I agree with Vinny that if the person who was pounding on Jodi's door the night before she disappeared could be definitively identified, that would go a long way towards identifying who abducted her.

I personally think Jodi had someone in her apartment that night, possibly another man. If so, that man could identify who Jodi said was in her apartment. I'm sure, if they sat through the pounding on the door together, Jodi would have identified the pounding man to her new "friend."

And I would LOVE to know who was at the golf tournament that day. I think it's possible that the new friend was golfing and he and Jodi made a date to meet later at her apartment. I think she stood up another friend to meet the new friend at her apartment and that the old friend was incensed about it, enough to pound on her door to demand an explanation as to why he was stood up.

From Gary's original post re Man Pounding On Door:

As you remember after the golf tournament Jodi went to John VanSice's home to watch the video tape of her birthday party. She returned to her apartment just prior to 9pm and spoke to Todd in Mississippi. At that time she sounded OK, under no stress or any apparent danger.

Before she returned home a witness reported that she heard a man come up the stairs and bang on Jodi's door saying; "Open up Jodi...Open the door Jodi I know you're in there." According to the neighbor he was at Jodi's door for approximately 5 minutes calling out to her and banging on the door. Jodi was not in the apartment and her car was not parked outside. The man eventually left.

Some reports indicate there were beer cans draining in the sink the next morning. Could this person have returned to Jodi's apartment and had a few beers with her and then was asked to leave. Hypothetically that person "might" have laid in wait in the parking lot for Jodi to come out.

Just thought I would bump this to clear some misconceptions about whether or not Jodi was in her apt at the time of the "pounding"...of course anything is possible, but this is officially what was posted by Gary.

The article I was referring to in my previous post is on this website. It's titled FindJodi.com Finds Discrepancy in Timetable of Disappearance. The article states that FindJodi no longer believes that Jodi went to her "friend's" house to view the videotape of her party.

I'll look in Dead Air and see if Beth Bednar discusses this too, then list the pages.

Again, I think, if this video viewing never took place, it changes the entire dynamic of Jodi's last evening. If she was suddenly shunning or standing up someone, for whatever reason, it could cause that person to lose control. Just my opinion.

I'm still reading the book and if the information is correct I'm amazed that some of this information wasn't released earlier like the guy who reported the white van and cornseed guy's comments about viewing the video of Jodi's party the night before her abduction. It certainly appeared that if they did view that video together it would have been Sunday when they left their water skiing outing earlier than planned because of the weather and were looking to get the video from their friend. This is in the book

It makes you wonder what else should we have been aware of that is public knowledge.

Regarding the birthday party video viewing, I think he invited her to his apartment, but that Jodi either stood him up or refused his invitation. I think that she was finally starting to be creeped out by his obsessiveness and hot temper. In fact, I think the a pivotal moment came right after her birthday party. According to Dead Air, she was stranded in Clear Lake until 3 in the morning because a friend had her car keys. They finally went back to his apartment. Later Jodi told one friend that he "almost date raped" her. (Dead Air, p. 129). I know it seems incongruous that Jodi would then spend the weekend prior to her disappearance in his company, but I think that fits with Jodi's overall friendly, sunny nature. She may have felt safe from further advances because she was with a large group, rather than alone with him. And Jodi might have picked up on some "vibes" or even overt statements over that weekend that he was worked up over how she had managed to buy a fancy new car, financing for which I think he realized came from another suitor, someone with deeper pockets than him. If only Jodi's alarm bells had been quicker to go off!