AZ AZ - Paul David Sanders, 17, Mesa, 12 August 2001

[Ciriii57]

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Ciriii57​

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We do not believe Paul was driving the truck. We have been able to discover he was far to new of a driver, only being licensed about 6ish months. The truck was able to evade law enforcement entirely to easily. Sadly, no one knows how many people were in the truck at the time of the pursuit. We have an 'Agency assist" report for the police department that aided AZDPS, but the trooper that actually INITIATED the pursuit, never deemed it necessary to actually file a report on the incident. He only requested a "cancellation report." The officer's from the assisting agency was never able to get a look at the driver, or how many occupants were in the vehicle.​

We only have some minor "hearsay" that he "hung out with the wrong crowd." From the people we have spoke to, that were friends with Paul prior to his disappearance, not one person confirmed this "bad crowd" scenario.
As for the argument with his dad, we have suspected reasons WHY the argument happened. We just haven't been able to confirm it, as of yet. (We suspect it was whom Paul's "girlfriend" was at the time. But we can not go into much detail about that.)

The vehicle was located about 300 yards off of Redington Pass near Mile Post 16.2. It was reported the truck was "on its side, on a steep hill, with no known roads to the location of the truck." They also stated the "windows and mirrors were broken, and damage to the undercarriage"

The reporting party stated they could see "keys and a wallet" in the truck. Upon recovery of the vehicle, they later found Paul's Wallet, keys, hat, cell phone was recovered, as well as cigarettes' and a lighter.

The cigarettes and lighter is another reason we do not believe Paul to be the driver of the truck. He did NOT smoke, nor did he like the smell of cigarettes. His mom was reportedly a "heavy smoker" and never liked how they smelled. He would not have allowed someone to smoke in his vehicle either.

The night of the pursuit (August 12, 2001) there was NO inclement weather. There has been talk that the weather was the reason for the ending of the pursuit. That is not true. The pursuit ended when the AZDPS Trooper Curly drove over stop sticks that was intended for the fleeing truck. The weather did not happen until late in the night of the 13th. This is when the truck was first located. However, they had to wait to recover the truck until the morning of the 15th. They had a pretty bad storm near Gila County, and the Catalina Mountain range. High winds, thunderstorms, hail and flash flooding.

At 9am August 15, 2001.. Search and Rescue& Pima County, with the assistance of Air Support, performed a ground and air search of the area. No signs of Paul could be located. We have copies of this detailed report as well.

Thank you for showing interest in Paul's case. Please continue to ask all the questions!!!

Hey @karie911 thank you so much for all of thr info!

well I would agree with you, it doesn't sound at all like Paul was in that truck. Had Paul ever recieved any kind of DUI or similar that would have made him fearful to get caught by the police? Do we know what the reason is that LE were in pursuit, especially since it seems like the vehicle was never stopped, so I assume it was a chase? And the circumstances seem so suspicious, like you say, it was way too easy for them to avoid law enforcement and also that no report was officially filed suggetss something is not right. The smoking thing clinched it for me because there's no way a non-smoker would have cigarettes in their car unless they were with someone else that smoked, and in that case a smoker is unlikely to leave their cigarettes (trust me, they are the first thing I grab when the fire alarm goes off at work!) but also leaving everything else behind doesn't make any sense; especially if you are on the run from LE because obviously they can identify you by what you leave in the car! NO...I don't think there was any way Paul was driving that vehicle.

I only just realised that he was last seen by his grandma? Is that correct. So if we assume that he was NOT driving his Dad's vehicle then that means he disappeared and someone took his vehicle wherever he went after visiting his grandma? Is that right? Do we have any idea where that was?

I realise that you cannot say much about Paul's "girlfriend"...so I am gonna go ahead and dive in with both feet. Would I be right to assume that not only did she cause the argument with his dad, but that perhaps the references to Paul hanging with the wronf crowd might be specifically a reference to this "lady" and maybe even her acquaintances who I guess Paul may have known through her? Would these people be a viable place to point fingers?

If I had to make a guess at this point it sounds like Paul was in that vehicle, hence all of his stuff being in it. If something bad happened to him then my immediate thought is that it was someone else who was travelling in that vehicle with him. I can't see any situation that he would leave all of that stuff in the vehicle...even if he only stopped at a store or quickly in someone's house he would still surely take his wallet and/or phone?

 

[karie911]

Ciriii57​

First, allow me to apologize for it taking so long to respond. I have been working some crazy hours.

AZDPS attempted to stop the driver of the truck for "erratic driving." The trooper believed the driver to be "under the influence" of an unknown substance. Paul had never been stopped by LE for any offense. In fact, Paul had only been a licensed driver for under a year. It was reported by numerous people that "Paul drove like a Grandma."
We believe the driver was able to evade LE so easily, because whomever was driving that truck also had similar driver's training.

We personally believe Paul was already deceased prior to the pursuit, that's why his possessions would have been left in the truck. We often wonder if Paul's truck was used to transport Paul's body, after the murder.

We are actually concerned that whatever happened to Paul, happened between the 10th and the 12th of August. It was reported the last time Grandma saw Paul, was on August 10th. But dad claims Paul was suppose to be going to grandma's on the afternoon of the 12th. We only have what Grandma posted on Facebook, at this time, for Grandma's word. LE never deemed it necessary to actually interview her, or any other person in Paul's family... Aside from "Dad."
Paul's dad purchased the truck for Paul to drive. Paul's dad had his own truck, and Paul's stepmom also had a vehicle of her own. IMHO: Paul's dad only purchased the truck for Paul, because he knew Paul's mom could not afford such purchases. Sort of a "buy his love" scenario.

As for the girlfriend. I do believe she was a spot of contention. Could possibly be the reason that they argued. We also do not believe she was not any cause of "bad crowd." We also, do not have any actual proof of actual "bad crowd" of friends. In fact, quite the opposite. However, it could also be that Dad found out Paul had intentions to return to his Mom in Missouri. I often wonder what Paul knew his dad was involved in, and afraid Paul would "tell" once out of dad's control.

 

[PhiercePhi]

BUMP

 

[karie911]

It has been 8,456 days. Where is Paul Sanders