The boyfriend was cleared because it was established and well-proven that he was out of town at the time she was abducted.
He is not a suspect.
It’s often a law enforcement technique to tell someone they’ve been “cleared” so they’ll let their guard down.
It sounds like the boyfriend and his brother, who worked together, are each other’s alibi.
But that hardly matters. The brothers’ job was just an hour away. Anyone at work can say they have to run an errand, be gone for an hour, and no one would think anything untoward about it.
His work was about 100 miles away, less than a three-hour round trip at highway speeds. Do they have an entire timeline for him being 100 miles away? Because a three-hour gap is all he would need. Less at 60-70 MPH.