By the time that the parents and members of their group got around to reporting Maddie as missing, (after 10pm on evening of 3rd May 2007), all parties within the group had settled their differences of opinion, and decided to stage the reported abduction of Maddie from apartment 5A at a time when supposedly she was still alive and well...
The abduction theory, introduced from the outset by all concerned parties, was the holy grail 'Get out of jail' card, that was capable of the pointed finger at him, her, or them, being diverted onto an imaginary abductor...