Found Deceased CA - Blaze Bernstein, 19, Lake Forest, 2 Jan 2018 #3

[gitana1]

I'm so sorry Blaze is dead, apparently due to homicide. Whatever happened -- whether and how it involved that drainage pipe or something else -- I hope he died quickly.

I wonder whether he or an assailant sent that text at 11:30pm, the one that later caused concern. For him to have sent it, he would have to have been still alive yet probably under threat or injured. In that case, because he was apparently using a phone borrowed from a relative, I wonder whether he (a) had imported his contacts or (b) remembered the number of the friend he texted, implying it was someone who he knew well. (He might've texted that person precisely because it was someone whose number he remembered.) Unless of course that person's number was also in his relative's phone.

If an assailant sent the text, the assailant would have had to know the number of the friend, unless again the number happened to be in Blaze's relative's phone. Perhaps it was a mutual friend?

The phone thing is odd. If you know you're in trouble it's typically too late to send a message, or if not, you still have time to yell and the friend in the car would've heard it. So that points to the friend being involved and maybe sending a fake text.

But I don;t know. I could see this being the odd situation of a friend driving him to a Tinder/Grindr hook-up and waiting in the car, maybe because Blaze wanted a friend nearby just in case, and then something happened, but the friend didn;t do anything because he or she did not know if everything was still going on, then after a time was too afraid to walk around in the dark up there, and didn't call police because young people that age can still be secretive and wary of adults.

What makes me pause on that possibility though is the fact that this friend never called the parents or authorities the next day and had to be contacted by, who? LE? The parents? Because I can understand some level of keeping secrets but at a certain point, if there is no contact, wouldn;t the friend feel the need to seek help with the situation?

 

[luckylis]

I definitely stand corrected on the driver friend. I had always thought he was innocent in the situation, but the way OCSD skirted around answering the reporters' questions as to whether the friend is a person of interest....I would think if the friend was truly innocent, OCSD would say so??

 

[Whiteorchids]

The rain would have washed away dragging tracks in the dirt and grass along with other evidence so maybe it was planned knowing the first big rain was coming that it would wash it away.

If he was shot or stabbed probably planned but If strangled here in CA heat of passion killing is charged as 2nd degree which sucks IMHO

 

[ishouldbworking]

Note how easy it is to get from that corner of the park to the small parking lot below. Perhaps the person who did this discovered the drain pipe earlier, prepped it by removing the lid, and basically orchestrated the whole thing. Parking in the small lot, arranging (somehow) for BB to meet him in that dark corner of Borego Park, and finally escaping down the ramp to his car.

That is a different parking lot, that goes to Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park and the line you have drawn in red goes up a small hillside. The parking lot is on the other side by the playground.

 

[neesaki]

Oh no, have been out all day and just found out. I was so hoping he had just ran off or was hiding out in a friends home. :tears:

 

[Whiteorchids]

I don’t have much to add. I’m so devastated. My son came home from school and just as I was about to tell him what we learned today ... he told me first , as he told me Blaze’s Sister is in one of his classes [emoji20]. We will be going to the vigil tonight with heavy hearts.

Where and when is the vigil tonight?

 

[Auntisemantic]

Where and when is the vigil tonight?

There will be a candlelight vigil for Blaze at 6:30pm.
26982 Cabriole
Foothill Ranch, Ca 92610

 

[Nancy2441]

I was out all day and just received the news at 3:00 pm. I am just feeling devasttated. Last night I had a very strong feeling he was deceased. Feeling terrible for his family and friends. He sounded like such an amazing young man who could of had an amazing life. What a tragedy!!

 

[T_mar]

https://www.google.com/amp/abcnews....und-dead-homicide-suspected/story?id=52262847

ive only heard “surrounding brush”. Is there a specific link to where they say they found him in the pipe? Also, in the YouTube video posted on here I see footprints, but could that have also been from reporters? I did not notice tracks where a car had driven up closer. I’m still very very surprised that crime scene was left that way with the pipe not properly closed up. Very odd. Especially in neighborhoods such as this, with a children’s park close by, a school, and most obvious reasons if this was the crime scene.
I’m interested to hear what has been discovered in autopsy...

 

[Mommy333]

The vigil is at the park at 6pm

 

[catastrophe_]

Always a lot of confusion on the use of the number 420.

