Sorry I'm late today, but was super busy today. I rewatched the Disappeared episode.
Here are my impressions of the POIs who spoke on camera. I'm very good at reading people's faces and nonverbal cues and quite accurate at detecting their credibility. And I wish the interviewer had asked each POI (including the youngest Julie, her hubby Jeff, and son, and barber Josie, what they felt when they learned Bob was missing and when did they learn he went missing. Then I would be able to give a better assessment of whether any of the POIs might have been involved in Bob’s disappearance...But take my opinions how you will
Paula – seems genuinely pained and heartbroken that Bob suffered depression after the death of their mom. She shed real tears. Not crocodile ones on camera upon being asked about Bob and her mom. I think she was mostly truthful but lying about the Sunday meeting dispute and exaggerating about Bob's becoming less mentally competent. Bob's doctor attested to Bob's being one of the "sharpest 81-year-olds he knew".
Roberta – appears bitter and very angry. Also seems to be restraining herself from lashing out or disclosing something… She definitely is hiding something. The few times that they showed her face on camera during the interview she kept looking to the side while talking so it's hard to see whether she was forthcoming or not. I did get the sense that was restraining herself from blurting something out many times. I also saw her as lying that there was no real argument on Sunday night, that everything was hunky-dory at the end of the family meeting and that Bob did not drive on freeways. I also felt she was adding strange details when she said her dad Bob's disappearance may be related to his being involved with someone "dark" not his new wife.
Fontelle – sounds like a straight-shooter, very blunt and witty, matter-of-fact person. She appears sharp mentally. I trust most of her statements though I think she exaggerated about Bob considering including her in the trust as the police says there's no evidence of that. LE says Bob did write down that he wanted to add her to his checking accounts, but that was it. Checking accounts only, not the trust.
Agnes - sounds sincere and genuinely concerned. I trust her words. She seems to lean towards Bob having met with foul play in her statements, and even seems to suggest Jeff may be involved. She questioned why Bob did not inform Jeff she was coming over on Monday to houseclean, and also why Jeff took longer than necessary to check on whether Bob was upstairs.
Bob - sounded depressed to me in the tv interview about his impending wedding to Fontelle. I don't know how he typically sounds so it's hard to gauge whether he always sounded haggard but his eyes looked so sad...I wish we have video or voicemail from Bob to Fontelle so we can evaluate whether he was truly happy or not...
Does anyone know who set up the tv interview of Bob and Fontelle re: their wedding?
~~~~~General thoughts and questions while watching episode
From what Fontelle says that she would call Bob 2x a day, once in the morning and once at night, and that she had called Bob Monday evening several times but he didn't answer, we can infer that that means she did call and reached Bob Monday morning before he disappeared. So I'm going to say Bob disappeared Monday, and not Sunday...unless phone records indicate otherwise.
Fontelle said it was Julie who called Fontelle Monday night around 8pm to say “Bob’s missing” right when Fontelle was about to call Julie to ask where Bob was. It seems to me that if those were the very first words that came out of Julie's mouth, then Julie called "on cue", like she knew Fontelle would start to suspect something, so Julie called Fontelle to head her off. I say this because when you can't reach someone, the first words you usually say are question words of inquiry, such as "Have you seen or heard from [Bob]?" You don't make a positive assertion as Julie did that "Bob's missing."
Roberta calls the police to ask for a welfare check…Strange as I recall other posters saying that Roberta and her family resides in the same neighborhood as Bob so why wouldn't she or another sister who lives close to Bob check in on him in person instead of calling for authorities to check? She said authorities had to get a key, so I assume it means she doesn’t have a key to Bob's house.
Officers went to the home and “were let in” by whom? No signs of disturbance or struggle. No alarms raised, according to LE.
Fontelle says at 8 o’clock she called Placentia Police from her daughter’s house in Shawnee, KS to make a “missing persons” report. Presumably this is after the welfare check by police.
Bob drove in his car. A one-hour constitutional walk up the street only. But no one knows his schedule, no day to day contact with Bob.
Daughters claim Bob’s mind beginning to slip.
Paula – “effort for dad to put anything together” and “he couldn’t remember a lot of the things. Because I would find him repeating things to me.”
Roberta – “sit in his recliner and read WSJ or watch the news.” “He had a fear of driving on freeways. So he didn’t go far from home.”
81 y.o. with his car in driveway. Bank records/credit cards – no withdrawals, or funny movements in his accounts.
Where would he go?
White Camry parked in driveway. Glovebox. Found address. In his handwriting. Community in beach 20 miles or so from Placentia.
Balboa island. Friends of Bob’s for 60 years. Police questioned them 9:30 at night…They said they saw Bob a few weeks earlier. Bob had actually brought Fontelle down to their home the day before he married Fontelle. Apparently Bob did drive the freeway at night. He’s quite capable and his mind sharp. “Healthiest 81-y.o. man he had ever seen” according to Doctor.
Cold feet about marriage? The police suspected, but Fontelle arrived back in CA Wed 7/29/2009, and Bob was still missing. Big red flag to police.
Shaving kit, toothbrush, house slippers… still in house, according to Fontelle.
