New theory

I think the hostage situation has a reason behind it, but I am wondering: if the hostage situation was planned by the family to buy time, why wouldn’t they have simply waited to call 911?

Personally, I think there was waiting. I think the 911 call wasn’t made in response to an emergency occurring minutes prior, but rather, it was part of a plan. This is an explanation as to why there is no sound, no weapons, no casings, no outside evidence of a getaway, etc. at the scene when police responded within 10 minutes of the call coming in. Waiting could have also been a reason stabbing was chosen as an additional MO, in order to make the scene look fresh and/or a result of the time spent waiting out psychological stress of “what next?” (guilt, fear, shame, self-efficacy). Could this be how Angel is wounded? Maybe this also sheds light on why he was found in the bathroom when there’s information that suggests he was shot in bed from behind citing fatal wounds to the back of his body.

No one close to the scene saw or heard anything, besides Angel; not even the Lawson’s who would have been alerted to the events as they were unfolding, according to Angel’s timeline. I think Angel’s account combined with a lack of witnesses in the short minutes before police arrived could have led police to assume hostage protocol on the notion that if no one came out, someone was most certainly still in—with lives potentially at risk.

It seems like there’s more information that suggests a connection in the timeline between the 911 call + Brenda’s travel to Mooresville than there is to connect the 911 call + time of death.

The amount of information we have currently makes Angel’s timeline hard to believe and doesn’t give clear cause to the need for a hostage situation.
I wish we had an audio of the 911 call to understand how Angel relayed events in her own words in comparison to the words she uses in the music video.

However, pictures are worth a thousand words! I would love to know if anyone has personal photos or cell phone pictures from the days surrounding the event. Even something as simple as bystanders’ actions/reactions, background details, timestamps, etc. could yield a clue that makes pieces of information fit together in a way that’s not yet been fully explored.