family learned that Lynn’s boyfriend, the last person she was seen with, was never questioned in depth by the police. Police officers had gone to his house, stood at the door and asked him a few questions, and then left. Lynn’s parents know this is true because they were present at the time, waiting outside. The boyfriend was never re-interviewed. In 2010, on the 25th anniversary of her disappearance, a team coordinated by the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children and the Morgan Nick Foundation searched three heavily wooded areas with cadaver dogs. Police did not say what, if anything, was found during the search. They said those searches were based on information from a possible suspect. A person of interest in Lynn’s disappearance was identified but no arrest has been made.
Thanks largely to Lisa’s persistence, the Hot Springs police agreed to reexamine the case in 2012, with a new detective assigned to the cold case. Detective Lee Ann Clem, a compassionate and hard-working officer, reviewed Lynn’s case file, looking at every detail. She re-interviewed countless witnesses in an effort to connect the dots, even tracking down people in other states. Detective Clem has since been re-assigned to another case, but Lisa is hopeful that whoever takes over her sister’s case will continue to keep the case active. She feels the Hot Springs police department has a different mind-set now and if Lynn had disappeared today, her case would have been treated completely differently and her life would have been accorded the value it deserved.
Lisa volunteers with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. She says that while she still seeks justice for her sister, she and her family are at peace with the fact that Lynn is deceased and have forgiven the person who took Lynn from them. Lisa wants to bring her sister’s remains home, to be buried beside her other sister who passed away as a baby.
Jeffrey Lynn Smith was 16 years old at the time of her disappearance; today she is 43 years old. She is an African American female, with shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes and a medium complexion. She is 5’3” tall and weighed around 110 lbs. when she was last seen. She has pierced ears and a mole on the right side of her chin. She was wearing a brown jacket, pink pants, and brown shoes when she was last seen.
Jeffrey Lynn Smith’s family has been looking for her for a long time, almost 27 years. Her sister fears that if the case remains unsolved much longer, those who know what happened to Lynn will all be dead. Lynn’s mother is in her 80’s and fears that she will pass away before learning what happened to her daughter.
If you have any information about her, please contact the Hot Springs police department, 501/321-6789.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Literary Monday - I got nothin'
This week, unfortunately, I do not have a title to recommend or review. I started a book called This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia. Based on the reviews that I had read, I really looked forward to reading it. But I got about halfway through the book, and I realized that I didn't care about any of the characters or the story. I was pretty sure how it was going to turn out, anyway.
Fortunately, my library hold on Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt arrived, so I dumped the other book. I also started listening to Arcadia by Lauren Groff while I was working on a jigsaw puzzle and will probably finish that by the end of this week as well. Hope for reviews for next week.
Fortunately, my library hold on Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt arrived, so I dumped the other book. I also started listening to Arcadia by Lauren Groff while I was working on a jigsaw puzzle and will probably finish that by the end of this week as well. Hope for reviews for next week.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Wheat Belly Wednesday - starting over
After falling off my Wheat Belly diet while I was on vacation, I finally got back on track. I know I gained several pounds while I was on vacation and right now I don't want to get on the scale. I am already feeling better now that I am wheat-free again, sleeping sounder and the muscle aches from inflammation are fading away.
Although I feel so much better when I don't eat wheat (in fact, the fewer carbs and grains I eat, the better I feel), I have to admit that I miss foods made with wheat for the sheer convenience factor. More planning is required to pack wheat-free lunches. Lately I haven't had time to do much cooking - I'm still not back in my regular routine after coming home from vacation. I need to go grocery shopping and re-stock my wheat-free pantry. We are expecting a cold front here in Chicago beginning tomorrow, so I am planning on making some soup, including "cream" of butternut squash soup (will post recipe next week) and doing some comfort food cooking.
Last weekend I made a big pot of southwestern chili with ground turkey, lots of vegetables, black beans and sweet corn. It is adapted from a chili recipe that I found in one of Rachael Ray's cookbooks and tweaked to remove or substitute for the elements that might contain wheat or gluten. I can't take spicy foods, so I make my chili mild and a little bit sweet. Feel free to adjust the heat, sweetness and seasoning to your taste preferences. The corn and beans add a couple of extra carbs to each serving, but I think it's worth it.