July 27, 2009 Monday 9:00am. Bob was excited by all accounts, according to Det. Radomski. Bob was trying to get things fixed in the house.
Jeff, Julie's hubby. Doing electrical, plumbing work to get house ready for Fontelle. (So it looks like Bob did leave a to-do list for Jeff). But when Jeff returned from store, Bob wasn’t there. Jeff speculated to police that Bob might have been ill or had an appt that Jeff didn’t know about. If Bob was ill, why would he disappear? Unless Jeff is trying to say Bob visited a doctor? But Bob's car was still in driveway so how would Bob have driven to the doctor's?
CL, Agnes, arrived around NOON. SHE arranged to work on Monday. worked for more than 10 years as CL to Bob. Agnes said, “Bob said it’d be fine. He would be there. And Jeff would be working on the house before Fontelle comes back.” Bob always was home when she went over there. Or they would always tell her when they would not be home and they’d leave a key in the mailbox.
50 mins, Jeff drove back to the house and asked Agnes, “Are you supposed to be here today?” Agnes was surprised that Bob did not tell Jeff that she would be there that day…She asked Jeff to go upstairs…
She expected him to finish checking in 1 min. But a couple of mins he spent up there. So she thought Jeff found something…But finally Jeff came down and said “No, he’s not here.” (Very suspicious. Seems like Jeff was doing SOMETHING upstairs besides simply checking on whether Bob was around...)
CL housecleaned, said she saw “bed unmade”. Never in all the years she's worked there. Says it's very out of character, very strange for Bob.
She then finished up and left, shortly after Jeff left. About 3 hours housecleaning. She was very concerned.
July 31, 2009 Fri. Jeff last person to see Bob that day, Jeff was asked by police for interview. Jeff said he “Wasn’t at house when Bob left.” Corroborate with store surveillance. Still police says "windows of opportunity exist for something to go wrong." In other words, Jeff still had some periods of time for which he could have done something to Bob...
Jeff’s vehicle also brought in for forensic analysis on Friday (4 days after Bob disappeared). Police says “No evidence of foul play” or “that Bob was killed” or “transported after being killed or injured”.
Jeff, recounted activities that day, he said he saw a SUV drive slowly down the street…(45 y.o. Bob’s barber Josie also drives an SUV)
Paula sounds really suspicious of Josie…memorial service…According to Roberta, “Dad introduced Josie as he and mom’s barber. They were sitting together acting as if they were at a party rather than a memorial service.”
Bob cared for Georgia while she was ill and after her death. According to Agnes, Bob wanted someone younger…he didn’t want someone to die on him...(So perhaps Bob found himself a younger woman in Agnes and was seeking comfort in Agnes' arms during his 1st wife's illness and then her death/absence?)
Paula: “She was taking financial advantage of him…I became aware of it while helping dad with his taxes." (So Paula had access to Bob's financial records and presumably knows exactly how much he was worth - millions?).
A look at Bob’s bank account…Motive…overall wealth – a millionaire.
~~~~
I’m confused. According to the Disappeared episode, “24 hours after the family meeting after a 6-month hiatus away from his daughters, Bob went missing.”
Does this mean July 26, 2009 Sunday at the “Family meeting” was the first time Bob had seen his three daughters (and I assume their husbands and children) in SIX MONTHS?
That doesn’t sound right because SIL Jeff presumably had been doing repairs on Bob’s house for Fontelle’s arrival prior to Monday when Bob went missing, no?
Bob was very upset about the meeting…according to Fontelle. Meeting was very argumentative..about $ trust. But daughters deny that Fontelle was a topic of discussion. Police checked and the only thing Bob wrote was about adding Fontelle to checking account, nothing about adding her to trust...
Julie was able to find the missing documents, so apparently Julie knows where the dad places his financial and personal records…
~~~My speculations:
1) The reward money should be increased and eliminate the exclusion of family members as recipients of the reward. Perhaps this will draw out some money-hungry family member to disclose what they know.
2) Bob, might have been on his constitutional walk that morning. He might have encountered Jeff or POI (I'm thinking it has to be someone he knows like his son-in-law or daughter) driving by. Perhaps Jeff or other POI asked him if he needs a ride. Then picked Bob up and dropped him off in some ditch somewhere. Poof! Bob's now missing.
3) I'm really heavily leaning towards Jeff and his son as the culprits. Based on what Agnes says, there was no reason why if Jeff did see Bob early that Monday morning that Bob would not inform Jeff that Agnes was coming to do the housecleaning. Bob is mentally alert. He might have been upset over Sunday's family meeting, but no reason for him to suddenly forget that Agnes had called Monday and asked to switch cleaning days. This leads me to believe that Jeff already did something to Bob that morning and that is why Bob did not get a chance to alert Jeff about Agnes' arrival.
Also, I think I recall someone saying all the daughters were accounted for with respect to alibis, and so was the barber. I'm eliminating Agnes; she has no motive. I think Julie is also in on the scheme to make her father Bob disappeared. Jeff, Paula and son's motives: $heavy, heavy debt. Didn't want to repay. Also Julie, I assume received a large portion of $trust. So presumably Julie would help her hubby Jeff and son out with that $money.