Yesterday JF said that as time goes on the police will have "less and less traces" of her. He said a year from now there won't be any clues to follow and investigation will die down because of it.
This is a very *interesting* statement to make considering its common fucking sense and didn't need to be said.
If LEO does not have a lead or evidence within approximately 3 days, the probability of finding a person, their body, and/or the perpetrator decrease by big numbers. This is why that show is named
48 Hours. It is especially true in children, though most missing children are just stolen by the other parent and recovered within a week.
Additionally, I think this is very telling because IF Mama Mashed is still alive, there's always a decent chance she'll turn up over time. She'll always be leaving traces somewhere somehow, and it's only a matter of time before someone notices it or she decides to come back home to family.
The 48 hours "time rule" is more important if they're actually murdered. If they've been murdered, the last evidence to "fade" over time will be their body. Witnesses forget things (part of why defense attorneys drag shit out). They won't be able to show up on CCTV footage or break out of the basement to call 911 Ariel Castro style.
It goes without saying that DNA/remains (depending on where they were dumped or stored) can actually last a long fucking time, and murders get solved decades after the fact quite often even before 23&Me database testing. I'm sure
Howard Elkins thought nobody would find Reyna, too. Too bad that fucker never saw a cell though.