CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #18

[zwiebel]

Here you can see the summerhouse from the street side, left of the house, tucked under that tree.

Trouble is, it is pretty difficult to see how Bob might have been transported from the left, to any vehicle on the street or drive. He would have had to be taken across the front lawn, in front of any watching eyes or passers-by......a big risk, I think.

 

[zwiebel]

But....he could have been in the summerhouse, and brought out through the back garden and the side gate on the right, at a later point.

ETA: Sorry, I've started calling it a summerhouse instead of a playhouse.

 

[FBEye]

It looks like Long Lost Love will be showing again! Check your local listings to verify.

http://www.investigationdiscovery.com/tv-shows/disappeared/tv-schedule.htm

"Monday, March 31st 1PM, ET/PT
1:00 PM
60 MIN.
Long Lost Love
TV-PG CC
Eighty-one year old Bob Harrod is overjoyed when he marries his childhood sweetheart after sixty years apart. But days before his new bride moves in, Bob vanishes. Police cannot locate him and soon find a strong motive for foul play: Bob is a millionaire."

 

[zwiebel]

Ooh, thanks for that. Hope Bob's thread can be a bit more accessible when it airs....

 

[minusfour]

There it is, Queen's University, Belfast, Ireland. Ancient dental calculus and periapical lesion. Ouch.

https://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/Ballyhanna/HumanOsteologyandPalaeopathology/

Zwei, the pericapical lesion does look incredibly ouchy. The dental calculus just looks depressingly familiar!
I haven't done any forensic odontology courses, but I think dental aging is a bit of science and a bit of art, there are large variations in wear patterns, etc. If there are enough teeth remaining, and the individual has had well documented dental care, (x rays are especially good), then the initial id could be confidently made by that means only. (I think the aging is sometimes used to try to ascertain when the person died as well as who the person was, especially with younger people)

Anyway, it is Tuesday arvo in Australia, and I just wanted to let Bob know I am thinking of him.

 

[zwiebel]

I am sure Bob would have comprehensive records, even if he had lapsed in his dentist visits in his latter years. I wonder what the probabilities of matching just one or two teeth to a person are? Are they as unique as fingerprints?

I recall a case of a child's date of death being pinned down and helping to convinct her killer, through matching her skull and dental remains with a dated , smiling school photo.

I am fascinated that dental calculus like that is still seen in the modern world. I really thought that didn't happen anymore. Anyway, off to find out what an arvo Tuesday is....

 

[zwiebel]

Lol, it means afternoon? Tuesday afternoon?

or Dienstag Nachmittag

 

[zwiebel]

Don't quite know how it happened, but searching for Australian arvos, I ended up finding this article from the OC Reg in Feb this year (via I have vanished's site, so thanks to them too). It's all about Namus and the OC coroner's office.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/missing-602007-namus-information.html

I hope they provide a press release at some point, letting us know if they think releasing public details on their own OC site been successful. I'm sure they will, and that it is a very good idea.

ETA: the story about Diane there is very sad. Missing 22 years, because nobody would take a missing report. Matched very quickly when DNA was entered from her sister.

 

[zwiebel]

I still don't understand why no-larger scale police searches ever appear to have been launched for Bob. I know they had no idea where he'd gone, but once foul play was suspected I would have thought there might have been some.

They are carried out for other missing people where there is little idea of location, it seems to me. It's a shame. Mind you, in England police seem to have an infuriating system in place for anyone who goes missing near water - and being small and surrounded by water, there are quite a few. They nearly always 'request' the public not to search. But then it nearly always turns out to be a member of the public who eventually stumbles upon that person. It's very strange. All I can guess is that they're afraid of searchers falling in the water themselves.

 

[EdinburghLass]

Lol, it means afternoon? Tuesday afternoon?

or Dienstag Nachmittag

This is correct! Arvo is slang for afternoon here.

