AZ AZ - Chelsea Grimm, 32, traveling from San Diego CA to CT, car found Oct 5 on Forest Rd 6 near Williams, she was last seen in Williams, 28 Sep 2023

[10ofRods]

I just wanted to add that when Barbara Thomas went missing (she has a thread here on WS), the search radius was 1 mile. That's not unusual. In fact, it's pretty standard on many types of searches. One square mile is still an all day grid search.

SAR people are volunteers. Many are very young. Most of the older people have jobs they can't just leave (there are quite a few college professors who are SARS volunteers - I was one, once upon a time). They receive NO pay. The search has to be organized by LE, and the search radius is adjusted by the terrain.

But I'm not sure how people think a larger radius can be covered without paying people to search, providing them motels, etc, etc. These people are driving from a nearby city (probably Flagstaff) and willing to spend 1-2 full days of their free time - but unless LE establishes a camp for them, how are they supposed to keep searching? There are SO many missing people. Over half a million in the US. And not nearly enough SARS people.

Grid searches are labor intensive. They rely on volunteer labor. If they did a 3 mile radius, they must have used quite a few people.

IMO.

 

[LadyL]

This is why I feel like maybe she initially might have had intentions to stay back east. But then decided she needed to go back. Depending on how cunning this individual she is dealing with can be...

what cunning individual is she dealing with?

 

[AngTxGal]

As a bearded dragon owner, I am definitely puzzled by the decision to drive to the wedding rather than leave her beardie behind. Bearded dragons need a very controlled environment with proper lighting and humidity. They are very hearty and easy to care for in the right environment, so I often have friends petsit for mine without issue. They can literally go weeks without eating (not that I would ever do that), so just having a friend stop by and give my beardie some fresh salad every couple of days is sufficient. All of the lighting can be on a timer to keep the environment where he needs it to be without any intervention from my petsitter. But being out of his temperature/humidity-controlled enclosure for days would be very bad for him. So it seems like a MUCH worse option for CG to have taken her beardie with her on a road trip than to leave him at home and just have someone feed him every few days while she was away.

Agree, the long drive seems a quick irrational decision without planning. The temperatures bearded dragons need is over 100 degrees for warm and 70’s for cool. Being too cold for several days would be life threatening for such a lizard. I don’t see how she could have maintained such temperatures during a road trip, much less it being October from CA to CN, and camping without electricity for heat lamps.
She left Sept 24 and last seen Sept 28. If she slept in her car or a tent that is already four days for this lizard to not be at the 85 degrees regularly, and 104-108 degree range it needs for basking. It may have been getting ill. She needed to hotel for electricity to keep it warm, but would need its glass container to trap the heat and heat lamps.
None of that make sense unless she didn’t know yet how to take care of it?

JMO- owner of various lizards and biologist by training

 

[AngTxGal]

This is why I feel like maybe she initially might have had intentions to stay back east. But then decided she needed to go back. Depending on how cunning this individual she is dealing with can be...

Stay back east? So you think she had planned to move to CT and took all her things in her car with the intention of staying there? Maybe so, then changed her mind.

JMO

 

[AngTxGal]

Did CG live with her parents before she went missing? TIA

No, she lived in CA and it is my understanding that she would be visiting her parents at the wedding. So I think they live in CT or were going to travel to CT for the wedding and see her there. As per NewsNation with B Entin
So, not sure where they lived, her Linked In profile shows she went to school in NY

JMO

 

[AngTxGal]

I work in animal rescue (not my 9-5 but my heart job for sure) and if we got a call about a bearded, we'd refer them to game and fish. There really is only one reptile rescue in the state and I understand they have been notified. But my guess is a bearded could live without human intervention for a while here

Problem is… She had already had the lizard on a road for a week or so.
Bearded dragons require temps over 70, 85 is regular, and 104-110 or so for basking.
No way a bearded dragon could do well very long in Oct near Williams, AZ.
Today temp range is 40s-70’s.
I can’t see how she could meet the temp and UV light needs of the lizard while on a long road trip like that. With the camping and all- I wonder if the lizard became ill, did it die? Lizards are not active when too cold, they simply go to sleep and die if they can’t get warm.
If she did not understand the needs and made a mistake- in any such of vulnerable state the death of a new pet due to lack of knowledge would not be helpful!

JMO

 

[10ofRods]

"contacted by two hunters but denied any assistance"
Hmm

Refused assistance is probably the way to put it. I have read that too and I do believe it's on her NAMUS page (two hunters). However, they say they noticed her car (did they see her?) on their way to go hunting, and then saw the car still there some time later (I am not sure they mention seeing her on that second pass - I think it was only on the first pass). No word on whether they noticed flat tires.

So very perplexing.

 

[AngTxGal]

Was just thinking about practicalities here. When she decided she was not going to drive east, and instead would camp for a few days, she would need food and water. It appears from what we’ve read or listened to that she had a tent and sleeping bag, but she’d need food and water for a few days in a remote spot or spots. I hope the PI they hired is checking security cams in such establishments on her route to see if they can see if she stopped to stock up on such items. That might give them more clues as to the steps she took. And it has been getting cold there at night. Assuming she was actually in the Ash Forks area. Looks like mid 40s at night on average last few weeks. High during the day in the 80s. That’s cold in just a sleeping bag.

If she had a good tent and sleeping bag she could be fine in 40’s, especially if she had camping experience. It would be the lizard that could not maintain its heat.

