Found Deceased CA - Blaze Bernstein, 19, Lake Forest, 2 Jan 2018 #4

[leah]

Some info:

According to the affidavit, the friend and Bernstein both attended the same Orange County high school. The friend said he picked up Bernstein and they drove to a parking lot of a Hobby Lobby in Lake Forest Jan. 2 to "hang out" and "catch up," the paper reports.

The friend said Bernstein told him they were going to meet another friend from high school, and they drove to the Borrego Park parking lot shortly before midnight, reports the OC Register. The friend said Bernstein walked by himself into the park. After about an hour, the friend said he tried to contact Bernstein unsuccessfully on SnapChat, then left around 1 a.m. and drove to his girlfriend's house in Tustin.

When Bernstein still hadn't responded around 3:40 a.m., the friend said, he returned to the park around 3:40 a.m. to search for him.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/details-emerge-about-friends-account-of-blaze-bernsteins-last-moments/

I beleive BB was picked up by the friend about 10:30 p.m. and he was last seen seen around 11 p.m. on Jan. 2 while entering Borrego Park.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...blaze-bernstein-found-california-park-n836576

BB's phone was shut off (or location tracking purposes) were shut off at 11:30 p.m

El Toro High School? My daughters went there, and they also went to the grade school by the park, we lived very close, before moving. Miss the Foothill Ranch community, and feel sick about all of this, terrible.

 

[Brownie01]

Also we don't know for sure that the rental car is the car the friend picked Blaze up in. We just know the rental car is what he showed up in to go talk to the police.

Yep, it would make sense if he rented another car knowing that the car he owns was full of incriminating evidence. (Kind of like when I was in college and the student who struck and killed my friend with his car late one night fled the scene and immediately drove out of state to get the car repaired.) And perhaps the camping gear etc was purchased after the fact with either a plan to flee or a plan to go back and move BB’s body to another location. I do wonder about the belt, though.

I would love a timeline of when the suspect was interviewed. Dirt under the fingernails DAYS after the murder seems super odd.

 

[gitana1]

Not sure if this area is the same as mine, but in the next county over (maybe 2), there are no stores open 24 hours except maybe a CVS. Floored me when I first moved here. Maybe the area near the park is different?

There is a mega Walmart very nearby the park. I think across Portola.

ETA to only open until 11. Foothill Ranch Road, Lake Forest.

 

[mistivon]

Also we don't know for sure that the rental car is the car the friend picked Blaze up in. We just know the rental car is what he showed up in to go talk to the police.

So going on the "a little truth" assumption, there is approximately an hour where Blaze and the driver are both in the park. I wonder if we will ever know what happened during that hour. How dry was the ground there? I wonder how much time was spent trying to bury Blaze (so sorry) if indeed he was?

 

[stlrfninca]

Oh boy, can I tell you from experience, that cold blooded murderers do in fact, hang around.

They do in fact, show up at vigils. Funerals. Masses for the deceased years later. Some even visit the person's grave.

They cooperate with the police, seem so nice and sincere.

Some even volunteer and help with searching for the body!

I won't list anymore because a huge case in recent years that involved my friend's murdered sibling still has many of her loved ones and us friends reeling from the shock of these sick, mean, and taunting ways that these disgusting, filthy, sick, vile animals came up with to torture the family, all the while acting nice, kind, caring and helpful!.

There are many cases like my friend's sibling. Many. If they're cold blooded, they're sick in the head and find other's grief and pain funny and entertaining.

Yes, I know that cold-blooded killers do indeed behave this way

What I was getting at is that this friend of BB, who is around the same age and attended Orange County School of the Arts, a charter school specializing in performing arts, doesn't strike me as that type - maybe he is, but it's not the instinct I get from all of this.

