SquiffyRae
Team Captain
- Sep 28, 2020
- 364
- 1,070
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
Been a while since I read up on the latest developments of this case and it just seems to be getting weirder.
So now police are working on the theory that this might not be some opportunistic predator but something slightly more planned? Not necessarily in a true catfish way but more a case of a creep (or creeps) making a fake profile to connect with teenage girls and possibly using it to get an idea of where they'd hang out?
The use of the term "engagement" strikes me as it doesn't necessarily mean direct engagement. I do a bit of social media work for my local sporting club and engagement in that sense really means anything another user can do to view or do something with your content. This article gives some examples for different platforms. The Snapchat examples are user views, screenshots and replies. The first one is key for me, as that's more passive. So when police say one of their last engagements was with the fake pedo account, it could be as simple as the girls uploading those videos of them crossing the bridge to their story and the fake account opening it and watching it.
Which brings me to where I'm going with this. In this sense, a predator doesn't need to go out of their way to catfish someone and it would still be entirely consistent with the original narrative that the girls weren't catfished. Because strictly speaking they weren't. Anthony Shots or whatever he wants to call himself can just passively do it. With most social media platforms, privacy goes out the window once you reach the closest level of interaction you can have with a user. Friends on Facebook for example. Or followers on Instagram/Snapchat. You can lock down your profile but your friends/followers have full access to see what you post. All Anthony Shots needs to do is be convincing enough that enough teenage girls accept his requests and from there he has to do absolutely nothing. He can just sit back and see everything they post. Every photo, every video, every story. The person behind that screen can get a terrifyingly good insight into the day to day lives of middle schoolers in the area without ever talking to any of them. They'd start to get an idea of common hangouts where they could find people too.
So it is entirely possible Anthony Shots (whoever was viewing that account anyway) identified Monon High Bridge as a good spot for an attack. An isolated hang out that attracted teens seeking danger. Since the day was a planned day off from school, kids' socials were probably lighting up about what they were gonna do with their day off. That's where the plan comes into place. I still think it was opportunistic in a way. Anthony Shots turns up at the trails that day to see if any of the kids decide to come there on their day off. He's not looking for Abby and Libby specifically. He's just seeing if any kids decide to head in the direction of the bridge. It's quite possible Abby and Libby pass him on their way there. He gives off uneasy vibes but doesn't seem to follow.
He doesn't follow because he doesn't need to. He gets on his phone and sees the Snapchat story. He sees two girls in the most isolated part of the trails and just as he predicted he can't see anyone else around them in their story. So he races towards the bridge. Not long after he comes into view, walking with purpose. Abby and Libby notice the creepy guy from earlier coming their way, start recording and we know where it goes from there.
In this sense, the fake social media profile could play a big role in luring Bridge Guy to his victims but stops short of full on catfishing which is why there was no evidence of anyone talking to the girls. The big question is who had access to that account? It muddies the waters a lot if Kline let a few of his buddies or even his dad also use their account. That would massively expand the potential suspect pool if there's a lot of people who could've presumably used the account to find victims.
The dad theory is interesting. Whether it's just Kline trying to cover his own butt I dunno but that photo you posted Kurve is compelling. The dad is the right build for Bridge Guy, "sleeping after night shift" is one of those "I can't prove it but you equally can't disprove it easily" alibis and if he's anything like me if you're working a night shift you often don't pay that much attention to grooming so a couple of days' growth on that face and daddy suddenly starts resembling the old man sketch. If you work on the second person theory, a slimmer Keegan could possibly pass as the younger guy too. If they were dressed similar and both acting a little strange it would explain how multiple people saw someone suspicious but came up with wildly different sketches
So now police are working on the theory that this might not be some opportunistic predator but something slightly more planned? Not necessarily in a true catfish way but more a case of a creep (or creeps) making a fake profile to connect with teenage girls and possibly using it to get an idea of where they'd hang out?
The use of the term "engagement" strikes me as it doesn't necessarily mean direct engagement. I do a bit of social media work for my local sporting club and engagement in that sense really means anything another user can do to view or do something with your content. This article gives some examples for different platforms. The Snapchat examples are user views, screenshots and replies. The first one is key for me, as that's more passive. So when police say one of their last engagements was with the fake pedo account, it could be as simple as the girls uploading those videos of them crossing the bridge to their story and the fake account opening it and watching it.
Which brings me to where I'm going with this. In this sense, a predator doesn't need to go out of their way to catfish someone and it would still be entirely consistent with the original narrative that the girls weren't catfished. Because strictly speaking they weren't. Anthony Shots or whatever he wants to call himself can just passively do it. With most social media platforms, privacy goes out the window once you reach the closest level of interaction you can have with a user. Friends on Facebook for example. Or followers on Instagram/Snapchat. You can lock down your profile but your friends/followers have full access to see what you post. All Anthony Shots needs to do is be convincing enough that enough teenage girls accept his requests and from there he has to do absolutely nothing. He can just sit back and see everything they post. Every photo, every video, every story. The person behind that screen can get a terrifyingly good insight into the day to day lives of middle schoolers in the area without ever talking to any of them. They'd start to get an idea of common hangouts where they could find people too.
So it is entirely possible Anthony Shots (whoever was viewing that account anyway) identified Monon High Bridge as a good spot for an attack. An isolated hang out that attracted teens seeking danger. Since the day was a planned day off from school, kids' socials were probably lighting up about what they were gonna do with their day off. That's where the plan comes into place. I still think it was opportunistic in a way. Anthony Shots turns up at the trails that day to see if any of the kids decide to come there on their day off. He's not looking for Abby and Libby specifically. He's just seeing if any kids decide to head in the direction of the bridge. It's quite possible Abby and Libby pass him on their way there. He gives off uneasy vibes but doesn't seem to follow.
He doesn't follow because he doesn't need to. He gets on his phone and sees the Snapchat story. He sees two girls in the most isolated part of the trails and just as he predicted he can't see anyone else around them in their story. So he races towards the bridge. Not long after he comes into view, walking with purpose. Abby and Libby notice the creepy guy from earlier coming their way, start recording and we know where it goes from there.
In this sense, the fake social media profile could play a big role in luring Bridge Guy to his victims but stops short of full on catfishing which is why there was no evidence of anyone talking to the girls. The big question is who had access to that account? It muddies the waters a lot if Kline let a few of his buddies or even his dad also use their account. That would massively expand the potential suspect pool if there's a lot of people who could've presumably used the account to find victims.
The dad theory is interesting. Whether it's just Kline trying to cover his own butt I dunno but that photo you posted Kurve is compelling. The dad is the right build for Bridge Guy, "sleeping after night shift" is one of those "I can't prove it but you equally can't disprove it easily" alibis and if he's anything like me if you're working a night shift you often don't pay that much attention to grooming so a couple of days' growth on that face and daddy suddenly starts resembling the old man sketch. If you work on the second person theory, a slimmer Keegan could possibly pass as the younger guy too. If they were dressed similar and both acting a little strange it would explain how multiple people saw someone suspicious but came up with wildly different sketches
