CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #15

[zwiebel]

Hello, ya'll- been a touch busy on this end but as always am paying close attention to Mr. Harrod's case. Very close, actually. I've not yet had a moment to go through all of the last few weeks of posts, and was wondering if anyone had brought up using geo-cache groups in concert with LE to keep an eye out for remains in certain areas of interest?
Geo-caching is quite popular in the states (California and several other states in particular) and the online communities are everywhere, all connecting with one another. What a wonderful asset that could be for locating missing persons, especially those presumed deceased in remote or rural areas not easily accessible by the average Joe. I mean, geocachers take their hobby very seriously...and when you start searching for sites, well....let's just say the possibilities in some of our areas of interest for Mr. Harrod are quite extensive. That's a lot of eyes on the ground, searching for (in some cases) quite minute clues.

Perhaps we could get several of those groups hooked up with Mr. Harrod's missing info, and sort of get a homegrown geo-cache BOLO addendum to their planned itineraries.

Thoughts, anyone? Anyone?

Oriah
p.s.- zwie, loved the cake.

I don't know much about this subject, but it's been discussed quite a lot on another thread, and I think there are posters there that might be able to help. I'll go look. From the little I know, it sounds like a good idea.

 

[zwiebel]

Here is some information about road work repairs in Placentia dated 2011. Carnation drive is listed on page 33. It appears to be a proposal for 5-6 years of road repairs.....

http://www.placentia.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/1241

The above report causes me to wonder if perhaps the road work we saw in the video with Mrs. Harrod's return to CA was due to a broken pipe or sewer line?

I sure hope those workers were aware the News crew and camera's that were there were due to Mr. Harrod's disappearance.

More so than the work, we really need to know the name of the company that performed the work.

Ummm, both the documents we found still leave a lot of unanswered questions. The legislation forbidding utility companies from digging up new roads for 36 months hadn't been passed in 2009. And it looks like Carnation drive wasn't renewed until 2011 anyway.

So it seems those roadworkers back in July 2009 could have been utility workers, city workers...anything. Utility workers would still have needed a permit then though, if they were digging up the road.

 

[believe09]

Geo caching...it is monsterously popular. Hugely. The very first website I brought up has a huge geo caching community in Placentia. Not only do they have a huge community, I found a cache that was placed within miles of Bob's house on 7/31/09.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=8442891f-99e7-4eba-b99f-69121bf839c8

(hopefully you guys can pull up the link...I havent had much luck with links today!!)

So-this game is based upon coordinates. What if we plugged in coordinates that we have for areas of interest and see if there are caches near by?? I mean, just imagine...people playing the game could keep their eyes out for any kind of debris or something that might lead to Bob's location...

This could be huge!

 

[believe09]

Here is a guide to Geo Caching:

LINK HERE

 

[zwiebel]

I had just read that site and was about to post the link, believe!

Never mind, I also found this story, about how Geocachers brought home a missing, elderly man.

'These guys show up. Strangers! And those are the people who found him.'

http://www.notaboutthenumbers.com/2012/07/13/geo-community-finds-body-of-missing-ftf-hunter/

 

[Opie]

This geocaching angle is very interesting. Maybe it will be what finally finds Mr. Harrod and brings him home to Fontelle.

 

[Cubby]

Ummm, both the documents we found still leave a lot of unanswered questions. The legislation forbidding utility companies from digging up new roads for 36 months hadn't been passed in 2009. And it looks like Carnation drive wasn't renewed until 2011 anyway.

So it seems those roadworkers back in July 2009 could have been utility workers, city workers...anything. Utility workers would still have needed a permit then though, if they were digging up the road.

IDK if a permit is necessary on city owned property. If it was a broken pipe or backed up sewer line, I would think the city could fix it without a permit.

I sure wish someone who lives on Placentia would chime in and tell us what the work was for and which company did it. does anyone google their city and street? Anyone on Carnation Drive in Placentia who resided there on July 29 2009 please chime in to answer the above question! :banghead: This shouldn't be so difficult to get an answer.

 

[Cubby]

Ok folks. I couldn't follow/figure out coordinates to save my life, so am unable to help in that area. That was one chapter in my RE pre-licensing class that no matter how many times I read and re-read, it just didn't register for me.

If there is a list of who needs to be contacted and how, I am happy to help with forwarding Bob's info if any help is needed in that area. Otherwise, I'm afraid coordinates are not within my area of capability.

I do love the idea though, so I hope there is a way to get Bob's info to them.

 

[suzyq211]

I thought you said you couldn't bake, Z! :takeabow:
This
Cake
Is
Gorgeous!!!!

