Ok, coarse question incoming... How on Earth, did the neighbors not *SMELL* her?! Wouldn't she have smelled, even a little? Wouldn't there have been buzzards or vultures? I don't get it, how did they miss all the signals of a large, dead body nearby?! Did the cold weather last long enough, that by Springtime there wasn't an odor? No dogs brought home grisly trophies? Wow... I'm glad they finally found her, at least.
KatK | Homepage | 04.17.08 - 1:03 pm | #

My understanding is that it's rural, KatK. I lived out in the country, and the honest truth is -- you smell decay sometimes. After a while, you tend to assume it's something else.
Steve Huff | Homepage | 04.17.08 - 5:13 pm | #

eh heh Er, most of Kansas could be considered rural Steve. *wink* Still, my friends would go investigate/bury any carcasses they smelled if it were too stinky. There's a difference between dead rabbit/opossum and dead larger critter. I've smelled 'em.
KatK | Homepage | 04.17.08 - 8:30 pm | #

She was 100 feet away the whole time? How hard is it to search a 100 foot radius? How embarrassing.
Amy | 04.17.08 - 9:11 pm | #

What about the possibility that the body was moved and buried some time later?

Simmons left the area after the disappearance and lived for a time in central Oregon. He later moved back to Ruch-- I don't have a timeline though.

I'd like to know if the property at Johnson road is still owned by his grandparents (I need to call the tax assessor)and whether the neighbor who found the body lived there in 1996.
tamar | 04.17.08 - 9:14 pm | #

100 Johnson Rd property was sold /or willed to Barbara Simmons (Billy's Mom)in April 2005, then she sold it to Anya Shelton in Aug that year, (Plenty of time to access the property to move a body) Shelton sold it to an investment company in July, 2007.

I'm still working on info about the neighbor's property.

Sidenote: In 1999 police believed that Barbara may have helped Billy in diposing of Kaelin's body and even asked for the public's help in locating a vehicle she sold sometime after the murder.

I don't know if police ever found the car, or even if they're still bothering to look for it. Perhaps it's just a red herring?
tamar | 04.18.08 - 10:45 am | #

The neighbor who found the body purchased the 490 Haven Rd property in 2000.

The owners before that were F.E. and Patricia Nettleton (purchased 1989)
tamar | 04.18.08 - 10:59 am | #

Okay no way did that body stay there all of that time.... but if it was moved how was it moved? And do the photos reveal a largely intact corpse?

And what about the friend, why no heat on him?
KingCast | Homepage | 04.19.08 - 11:14 pm | #

From what I understand the remains were found above ground in the grass.

Not sure about the friend, but on one of the Mail Tribune comments someone mentioned a man staying with Simmons at the time named "Dave" who said he was going out to get some wood that night, but came back empty-handed.

I am not certain whether Dave and the friend are the same person.
tamar | 04.20.08 - 12:01 am | #

I can't imagine them not finding her body 100 feet away.... if, in fact, it was there the entire time. My own suspicion is that the body was somewhere else then dumped there recently.

I just wish they had found her body 11 years ago. For 11 years, the family has had to live with this. Now that Kaelin has been found, it opens old wounds and the family has to go through the grieving process all over again.
Prairie | Homepage | 04.28.08 - 1:53 pm | #

Prairie,

I find it very difficult to believe that Kaelin's body was there the entire time, but there are a couple of things I would like to know before I can comfortably form an opinion:

a. were all of her bones found in one place or were they scattered?

b. were her clothes and backpack with her body?

c. was the field mowed or plowed at any point during those 12 years?

Billy Simmons might not have been a very bright or sophisticated 15 year old, but if he did commit this crime why would he leave Kaelin's body in such an obvious and self-incriminating location? After he was officially named 'a person of interest' in 1999, Billy still had access to the Johnson Road property, at least until his mother sold it in 2005.

He was 25 years old in 2005.

Perhaps someone else killed Kaelin; someone who wouldn't mind one iota if her body was found next to Billy Simmons's yard.

If Simmons murdered Kaelin then I hope he gets life in prison, but if someone else killed her, it would be a travesty of justice to pin it on Simmons, regardless of his poor character and criminal history.
tamar | 04.28.08 - 11:21 pm | #