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

[iscaremyself]

I don't think this was a pre-planned murder. I still believe this was over a break up or jealousy, or some other kind of relationship drama, with the driver being the person who killed Blaze in an act of anger/jealousy/hurt etc. jm2c

that's right.. the 4am return.. certainly is possible there never was a 3rd person

 

[JBFletch]

Just chiming in as another person who has grown up in Foothill Ranch, a few blocks from the park.

Apparently this family is quite well-known and loved in the community. It's interesting following this thread how people were quickly able to figure out that BB was gay. When I first skimmed an article about the discovery of his body, my first thought was "this must have been a drug deal or hookup gone wrong."

To be honest, the time of year makes it very very likely that this was indeed a hookup gone wrong. A lot of guys are back visiting their family, and everyone is on apps like Grindr. Since everyone is at their parents' house, you'll get a lot of guys who are trying to meet up in some public but secret place like the park. Sad to say, but this is a time where you could easily meet someone online (everyone is feeling trapped back in their parents' home) and that person could turn out to be less than savory. The general conservative culture of Orange County makes it even more likely you'd run across someone unstable and with issues related to their sexuality.

 

[prue]

It's interesting that when you go to the Newport Beach Police Department website and go to the calls for service link there either were no calls between 1:31am and 5:26am this morning or they removed those calls during that time period from their online record. (There is no way there were no calls in the entire city between that time period.) http://www.nbpd.org/crime/calls/

Perhaps because the search warrant was executed by the Orange County Sheriff Department who have jurisdiction not only over this case but the entire County. The Sherriff's are the top dogs.

 

[crhedBngr]

Just chiming in as another person who has grown up in Foothill Ranch, a few blocks from the park.

Apparently this family is quite well-known and loved in the community. It's interesting following this thread how people were quickly able to figure out that BB was gay. When I first skimmed an article about the discovery of his body, my first thought was "this must have been a drug deal or hookup gone wrong."

To be honest, the time of year makes it very very likely that this was indeed a hookup gone wrong. A lot of guys are back visiting their family, and everyone is on apps like Grindr. Since everyone is at their parents' house, you'll get a lot of guys who are trying to meet up in some public but secret place like the park. Sad to say, but this is a time where you could easily meet someone online (everyone is feeling trapped back in their parents' home) and that person could turn out to be less than savory. The general conservative culture of Orange County makes it even more likely you'd run across someone unstable and with issues related to their sexuality.

RBBM

Welcome, JBFletch, and thanks for that input. I can understand this line of thinking, coming from a conservative family myself.

 

[freebird2018]

YES!!! it is wiped clean....

Thank you, SoCalRes. I know that was difficult.

Perhaps because the search warrant was executed by the Orange County Sheriff Department who have jurisdiction not only over this case but the entire County. The Sherriff's are the top dogs.

 

[Voice4theSilent]

Perhaps because the search warrant was executed by the Orange County Sheriff Department who have jurisdiction not only over this case but the entire County. The Sherriff's are the top dogs.

My interest had less to do with who has jurisdiction or authority (they actually work together and would oblige, regardless) but that they knew people would look and so they had the record of the 911 calls about the dogs barking removed from the log, so we wouldn't know the area the call(s) came in.

 

[T_mar]

I guess it means they got all of any evidence needed from the area since his discovery. I just feel like other tragic events like car accidents or fires, other injuries or deaths they keep the public well away for a while. Less than 24 hours from when he was found and people are able to walk all over the park. Maybe that’s normal?

not only normal but also normal human behavior. Can’t imagine having a play date at that park today or the next couple months actually. And absolutely not before POI is arrested. But I’d also like to assume before judging I guess that maybe some people aren’t aware of what’s happening...

 

[Voice4theSilent]

If they are supposed to have the results of the autopsy tonight I imagine an arrest warrant, and an arrest, would probably quickly follow tonight, as well. Hoping for swift justice for Blaze's family.

 

[Whiteorchids]

The photo of Blaze with the dog I I posted was from the Michelle Gile news reporter channel 9 covering this case twitter page the reporter posted It is that not allowed either? I figured that was ok. If not let me know please sonetines TOS can be a little confusing on some things.

 

[T_mar]

My interest had less to do with who has jurisdiction or authority (they actually work together and would oblige, regardless) but that they knew people would look and so they had the record of the 911 calls about the dogs barking removed from the log, so we wouldn't know the area the call(s) came in.

dogs barking? This thread moves so fast! Trying my best to keep up. Leave to cook dinner and I miss something like this. Can you explain or since there’s no link now you can’t?

 

[JBFletch]

The Grindr/hookup theory would make the "friend" story more plausible... BB sounded like a pretty intelligent guy, so he has the friend take him "just in case." (But "just in case" could be... "just in case I need a cover story for my folks" or "just in case the guy flakes" or "just in case the guy ends up being a catfish." I think very rarely do people want to think "just in case my life is in danger.)

After BB goes further into the park, the friend waited for a response from BB, didn't hear back, and since (from what the family has said) BB was typically very prompt in replying to texts, the friend assumes BB was in the middle of the hookup and so the friend left. The speculation being that BB had told him he'd just get a ride back with the hookup.

And then flash forward to a few hours later, the friend still hasn't heard from BB that the hookup went fine, THEN the friend starts to panic and goes back to look for him.

I could believe that, if the friend was lying about "not knowing who the third person was" if he wanted to "protect" BB from the disapproval of BB going to a park for a hookup.

Otherwise, the friend's story sounds super sketchy. If it were a drug deal, I don't see any scenario in which a friend would just LEAVE.

