I absolutely think there are too many holes in Dan’s story.
How did they so immediately identify the car as Ben’s if it was, in fact, backed into a spot in the Sheraton parking garage?
There was no front license plate. Ben was driving his aunt’s car, and neither Ben nor Suzanne hang anything from their rear view mirrors in their vehicles.
Also, if there were multiple “friends” in Dan’s vehicle, why did not a single one of them (if they so immediately recognized it as Ben’s car) got his/her cell phone(s) out to try to get a photo or video of these suspects with the Lexus or of the chase that ensued. It just doesn’t make any sense.
Additionally, the story told varied a bit from article to article … news story to news story.
In one accounting of the Sheraton portion of the evening, the mysterious trio was seen seated in the car whilst in others two of the 3 people were standing outside the vehicle. Well, if it was true that they were seated, how did he know she was 5’11”? Hmmm … Odd.
Knowing Ben, as well as I do (did :”( ), I do not think he would have called Dan to cancel their brunch. He would have just sent a quick text. Of course, whether or not this actually occurred can be verified w/by phone records. He worked on the phone the majority of the day for work, and so texting for simple communications was MUCH more common. He did not want to be on the phone in his off time unnecessarily.
When Dan voiced that Lexus finally divulged the location of the burned vehicle to “the friends,” he claims they said it was near Cave Creek Park in 85021. Cave Creek Park is not even in zip code 85021 so I doubt they would have said this. Also, they would have absolutely no right/reason to disclose anything to these people. 1)Again, Ben was not the owner of this vehicle at all. The legitimate owner of the vehicle is Benjamin’s aunt, Suzanne. 2)Even if they had somehow convinced Lexus that Ben was in danger or that Dan was even his husband/domestic partner (he is not as he is married to another man, CH-S), Lexus legally, due to privacy laws, would not, should not have been permitted to disclose any such information about Suzanne’s car to these folks. Makes absolutely no sense that they would do this.
The perpetrators were allegedly all in 4 locations Ben’s apartment/condo, the Super 8, the Sheraton Crescent Hotel, and Table Mesa Rd west of the I-17. Why can’t they check w/cell phone companies/towers/records to see whose phones were at all locations at one time? If Dan’s story is true, this should be a workable possibility.
It is also possible that Dan’s story was made up, the trio does not even exist, the car chase never happened, and he was somehow involved.
Why did Dan’s $10,000 reward not say it would go to anyone with information that would lead to the arrest of whoever burned the car and/or “kidnapped” Ben. Rather than getting justice against whoever was behind his disappearance, Dan offered it only for the safe physical return of Ben Anderson. Is there a chance he knew he would never need to pay that money out to anyone because he knew Ben was already dead? Sure. Of course there is.
How would “the friends” have so quickly identified the burned car as Ben’s Lexus? Oh - the Louis Vuitton bag he conveniently left in the trunk with the lamp(s) inside that Ben had recently purchased at Costco. Hmmm …
Also, has anyone noticed the enormity in the details given. Too many details often means someone may not be telling the truth.
I will be interested to receive confirmation that Ben was driving home from northern Arizona Thursday night. I last text back and forth with him at 9:20pm 12/30/21.
He was in good spirits, and he did not mention that he had been up to northern Arizona, was driving back, or that he was feeling at all fatigued.
That being the case, I found that part of the story a little strange. However, that doesn’t mean he had not been up north as Ben was somewhat secretive. He kind of compartmentalized his friends, and he did not always share information between his different friend groups. He liked a comfortable degree of separation.
Susan tried calling at 12:15pm. The phone went straight to voicemail. The body was found at 1:40pm. They used DNA from Ben’s toothbrush and hair brush that they matched to the remains to identify the body as his. Though MCSO will not release the manner of death, we have been informed he died instantly & did not suffer. They would not let family come down to the coroner’s office to see the body/did not need their id since already obtained the DNA match.
Since the area off Table Mesa Rd is a known outdoor target shooting location, it is common to hear gunshots. I would not be surprised (with the information we now have available) if the perpetrators had not taken him out to the desert still alive, and shot him there where the sound of the bullet would have been masked by other shots and nothing unusual to the ears of those around.
If killed elsewhere, wouldn’t blood have been seen/found? Also, as large a man as Ben was, it would have been extraordinarily difficult to move his body to another location.
Dan allegedly went to Ben’s residence until after 6pm. At that time, it is possible that Dan could have placed the cash, the cards, the wet towel, and he had Ben’s password so he even could have set up his work laptop to make it appear as though he had been home working.
All this chasing the car business allegedly went on in the hours that followed. I heard Dan or Sue quoted in one interview (I cannot remember which said it) say, “All the other businesses were closed so we just started driving hotel to hotel looking for Ben’s car…”
Now, I find it hard to believe that all the businesses off the I-17 and Dunlap were closed by 7:30pm on New Year’s Eve, and that they would be so lucky as to have actually encountered Ben’s car so easily finding it on the 4th Floor of the Sheraton Crescent.
They would have had to have had some kind of knowledge or guidance of where to look to “get that lucky.” That is, if this story is even true. If it is, where is the Sheraton security camera footage of these suspects? Why has that been released so the community could be better able to help identify and locate these alleged perpetrators.
My other theory is that this very well could have been a hate crime. Perhaps Ben approached the wrong person with romantic/sexual interest? Perhaps it was a person living as straight who had bisexual tendencies engaged in acts with Ben and then feared being outed? This is also possible.
Maybe it was a love triangle between Ben, Dan, and Dan’s husband, CH-S? Did anyone else notice that CH-S did not publicly share any of Dan’s Facebook posts w/regard to searching for our missing friend, Ben? Hmmm … He did change his profile pic to one of Dan’s fliers (eventually w/the $10,000 reward featured), but that was the extent of his efforts to assist. He has not offered any expression of sorrow, grief, or even condolences to his husband or to Ben’s friends which I also find extremely strange. Red flag for sure.
We can all only hope and pray that MCSO gets to the bottom of this, and justice is served for our Ben.
