“We do not know if McBride had a companion with her who conveniently disappeared when the situation went south.”
If there actually was a crashed vehicle, then speculating that this was one of those scams is just silly. I have never heard of anyone actually crashing a car in order to fool someone into opening their door at night.
I am saying that McBride may not have been the only person at the scene.
And I am saying that anyone roused at that hour with a car trouble story is going to be naturally suspicious.