 

[minusfour]

I would think that it would be really difficult to identify a person on the characteristics of one or two teeth only, unless those teeth had some really distinctive dental work or wear patterns. Teeth are not as unique as fingerprints.

Zwei, it always amazes me what you find in people's mouths. People who obviously take care of themselves, nicely dressed, good haircuts, and then they open their mouths.. Gross calculus isn't unusual sadly!

It does seem strange that there were no large scale searches, doesn't it?

 

[Cubby]

Here you can see the summerhouse from the street side, left of the house, tucked under that tree.

Trouble is, it is pretty difficult to see how Bob might have been transported from the left, to any vehicle on the street or drive. He would have had to be taken across the front lawn, in front of any watching eyes or passers-by......a big risk, I think.

Not if he was hidden there and removed later under the cover of darkness in the middle of the night.

If he was hidden, it is possible he was moved with some kind of wheel barrel or dolly and taken through the garage to a vehicle.

I've always thought it was possible Bob had cleared some room in the garage awaiting his brides arrival, and junk could have been moved back in after the housekeeper left for the day.

 

[Cubby]

But....he could have been in the summerhouse, and brought out through the back garden and the side gate on the right, at a later point.

ETA: Sorry, I've started calling it a summerhouse instead of a playhouse.

That's another possibility since that firewall would have obstructed the view of anything being moved on that side of the house.

 

[Cubby]

This is correct! Arvo is slang for afternoon here.

Nice to see you are still following Bob's case EdinburghLass! :seeya:

 

[zwiebel]

BBM

That's another possibility since that firewall would have obstructed the view of anything being moved on that side of the house.

I've learnt something else. I had no idea private houses in OC had firewalls between them.

 

[zwiebel]

It's a little off topic but 'The Internet Grandad' has died. He was an absolute charmer of a storyteller of the same generation as Bob. If you've never heard his tales on youtube under geriatric1927, they are worth a listen. Rest in Peace, Mr Peter Oakley.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/internet-grandad-peter-oakley-dies-aged-86-9214952.html

 

[zwiebel]

OC's Chuck Williams is director of the Technical Rescue Team and is also a SAR dog handler/trainer. He trains cadaver dog Charlee, who is able to track without a scent article, called 'wilderness scenting' - in OC at least.

http://ocsd.org/news/details?NewsID=2390&TargetID=88

Apparently he had an interview with KUCI which I believe is an OC Radio station. I'd love to hear it but I can't negotiate their website Lol - it's nothing like the BBC's Radio 4, whose radio and website I live and breathe. Can anybody point the way to me, or provide a summary if they heard the interview live?

Link to the Radio website: http://www.kuci.org/

 

[zwiebel]

I didn't find that interview. I found this though. Heartbreaking. Someone shot Bruno. Just look at him and his handler......

https://www.facebook.com/2283635803...28363580334/10153937698435335/?type=1&theater

 

[zwiebel]

He had a bulletproof K9 vest but someone shot him in the mouth. I'd better shut up now. I really don't like people who hurt animals and that person was eventually shot and killed by police.

 

[zwiebel]

People may remember that there was some confusion amongst Bob's family members, they said, about not knowing they could report Bob missing straight away or had to wait 24 hours. It still seems a little odd to me they didn't even seem to try, but.......

I have noticed if you search online for how to report a missing person in OC, the Florida OC always comes up. Sheriff Demings there has a crystal clear page telling people who to call and where.

http://www.ocso.com/missingpersons/tabid/129/default.aspx

The OC Sheriff's Dept in CA meanwhile, although really very good and informative, doesn't seem to have any clear advice for people who wish to report a missing person, unless I'm missing something. I wish they did, as it seems a shame when the site is so good in other ways.

http://ocsd.org/divisions/fieldops/investigations/cib/missing

I still think most people who were worried about a missing, vulnerable loved one would just pick up the phone though, regardless. Just like Fontelle did. Even though she was in Missouri.