I think I'm going to have a couple of pieces Bless you, Friend :rose:

Happy Birthday Robert! :Happybirthday:

This cake is gorgeous, Zwei!!! Great job!!!

 

[suzyq211]

Here is a guide to Geo Caching:

LINK HERE

This is fascinating!! If only this could parlay into finding Bob!!

 

[suzyq211]

Yes, Mr. Harrod's birthday is June 1. He was born in 1928 so this would have been his 85th birthday.

My oldest son's birthday, as well!

 

[Laughing]

We used to geocache a lot. My interest in missing adults was sparked by a Travel Bug increasing awareness for Brooke Henson, missing from Traveler's Rest, North Carolina. (I don't think Brooke has a page here.)

Cubby, you don't really have to understand coordinates to geocache. Many of 'em have written clues or a logic puzzle to figure out.

Zwei: we have had Travel Bugs moved to Europe from the USA.

A Travel Bug or a cache could create needed interest in Bob's case on the ground. We can only do so much here in CyberSpace!

Laughing

 

[believe09]

I mean, this is the perfect storm. We have caches in the area, we have an insanely popular game where you plug coordinates into your GPS enabled device (mobile, whatever) that has a high participation rate in OC, and we have a 50K reward.

I am so excited-maybe we have an angle to work that has some real possibilities of leads for LE.

 

[believe09]

We used to geocache a lot. My interest in missing adults was sparked by a Travel Bug increasing awareness for Brooke Henson, missing from Traveler's Rest, North Carolina. (I don't think Brooke has a page here.)

Cubby, you don't really have to understand coordinates to geocache. Many of 'em have written clues or a logic puzzle to figure out.

Zwei: we have had Travel Bugs moved to Europe from the USA.

A Travel Bug or a cache could create needed interest in Bob's case on the ground. We can only do so much here in CyberSpace!

Laughing

:bow: How fantastic! Can you give us a primer on how to go about this?

 

[Cubby]

I'm still a bit confused. If we are not local to do the cacheing (sp?) how could we get Bob's info to these people? Would we get something out there for them to find (which we'd need locals to do?) or would we create a map of sorts with a circular area in which we believe Bob is located and add that to every geocaching site, forum we can find throughout at least OC and SB counties?

I think I would include more than just OC. I'd include a few surrounding counties including San Bernardino. I would also mention the 50K reward I think that would certainly draw the attention of geocachers. I'm sure they would pay more attention of they were out enjoying their hobby and could possibly do some good and earn 50K.

 

[believe09]

Link to CACHE TALK

According to the Cache Talk section of the website, non cachers are called Muggles. How hilarious.

Muggles can also be folks who follow cachers around and steal or destroy caches.

Listen folks, Bob has had enough Muggles in his life-no more need apply.

 

[zwiebel]

We used to geocache a lot. My interest in missing adults was sparked by a Travel Bug increasing awareness for Brooke Henson, missing from Traveler's Rest, North Carolina. (I don't think Brooke has a page here.)

Cubby, you don't really have to understand coordinates to geocache. Many of 'em have written clues or a logic puzzle to figure out.

Zwei: we have had Travel Bugs moved to Europe from the USA.

A Travel Bug or a cache could create needed interest in Bob's case on the ground. We can only do so much here in CyberSpace!

Laughing

The Travel Bugs caught my eye immediately, along with the Geo-coins. I thought a combined coin/travel bug with Bob's name on it could take a journey from CA to Europe, or vice versa.

That might be a way of catching the eye of the Geocaching community too, and introducing Bob without having to jump straight in and say, 'search for Bob'....because I can't quite figure exactly how we could do that, yet.

 

[zwiebel]

These looked perfect, but apparently they are not 'typically Travel Bugs' but have accessories that can make them into that.

http://www.pathtags.com/what.php

Gosh, this is all a small world in itself, isn't it?

 

[believe09]

Well, one way of getting the community mobilized would be to find a cache that is in a target location and notify the cachers that there was a missing person in the area and please BOLO for items that are out of place. Like a shower curtain or a bed linen or a white reebok sneaker. KWIM?

There is the potential of 50K tied to this endeavor which is always nice, but I bet that a group like this would BOLO because they were asked to.

 

[Wolf Dreamer]

He's out there somewhere Wolf Dreamer, and I still think he's not terribly far from home.

And Bob is going to be brought back where he belongs one day, I'm sure of that.

*Thank you so much for dropping into Bob's thread. And I am fine. A little wet, but fine.

I try to drop by and catch up when I can.. so amazed at the work you're all doing here! I think the geocaching is a great idea, especially if there's a strong local community!