Southwestern chili:
1 lb. ground turkey
1 T. chili powder
1 T. Montreal Grill Seasoning
1 T. cumin
1 t. Tabasco or hot sauce
1 t. liquid smoke
1 onion, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped (can be green, red, orange, or yellow)
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1/2 c. red wine
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 c. frozen corn kernels
Salt, hot sauce to taste
1-2 packages Splenda or Equal to taste
Garnishes: shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped onions, guacamole
Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat (I use a nonstick pan, so I don't bother with additional oil, but you can add 1 T. olive oil if you choose). Add the ground turkey, breaking the meat up with a spoon. Add the chili powder, grill seasoning, cumin, hot sauce, and liquid smoke to the turkey and cook until the turkey is no longer pink. Turkey has very little fat, so you shouldn't even need to drain the cooked meat. Add the onion and peppers and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Add the red wine and cook until the alcohol in the wine boils off and any bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan loosen up. Add the tomatoes, beans and corn, and heat until chili starts to bubble; reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt, sweetener, and seasonings to taste. Garnish as desired before serving. Makes about 8 large servings.
You can serve the chili immediately, but if you cool and refrigerate it overnight, it will be even better the next day. I like to serve it with a few tortillas chips, or if you like crackers with your chili, Trader Joe sells a rice and sesame cracker that is gluten-free and very tasty. Another good way to serve the chili is warm over chopped lettuce and salad vegetables, with a sprinkling of shredded cheese and a spoonful of sour cream or Greek yogurt on top.
Although I feel so much better when I don't eat wheat (in fact, the fewer carbs and grains I eat, the better I feel), I have to admit that I miss foods made with wheat for the sheer convenience factor. More planning is required to pack wheat-free lunches. Lately I haven't had time to do much cooking - I'm still not back in my regular routine after coming home from vacation. I need to go grocery shopping and re-stock my wheat-free pantry. We are expecting a cold front here in Chicago beginning tomorrow, so I am planning on making some soup, including "cream" of butternut squash soup (will post recipe next week) and doing some comfort food cooking.
Last weekend I made a big pot of southwestern chili with ground turkey, lots of vegetables, black beans and sweet corn. It is adapted from a chili recipe that I found in one of Rachael Ray's cookbooks and tweaked to remove or substitute for the elements that might contain wheat or gluten. I can't take spicy foods, so I make my chili mild and a little bit sweet. Feel free to adjust the heat, sweetness and seasoning to your taste preferences. The corn and beans add a couple of extra carbs to each serving, but I think it's worth it.
Southwestern chili:
1 lb. ground turkey
1 T. chili powder
1 T. Montreal Grill Seasoning
1 T. cumin
1 t. Tabasco or hot sauce
1 t. liquid smoke
1 onion, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped (can be green, red, orange, or yellow)
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1/2 c. red wine
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 c. frozen corn kernels
Salt, hot sauce to taste
1-2 packages Splenda or Equal to taste
Garnishes: shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped onions, guacamole
Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat (I use a nonstick pan, so I don't bother with additional oil, but you can add 1 T. olive oil if you choose). Add the ground turkey, breaking the meat up with a spoon. Add the chili powder, grill seasoning, cumin, hot sauce, and liquid smoke to the turkey and cook until the turkey is no longer pink. Turkey has very little fat, so you shouldn't even need to drain the cooked meat. Add the onion and peppers and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Add the red wine and cook until the alcohol in the wine boils off and any bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan loosen up. Add the tomatoes, beans and corn, and heat until chili starts to bubble; reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt, sweetener, and seasonings to taste. Garnish as desired before serving. Makes about 8 large servings.
You can serve the chili immediately, but if you cool and refrigerate it overnight, it will be even better the next day. I like to serve it with a few tortillas chips, or if you like crackers with your chili, Trader Joe sells a rice and sesame cracker that is gluten-free and very tasty. Another good way to serve the chili is warm over chopped lettuce and salad vegetables, with a sprinkling of shredded cheese and a spoonful of sour cream or Greek yogurt on top.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Missing Tuesday - Steven Koecher
I spent a week in southern Utah
earlier this month, and we went through the city of St. George
Steven was born on November 1, 1979, into a large devout LDS family. The family home is in Bountiful, UT, in northern Utah. His parents are Deanne and Rolf Koecher and he has four siblings.
