Mexico Mexico - Jenny Chen, 26, Oaxaca, 11 April 2016 #3

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves
Status
Not open for further replies.
A persistent ad here in WS
attachment.php

Never seen that one, the ad I always see here is Russian Woman looking husband.

Maybe it's geo targeted (lots of Russian woman come to South FL to get "married").
 
I'm a little behind on all the nuances of the "shopkeeper" discussion, but..."shopkeeper" is one of those kind of clumsy, catch-all words that you learn in beginning language courses. "Juan is a shopkeeper. Pedro enjoys ice cream. Jose y Maria va a la playa." If I remember correctly, I think Jenny's Spanish was rudimentary "travel and order in restaurants" Spanish. So she wouldn't necessarily have been aware of the words for all the shades of distinction between bar owner, store clerk, cashier, etc., and might have just used "shopkeeper" for any job of that type. Just like I would tend to just use "tienda" for everything (vs. being more specific with "tienda" vs. "bodega" vs. "mercado") because I'm not that confident in my Spanish, and "tienda" is always going to get my point across well enough in a travel situation. Her husband may just be using "shopkeeper" because Jenny used that word, and he's not sure exactly what shade of "clerk" vs. "cashier" vs. "shop owner" she had in mind. Jenny's English is good, but it's not native-level fluent, and her husband's Chinese is probably not fluent either, so (like many couples in the same situation) they may not feel comfortable or able to interpret subtleties of meaning in each other's words. Just think how often any relationship has the "That's not what I said, and you know it!" argument, and how compounded that might be with second-language issues.

Anyway, that's my linguistic theory input for the day--
 
Well we only see pics of Jenny on a bus and never a pic in some nice civilians car.

So why didn't she just catch a bus to Cancun?
 
Well we only see pics of Jenny on a bus and never a pic in some nice civilians car.

So why didn't she just catch a bus to Cancun?
BBM

Probably because the other bus picture was taken before she was almost raped and became even more obsessed with facing her fears. I think she viewed it as a badge of courage to hitchhike to Cancun even though JR sent money for a bus.
 
BBM

Probably because the other bus picture was taken before she was almost raped and became even more obsessed with facing her fears. I think she viewed it as a badge of courage to hitchhike to Cancun even though JR sent money for a bus.


I looked at the entry where she rode to Oaxaca with a bus load of farm workers. She wrote: "It took me an hour and half to get a free ride. I need go to Oaxaca . It's a 4 hour drive distance. Eventually A bus picked me up."
https://m.weibo.cn/u/1723208662?uid...11&lfid=1076031723208662&featurecode=20000180

I think if a bus passing through Lagunas Crossing had offered Jenny a free ride, she would probably have taken it. She was down to 40 pesos, and without a working ATM to get cash, so at that point she needed transportation that wouldn't cost her anything.

If she did decide to take a paid bus trip to Cancun, where would she board such a bus? Would she have to go to one of the major cities in order to take one of these buses?
 
Hoping and praying Jenny shows up safe and sound very soon. She's in my thoughts tonight.

:praying::praying:
 
Well Jonathan knew she was broke because he sent her money via deposit I guess and begged her to take a bus.

But if true. Than why didn't he order her a plane ticket so she would have to go back to Seattle after the 4 day Cancun trip with him?

Especially since it seems like she didn't have enough for the Cuba and New York trip?

So I truly wonder if he was manipulating the funds himself? Because how else could Jenny get more money if he was the one that needed to deposit it?

Now unless she had Unemployment benefits that were usually deposited every week to her account than Johnny was clearly in charge of funding her trip personally.

Or he was releasing her saved money in increments to her.

But I surely wish that her Chinese friend would share light on how unemployed Jenny had money for all of this.
 
I looked at the entry where she rode to Oaxaca with a bus load of farm workers. She wrote: "It took me an hour and half to get a free ride. I need go to Oaxaca . It's a 4 hour drive distance. Eventually A bus picked me up."
https://m.weibo.cn/u/1723208662?uid...11&lfid=1076031723208662&featurecode=20000180

I think if a bus passing through Lagunas Crossing had offered Jenny a free ride, she would probably have taken it. She was down to 40 pesos, and without a working ATM to get cash, so at that point she needed transportation that wouldn't cost her anything.

If she did decide to take a paid bus trip to Cancun, where would she board such a bus? Would she have to go to one of the major cities in order to take one of these buses?
Most people in Mexico don't have cars, they travel around to do all their shopping and visiting by commercial bus (the farm workers were in a private chartered bus, delivering them to a political rally).

There are cheap second-class buses/minivans that run from every tiny town to bigger towns, stopping along secondary roads to pick up anyone who flags them down. These cost, maybe, a dollar or two. Then there are large direct buses between major towns, the fancier the bus (A/C, reclining seats, movies) and the longer the distance, the higher the cost. Might be max $100 US, from Oaxaca to Cancun, following the most direct route, but there could be a cheaper way to do it if you had 4 days.

I remember the story of a Swedish backpacker who disappeared in Panama, he was another one who preferred to hitchhike and sleep in poor people's homes, he'd been all over Africa that way, though he was a gifted scholarship student in the US. He got into trouble by blundering into FARC rebel territory in Columbia.

"The maths student was tough and well-travelled, in his mother´s words ‘fearless and determined’. He was also unusually bright, spoke and read Chinese, was learning Arabic, French and Spanish and was set to do a PhD in statistics at UK´s Cambridge University.
He also travelled as close to local people as possible, spending as little money as possible, packing light (his rucksack weighed 2 kilos), walking long distances (often using a map and compass) and seeking lodging overnight with families he met along the way. In the kit listed on his Colombia blog he remarked that ´notably absent is a guidebook (they usually don’t contain any information you can’t ask the locals about!)´." http://travelswithmitzi.blogspot.ca/2015/07/lost-in-darien-gap.html

Just saying, there are completely sane, bright, capable young people who choose to travel in a way that may seem outlandish to others. I think they're mostly trying to avoid acting like 'tourists', who all follow the same beaten path in a sometimes Disney-like fabricated environment, and be what's known as 'travellers', who deliberately seek out 'authentic' experiences of the country.

