I'm still scratching my head over how Alice got her hands on that tape and whether she knew the threesome was being taped or only found out later. And how does this couple just up and vanish and completely fall off the radar?
shareI'm assuming Alice knew she was being filmed, and probably requested a copy of the tape. She seemed into the whole thing, and the family probably didn't think twice to give her a copy as long as she kept it hidden (which she did). I only say this because A) the husband is clearly fiddling with a camera in the bedroom so Alice would have to be a moron not to see it, and B) the husband was digging around her room probably looking for the safe she put it in, so he HAD to have known she had a copy.
As far as them disappearing, it's really not that uncommon. People up and move and change their names all the time, and local police don't have much to go on once they've left. All they had to do was get the right papers and no one could ever tie them to that town again, as long as they stayed quiet about their past. Also, keep in mind it was just the local police looking for them. They never claimed to have contacted the federal government and issued an "all-call" for the family.
Dunno about America, but in Australia when a 16yo girl gets murdered, it is big news.
And iff the suspects are an older couple, & it involved sex, the tabloids would have a field day & it would be all over the news.
i might be wrong but i dont remember the police ever confirming that they were initiating a murder investigation. considering the circumstances at the time (girl was with family, never came out of lake), it would have probably been ruled as an accidental death. when they found the footage of the neighbour snooping through the house they may have started a separate investigation though for B&E, but a proper manhunt couldnt really ensue over suspicious, unprovable links to her death (and the wanted level for a pair of home invaders is not going to be so strongly enforced across multiple police districts).
Keeping in mind that this was taking place in a rural Australian town where the local police can only investigate so far (and nothing really suggested that they initiated a KALOF on the couple beyond their jurisdiction), and that the doco was supposedly set quite some time later, which suggests that the sex scandal may have been blanketed until it was disclosed in the documentary.
i think the reason why the movie worked so well is that its collection of bizarre events were not really that implausible. sex at the age of 16, whilst frowned upon by many, is not uncommon in most places, and given her location, psychological make up and appearance, i didn't think it was that out-of-character (although still unexpected) that she would do such a thing. however, afterwards it could have really bothered her in hindsight.
i don't really think she was raped or abused either. she looked consensual, its still pretty uncomfortable to consider though. and with her age she may have been more vulnerable to persuasion from older adults, like an attempt to equal up to their maturity, or to feel like the important element of a machine to make up for the fact that she was just another face in the group of her friends (no more-or-less important than the rest)
the neighbours disappearing real quickly does make it more ambiguous though.