Found Deceased IA - David Schultz, 53, Wall Lake, 21 November 2023 #3

[Interested_But_Confused]

Maybe there was blood evidence at the exit, but was washed away by the time phone records were obtained and it was thought something may have occurred at that exit. Hopefully the area around the exit was searched once the phone records showed the amount of time it took David's phone to travel four miles from the exit to where the truck was found parked.

JMO

RSBM

What LE knows that we don't, is the exact movement of the truck (or at least David's phone GPS) from the highway intersection to where the truck was found. It may not have paused at the intersection at all, in which case LE would be fairly sure nothing happened there.

Was the truck driven at a slow, steady pace? Did it stop and start repeatedly? Did it stop for an extended period of time somewhere along Union Avenue?

LE know this information and it's probably guiding how they treat the investigation.

 

[Trobeld1]

RSBM

What LE knows that we don't, is the exact movement of the truck (or at least David's phone GPS) from the highway intersection to where the truck was found. It may not have paused at the intersection at all, in which case LE would be fairly sure nothing happened there.

Was the truck driven at a slow, steady pace? Did it stop and start repeatedly? Did it stop for an extended period of time somewhere along Union Avenue?

LE know this information and it's probably guiding how they treat the investigation.

I believe LE was able to look at his Google timeline which I know from experience is not dead on for amount of time spent in an area and even where actually were sitting still, especially if a brief standstill. Just gives a general. Sarah had explained how at first LE thought he had gone down towards Brushy Creek but he had not. Video shows him heading west not south and time would not add up to go there and back to highway. It was a pinging thing, cell phone looking for closest towers because he was in same location for extended time. It is possible they were able to deduce sitting at the intersection or somewhere along Union for a time and are not saying. They just said at the intersection at 12:18 and then truck sitting where it was found at 12:40.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

I believe LE was able to look at his Google timeline which I know from experience is not dead on for amount of time spent in an area and even where actually were sitting still, especially if a brief standstill. Just gives a general. Sarah had explained how at first LE thought he had gone down towards Brushy Creek but he had not. Video shows him heading west not south and time would not add up to go there and back to highway. It was a pinging thing, cell phone looking for closest towers because he was in same location for extended time. It is possible they were able to deduce sitting at the intersection or somewhere along Union for a time and are not saying. They just said at the intersection at 12:18 and then truck sitting where it was found at 12:40.

@Joe Friday previously posted David's NamUs profile which says LE used the GPS on David's phone. Not Google or phone pings. BBM:

David Schultz was scheduled to pick up a load of hogs from a site in Eagle Grove, Iowa in the evening on 11/20/2023. David was then scheduled to drop the hogs off at Wiechman Pig Company in Sac City. Schultz was seen on video camera in his semi truck on 11/20/2023 around 2330 hours at the Marker 126 gas station in Duncombe, IA just north off Highway 20. Cell gps data indicates that David's phone travelled on Highway 20 to N14/Union Avenue in Sac County. David's phone continued north on N14 and the phone came to rest on N14 just north of D15/190th Street. David's semi truck containing his phone/wallet were located in the roadway in the northbound lane, which is the opposite direction of the hog site that David was scheduled to drop the pigs at.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

IA - IA - David Schultz, 53, Wall Lake, 21 November 2023 #2

 

[Trobeld1]

@Joe Friday previously posted David's NamUs profile which says LE used the GPS on David's phone. Not Google or phone pings. BBM:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

IA - IA - David Schultz, 53, Wall Lake, 21 November 2023 #2

So according to that there was no stop for any amount of time. I am curious what other cell GPS there is other than maps timeline, how that would work.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

So according to that there was no stop for any amount of time. I am curious what other cell GPS there is other than maps timeline, how that would work.

There are 101 different apps tracking your movements--even when you think you've turned location tracking off!

You need to know how to access the GPS data, but IMO that's no problem for LE.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

JMO, but shootings tend to leave evidence behind, such as blood, bullet holes. Blood on or in the truck and blood on the pavement would not be easily cleaned up. Obviously bullet holes in the truck or bullet marks on the pavement are not things that would be easy to cover up.

