St. Maarten Private Eye

Your questions are justified. There are a few answers, but the answers don't mean it should be ignored. The dogs very well could have been scenting Joel from the mine. This would be from cracks, the chimney effect, etc. that would carry the scent from the mine and hold it or trap it in the ravine. This all having to do with the way scent carries, etc. I believe the mine was different years ago and the water changed it, making some of it collapse. The air has to escape somewhere under those conditions and this too could lead to the scent carrying to the ravine from the direction that the collapse took place. The wind, temp, and conditions at the time all play into a dogs scent. The discouraging part was that the mine was avoided by dogs because it was told that it had been thoroughly searched by the fireman and gas masks. When the scent was detected, choices have to be made as to where to search and that was already ruled out, leaving the search to rule out other areas. Even with that said, two or three of the search team went into the mine and one dog went in as well. The search team is very trained in scent, especially cadavar scent. There was one day in the ravine that it was reported, not only did the dogs smell cadavar, so did the Saba guide and the search team. This should be looked into as well as the fact that no one seemed to find him in their back in January. It would only take the body a few days to give off the odor of cadavar under those conditions in the mine. Hard to believe people were so close and did not locate him?