Found Deceased CA - Blaze Bernstein, 19, Lake Forest, 2 Jan 2018 #1

[UCLAEigenguy]

His mom recalls a recent conversation, asking him to turn on the location services on his phone. Because he was in school so far away, she wanted a way that she could always find him. The feature however was turned off. The phone is dead.

Just turning on Location Services doesn't help the parents in any way. It just allows apps access to his precise location without having to use triangulation from cell towers. Even if Location Services is turned off, LE can ping the phone and get its location.

If the parents wanted to see his location, he would need a special app for that, or a special service provided by the cell provider.

 

[Elainera]

I've looked at all the articles posted and can't find one that states the friend told detectives Blaze was upset. What MSM is this information comiy from?

RSBM

See JerseyGirl's post below.

It is now being reported that Blaze was 'upset' at the time:

Bernstein texted a friend from high school, asked him to pick him up and take him to Borrego Park to meet someone. The friend told detectives Bernstein was upset at the time. The friend waited in the car, then tried texting Bernstein without luck. The friend left the park and came back at 4 a.m. to look again, but Bernstein wasn’t there.

Bernstein is described as meticulous, always on time always returned text messages and has a zero tolerance policy for drug use.

“He left behind his wallet, his glasses that’s not him,” his dad said. “He’s a planner. He was intending to come home that night.”

His mom recalls a recent conversation, asking him to turn on the location services on his phone. Because he was in school so far away, she wanted a way that she could always find him. The feature however was turned off. The phone is dead.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/01/05/missing-student-from-foothill-ranch/

bbm

 

[Steelslady]

I've looked at all the articles posted and can't find one that states the friend told detectives Blaze was upset. What MSM is this information comiy from?

Also, what the parents were quoted as saying recently, specifically the father: "it's ok for you to come home.." implies to me they've done a little more digging and acknowledge their son might be distraught or willingly left on his own. When you suspect foul play, a parent's words to their child isn't going to be "it's ok for you to come home ". That statement implies BB is in control of whether to come home or not.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/01/05/missing-student-from-foothill-ranch

It could also be wishful thinking on the father's part. Perhaps whatever the friend told him indicated that he was upset or worried about something that he wouldn't have wanted his parents to know about, and maybe the father's thinking he's staying away because of it. It could be anything from he failed a class to as some have mentioned about, not coming out yet as gay., or drugs (even though he is anti-drugs before he went to college, he could have tried them and got addicted to them while there. Not the first time a kid tried something they said that they would never do and found out that they enjoyed it and continued using. Hard to say, because it could be any number of things or nothing at all, other than he was supposed to meet a friend.

Could a friend have been upset about something, maybe suicidal, and he went to go and try to talk them out of it? Could he have gone looking for him, and either tripped and fell, hurting himself, got disoriented and wandered into the woods?

Or could this friend have had evil intent in their mind- maybe it's someone he no longer wishes to hang out with, and decided to meet him just to let him have it about bothering him? Was the guy he drove with to the park also a mutual friend of the person he was meeting?

 

[JazzTune]

i wear glasses and must have 6 pair scattered around.
He might have a dress pair and a night pair. So leaving glasses rings no bell.
Now leaving the wallet, if he typically carried one says 'I don't want ID on me'.
Was cash left in the wallet I wonder?
It seems the friend was strictly a ride not backup.
I would have told my backup come looking for me if I'm not back in 20.
A rendezvous had never occurred to me but yes it seems plausible.
So the phone records would be key..the meet was arranged somehow, via text or app or landline.
I can understand the friend leaving..I hate to wait.
But back at 4 am?
What did the text to the lady friend say?
The father said he might be hiding? That's a strange thing to say..
sound the alarm but he might be hiding?
Maybe the stress makes you speculate out loud with no real basis.

Regarding glasses: I have needed glasses since I was a teenager but in my teenage and young adult years I didn't wear them because a guy had told me they make me ugly :facepalm: So if he was going to meet someone out of romantic or sexual interest it might make sense if he left them at home. Presumably he knew the area well enough to find his way around without the need for them.

So sorry if I sound like one of those people who read here with a microscope. I don't mean to come across that way.

This topic though seems important, mainly because his mother made a point of saying that he needed his glasses.

That tells me the glasses being left at home was very significant, and not just a casual afterthought.

Also if he did have multiple pairs, ( keeping in mind that one pair of prescription glasses is fairly expensive, ) I would think his mother would be aware of them. ( Since he was a college student she probably would have been the one responsible for payment. )

If that be the case, I doubt then if she would have even mentioned his glasses at all.

That's just my opinion though. You could be right, and he might have had an extra pair that his family weren't aware of.

So that is a valid point, and I could easily be wrong.