 

[gitana1]

Yep, it would make sense if he rented another car knowing that the car he owns was full of incriminating evidence. (Kind of like when I was in college and the student who struck and killed my friend with his car late one night fled the scene and immediately drove out of state to get the car repaired.) And perhaps the camping gear etc was purchased after the fact with either a plan to flee or a plan to go back and move BB’s body to another location. I do wonder about the belt, though.

I would love a timeline of when the suspect was interviewed. Dirt under the fingernails DAYS after the murder seems super odd.

That can be hard to get out if jammed up under the nail bed.

 

[prue]

Thank you. From the start, I felt Blaze met with foul play. Also from the start, I felt that the driver "friend" was in on his murder, and I just can't shake the feeling that at least one other person is involved. Reading that late last night, that they were still investigating other POI's, made me think that this homicide is, as they say, very different from other cases.

I have not felt this was a gay hook up gone wrong, but I could be very wrong.

I feel something more sinister, for some reason. I just can't shake that feeling no matter how hard I try.

Yeah, me too.

To me the place where Blaze was found suggests both paths may have been used (the school side path and the shopping center path), which suggests a possible lying in wait scenario or at the very least a return to the scene possibly using the shopping center path to aver attention and to better conceal evidence.

Dispite my efforts to tamp down the more calculated possibilities they still remain. I hope I am wrong.

The 'dirt under the fingernails' related to a conversation and observation 2 days after Blaze disappeared on the 4th.

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/01/...ego-park-case-being-investigated-as-homicide/


***edited to add a recollection that supports the 2 path idea, there was iirc OCSD twitter dispatch reports from the night of the 2nd indicating two calls to the shopping center. iirc one for an alarm and one at 2 a.m. for a disturbance. Can someone else who knows the twitter handle to these dispatch reports check my recollection?

 

[mistivon]

That can be hard to get out if jammed up under the nail bed.

Such as if a person spent a long time digging frantically and deeply into the dirt
Is this all just too convenient?

 

[gitana1]

Yes, I know that cold-blooded killers do indeed behave this way

What I was getting at is that this friend of BB, who is around the same age and attended Orange County School of the Arts, a charter school specializing in performing arts, doesn't strike me as that type - maybe he is, but it's not the instinct I get from all of this.

Why? Why can't a sociopath go to a performing arts school in OC and be friends with normal people?

 

[LadeeDi]

Per my daughter who knew Blaze at HS, he was not in the closet. Besides being a high school focused on the arts, OCSA also has a large community of gay/lesbian students that attend the school. The school is super competitive, involves long days, and acceptance into this school is by audition only. It is also a complete pain to get to this school for many due to its location (in office building in the center of a congested city). For example, I drove 30 miles to get my daughter to and from the high school every day. Knowing this, I have a hard time believing that if the "friend" from Blaze's high school killed him, it was a hate crime. Haters like this would never go through all the effort to attend a high school known to have such a large community of gays who are out of the closet, and if they started to bully at the school, OCSA would probably boot them as they had very low tolerance for this behavior, and there was a long list of people willing to take this student's spot. I think this was either an unplanned murder, perhaps following an argument or rough sex or there was a 3rd person involved that did it.

Also it would be so easy to confirm whether this driver/"friend" went to OCSA or not. I could even do it myself via my daughters yearbooks if I had a name.

 

[LAhiker]

Can someone help me with the time line? When did the friend pick up Blaze? They went to Hobby Lobby parking lot, then to the park, is that right? what were those times? And what time did the text to the girl occur? Can anyone help me?

Others have also commented on this, but here are some thoughts on part of the timeline, based on posts in the handy "media reports/no discussion" thread.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...19-Lake-Forest-Jan-2018-Media-*NO-DISCUSSION*

Based on reports on that page, there seems to be more than one timeline, perhaps based on different versions told by the “friend” to the police; events tend to get later in more recently mentioned timelines. Earlier media reports quote various sources (BB’s parents and an attorney friend of the family, but would have to double-check) say that BB texted “friend”/driver at 9:30pm, that he picked BB up at some point, and that they got to the park at 10:30pm. The “friend” claimed that at some point BB ran off, and at 11:30pm the puzzling text was sent. Shortly thereafter BB’s borrowed phone was turned off.