420 is the penal code section for marijuana use in California. Nope.
Section 420 of the California penal code refers to obstructing entry on public land. The penal codes of other states list different entries for 420, but none of them matches anything having to do with marijuana.
https://www.snopes.com/language/stories/420.asp

The word "Blaze" is also used as a term itself, that has to do with marijuana/cannabis, smoking it and other related terms... (i.e.: the phrase "blaze it up" refers to smoking marijuana.)

While I believe, that possibly for him to have a name like 'Blaze' his whole life, and living in California a while, that eventually he might have come to find it sort of an inevitable self-fulfilling prophecy for him to one day be pressured into (or at least, individually, himself want to) experiment with marijuana in some fashion.

But when he ever participated in this, or if it has ever happened at all, for the first time just once, thrice, or even too many times to count, or truly never, we might never really know; unless it's some way directly addressed by family or friends that knew him closest like that.

 

[Whiteorchids]

Chief of Police said autopsy was being performed today and they should know cause of death tonight. Thats really fast I wonder if it's being done quickly in order to arrest the perp. I'm not going to say friend anymore because friends don't kill each other.

 

[Whiteorchids]

The vigil is at the park at 6pm

Borrego? I can't make it that early. Is it going to be streamed?

 

[christyj637]

Great post! I totally agree with this.

I am a Single Mom to a 19 year old Sophomore that goes to school 1500 miles away from home. My name is on (most) of his student loans, I pay his health insurance, I pay his cell phone, I trek up there to move him in/out of student housing. He doesn't drive (long story that involved being almost crushed by a trash truck - he swears he doesn't have PTSD from being the passenger but I disagree...and digress....) He's computer-smart, book-smart but definitely not life-smart.

I worry. And I come from a background of having horrible things happen to family (Dad was murdered). When he left for school we agreed that he would have the app Life360 on his (Android) phone so that I could rest assured that he was in appropriate places at appropriate times. I told him that he was (then) 18 and if he ever felt that I was being intrusive or inappropriate with the info that he could delete the app. I checked the app daily for the first few weeks but now that he's been away for 1.5 years, I usually only check it once or twice a week (mostly because it gives me a warm fuzzy to but that little [emoji813] next to his location).

I don't think it was inappropriate for Blaze's Mom to want location tracking on his phone. Moms worry. And if it was for more than just general "Mom-worry-ness" I still feel it was within her discretion to ask for that option.

I have Life360 on my daughter's phone who is away at college and it gives me great piece of mind.

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[thebes]

The word "Blaze" is also used as a term itself, that has to do with marijuana/cannabis, smoking it and other related terms... (i.e.: the phrase "blaze it up" refers to smoking marijuana.)

While I believe, that possibly for him to have a name like 'Blaze' his whole life, and living in California a while, that eventually he might have come to find it sort of an inevitable self-fulfilling prophecy for him to one day be pressured into (or at least, individually, himself want to) experiment with marijuana in some fashion.

But when he ever participated in this, or if it has ever happened at all, for the first time just once, thrice, or even too many times to count, or not at all, we might never really know; unless it's some way directly addressed by family or friends that knew him closest like that.

Yeah, "420 Blaze It" is a meme - hence his tumbler is "420 Blaze Me". He was just being punny. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/420-blaze-it

Poor Blaze - RIP.

 

[mrsu]

I wonder if “friend” will potentially be returning to college? I know some places start back next Tuesday. Reason to expedite things?

 

[sweetcaro]

Very sad to see this news even though it was pretty much expected. RIP Blaze, a life cut way too short.

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[misshestermoffet]

Here's a thought: could LE being very cagey about the "buddy/driver" because that person could be a witness to the individual responsible? Perhaps the buddy did drive him there and may have witnessed with a physical description of what the third party looked like, and thus, police are protecting the identity for safety and because driver is young? Edited to add: it may make sense as to why we've heard multiple stories as to what happened from alleged driver. LE may be trying to underestimate driver as a witness.

 

[appleeye]

Not at all abnormal for parents to have tracking on their kids phones. I do. I don't always use it but it is helpful.

 

[Mommy333]

I’m not sure how to reply to anyone from my phone, but to answer the question about the vigil, they are requesting for people to come at 6 and the candles will be lit at 6:30.