If David was shot, he wasn't shot where the truck was found. If blood or bullet holes were found at that scene, the entire investigation regarding how the truck was handled, would have been handled differently. Sarah would not have been allowed to have David's mechanic drive the truck away from the scene hours after the truck was found, only to have the truck towed from his lot two days later to be process by LE.

Maybe there was blood evidence at the exit, but was washed away by the time phone records were obtained and it was thought something may have occurred at that exit. Hopefully the area around the exit was searched once the phone records showed the amount of time it took David's phone to travel four miles from the exit to where the truck was found parked.

JMO

This is what I'm thinking. The area of interest to me personally would be the exit and where the truck began driving differently.

If DS could be lured from his cab - no doubt he would have left the lights on - to street level, anything could have unfolded. He would even necessarily have been shot. It could have been a vicious fight or stabbing. Esp if it was more than one person he could have been kicked and stamped to death (sorry for being graphic), there's no need for weaponry even. Also, farming territory people have access to all sorts of gruesome stuff that average people don't.

How much searching and scrutiny was there as the scene around the change in driving? Did people look for evidence of tyre skid marks or any form of detritus, shot gun cartridges, shells, blood, bits of torn clothing or cloth etc.

How much of the area adjacent is covered by road traffic or any form of camera? I'd imagine there's very little traffic on these roads so any vehicle that came and went has to be considered a potential witness / suspect?

JMO MOO

 

[Trobeld1]

There are 101 different apps tracking your movements--even when you think you've turned location tracking off!

You need to know how to access the GPS data, but IMO that's no problem for LE.

That is true and there would be logs stored. Hopefully some apps have more accuracy than maps timelines.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

It's all so strange that it's hard to rule anything out. If anyone else is involved, though, it does seem it would have to be at least two people (if the truck was moved) and a vehicle to transport DS away from the scene.

No matter how I try to insert another person into the situation, it seems too high a risk to the perpetrator(s) to make sense. I understand this is a very rural area, but the longer a perp is with DS, or the truck, or another vehicle waiting around or following the semi, driving a semi slowly down the road, leaving everything but DS behind and transporting him (or his body), maybe leaving behind DNA, etc, the greater the risk. IDK...

Whatever happened that night seems to me to be the doing of DS, himself, IMO.

Sometimes with two perps, whatever happened was not planned or intended. So then, depending on their morality, they can become two people joined in the cover up with a mutual reason to stick together.

It could be something that just unfolded into some form of dispute and physical aggression? What if DS slowed / stopped to help someone and said hey I've got to drop off my hogs, catch you on the way back and they were like no help us now and it all got nasty?

There are cases where people have been killed by one punch only and the perpetrator never imagined they were going to cause a death.

JMO MOO

 

[buyerninety]

David Schultz, driving a 1999 Peterbilt truck.
This link appears to show a 1999 Peterbilt:
1999 Peterbilt 379 6x4 T/A Day Cab Truck Tractor
What do you know about semi-trucks? All I knew
before this post was that the trailers have air brakes.
Here's what the above webpage shows in the cabin;

Starter key location is easy to find, at least.
See the trailer air brake? I sure as heck couldn't be sure
at first. (I think we can ignore the line of black switches
on the extreme right, maybe they're possibly individual
switches for each of the trailer axles, in case the air
brakes on only one axle malfunctions and has to be
individually made non-active - I doubt David Schultz's
truck had that setup).
Looking closer here;

OK, harder to see at night, also harder to see if
much more of the switches printing were worn
away, on this example we can figure it out if we
look real hard. According to this;
https://www.fordservicecontent.com/...A&div=f&vFilteringEnabled=False&buildtype=web
Can anyone explain... Parking Brake & Trailer Air Supply? - SCS Software
the trailer and truck(tractor) air brakes are the red
and yellow switches, which would apparently be pulled
outwards when David Schultz brought his truck to a
stop at that intersection (there might be reasons why
he would only pull one out, but I don't want to add to
this post length).
When driving off, apparently both these switches would
normally be placed in the pushed in position (not too
sure what happens if the red switch is left pulled out
and only the yellow switch is pushed in). That said,
what do you think is the probability that some
'criminal-thinks-he's-going-to-drive-a-semi-truck'
would simply try to drive off and leave one or both
of the air brakes on? Pretty likely, I would think,
maybe Mr criminal would figure it out eventually,
maybe not. (There's also a gotcha here, where if
the air reservoir loses too much pressure, the trailer
brakes will apply automatically).

