CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange Co, 27 Jul 2009 - #19

[Opie]

What did SiL pick up at that CVS just prior to arriving at Bob's the morning of his disappearance? With his wifes numerous ailments, I'd say it is safe to assume she is on some meds that might not have agreed with Bob if he had unknowingly taken them. What if someone put something in the food or drink they knew Bob would have in the morning? That could have easily been done at the heated family meeting.

I have a feeling if Georgia had any narcotic pain killers they were long gone before the day of Bob's disappearance. And probably long gone before the start of 2009. Too many possibilities on where Georgia's meds could have gone after her passing.

A very thought provoking post with some chilling possibilities noted. It's hard to imagine how ANYONE could do such a thing, but...not impossible.

 

[zwiebel]

It's so difficult to define the family situation, from the information available.

Police say Bob paid family (Daughters? Son in Law? Grandson?) to stay away from him for 6 months.

Daughter Julie (son in law's wife) says Bob wanted them 'to be one happy family again' when he reunited with, and married, Fontelle.

Daughter Paula says she did Bob's accounts - never mentions about being paid to stay away.

Daughter Roberta says Bob blamed and attacked his son in law, and Paula, for questions raised with authorities re 'Elder abuse'.

Son in law and grandson have said nothing.

But we know son-in-law was on good enough terms to be invited to Bob's house to carry out repairs on the day he went missing, supposedly.

And daughters felt it was okay to all be in Bob's house and going through his things, the day after he went missing.

But grandson around the corner did not feel free to enter Bob's home alone, the night he went missing.

It doesn't add up. It just does not add up.

 

[zwiebel]

From what Bob's daughters said afterwards about the Sunday meeting about wills and estates, it was all very good natured. But police seeem to think otherwise, Mrs Harrod says Bob told her on the phone he was very upset by it (said there were suggestions he should get the marriage annulled), and daughter Roberta's letter to Bob's attorney suggests there was a lot of bad feeling.

So, although I can accept Bob may have asked or agreed for son in law to carry out the minor repairs on the house, I wonder how things really were between them? Most of us know what families are like - you have to rub along, even when anger or resentments are simmering just below the surface. In some families though, the anger can burst through unexpectedly, and result in chaos.

Weddings can often be a trigger too. In fact, resentments can often explode at the wedding itself. I've personally witnessed a few of those.

 

[zwiebel]

I suppose the question OC investigators have been considering for a while now is, was Bob Harrod's disappearance planned, or was it spur-of-the-moment?

It will make a big difference to where his body will be found. And later, a big difference to the charges prosecutors bring, of course.

I think it was planned, myself. But maybe not shared. Just a dark secret in somebody's own head. And then maybe shared after the darkness became a reality?

 

[charminglane]

It was planned, it was shared, it was despicable and selfish.
Where is Bob, "kids?"

 

[believe09]

We have family with multiple ailments and family who have pets who have multiple ailments....so it might be safe to say that there is a potential for someone to have had access to or to have stockpiled meds for either people or animals.

Bob was immobilized in some way obviously-it just never occurred to me to wonder if the means were anything other than physical. Now I think there might be a chance that there was an initial attempt at least for a chemical intervention. I mean a fall down the stairs or a slip in the tub would never have received a second glance I bet. hmmm.

 

[dogperson]

I am one of those who finds it difficult to throw away a person's meds or a pet's meds for a while after they pass. The label has their name on it. Even though you might not intend to take them yourself, it can be hard to go through belongings and discard them. My 15 year old Yorkie passed 10 days ago and I still have her meds (she took a great deal of them). The vet isn't allowed to take them back according to law even though some of them were new refills never opened. When my mom died at home, the hospice people took her pill bottles and counted all the pills then flushed them down the toilet, but they did miss one bottle in the bathroom. So I guess I can see a couple reasons why a person would still have someone else's prescription drugs in the house.

 

[zwiebel]

I really wish we knew Bob's routine in the morning - if he was an early riser/dresser, or if he tended to walk around the house in a dressing gown for hours. It could make all the difference to what happened to him, and when.

My feeling is, with his background, he was an early riser and turned out to face the day, straightaway. But...

I don't know the effect being a widower had upon him. Maybe he'd dropped into the habit of not dressing/showering as soon as he woke, because he wasn't going anywhere? And maybe when Fontelle left for MO, he slipped back into those lonesome habits?

 

[charminglane]

I am one of those who finds it difficult to throw away a person's meds or a pet's meds for a while after they pass. The label has their name on it. Even though you might not intend to take them yourself, it can be hard to go through belongings and discard them. My 15 year old Yorkie passed 10 days ago and I still have her meds (she took a great deal of them). The vet isn't allowed to take them back according to law even though some of them were new refills never opened. When my mom died at home, the hospice people took her pill bottles and counted all the pills then flushed them down the toilet, but they did miss one bottle in the bathroom. So I guess I can see a couple reasons why a person would still have someone else's prescription drugs in the house.

