Agreed. This entire story is really starting to smell fishy a la Susan Smith.
First, it feels abnormal for a mother to take a 15- and 9-year-old out in the early morning for a coffee run, which seemed to extend beyond the busiest Starbucks experience. Both kids easily could have been at home for a few minutes, likely both asleep and never would have noticed mom stepped out for Java.
Second, reading back through the original articles, the descriptions were very clear: red truck pulled beside them; white guy; mid-forties; beard; blue eyes. Literally nothing is even close to the actual suspect. I get eye witnesses are not reliable, but I do not believe it is common for two non-children to miss by that far. It would have made more sense to me if mom and daughter had different descriptions - that seems to be more in line with what occurs in most situations.
Unfortuantely, a beautiful little girl is dead. And, it seems the Susan Smith parallels are getting closer not further. I doubt will ever now the truth. The racists will circle their wagons if it gets too hot.