Everything Jenny did and posted about leads me to believe this is what she was doing. She rarely went to a museum or did any other sight-seeing, even to things that are very cheap or free. She was always trying to experience/live like a local.

EDITED to add, it was 2 years before the Swede's wife found out what happened to him in Colombia, and that was a bit of a miracle. She had assistance from the Red Cross/Human rights workers/missionaries who all knew the area well, which Jenny's husband doesn't have.
Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
 
Satchie, thank you for the info on bus usage for Mexico, though I'm now re-remembering how Jenny told her friend (messaging) that she intended to hitchhike all the way to Cancun, so that must mean she never intended to pay for a bus ride there, at least at the outset. JR has said that her first order was to make it to an ATM, so I guess it was for cash needed for food and incidentals.

Just a small correction to your post for the sake of accuracy, the bus ride I was referring to where Jenny got a free ride with farm workers--they were not going to a political rally. They were headed to Oaxaca to work the fields. Jenny showed an asparagus spear to show what their work involved.

All: I revisited our early threads, and I came across my post where I shared Jenny's weibo entry about going to the movie theater to see "Wild" and being very excited by it. I hypothesized then that her Mexico trip seemed inspired by it. Pardon me for linking my own post (Thread 2, post 1303), but seeing Cheryl Strayed's and Jenny's quotes together regarding fear again renews my belief that this was her motivation, at least in part.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...axaca-11-April-2016-2&p=12862517#post12862517

I've forgotten many things we've already discussed! In my looking back I saw so many great thoughts and ideas generated here. How I wish it could have helped bring Jenny home.
 
Jr said she couldn't get money from the atm because it wasn't working in some way.

But Jenny probably just told the hostess/shopkeeper that to skip out on paying her. Jmo.

And the hostess may have been mad once she seen that Jenny was trying to skate out of town without paying her?

Idk.
 
JR wrote a frustrated post yesterday. He is "shocked and saddened by the laziness and corruption of those in power in Mexico." He says it's a beautiful country with warm people. Someone suggests he contact Anabel Hernandez, a journalist who goes after corruption. He will, but he knows nothing will happen....he just wants to embarrass them. He says he will pressure Corona since they care about bad publicity.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/helpfindjenny/permalink/83285841688920

Out of nowhere I started humming the chorus to Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game" while I was reading JR's post...That's what this case feels like. :(

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
 
JR will soon give up and finally move on. It's sad, but for his own sake I hope he can. Jenny is gone.
 
I hope you all don't mind me posting this here, but I keep thinking of Jenny every time I open this other women's thread here on WS.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?340375-IL-Yingying-Zhang-26-Urbana-9-June-2017

She is 26 and here for a year from China. She just arrived a month ago. She was on her way to sign on lease when video shows a car pull up, she got in, and that's the last time anyone saw her. What a vast difference in search-related help these two girls have, one missing from the US the other from Mexico.
 
I hope you all don't mind me posting this here, but I keep thinking of Jenny every time I open this other women's thread here on WS.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?340375-IL-Yingying-Zhang-26-Urbana-9-June-2017

She is 26 and here for a year from China. She just arrived a month ago. She was on her way to sign on lease when video shows a car pull up, she got in, and that's the last time anyone saw her. What a vast difference in search-related help these two girls have, one missing from the US the other from Mexico.
BBM

How awful! There are interesting similarities in circumstances. Both women had only been in an unfamiliar country for a short time. Both women were trying to get somewhere on time, it appears. Both women disappeared after accepting a ride from a stranger (I assume).

But the level of LE help is very different. I hope this help results in finding Yingying.
 
JR will soon give up and finally move on. It's sad, but for his own sake I hope he can. Jenny is gone.

Unfortunately I have to agree. I wish this would be after he has give it all (getting the media involved would have been smart to start), but I'm not holding my breath.

Unrelated, I can't remember if this was ever established, but what was the motive of the person who started the fraudulent "Find Jenny" Facebook page? We've all followed a lot of cases here (most of you far more than me), and this doesn't seem normal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Unfortunately I have to agree. I wish this would be after he has give it all (getting the media involved would have been smart to start), but I'm not holding my breath.

Unrelated, I can't remember if this was ever established, but what was the motive of the person who started the fraudulent "Find Jenny" Facebook page? We've all followed a lot of cases here (most of you far more than me), and this doesn't seem normal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

IMO the person who started that page was obsessed about proving JR guilty of disappearing Jenny. No, it isn't normal. It's the only time I've seen that happen to that extent. Maybe others have.
 
I know there are fake pages set for donations at times. Maybe they did it for attention?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
IMO the person who started that page was obsessed about proving JR guilty of disappearing Jenny. No, it isn't normal. It's the only time I've seen that happen to that extent. Maybe others have.

I didn't blame them since Jr was going uncontested with no way to question his motives and alibis. and sincerity. Especially after the parlor incident.
 
I didn't blame them since Jr was going uncontested with no way to question his motives and alibis. and sincerity. Especially after the parlor incident.

I think the parlor incident is what set that person off. Didn't that person also post here (bringing that info)?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
226
Guests online
297
Total visitors
523

Forum statistics

Threads
608,006
Messages
18,233,025
Members
234,272
Latest member
ejmantel
Back
Top