Steven was a college graduate and aspired to a career in public relations and communications. He played guitar and tried his hand at writing music. He served a mission in Brazil, as had his father before him. He enjoyed genealogy and often took his parents on cemetery tours to show them his discoveries. An Eagle scout, Steven was a genuinely good person and tended to think the best of people.
From September 2003 through May 2004, Steven worked as an intern at the governor’s office in Salt Lake City. Before moving to St. George, he had worked as a stringer for the Davis County Clipper newspaper in Bountiful, UT, where his father was the editor. Steven sometimes published his stories as Steven Thell (his middle name) to distance himself from his father’s position at the newspaper. In March 2007, he took a job working for the online version of the Salt Lake City Tribune, but was laid off in July 2008.
After losing his job at the Salt Lake City Tribune, Steven took a sales job with MatchBin.com in Salt Lake City in October 2008. He moved to St. George, UT, in March 2009 to get away from the northern Utah winters while continuing to work for MatchBin.com. He was let go from his job in April 2009 because the company felt he was not working out as a sales rep. In December 2009, Steven found a job working part-time for Travis Window and Blind Cleaning Company, distributing flyers. Also during the month of December, Steven was subcontracting to put up Christmas decorations to earn extra money.
After his move to St. George, Steven did not having much luck finding a full-time job. His family said he was depressed and having financial problems, and that he refused an offer of financial assistance from his father to help him with his rent just days before he vanished. Steven was also feeling pressured to live up to his family's expectations for a successful career, marriage, and family of his own, as his siblings and cousins had all done. On December 9, a few days before arriving in the Las Vegas area, Steven drove 500 miles to Ruby Valley, NV, to visit the family of a girl he had briefly dated. The visit was unannounced and the young woman was not even home. Steven visited with her parents, John and Kathy Neff, and stayed for lunch, then returned to St. George, making stops at Wendover, NV, Springville, UT, and Nephi, UT en route. He drove 1,200 miles in three days without any specific purpose. It appears to be random or stress-induced behavior. His behavior and mental state prior to his disappearance could have been leading up to amnesia (amnesia is rare in disappearances, but Steven had some of the classic behaviors).
Steven contacted both of his parents on December 10, sending his father a text message and speaking with his mother. They talked about the holidays, and Steven told her that he expected to arrive in Bountiful to spend Christmas with the family on December 23. That was the last time his parents heard from him.
On December 11, Steven assisted two children who were locked out of their St. George home. Steven was seen leaving his residence on December 12, 2009. He stopped for gas in Mesquite, NV, about 40 miles away from St. George. No one knows why he was in Mesquite in the first place. He bought Christmas presents for his brother’s children on the same day at the K-Mart in St. George – this was his last financial transaction according to bank records. He was seen arriving home in St. George at 10 p.m. by a neighbor; the same neighbor saw him leave about a half hour later at 10:30 p.m.
He spoke with several men from his church the next day via cell phone and told them he was in Las Vegas, but did not state why he was there. One of his friends called about a church meeting, and Steven offered to return to St. George. The friend told him not to worry about it. No one spoke to Steven after that call.
On December 14, Steven’s car, a white 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier, was found abandoned in the 2600 block of Savannah Spring Avenue, a cul-de-sac, in Henderson, NV. The area is part of an upscale retirement community known as Sun City Anthem. Video footage from two security cameras shows Steven parking the car on December 13 and then walking away with a firm step as though he had a specific destination in mind. Approximately 6 minutes elapses from the time Steven's white car is first seen at 11:54 a.m., until he walks past the first security camera at exactly 12 noon. The second video camera picks up Steven's car in the background at 11:54 a.m., and then the image of Steven walking at about 25 seconds after 12 noon. So he waited in his car for six minutes before getting out. It seems pretty obvious that he had an appointment with someone for 12 noon and wisely arrived a few minutes early. We will never know what Steven did while he waited - it's a shame he didn't make a couple of cell phone calls while he sat in the car.
The surveillance footage shows Steven walking down the sidewalk, turning left, then crossing the street, and moving out of sight. There is nothing unsure or hesitant about his demeanor. He is dressed casually in sneakers and jeans, certainly not business attire that would be appropriate for a job interview. Steven was carrying a folder, which could have contained resumes or flyers or sales contracts for the company that he worked for. Possibly he had been contacted about putting up Christmas decorations for one of the houses in the area. He appears to know exactly where he is going, as he is not approaching any of the houses to leave a flyer or pausing to look for a house number. The two sections of video footage may be viewed on YouTube.
