Cindy Snyder, a friend of Duncan’s former roommate Joe Ruan in Seattle, was called to testify. She said she often came by Ruan’s to visit, and she and Ruan were so concerned about the missing girls in their neighborhood that they handed out fliers and Ruan helped search the neighborhood extensively. “Two little girls, they seemed to vanish into thin air,” Snyder told the court. Fliers about the missing girls were “everywhere you went.”

She described visiting for a barbecue after Ruan had spent the day searching people’s sheds, ditches and under porches, and Ruan describing everywhere he’d looked to Duncan as he returned to the home. Snyder said Duncan stood with his back to Ruan, and didn’t seem to notice her there on the couch. “He took a few steps forward and stopped,” she said. “He was smirking while Mr. Ruan was describing everyplace that he’d looked. … He said, ‘Oh, well, I’m sure that was a complete waste of time.’”

Snyder said she responded, “What the hell is the matter with you?” And Duncan told her, “Oh, well, what I meant was I’m sure they’re halfway to California by now.”

Then it got stranger: Duncan, at his turn to cross-examine Snyder, asked her, “Is there something you could say to remind me of who you are … how I know you?” Snyder said, “I went over to visit dozens of times. … I’m the one that drove a big yellow tow truck, kinda hard to miss.” Duncan then said, “So if I didn’t live there those things couldn’t have happened.” To that, Snyder responded, “But you did live there and it did happen.”

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