Then there's the transmission, OK, unfortunately
it's not 1971 and you're not going to jump in a
'Duel truck', do a bit of double-clutching, slam the
gears in and soon be flying 55+ down the road.
Here's an example of a possible 1999 Peterbilt gearstick,
from that same webpage as the other pictures;

Apparently the way this works is, the little finger paddle
on the gearstick gives you access to the 'High range',
while 'LO' and 1,2,3,4 are your 'Low range'. Thing is,
somewhat counter-intuitively for car drivers, you only
push the clutch pedal in whilst initially moving off (and
when bringing the truck to a full stop), except for those
times, you apparently don't want to depress the clutch
pedal all the way down, that apparently stops the
transmission spinning (clutch brake), so apparently if
you did depress the clutch whilst driving you may actually
have to lift off the clutch slightly when moving gears or
the gears may not engage properly. Once moving,
apparently the way it actually works is you select the
gear you want whilst slightly easing off the accelerator
(throttle) and the transmission... simply changes the
gear for you (but don't forget you have to know how
to manipulate the 'High range' paddle thing to get the
truck moving at normal higher gear driving speeds).
Then there's other possible gotchas, such as some
Peterbilt's just have a ball on the gearstick with no gear
shift pattern displayed, the pattern diagram might
instead be on a small easily faded placard on the dash
or even instead displayed 'on the backside of the visor'
(meaning the roof side?). At night, would anyone think
to look there for it? Also, we don't know how many
gears David Schultz's truck had, but 13, 15, 18 gear
setups are not unusual (and thereby may have another
unmarked lever doodad on the gearstick to add
befuddlement).

What I'm getting at with all this is:
Some criminals, in the well known pig-growing States
of Iowa or Tennessee, probably figured to hijack a pig
carrying semi-truck, and David Schultz's truck just
happened to be the last truck that left the load facility
that night. Maybe they had someone passing them
information, maybe they simply planned to get the last
truck and overtook and oversped off, further down the
road in his travelling direction (west).
David Schultz drove westwards, came to that
intersection, and there saw some phoney circumstance,
a car just before the intersection, some person waving
him down for help, some pretense the criminals used to
lure him from the cab (taking his jacket possibly on his
arm as it was cold outside the cabin), then they put a
gun on him and bundled him into a car/car rear trunk
and one of the criminals climbed into the cabin meaning
to drive the semi to some associates farm where the
piglets would be unloaded. Why didn't Mr criminal succeed
to drive away? Well, it took YOU, what, 2 plus minutes
to read over the above, probably twice again if you're
going to actually figure how it works. Now put yourself
in Mr criminal's seat - there a plethora of freakin'
switches, which you're going to have to look at to
figure, the gear shifting system which you're going to
have a lot of trouble figuring out. In Low range gears,
possibly the truck will drive slowly forward, even with
both or one of the air brakes dragging, if you don't
figure out the gears shifting, and get into to the High
range you're probably not driving forward any faster
than something like 20 to 30 mph. (Maybe less speed,
stickb0y7 in this post;
IA - IA - David Schultz, 53, Wall Lake, 21 November 2023
asserted the truck was moving up a slight gradient.)
I assume the criminal realized he was in a truck that
he couldn't reliably get moving fast from that
intersection and possibly all future intersections, so
any cop car coming up behind him or in any town would
wonder what the trouble was, and if Mr criminal couldn't
figure out that air brake setup, any cop car overtaking
or passing him would wonder about the smell of
overheating brake drum pads (not hot enough to ignite
perhaps, but if you've lived enough to smell that over-
heating brake drum pad smell, you know what I mean).
So the criminal did manage to get the truck driving
forward, but belatedly realized that you actually need
to know what-the-heck you are doing to actually
reliably drive a 1999 era truck. So Mr criminal lost his
nerve and bailed, left the truck standing there in the
travelling lane (which forces any car coming up behind
it to pass it via quickly moving over to the oncoming
lane of traffic, not that there would be much traffic
at that place and time of night). Ran to and got back
into his criminal associates car, and off they went.
What did they do with David Schultz's body? If they
didn't bury him, I would think they drove off towards
the north (the direction the truck was abandoned
pointing to) or maybe turned off to the east or west.
Somewhere where the road crosses a bridge over water,
such as over Prairie Creek or North Raccoon River or
any like water feature, I think it's possible they
deposited his body off a bridge into water.

