“I believe that backpack and that computer hold the key to what happened to him right after he died,” he said. “If that backpack and computer were in Jo Goode’s house or if she had sold them or pawned it, there might be somebody that knew Jo Goode that didn’t realize any of this even happened.”
He said if someone did buy that computer from her or if it could be traced back to her, it would prove his theory regarding Mann’s place of death.
Goode died in January of this year and Terry said the landlords cleaned out the apartment shortly after her death, preventing a search of the location. He said there’s always the possibility that the official investigation turns up previously unknown evidence that sheds a radically new light on the circumstances, but short of a deus ex machina he thinks the computer is the key to explaining those final moments of Mann’s life.
“Nobody has found that computer, that backpack and I think that’s the key,” he said. “Somebody in Santa Monica might have that computer right now and not even realize that it belongs to this urban legend. And I think that breaks this case wide open.”
A representative for the Mann family said they don’t necessarily agree with all of Terry’s conclusions about Beau’s death and while Terry is a figure of some controversy due to his work on other cases, they appreciated his efforts.