Steven’s shaving kit, clothing, pillow, and blanket were found in the car, and it appeared he had been sleeping in his car while driving around during the days before he disappeared. The car also contained wrapped Christmas presents that he had purchased a few days earlier. His cell phone, wallet and driver’s license were missing. He had left his laptop computer and cell phone charger at home, indicating that he did not intend to be gone from home longer than a day or two.
About five hours after Steven was seen on the surveillance video, his cell phone signal was picked up several miles north of where his car was found. Two hours later, his cell phone signal was picked up again, this time in Whitney Ranch, a Henderson subdivision. At 6 a.m. on December 14, the day after Steve was last seen, someone used the phone to check for voice mail messages at a third location. The signal remained in that location for two days, and then was lost, probably because the charge on the phone ran down.
Three days after his car was found abandoned, Steven’s parents were contacted by the Henderson parking police. Steven’s father and brothers drove to Nevada to look for Steven just hours after they were notified, searching the Henderson and Las Vegas areas, posting flyers, and checking with hospitals, restaurants and even the Clark County jail and morgue. They were baffled by the car’s location, since the area was not easy to find and off the beaten path for the casual visitor. The car started and had a half tank of gas, so car trouble was ruled out. Since he was not seen leaving the area, possibly Steven was meeting someone there and got into a car and drove off with this person.
Extensive searches were conducted near the last place Steven was seen and in other areas near Las Vegas. No evidence turned up. The case remains open and police are investigating any leads or tips. Obvious places to search would include the area where Steven's car was found, and the locations where his cell phone signal was detected after he was seen on the surveillance footage. Also, where was Steven when he talked to the members of his church earlier in the day? His cell phone records might give a clue to where he spent the night. If he left St. George at 10:30 p.m., he should have arrived in the Las Vegas area shortly after midnight.
The Koecher family believes Steven went to Nevada to follow up a job lead. Although he did not specify to his friends why he was there, he made no secret of the fact that he was in Las Vegas. His disappearance does not appear to be intentional or planned, since he took no money and his passport was found in his apartment, as well as his computer and phone charger. His bank account has not been touched since he vanished, and his cell phone has not been used. If Steven did disappear voluntarily, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Although his random driving in the days prior to his disappearance appears erratic and secretive, his family says he was just trying to stay busy.
There has been speculation that Steven was gay and could not reconcile his sexual orientation with his LDS beliefs, or that he left to start a new life, or that he had met a guy online. It IS odd that Steven was 30 years old, a devout LDS, and not married. He was a good looking guy, and marriage at a young age is encouraged in the Mormon church. Even his mother made a remark about how he just needed to find the right girl. There are a lot of guys out there who are straight, have never married, and just don't know how to connect with women (I have two brothers-in-law who fall into this category). They feel lonely and left out at family gatherings. So while it's unusual that Steven was 30 and not married, it doesn't mean he was gay.
Initially, an attempt was made to tie Steven’s disappearance to the disappearance of a Utah woman named Susan Powell who vanished the same week that Steven did, but no connection was made since Steven and Susan did not know each other. Susan’s disappearance received far more media attention than Steven’s did. Susan’s father-in-law was obsessed with her and it is possible he had something to do with her disappearance. Her husband Josh had a suspicious alibi and is suspected of involvement, but he died in a fire in February 2012.
A Henderson man reported to police that he spoke to Steven twice in the parking lot of the Best Buy store in Henderson on Super Bowl Sunday 2010, over a month after Steven was last seen. The man’s wife and another person were present and agreed that they were positive that it was Steven. When he went to the Henderson police to report the sighting, the detective assigned to the case treated the information with suspicion, particularly regarding the date, even though the man had a date-stamped receipt from the store. When the man related the conversation to Steven’s parents, they said it sounded exactly like Steven would have acted.
Workers at the International House of Pancakes in Flamingo also reported seeing Steven several times. They believed he was homeless and disoriented. Although his family staked out the restaurant for several days, they did not see Steven there. Bus riders in the Las Vegas metro area reported seeing Steven riding buses there, but the sightings were never verified.
