Hmm yes.
You raise an interesting point wrt his being used to different telecomms systems in different countries. He'd be savvy with burner phones.
Plus the night attack. Less likelihood of people spotting him. Tidy up in the morning then hike back. Card activity covers daytime. I think you & Laurie nailed it.
If I was trying to kill someone and use my phone as an alibi I would kill that first night, and use night time when phone is inactive due to me being asleep as my cover. No one uses their phone all through the night every night, so that gives you 7 hours.
Narcs are not creative, they just copy other things they have seen and they plot. I thought the same thing about the mountain rescue having given him the idea. If this was murder you can bet he researched it a lot, probably through books bought on the road so less digital footprint, or perhaps different burner phones in different countries.
He was "impressed", yeah damn right he was. He wanted a part of that drama and helicopter action. Just when he mentions helicopter you can see how impressed he was, and jealous, he had to get a part of it. It aroused him. He probably loved their authority and power and had to be near it or someway involved with it. Make a great chapter in the book too!
Last chapter:
The boy with bowel problems transforms into a superhero who outsmarts the cops.
(Does his best to publicly humiliate the cops several times more like).
Redemption for childhood humiliation.
I'm happy to see some knowledgeable mountaineers on another site starting to raise red flags.
Neither of the 2 have ever been in the murder camp. I've been reading their posts for months. They are not the suspicious type. But finally their logical minds are hitting a wall.
I'm screenshotting one's summary for convenience. While he does not cast aspersions, his summary makes it crystal clear that Dan led the police in the wrong direction initially so their early search efforts were wasted.
earth.google.com