Plus it would make sense why BB didn't bring his wallet or glasses. You wouldn't bring your wallet in case you encounter a thief. And you don't wear your glasses because you don't want to look "unsexy." Again, while he might have been smart enough to bring a friend in case things didn't pan out, I'd say very rarely do people assume there's the possibility their life will be in danger. Just their wallet.

 

[veets]

You can normally check out the Orange County Sheriff blotter to get an idea:

http://www.ocsd.org/gov/sheriff/howdoi/eservices/blotter.asp

But I don't see anything from Newport that strikes my interest.

 

[strawberry]

This is the second Penn Student to die tragically since the new year. Both freshmen it seems http://6abc.com/penn-student-family-killed-in-costa-rica-plane-crash/2846909/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CrimeDawg123]

The Grindr/hookup theory would make the "friend" story more plausible... BB sounded like a pretty intelligent guy, so he has the friend take him "just in case." (But "just in case" could be... "just in case I need a cover story for my folks" or "just in case the guy flakes" or "just in case the guy ends up being a catfish." I think very rarely do people want to think "just in case my life is in danger.)

After BB goes further into the park, the friend waited for a response from BB, didn't hear back, and since (from what the family has said) BB was typically very prompt in replying to texts, the friend assumes BB was in the middle of the hookup and so the friend left. The speculation being that BB had told him he'd just get a ride back with the hookup.

And then flash forward to a few hours later, the friend still hasn't heard from BB that the hookup went fine, THEN the friend starts to panic and goes back to look for him.

I could believe that, if the friend was lying about "not knowing who the third person was" if he wanted to "protect" BB from the disapproval of BB going to a park for a hookup.

Otherwise, the friend's story sounds super sketchy. If it were a drug deal, I don't see any scenario in which a friend would just LEAVE.

Plus it would make sense why BB didn't bring his wallet or glasses. You wouldn't bring your wallet in case you encounter a thief. And you don't wear your glasses because you don't want to look "unsexy." Again, while he might have been smart enough to bring a friend in case things didn't pan out, I'd say very rarely do people assume there's the possibility their life will be in danger. Just their wallet.

BBM. And if that happened, what is that friend to do. He can't alert Blaze's parents very well, can he? Can't easily go to the cops - and say what? If that scenario is what happened, that poor kid was really in a bad spot. They didn't think things through very well IMO.

 

[DizzyB]

I still am very surprised that the crime scene was released so quickly. The entire investigation took place under cover of darkness, with no reporters following leads they had heard from hanging around, no reports of vehicles moving in and out of the scene overnight, no command post set up for evidence retrieval and processing on scene.

I'm also doubting the so called buddy story-maybe LE knew all along. Could a Newport Beach resident attend the same charter school that Blaze did?

 

[charminglane]

dogs barking? This thread moves so fast! Trying my best to keep up. Leave to cook dinner and I miss something like this. Can you explain or since there’s no link now you can’t?

Tell me about it. Two days worth of dishes in the sink!
Done now...

 

[mistivon]

The Grindr/hookup theory would make the "friend" story more plausible... BB sounded like a pretty intelligent guy, so he has the friend take him "just in case." (But "just in case" could be... "just in case I need a cover story for my folks" or "just in case the guy flakes" or "just in case the guy ends up being a catfish." I think very rarely do people want to think "just in case my life is in danger.)

After BB goes further into the park, the friend waited for a response from BB, didn't hear back, and since (from what the family has said) BB was typically very prompt in replying to texts, the friend assumes BB was in the middle of the hookup and so the friend left. The speculation being that BB had told him he'd just get a ride back with the hookup.

And then flash forward to a few hours later, the friend still hasn't heard from BB that the hookup went fine, THEN the friend starts to panic and goes back to look for him.

I could believe that, if the friend was lying about "not knowing who the third person was" if he wanted to "protect" BB from the disapproval of BB going to a park for a hookup.

Otherwise, the friend's story sounds super sketchy. If it were a drug deal, I don't see any scenario in which a friend would just LEAVE.

Plus it would make sense why BB didn't bring his wallet or glasses. You wouldn't bring your wallet in case you encounter a thief. And you don't wear your glasses because you don't want to look "unsexy." Again, while he might have been smart enough to bring a friend in case things didn't pan out, I'd say very rarely do people assume there's the possibility their life will be in danger. Just their wallet.

Actually the drug thing makes sense to me. If the driver was in fear for his life and was not a good friend of Blaze, he may very well have high tailed it out of there if he saw someone chasing Blaze... He didn't want to be next. Also kinda fits with the going back. He went to see if Blaze was hurt or dead, waiting long enough to feel comfortable that the perp was gone.
He also would not want to then tell the truth. Not only could he be afraid of facing charges but seriously afraid of what people would think and say about him just leaving his friend.
In another case I was super close to, there were rumors that almost that same thing happened. The person who had been with the victim was afraid of going to jail for her part, afraid the bad guys would come after her and afraid she would be blamed for the victims death (all rumor in that case)

 

[Invisible]

Two years would've been about right -- that's high school, isn't it.

Wow...go hug your kids right now.

 

[T_mar]

I still am very surprised that the crime scene was released so quickly. The entire investigation took place under cover of darkness, with no reporters following leads they had heard from hanging around, no reports of vehicles moving in and out of the scene overnight, no command post set up for evidence retrieval and processing on scene.

I'm also doubting the so called buddy story-maybe LE knew all along. Could a Newport Beach resident attend the same charter school that Blaze did?

anyone can apply from Orange County. Possibly even further surrounding areas I guess...

https://www.ocsarts.net/

 

[miamid3003]

As a former LEO I see a likely arrest coming tomorrow am in regards to the friend who picked the victim up. I’m sure this individual is under heavy surveillance as LE is likely hoping to find that last piece of “slam dunk” evidence they would like but don’t need.