It seems like Steven's computer should have provided more clues. Nowadays, people rarely do things like travel without leaving some sort of trail on their computers: Google searches, websites, blogs, travel reviews, etc. If Steven was short on cash and planned to sleep in his car, it seems like he would have checked out inexpensive restaurants and places to wash up in the morning (especially if he was planning to keep an appointment about work). You can plan to eat breakfast at McDonald's but if you don't find out where one is located, you may not be able to follow through with that plan.
Steven’s car was not checked for DNA and other evidence, so it is unknown if anyone was with him during the days he was driving around or when he was in Nevada. The Koecher family had a Salt Lake City police narcotics dog sniff over Steven’s vehicle, with no hits for drugs. They hired a private investigator to canvass the residents in the Henderson neighborhood. Other than the security footage, no one admits to seeing Steven. A real estate agent who was driving a white SUV in the area that day does not remember seeing Steven (her vehicle appears on the surveillance tapes).
Steven’s mother Deanne thinks he may gave committed suicide based on his mental state, but other family members disagree and believe he was the victim of foul play. They do not believe that Steven disappeared by choice and that he would have contacted them by now, even if he had decided to embark on a new lifestyle. He was particularly close to his younger brother Dallin. Rolf Koecher passed away suddenly in February 2011, without ever learning what had happened to his son. Every December, Steven’s family and friends gather for a tree-lighting ceremony to mark the date of his disappearance. For them, not knowing is the worst thing. The police do not know what to think about Steven's disappearance: there is no evidence of foul play, but they have no evidence or explanation about what happened to Steven or where he is.
Steven Thell Koecher was 30 years old at the time of his disappearance; today he is 32 years old. He is 5’11” tall, of average build weighing around 180 lbs. Steven is Caucasian and has blond hair and blue eyes. He has a surgical scar behind each ear. At the time he vanished, Steven was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans or Dockers pants, and white sneakers. He is a clean-cut young man with no criminal or drug-related history.
Anyone having information about Steven should contact the Henderson police at 702/267-5000 or the St. George police at 435/627-4319.
Steven was born on November 1, 1979, into a large devout LDS family. The family home is in Bountiful, UT, in northern Utah. His parents are Deanne and Rolf Koecher and he has four siblings.
Steven was a college graduate and aspired to a career in public relations and communications. He played guitar and tried his hand at writing music. He served a mission in Brazil, as had his father before him. He enjoyed genealogy and often took his parents on cemetery tours to show them his discoveries. An Eagle scout, Steven was a genuinely good person and tended to think the best of people.
From September 2003 through May 2004, Steven worked as an intern at the governor’s office in Salt Lake City. Before moving to St. George, he had worked as a stringer for the Davis County Clipper newspaper in Bountiful, UT, where his father was the editor. Steven sometimes published his stories as Steven Thell (his middle name) to distance himself from his father’s position at the newspaper. In March 2007, he took a job working for the online version of the Salt Lake City Tribune, but was laid off in July 2008.
After losing his job at the Salt Lake City Tribune, Steven took a sales job with MatchBin.com in Salt Lake City in October 2008. He moved to St. George, UT, in March 2009 to get away from the northern Utah winters while continuing to work for MatchBin.com. He was let go from his job in April 2009 because the company felt he was not working out as a sales rep. In December 2009, Steven found a job working part-time for Travis Window and Blind Cleaning Company, distributing flyers. Also during the month of December, Steven was subcontracting to put up Christmas decorations to earn extra money.
After his move to St. George, Steven did not having much luck finding a full-time job. His family said he was depressed and having financial problems, and that he refused an offer of financial assistance from his father to help him with his rent just days before he vanished. Steven was also feeling pressured to live up to his family's expectations for a successful career, marriage, and family of his own, as his siblings and cousins had all done. On December 9, a few days before arriving in the Las Vegas area, Steven drove 500 miles to Ruby Valley, NV, to visit the family of a girl he had briefly dated. The visit was unannounced and the young woman was not even home. Steven visited with her parents, John and Kathy Neff, and stayed for lunch, then returned to St. George, making stops at Wendover, NV, Springville, UT, and Nephi, UT en route. He drove 1,200 miles in three days without any specific purpose. It appears to be random or stress-induced behavior. His behavior and mental state prior to his disappearance could have been leading up to amnesia (amnesia is rare in disappearances, but Steven had some of the classic behaviors).