In the affidavit, the “friend” says that after he picked up BB, they spent some time hanging around in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby and didn’t get to the park until close to midnight. He then claimed that BB exited the vehicle and that the “friend” waited for him until around 1pm.

One crucial difference between these two timelines is that the first implies that while the puzzling 11:30pm text could have been sent by BB after exiting the vehicle, it also could’ve been sent by the “friend” after he killed BB. The second timeline makes it sound more likely that BB sent the text himself before exiting the car and also that BB turned off his own borrowed phone.

One possible motivation for the discrepancy is that the “friend” may have realized that the police might figure out from his own cell phone records and those of BB’s borrowed phone that he was with BB when the text was sent. He also may have been trying to fit his account to when he or his car might've appeared on surveillance video.

 

[gitana1]

Such as if a person spent a long time digging frantically and deeply into the dirt
Is this all just too convenient?

No. I don't believe LE is setting this up or that anyone else is. Murderers that age aren't good at covering things up and are easier to catch.

I expect an arrest soon.

 

[stlrfninca]

Why? Why can't a sociopath go to a performing arts school in OC and be friends with normal people?

Certainly it's possible, but it wouldn't be my first instinct, that's all I'm saying. All any of us are doing here is speculating based upon what we know and trying to piece the puzzle together

 

[Emb72]

Just some thoughts and musings as I process all that I've learned about this case since Monday...

Everything seems to be revolving around the driver/friend(?), what he did or didn't know, and his level of involvement. A lot of it comes down to how much of his story do we believe. If he's involved, then we can presume some of his story is false, but a good portion, if not most, of it is probably true...

First question is was he really a former HS friend of BB or just some random guy that BB met off craigslist or social media? I tend to believe that he really is a former HS friend... for quite some time the father was backing him up so presumably he knew him or knew of him. (I suppose it could have been a complete snow job but I'm going with he was at least a former friend or acquaintance)

Next thing that's bothering me... let's assume the driver was the sole perpetrator.. why would he be hanging around and so involved after the disappearance? I'd think he'd want to distance himself from the situation as much as possible. The only reason I can think of that would (somewhat) jive with that is if the death were accidental and as others have suggested he was trying to cover up his involvement. But then... would a friend really do that? So those two things seem somewhat in conflict. The only other thing we're left with is that he's a cold-blooded killer, which to me isn't consistent with him helping the investigation so much.

Now we come to the new details revealed by the affidavit. The dirt under the hands makes no sense, unless this sheriff's affidavit came back on Jan. 3. I don't think we know the date of the affidavit, or do we? Seems to me if he were involved, anyone would have been smart enough to wash their hands?

On to the theories of the body being moved - I don't think that happened, at least not by the driver that we know of. There would be physical evidence all over the rental car. The fact that there was still camping and other gear in the car tells me that there was no effort to clean the car. This also tells me that the camping gear is not really evidence of some kind of "flight plan", unless the guy really is monumentally stupid. In any case, IMHO, most likely BB was killed in the park and not moved around. Maybe that secluded area is where he had his "meeting"?

As far as someone else being involved, I think this probably depends on whether this is an "accidental death" / cover up scenario, or a pure act of violence, pre-meditated or not. Let's assume the latter for sake of argument. In this case then I'm more inclined to believe that there was another person involved and perhaps the part of the story of the driver dropping BB off in the part to meet someone is true. If so, then the question for me really becomes is this 3rd person someone that the driver/friend also knew or a true "random hookup" as has also been theorized.

I think if there's a 3rd person known to both BB and his driver friend, this complicates things and may explain the driver's questionable behavior. Maybe he's trying to hide what he knows about the other friend so as to not implicate him.