Now, the possibility of him leaving them at home because of perceived vanity with a romantic liaison, makes a lot of sense. I hadn't thought of that, and I could easily see it from a 19 y/o's point of view.

That is a good point as well.

No matter though whether the glasses are a pivotal point or not, I do hope he is found, and returns safely.

There can be no worse nightmare for parents than this...





JMO

 

[Elainera]

Another point regarding the glasses, if he indeed headed for a hook-up maybe he was worried to lose them in the dark, or that they might get damaged? Someone posted a link earlier here, of a petition residents had filed to "keep the park dark", so maybe it was quite dark once inside the park?

 

[luckylis]

RSBM

See JerseyGirl's post below.

The link Jersey Girl provided must've been updated because it no longer states the statement from the friend that BB was upset.

 

[Seajay]

I hope it's not him Seajay. This is so weird remember when Bryce Ladpisa went missing at Castaic Lake and there was also a burned body beyond recognition the same day or day after I can't remember but confirmed it wasn't him. Maybe it was? very coincidental

You are right, I hadn't thought about the parallel between Blaze's disappearance and Bryce's as far as a burned body found around the same time. But like you said, it wasn't Bryce and hopefully it's not Blaze now.

He's got to be somewhere. The longer he is missing, the more willing his family and friends are getting to give out more information. Like with Bryce Laspisa, much was kept a secret until it was too late. I hope the Bernstein family doesn't make the same mistake.

 

[Seajay]

The link Jersey Girl provided must've been updated because it no longer states the statement from the friend that BB was upset.

The never ending changes in the facts in cases we work, thanks to the media. So I guess now we have to throw that information out of our brains and out of our posts.

 

[Elainera]

The link Jersey Girl provided must've been updated because it no longer states the statement from the friend that BB was upset.

You're right! How odd. I wonder was it a mistake the first time, or were they told (by whom?why?) to remove it?

Thank you for checking luckylis.

 

[moon12]

Based on his Spotify account, I suspect that Blaze is gay (he has a playlist called Party But Gay filled with Lady Gaga and Beyonce and a lot of Abba and Ariana Grande in his other playlists). I am not sure if this information is relevant, but it might be.

 

[Elainera]

Based on his Spotify account, I suspect that Blaze is gay (he has a playlist called Party But Gay filled with Lady Gaga and Beyonce and a lot of Abba and Ariana Grande in his other playlists). I am not sure if this information is relevant, but it might be.

Thank you. Can you provide a link?

 

[UCLAEigenguy]

Or... To hide a body...(sorry... )

As soon as I saw the map, that was my first suspicion. Lure someone to kill them and hide the body in the wilderness. My hinky meter would have been going off big time. Sadly it wasn't for BB and the friend.

Am I the only one who is confused with the reporting?

The reporting is very sloppy and frustrating. It's almost as if the reporter is trying to be a mystery writer rather than a reporter. The newest info is that the friend used the restroom and when he came out, BB was gone. That's not suspicious in itself since that's the entire reason he went to the park. They need to stick to the facts.

I am starting to feel like BOTH of them were supposed to meet this third friend.

Most perplexing to me is why no one seems to know who he was meeting at the park. Wouldn’t his buddy (the driver) ask why they were taking him to the park? Who he was meeting? .

This is very bizarre. I believe police spoke to him, no? This must be intentionally withheld.

I still don't understand why he needed a friend to come pick him up to go 5 mins to the park.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156115482509914&set=gm.169485110479614&type=3&theater

To me puzzling means that either someone else wrote the text, or he was drugged and didn't make sense.

I am very curious if the girl texted the driver friend and that's why he returned to the park at 4am.

 

[moon12]

https://open.spotify.com/user/blazingbernstein This is his account name. The last song added was to the "cooking" playlist, "How Deep Is Your Love" by the Bee Gees 5 days ago (so right around when he was cooking dinner for his family on the night he disappeared).

 

[Elainera]

Before leaving home, Bernstein had been in lengthy communication with his friend using social media apps that do not leave a permanent record

Bernstein was last seen late Tuesday at Borrego Park near Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, where he had gone to meet a friend.

“The friend told investigators that he went to the restroom, and when he came out Blaze had walked off. We do not believe foul play was involved at this point, and the friend is only a witness, not a suspect or person of concern.”

“We have a search-and-rescue team of 25 deputies and canine units fanning out across the area today in search of clues."

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-oc-missing-student-20180106-story.html

bbm Regarding why nobody seems to know who Blaze met at the park, the statement above (bolded) might explain it - maybe nobody knows! Conversations on these kind of apps are often anonymous and with strangers.

ETA: I'm aware it says "with his friend" but that may be again sloppy reporting.