I’ve seen the Rainmaker Quest video she did while on her trip- odd from my pov, but I’m not of the generation that posts my life online. CA to CT is a long road trip- 43 hours, five full days of driving and add stops and adventures. As a Mom of two young adults- I would have been very worried!

JMO

 

[BaffleMe]

What day was this wedding? CA to Connecticut is a heck of a drive. Was it her personal car, a rental, or borrowing someone else's car?

I did CT to CA. Never again. Way too long and empty stretches of road.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

<modsnip - quoted post was removed for no link provided>
I wonder if a heating pad would work well for a bearded dragon - it could run off the car's voltage. Her ex BF used to be the dragon's owner, so I'm sure she had knowledge of how to care for it, as the dragon wasn't new to her. Perhaps there was something for it that we couldn't see in the limited view of her short video clip.

 

[AngTxGal]

I wonder if a heating pad would work well for a bearded dragon - it could run off the car's voltage. Her ex BF used to be the dragon's owner, so I'm sure she had knowledge of how to care for it, as the dragon wasn't new to her. Perhaps there was something for it that we couldn't see in the limited view of her short video clip.

Yes, it is possible she had some kind of car cigarette lighter adapter for a heating pad. Bearded dragons also need UV light along with a variety of temps 70s to over 100 so they can choose.
Running such a heat pad or lamp from your car electricity may have caused battery issues?
I get the flat tires on the passengers’ side- there are prickly things in AZ like TX- you risk a flat on the shoulder of any rural road.
Perplexing for sure

JMO

 

[AngTxGal]

Those photos/videos are no longer on the account. Newest post is Sept 9th.

I just watched right now- 3 wks ago is the date I can see under the tab Rainmaker Quest. One shows her phone date as Sept 24, one about Bible study, another pic of bible on a table with bracelets. Some show a monument with pics of missing persons, about water shortage, one is a still shot of the lizard on the dash, another is a video inside her car with camping gear in the back seat. The scenery sure looks like Arizona.

JMO

 

[SophieRose]

If she had a good tent and sleeping bag she could be fine in 40’s, especially if she had camping experience. It would be the lizard that could not maintain its heat.

I’ve seen the Rainmaker Quest video she did while on her trip- odd from my pov, but I’m not of the generation that posts my life online. CA to CT is a long road trip- 43 hours, five full days of driving and add stops and adventures. As a Mom of two young adults- I would have been very worried!

JMO

Bodycam video shows San Diego woman before she went missing

A 32-year-old San Diego woman has been missing for more than two weeks.

fox5sandiego.com

Janet [her mother] said three days after Chelsea started her trip, she called her parents to let them know that she would not be making it to the wedding.

“She said I’m only as far as Arizona, I don’t think I can do this by myself, which we tried to explain but she said I think I’m just going to skip the wedding, stay here for a couple of days do a little camping, and the she made it sound like she was going to head back to San Diego,” Janet said.

“The magnitude of this ‘adventure,’ of driving across the country, was a lot even for Chelsea, and we said we both thought it was too much and we would help her fly from Phoenix home, or if there was friend in phoenix she could leave her car with, we gave her a bunch of options,” Stephen said.

 

[curiouser_]

Stay back east? So you think she had planned to move to CT and took all her things in her car with the intention of staying there? Maybe so, then changed her mind.

JMO

It definitely crossed my mind, but it’s all speculation and a theory on my part.

 

[OddOneOut]

I hate to suggest it; however, I'm wondering if she doesn't want to be found?

 

[AngTxGal]

I hate to suggest it; however, I'm wondering if she doesn't want to be found?

I had thought this too, but she is close to her sister and parents. She doesn’t seem like someone that would be so cruel to leave her family worrying.

JMO

 

[OSINTmind]

Just adding this for anyone who has not seen, I posted to another group a few days ago..

Chelsea Grimm’s IG reel from 9/6. “Painting prints”, “outline website”, “org. Phx?”, “make gallery names”, “Sell bike” (is that the Suzuki motorcycle in the video or a bicycle?), “deposit $”, “work on Midg./Sandy”, Coverletter 4 book”, “Book flight ‘home’ to nyc”, “I can trust that love will be there. I am loved. I am safe…I am here for every aspect of me that needs healing”, “renew passport", "Chat gptdrsearch*"...

 

[aggiekel2005]

Just adding this for anyone who has not seen, I posted to another group a few days ago..

Chelsea Grimm’s IG reel from 9/6. “Painting prints”, “outline website”, “org. Phx?”, “make gallery names”, “Sell bike” (is that the Suzuki motorcycle in the video or a bicycle?), “deposit $”, “work on Midg./Sandy”, Coverletter 4 book”, “Book flight ‘home’ to nyc”, “I can trust that love will be there. I am loved. I am safe…I am here for every aspect of me that needs healing”, “renew passport", "Chat gptdrsearch*"...

That last one got my attention, unless I'm reading it wrong. "Chat gotdrsearch"- I wonder if that's a screen name of someone that she was talking with or someone she had come across online previously?

 

[curiouser_]

I just find This chilling:

She had set out from her home in San Diego for a wedding in Connecticut on September 24 and planned to document ‘lost and forgotten people’ for an art project on the way.

California photographer Chelsea Grimm...

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

That last one got my attention, unless I'm reading it wrong. "Chat gotdrsearch"- I wonder if that's a screen name of someone that she was talking with or someone she had come across online previously?

I think it means "chat GPT Dr search" meaning, a search for an AI (artificial intelligence) doctor visit.