Steven contacted both of his parents on December 10, sending his father a text message and speaking with his mother. They talked about the holidays, and Steven told her that he expected to arrive in Bountiful to spend Christmas with the family on December 23. That was the last time his parents heard from him.
On December 11, Steven assisted two children who were locked out of their St. George home. Steven was seen leaving his residence on December 12, 2009. He stopped for gas in Mesquite, NV, about 40 miles away from St. George. No one knows why he was in Mesquite in the first place. He bought Christmas presents for his brother’s children on the same day at the K-Mart in St. George – this was his last financial transaction according to bank records. He was seen arriving home in St. George at 10 p.m. by a neighbor; the same neighbor saw him leave about a half hour later at 10:30 p.m.
He spoke with several men from his church the next day via cell phone and told them he was in Las Vegas, but did not state why he was there. One of his friends called about a church meeting, and Steven offered to return to St. George. The friend told him not to worry about it. No one spoke to Steven after that call.
On December 14, Steven’s car, a white 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier, was found abandoned in the 2600 block of Savannah Spring Avenue, a cul-de-sac, in Henderson, NV. The area is part of an upscale retirement community known as Sun City Anthem. Video footage from two security cameras shows Steven parking the car on December 13 and then walking away with a firm step as though he had a specific destination in mind. Approximately 6 minutes elapses from the time Steven's white car is first seen at 11:54 a.m., until he walks past the first security camera at exactly 12 noon. The second video camera picks up Steven's car in the background at 11:54 a.m., and then the image of Steven walking at about 25 seconds after 12 noon. So he waited in his car for six minutes before getting out. It seems pretty obvious that he had an appointment with someone for 12 noon and wisely arrived a few minutes early. We will never know what Steven did while he waited - it's a shame he didn't make a couple of cell phone calls while he sat in the car.
The surveillance footage shows Steven walking down the sidewalk, turning left, then crossing the street, and moving out of sight. There is nothing unsure or hesitant about his demeanor. He is dressed casually in sneakers and jeans, certainly not business attire that would be appropriate for a job interview. Steven was carrying a folder, which could have contained resumes or flyers or sales contracts for the company that he worked for. Possibly he had been contacted about putting up Christmas decorations for one of the houses in the area. He appears to know exactly where he is going, as he is not approaching any of the houses to leave a flyer or pausing to look for a house number. The two sections of video footage may be viewed on YouTube.
Steven’s shaving kit, clothing, pillow, and blanket were found in the car, and it appeared he had been sleeping in his car while driving around during the days before he disappeared. The car also contained wrapped Christmas presents that he had purchased a few days earlier. His cell phone, wallet and driver’s license were missing. He had left his laptop computer and cell phone charger at home, indicating that he did not intend to be gone from home longer than a day or two.
About five hours after Steven was seen on the surveillance video, his cell phone signal was picked up several miles north of where his car was found. Two hours later, his cell phone signal was picked up again, this time in Whitney Ranch, a Henderson subdivision. At 6 a.m. on December 14, the day after Steve was last seen, someone used the phone to check for voice mail messages at a third location. The signal remained in that location for two days, and then was lost, probably because the charge on the phone ran down.
Three days after his car was found abandoned, Steven’s parents were contacted by the Henderson parking police. Steven’s father and brothers drove to Nevada to look for Steven just hours after they were notified, searching the Henderson and Las Vegas areas, posting flyers, and checking with hospitals, restaurants and even the Clark County jail and morgue. They were baffled by the car’s location, since the area was not easy to find and off the beaten path for the casual visitor. The car started and had a half tank of gas, so car trouble was ruled out. Since he was not seen leaving the area, possibly Steven was meeting someone there and got into a car and drove off with this person.
Extensive searches were conducted near the last place Steven was seen and in other areas near Las Vegas. No evidence turned up. The case remains open and police are investigating any leads or tips. Obvious places to search would include the area where Steven's car was found, and the locations where his cell phone signal was detected after he was seen on the surveillance footage. Also, where was Steven when he talked to the members of his church earlier in the day? His cell phone records might give a clue to where he spent the night. If he left St. George at 10:30 p.m., he should have arrived in the Las Vegas area shortly after midnight.