 

[Whiteorchids]

You are right, I hadn't thought about the parallel between Blaze's disappearance and Bryce's as far as a burned body found around the same time. But like you said, it wasn't Bryce and hopefully it's not Blaze now.

He's got to be somewhere. The longer he is missing, the more willing his family and friends are getting to give out more information. Like with Bryce Laspisa, much was kept a secret until it was too late. I hope the Bernstein family doesn't make the same mistake.

What worries me are the mountain lions at whiting ranch there have been bicyclist and hikers attacked and killed there. Two come to mind. I wonder if Blaze has any survival skills? It's already been four days and it gets really cold at night. Without his glasses he could be trapped, fallen into a Ravine, or perhaps gone off a cliff. Hopefully it was him spotted on the toll road and he was headed to a more populated area. Even with location services on I get horrible service while I'm hiking or in that area. I have T-Mobile.

I wonder if he got a friend to pick him up and that's why he turned location services off or maybe he simply lost service.

He certainly has a full plate at college and only being 19 so much pressure. His Dad is a successful CFO I read about him on different websites including his companies. Maybe he didn't want to let his Dad down he wasn't happy. When I watched the interview with his Dad he was very proud of Blaze and his many accomplishments, goals, and career path. It was a lot I could see how Blaze at 19 would feel stressed and overwhelmed.

 

[crhedBngr]

You are right, I hadn't thought about the parallel between Blaze's disappearance and Bryce's as far as a burned body found around the same time. But like you said, it wasn't Bryce and hopefully it's not Blaze now.

He's got to be somewhere. The longer he is missing, the more willing his family and friends are getting to give out more information. Like with Bryce Laspisa, much was kept a secret until it was too late. I hope the Bernstein family doesn't make the same mistake.

RBBM

As anyone who has lived in the greater L.A. area knows, traffic is absolutely horrible much of the time. My first impression is no way could this be BB in the burned-out vehicle discovered in the Angeles National Forest.

However, this took place the day after New Years Day. Traffic here has been extremely light and many businesses gave their employees time off over the holidays, including several days after Jan. 1. So, unfortunately, it is possible that someone could drive from one end of L.A. to the other and dispose of a body.

I really wonder about the petition to "keep the park dark". Why? I know people like to jog or walk after dark; keeping a park poorly lit on purpose just doesn't make sense to me.

JMVHO.

 

['Ailina]

RBBM

As anyone who has lived in the greater L.A. area knows, traffic is absolutely horrible much of the time. My first impression is no way could this be BB in the burned-out vehicle discovered in the Angeles National Forest.

However, this took place the day after New Years Day. Traffic here has been extremely light and many businesses gave their employees time off over the holidays, including several days after Jan. 1. So, unfortunately, it is possible that someone could drive from one end of L.A. to the other and dispose of a body.

I really wonder about the petition to "keep the park dark". Why? I know people like to jog or walk after dark; keeping a park poorly lit on purpose just doesn't make sense to me.

JMVHO.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.oc...h-residents-want-to-keep-their-park-dark/amp/

I read it has to do with plans to improve the existing facilities. You can read the arguments at this link.

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['Ailina]

RBBM

As anyone who has lived in the greater L.A. area knows, traffic is absolutely horrible much of the time. My first impression is no way could this be BB in the burned-out vehicle discovered in the Angeles National Forest.

However, this took place the day after New Years Day. Traffic here has been extremely light and many businesses gave their employees time off over the holidays, including several days after Jan. 1. So, unfortunately, it is possible that someone could drive from one end of L.A. to the other and dispose of a body.

I really wonder about the petition to "keep the park dark". Why? I know people like to jog or walk after dark; keeping a park poorly lit on purpose just doesn't make sense to me.

JMVHO.

If my figuring is right, BB was last seen late Tuesday night -- possibly very early Wednesday morning, if the toll road sighting was him. The burning vehicle was found early Friday morning. That's about 48 hours.

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[Mudcat]

Based on his Spotify account, I suspect that Blaze is gay (he has a playlist called Party But Gay filled with Lady Gaga and Beyonce and a lot of Abba and Ariana Grande in his other playlists). I am not sure if this information is relevant, but it might be.

Lana Del Rey, which has a huge gay fan base is prominate on his Spotify account as well. Irrespective of this young man's perceived sexuality...this whole matter is tragic and my heart goes out to his family. Let's hope for a happy ending to this story.

 

[UCLAEigenguy]

Before leaving home, Bernstein had been in lengthy communication with his friend using social media apps that do not leave a permanent record

That's interesting.

The conversation may still be with the friend.

Most of these "anonymous" apps do leave behind a trail on the phone as cache. Even if not, recovery programs can often find remnants.