I don't know, maybe this last idea is a stretch, but there's a lot of this that doesn't add up for me. It really comes down to motive and then how someone would act after committing such an act. I have a hard time thinking a cold-blooded killer would hang around and help out the search investigation for days.

Given the facts we know, I can't put together a solid theory that I have high confidence in. Certainly it seems the driver was probably involved somehow - it's his level of involvement that I'm having a hard time being sure of.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings...

So many scenarios going through my mind!!

This is just one thing that my busy brain has been thinking about. JMO and take with a grain of salt. What if this was a $$ setup. I just have this nagging feeling in my mind that possibly someone could have been waiting at the park, possibly a friend of the driver, laying in wait for them to arrive. Maybe Blaze thought he was going to the park for something else, maybe they get to the park and the driver is acting sketchy or tweeked out or high, whatever. Maybe Blaze noticed his "friend" was not in his right mind. Maybe Blaze then texts his friend this situation, the condition of said driver, is uncomfortable being around him. Maybe driver and 3rd person attempt a robbery but Blaze does not have his wallet and things go south. Remember this is all JMO and just thoughts that have been racing in my brain.

Whatever happened, I will pray for his family and friends and for swift justice.

 

[iscaremyself]

I'd like to see the physical size of the driver compared to blaze.
This 'fight club' nonsense gives me pause.

 

[losangeles24]

Such as if a person spent a long time digging frantically and deeply into the dirt
Is this all just too convenient?

Which leads me to believe it wasn't premeditated or he would've had gloves and a shovel. So perhaps all the stuff in the vehicle was put in there after the fact.
And why would he go to the police station with it already in the car ? I guess for the same reason that he couldn't come up with the last name or where she lived . Wasn't too bright and didn't think it through !!

 

[stlrfninca]

Per my daughter who knew Blaze at HS, he was not in the closet. Besides being a high school focused on the arts, OCSA also has a large community of gay/lesbian students that attend the school. The school is super competitive, involves long days, and acceptance into this school is by audition only. It is also a complete pain to get to this school for many due to its location (in office building in the center of a congested city). For example, I drove 30 miles to get my daughter to and from the high school every day. Knowing this, I have a hard time believing that if the "friend" from Blaze's high school killed him, it was a hate crime. Haters like this would never go through all the effort to attend a high school known to have such a large community of gays who are out of the closet, and if they started to bully at the school, OCSA would probably boot them as they had very low tolerance for this behavior, and there was a long list of people willing to take this student's spot. I think this was either an unplanned murder, perhaps following an argument or rough sex or there was a 3rd person involved that did it.

Also it would be so easy to confirm whether this driver/"friend" went to OCSA or not. I could even do it myself via my daughters yearbooks if I had a name.

This is exactly what I was getting at LadeeDi. Thanks for providing some additional context. The MSM reports indicate that the friend/driver was a friend of BB from OCSA when they attended there. I've been assuming they got this information from the family and/or the sheriff and that it is true and not speculation. As you said, it's easily verifiable, and I assume that it has been by now.

 

[Cora]

I'd like to see the physical size of the driver compared to blaze.
This 'fight club' nonsense gives me pause.

The fight club thing sounds like another attempt to assert that he is heterosexual. Along with the girlfriend comment. IMO


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Really?]

So I guess BB didn't have access to a car....or....didn't have a license.

Why would he get a friend to drop him off and wait for him?
Why did the friend then not wait for him?
I'm guessing there was no 3 red party involved.

 

[andalso]

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/01/...ego-park-case-being-investigated-as-homicide/

On Jan, 4, two days after the teenager disappeared, detectives spoke with the friend again at Borrego Park and noticed that his hands had several small scratches and abrasions. The friend said the scratches and abrasions were from a “fight club” that he was involved in.

So, "friend" was at Borrego Park when the police spoke with him again. Was "friend" in the search party?