The Koecher family believes Steven went to Nevada to follow up a job lead. Although he did not specify to his friends why he was there, he made no secret of the fact that he was in Las Vegas. His disappearance does not appear to be intentional or planned, since he took no money and his passport was found in his apartment, as well as his computer and phone charger. His bank account has not been touched since he vanished, and his cell phone has not been used. If Steven did disappear voluntarily, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Although his random driving in the days prior to his disappearance appears erratic and secretive, his family says he was just trying to stay busy.
There has been speculation that Steven was gay and could not reconcile his sexual orientation with his LDS beliefs, or that he left to start a new life, or that he had met a guy online. It IS odd that Steven was 30 years old, a devout LDS, and not married. He was a good looking guy, and marriage at a young age is encouraged in the Mormon church. Even his mother made a remark about how he just needed to find the right girl. There are a lot of guys out there who are straight, have never married, and just don't know how to connect with women (I have two brothers-in-law who fall into this category). They feel lonely and left out at family gatherings. So while it's unusual that Steven was 30 and not married, it doesn't mean he was gay.
Initially, an attempt was made to tie Steven’s disappearance to the disappearance of a Utah woman named Susan Powell who vanished the same week that Steven did, but no connection was made since Steven and Susan did not know each other. Susan’s disappearance received far more media attention than Steven’s did. Susan’s father-in-law was obsessed with her and it is possible he had something to do with her disappearance. Her husband Josh had a suspicious alibi and is suspected of involvement, but he died in a fire in February 2012.
A Henderson man reported to police that he spoke to Steven twice in the parking lot of the Best Buy store in Henderson on Super Bowl Sunday 2010, over a month after Steven was last seen. The man’s wife and another person were present and agreed that they were positive that it was Steven. When he went to the Henderson police to report the sighting, the detective assigned to the case treated the information with suspicion, particularly regarding the date, even though the man had a date-stamped receipt from the store. When the man related the conversation to Steven’s parents, they said it sounded exactly like Steven would have acted.
Workers at the International House of Pancakes in Flamingo also reported seeing Steven several times. They believed he was homeless and disoriented. Although his family staked out the restaurant for several days, they did not see Steven there. Bus riders in the Las Vegas metro area reported seeing Steven riding buses there, but the sightings were never verified.
It seems like Steven's computer should have provided more clues. Nowadays, people rarely do things like travel without leaving some sort of trail on their computers: Google searches, websites, blogs, travel reviews, etc. If Steven was short on cash and planned to sleep in his car, it seems like he would have checked out inexpensive restaurants and places to wash up in the morning (especially if he was planning to keep an appointment about work). You can plan to eat breakfast at McDonald's but if you don't find out where one is located, you may not be able to follow through with that plan.
Steven’s car was not checked for DNA and other evidence, so it is unknown if anyone was with him during the days he was driving around or when he was in Nevada. The Koecher family had a Salt Lake City police narcotics dog sniff over Steven’s vehicle, with no hits for drugs. They hired a private investigator to canvass the residents in the Henderson neighborhood. Other than the security footage, no one admits to seeing Steven. A real estate agent who was driving a white SUV in the area that day does not remember seeing Steven (her vehicle appears on the surveillance tapes).
Steven’s mother Deanne thinks he may gave committed suicide based on his mental state, but other family members disagree and believe he was the victim of foul play. They do not believe that Steven disappeared by choice and that he would have contacted them by now, even if he had decided to embark on a new lifestyle. He was particularly close to his younger brother Dallin. Rolf Koecher passed away suddenly in February 2011, without ever learning what had happened to his son. Every December, Steven’s family and friends gather for a tree-lighting ceremony to mark the date of his disappearance. For them, not knowing is the worst thing. The police do not know what to think about Steven's disappearance: there is no evidence of foul play, but they have no evidence or explanation about what happened to Steven or where he is.
Steven Thell Koecher was 30 years old at the time of his disappearance; today he is 32 years old. He is 5’11” tall, of average build weighing around 180 lbs. Steven is Caucasian and has blond hair and blue eyes. He has a surgical scar behind each ear. At the time he vanished, Steven was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans or Dockers pants, and white sneakers. He is a clean-cut young man with no criminal or drug-related history.
Anyone having information about Steven should contact the Henderson police at 702/267-5000 or the St. George police at 435/627-4319.
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