 

[buyerninety]

Who were these criminals? (Did you ever see that
movie 'At Close Range'? No? anyway...) They were
probably some small, tight criminal gang, willing to
commit a murder.
What would a load of piglets be worth (eventually)?
Figure, pig carcasses are worth something like 3 to
9 dollars a pound, an (eventually) matured 2+ years
old pig weighs around 600 pounds, let's say a farmer
got something like 4 dollars a pound maybe, how many
piglets would a truck carry, have to be at least 100
I would think, so that's... $240000 . Even if the
figuring is way off, you'd have to be figuring the
piglets might be worth 10's of thousands of dollars
to a willing criminal buyer.

 

[TL4S]

Sometimes with two perps, whatever happened was not planned or intended. So then, depending on their morality, they can become two people joined in the cover up with a mutual reason to stick together.

It could be something that just unfolded into some form of dispute and physical aggression? What if DS slowed / stopped to help someone and said hey I've got to drop off my hogs, catch you on the way back and they were like no help us now and it all got nasty?

There are cases where people have been killed by one punch only and the perpetrator never imagined they were going to cause a death.

JMO MOO

I can totally see that, but in this situation, something has to explain DS's truck being in the location it was in. What really are the odds that someone hijacked him at that intersection and made him turn north? Or that something happened (even if unexpectedly) at that intersection and somebody else drove the truck north? Would leaving the truck right there (and maybe even the body, too) and taking off really be more risky to the perp than those 20 extra minutes with DS and the truck? That's where I'm having trouble.

 

[MorningDove]

Episode 87 David Schultz — AbJack Entertainment
FWIW At around 57:00 in SS talks about how the cell pings were off which lead them to searching Brushy Creek area approxiamately 5 miles away from where he stopped at the Marker 126 station for 16 minutes.

 

[LC2]

IMO, if foul play was involved, it did happen at the exit where the truck turned north. But I think his stop at MM126 has something to do with it. He had only been driving for 25 minutes after he loaded. Would a mid trip inspection be necessary?? I guess I don’t know bc I’m not a truck driver. And why 16 minutes? I think we determined he didn’t get fuel. Was he supposed to meet someone and they were a no show? Is that why he’s seen scrolling on his phone? SS has said he’s not techy, and only recently got a Facebook account. Who would he be communicating with at that hour? Were plans changed to then meet at the exit? Maybe life happened and he was involved in something he shouldn’t have been. Maybe he picked up more than pigs that night and he was supposed to meet someone. Not accusing him of anything, just saying sometimes we think we know someone and we don’t know them at all. IMO he appeared to be under a lot of pressure to support his family. Sometimes people get desperate. He’s human. SS has also said he had run ins with the law back in the day. She has also said he was happy to have gotten together with SS because she was actually “normal”. As opposed to what? Was he associating with some not so savory individuals back then? Either directly or indirectly, and they are coming back to settle a score?? So hard to figure out a motive because he appears to be a pretty responsible person. I hope his family gets some answers soon. I can’t imagine what it must be like for them.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I can totally see that, but in this situation, something has to explain DS's truck being in the location it was in. What really are the odds that someone hijacked him at that intersection and made him turn north? Or that something happened (even if unexpectedly) at that intersection and somebody else drove the truck north? Would leaving the truck right there (and maybe even the body, too) and taking off really be less risky to the perp than those 20 extra minutes with DS and the truck? That's where I'm having trouble.

Yes if there was blood and evidence at the scene. Get rid of the evidence = DS. Get the truck away from the scene in the hope that no-one will ever know where the incident took place. If a solo person who cannot drive the truck very well, then 3 or four miles is more than enough to distract location and make sure they can get back to their own vehicle.