Dogperson, I am sorry for the loss of your furry buddy.

I have taken the dog's pain meds as they were the exact brand and strength as people meds. Vet said she had done it, too, in an emergency.

I did pee in the yard after, though.

 

[dogperson]

Dogperson, I am sorry for the loss of your furry buddy.

I have taken the dog's pain meds as they were the exact brand and strength as people meds. Vet said she had done it, too, in an emergency.

I did pee in the yard after, though.

My dog didn't have any meds it would be safe for me to take as they were all heart meds such as Lasix, etc. But I still haven't discarded them yet.

 

[charminglane]

Just wondering today if there were any school aged children in the Harrod family at the time of the "poof?"

Say, after the heated family meeting, did anyone miss school the next day? Or the day RH was declared missing?

Looking for blips.

 

[zwiebel]

I guess police always look for any odd or unusual behaviour after a disappearance. Obviously it's hard because most people aren't thinking straight when a loved one goes missing and any routine's thrown out the window.

But what's jarring to me in Bob's case is that long period of inaction by everyone except Fontelle, at first, followed by all the daughters descending on Bob's home...to clean it up? it's just not the first thing that would occur to most families when a loved one goes missing, I think.

The immediate and continuing silence of the last known person to see Bob speaks for itself, I think.

 

[zwiebel]

Apparently, there's been several reports of a low flying blimp with lights, up the hill. Does anyone know what a blimp is?

 

[zwiebel]

My dog didn't have any meds it would be safe for me to take as they were all heart meds such as Lasix, etc. But I still haven't discarded them yet.

My dog and a family member were prescribed the same allergy meds. But when we moved country, the human version wasn't available while the animal one was, which was annoying.

 

[charminglane]

The blimp might have been on its way to the Breeder's Cup at Santa Anita yesterday. I saw it on my way home from work as it made its way from Arcadia to Pasadena for the UCLA game at the Rose Bowl.

 

[zwiebel]

How embarrassing. I still call them Zeppelins. Or airships. Had no idea they were called blimps.

Now I know what they are though, and that there are plenty buzzing about in SoCal - wouldn't that be a great way to remind people Bob's still missing?

 

[zwiebel]

Does anyone else get torn when Bob has birthdays? Because I do think it's important to mark them, but then it becomes obvious he's not an 81-year-old any longer. But then if - as seems almost certain - Bob was murdered on the day he disappeared, then he is forever 81.

I find it difficult to think or write about him as anything other than an 81-year-old missing man.

 

[zwiebel]

Does anyone know why people were not questioned immediately, folllowing Bob's disappearance?

I'm not casting aspersions, but there were only two people in the home besides Bob, I think, the day he disappeared? The son-in-law Jeff Michaels, the housekeeper and (just maybe) Julia Michaels, the youngest daughter, at some point?

Yet it seems it took LE days -or maybe even weeks, in terms of the housekeeper at least - to question them. I can't understand it.

 

[zwiebel]

I see the remains of Hollywood executive, Gavin Smith (missing since 2012) have been located in Los Angeles Nat. Park, near Palmdale. And only now are police revealing a little of the evidence and information they've had all along, leading them to believe his death was a homicide (In contrast to the linked article, police said this morning at a presser that they did find clear evidence in his vehicle). It sounds like there are pretty clear signs of fatal trauma on Gavin's skeletal remains, and that an arrest might follow sooner rather than later.

This has interesting parallels with what will happen in Bob's case, when he's found, I think.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ssing-for-2-years-found-in-california-forest/

 

[Cubby]

I really wish we knew Bob's routine in the morning - if he was an early riser/dresser, or if he tended to walk around the house in a dressing gown for hours. It could make all the difference to what happened to him, and when.

My feeling is, with his background, he was an early riser and turned out to face the day, straightaway. But...

I don't know the effect being a widower had upon him. Maybe he'd dropped into the habit of not dressing/showering as soon as he woke, because he wasn't going anywhere? And maybe when Fontelle left for MO, he slipped back into those lonesome habits?

Keeping in mind that JeM and JuM had lived in the home next to Bob's prior to moving to RS, I imagine they were very familiar with Bob's routine. The time he did things may have changed, but I am sure things such as what he had for breakfast, whether he had orange juice, milk or coffee, did not change.

Technically, I think anyone who attended the heated family meeting could have slipped something into a food or drink they knew Bob had daily. Though, I'd find it hard to believe a family member at Bobs who was unaware something was slipped into his food or drink would have not called 911 because they would have no idea what the cause might be if Bob had become ill.........

And then we know JuM spent the days between her dad's disappearance and Fontelle's arrival in Bob's home....

Definately a plausible theory, imo.