EVENT UPDATE: CrowdSolve Seattle

It’s been a whirlwind few weeks since news broke that Eric Lee Roberts, a former neighbor of Nancy Moyer’s confessed (before then recanting) to killing her ten years ago. (Roberts was initially charged with second-degree murder but all charges were subsequently dropped and, as of this writing, Roberts is no longer being held.)

When Nancy’s daughter, Sam, mentioned CrowdSolve , along with the tremendous Hide & Seek podcast , as one of the reasons why Roberts may have confessed, there were lots of gasps around the office. We are beyond elated that a long cold case has potentially experienced a major breakthrough. That outcome, and the justice and closure it would bring to Nancy’s family, is the entire reason why we developed the CrowdSolve format in the first place.

But, as far as the event itself goes, this development presented a unique problem: can you still CrowdSolve a case if someone is under arrest?

We have stayed in close contact with the Thurston County Sheriff’s office, as well as other key people with inside knowledge of the case. The reality is that no one knows what will happen between now and mid-October as it relates to the testing of items recovered from the suspect’s residence, as well as other aspects of the investigation. Therefore, after much debate, we’ve made three key decisions:

First, we will honor our commitment to the Moyer family and to the investigators by featuring the Moyer case for the first part of the event. We do not yet know if this will mean “behind the scenes” panels into how it was solved, or if it will mean rolling up our sleeves and diving into the case file to help police—but, either way, we will spend what is sure to be a fascinating day immersed in the Moyer case. Nancy's daughter Sam, her ex-husband, Bill, as well as James Baysinger (host of Hide & Seek) , and Det. Mickey Hamilton from the Thurston County Sheriff's Office will all be on hand.

Second, because of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Moyer case we have decided to select a new featured case for the weekend. We’ll have more information on the specific case chosen very soon, but it’s one where we know we can do a lot of good for a very deserving family.

Finally , to accommodate these changes we will be starting the event earlier than originally planned. Beginning Thursday night (10/17) and running through Friday we'll focus on the Moyer case, and then from Friday evening (at our original start time) through the rest of the weekend we'll move to the new featured case.

Here’s a quick look at the event will flow. Please continue to keep in mind that this is the real world, not made-for-TV, so things may continue to evolve based on breaking news or case developments. We are, however, mindful of travel bookings and other logistics and will do our best to stick to this schedule.

Housekeeping Notes:

1. We urge you to stay at the Westin where the event will be held and to book your room now using our private link for our group rate. We can only support these smaller CrowdSolve events if attendees stay with us. The atmosphere at the hotel with all of us there is incredible and cannot be replicated. The conversations that take place in bars and restaurants outside of the daytime working groups will be instrumental to making progress on our case.
2. Please help us spread the word! Tell your friends, family, and Facebook groups about this event! If you have at least 5 people to refer please let us know so we can provide you with a code and reward you should they decide to join.