CA Bailey Cameron, 23, Camp Pendleton Marine, last seen outside bar, San Diego, 25 August 2024

[TristanP]

In the larger photo you can see he bought a Smart Water, some kind of drink (looks like a Nesquik or Muscle Milk type of protein drink?) and I can't figure out what the small thing is. It looks pill-bottle sized but has writing on the top so not a standard childproof lid - maybe gum or a caffeine shot or something? or even a can with a blue pull tab like sugar free red bull?

edit - the more I look at the photo the more convinced I am it's sugar free red bull. Why would he be buying 3 full-size drinks?

Speaking from personal experience, that’s how you get all your food groups in when you’re neurodivergent.

 

[TristanP]

For a lot of people, leaving the military is extremely stressful. The structure and reliability can be very comforting, and men sometimes feel very adrift without that to count on.

At this point it seems he's voluntarily gone missing. I wonder what that is in his hand, in the store? Did he buy those things?

I’m thinking maybe he’s had a mental health crisis related to the stress of leaving active duty.

My hope is that maybe he has sought out mental health help somewhere. Do they have any MH crisis centers in the area?

 

[TristanP]

I see them pretty often, and in the pic it is hard to see it well, but the size and shape don’t look quite right for an Apple watch to me. It might be one of the other brands of smart watch (Garmin, etc), or he *could* have an aftermarket case on an Apple Watch - but in my experience cases aren’t very commonly used on them, so probably less likely.

JMO after much squinting

It’s a smart watch of some kind, for sure. If he has an iPhone then it’s likely an Apple Watch. There are others that pair with android devices.

If the phone and the watch are near each other, data is transmitted via Bluetooth.

Some watches can actually have an active phone number attached. Data could be available if both phone and watch back up to the same Apple ID in the cloud, but I’m not sure how it works with Androids.

I’m sure phone and watch data are one of the first things investigators checked, but I know it can take time to access the accounts. Hopefully it will reveal some data.

My Apple Watch only has battery life for about 24 hours, so the watch may be dead anyway.

 

[MollyHarps]

This case is confusing me.

Firstly, I really hope he’s okay and his family are in my thoughts.

If he wanted to start a new life he would’ve moved out of area surely or done more to disguise himself - I’m thinking more of a mental health breakdown.

I hope he manages to get help - I just hope this has a happy ending

 

[PommyMommy]

SEP 3, 2024

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/missing-marines-family-reports-son-spotted-on-base-still-no-contact/

“He had returned from a night out and was coming back to the barracks. He was in a class getting ready to exit the Marines on September 9th,” said Sharie Finn, who runs a nonprofit called the RAD Movement to help families like Cameron’s.

Through Finn’s assistance, the family learned Cameron had been spotted on base since going missing, but he lost contact with his command post and friends and hasn’t returned to his barracks.

“The behavior is so foreign. It’s foreign to how we knew him before he was a Marine, and it’s foreign to all the Marines here. It’s not Bailey,” Cameron’s father Kevin said.

 

[Oiseaux]

This case is confusing me.

Firstly, I really hope he’s okay and his family are in my thoughts.

If he wanted to start a new life he would’ve moved out of area surely or done more to disguise himself - I’m thinking more of a mental health breakdown.

I hope he manages to get help - I just hope this has a happy ending

I agree.

I notice that his physique looks pretty different in the missing photos as compared to the recent surveillance photos and video. There are tons of reasons why someone might change in that way - and this is meant with empathy, not criticism - but mental health struggles do sometimes impact behaviors in ways that can significantly change body composition over a relatively short period of time. It happened to me too, after a tough life change/mental health period a few years back. Could be situational for him, could be physiological, could be nothing at all, but it seemed relevant to mention that since mental health is being discussed as a possible factor.

I hope he gets the help he needs, whatever that is.