I do also agree with the idea of @buyerninety above, possibly a botched idea to kidnap the truck and cargo, followed by the realisation that there is no possible way to drive the truck safely, join major highways etc and not be pulled over. Having said that... how would any perp know the truck didn't have a GPS tracking system and wouldn't be missed immediately by Weikmanns and create a radio look out for local law enforcement and assume there's NPR and road traffic cameras. It would be quite a sophisticated plot to steal a load of piggies but then have a driver who can't drive the truck and they wouldn't be able to travel far without being seen.

Also, they'd have certainly taken DS $2,000

 

[Trobeld1]

I am hoping someone on here can help explain something for me. I am not familiar with hog hauling. Is a change of clothes common or needed/mandatory for every load, or happens when a job was particularly messy only?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

IMO, if foul play was involved, it did happen at the exit where the truck turned north. But I think his stop at MM126 has something to do with it. He had only been driving for 25 minutes after he loaded. Would a mid trip inspection be necessary?? I guess I don’t know bc I’m not a truck driver. And why 16 minutes? I think we determined he didn’t get fuel. Was he supposed to meet someone and they were a no show? Is that why he’s seen scrolling on his phone? SS has said he’s not techy, and only recently got a Facebook account. Who would he be communicating with at that hour? Were plans changed to then meet at the exit? Maybe life happened and he was involved in something he shouldn’t have been. Maybe he picked up more than pigs that night and he was supposed to meet someone. Not accusing him of anything, just saying sometimes we think we know someone and we don’t know them at all. IMO he appeared to be under a lot of pressure to support his family. Sometimes people get desperate. He’s human. SS has also said he had run ins with the law back in the day. She has also said he was happy to have gotten together with SS because she was actually “normal”. As opposed to what? Was he associating with some not so savory individuals back then? Either directly or indirectly, and they are coming back to settle a score?? So hard to figure out a motive because he appears to be a pretty responsible person. I hope his family gets some answers soon. I can’t imagine what it must be like for them.

Interesting that he'd only recently got an FB a/c.

Usually, I'd be interested in what, if anything did the missing person do differently prior to disappearing. Well, so far on DS we've got he wanted deeper jeans pockets and he only recently got an FB a/c.

Everything else points to him being a rock steady regular guy of routine and hard work. And a family man. He was building his future with his own truck that the mechanic was getting ready for him so he didn't need to rent and he had everything going for him including his two sons.

JMO MOO

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I am hoping someone on here can help explain something for me. I am not familiar with hog hauling. Is a change of clothes common or needed/mandatory for every load, or happens when a job was particularly messy only?

Upthread it was mentioned that due to some sort of hygiene standards, the loader / offloader needs to wear some sort of coveralls but I'm not clear on this either.

 

[buyerninety]

Observe_dont_Absorb said;
"Also, they'd have certainly taken DS $2,000".

Shrug. But did anyone ever say where he kept his
wallet and phone? Some truckers might keep it
in a pouch, say between the seats, or maybe the
passenger seat had one of those back pouches that
a driver could easily lean across and take anything
he needed out of. People seem to be assuming the
wallet or phone was sitting in plain sight, but if it
was out of sight.. well, I assume the criminal driver
wasn't in the cabin long enough to think about doing
a seach. Good point made by a previous poster,
however - how did the criminals know the truck
wasn't GPS'd? Maybe they thought (correctly) a single
small truck operator like David wouldn't have a it
GPS'd, maybe someone tipped them off the truck
wasn't his main truck. Yes, good question...

 

[Trobeld1]

Upthread it was mentioned that due to some sort of hygiene standards, the loader / offloader needs to wear some sort of coveralls but I'm not clear on this either.

I would really like to know on this and have some clarity. Reason it bothers me is he stopped at home to get, or change into before leaving ,clean jeans. But did not take an additional pair with him. I would think if he was going to take on another job after this last load, he would have needed to stop home for clean jeans. Family apparently thought he was still working up until 10:00 AM when found out differently. There were several adults in the house at that time, more than usual. He should have been home by 2:00 AM at least, if this had been his last job. If took on another job, I would think would need to stop and get more jeans and someone would have heard him come in you would think, especially in the room where jeans are most likely kept. Maybe I am looking at this wrong or there could other explanations I have not thought of.

 

[Onebest]

By the same token, if he chose to leave voluntarily, I would think he would bring the $2,000 with him.

Unless he was leaving it for his wife. Speculating.