Toni Anderson - Boat Ramp Theory

We're going to take a look at the pros and cons of the police's initial boat ramp theory, and see if it can logically work out. This is also the theory her parents seemed to have accepted the most, considering their media appearances. I crunched some numbers, and checked out the weather. It can work, in the purest scientific sense, but by the end of this article it will seem a lot less likely.

The following are stats from the time frame and according to needed science.

Time Frame Stats
Current: 7mph or 3 meters per second.
Average sink time: 30 seconds to 2 minutes
Possible sink time travel: 90 meters to 360 meters.
Car window: Down
Seat belt: Off.

The river was flowing 7 miles per hour, or 3 meters per second. The average car sinks in 20 seconds to 2 minutes. A car can travel about 90 meters to 360 meters in this amount of time on 3 meter per second currents. Ms Anderson had 30 seconds to 40 seconds to escape her car according to pure science. However, for the record, pure science is not how life works, ever.

The following is an image of Platte. There are two yellow pins. The first is where the the car allegedly entered at the boat ramp and the second is where the car was retrieved from the water. The yellow line is the full possible 2 minute travel distance of about 360-380 meters. We see that a car moving without resistance could travel quite a distance. This is of course, scientifically speaking only.

Lets take a look at a raft in the water.

The first thing to note is how shallow the water is. There is a small boat with young people in it, just off the ramp. Their paddles are still reaching bottom a couple meters meters out.

Time Stamp: 1:57
https://youtu.be/jG3NrhfhXhc?t=117


The second boat is notable. It's at 2:12. This boat can be seen until 2:47 where the screen transitions. In this amount of time the boat travels about 10-12 meters, verifiable by Google Earth ruler.

Time Stamp: 2:12
https://youtu.be/jG3NrhfhXhc?t=131

This is the minimum sink time of a car. 30 seconds. It did not travel 140 meters. 10 meters max. In the full sink time, of 2 minutes, the boat would have traveled only 40 meters. It would have taken the boat 8 minutes to get to the retrieval point.

A car with window down, seat belt off? Either her car was moving break neck speeds with no resistance, or it has the longest float time of any vehicle, without filling with water.

Now that this is cleared, lets be honest. What are the chances Toni's car broke records, and nestled up against a black SUV? Or is it more likely that she ended up in someone's dump site, be that a law enforcement officer, or not?