Recovered/Located CA - Cecil Knutson (dec'd), Dianna Bedwell (inj'd), Valley Ctr, 10 May 2015

[Dushi]

I can't imagine what this family is going through.
It is interesting and frightening that both phones were turned off at different times.
Something which her son says neither of them do.

He says they always call to say they are leaving the casino, but didn't this time.
It seems as if something occurred just as they were leaving. But the question is what??
They see them leave and get into their car. They know what direction they traveled.
Could someone have been in the back seat, out of view?

 

[watcher9]

I tried looking on a map.

If they left the casino to go back north on the interstate, they could have got on the south ramp by accident and headed down to Escondido toward San Diego OR they got on the north ramp and missed the turnoff for the interstate to LaQuinta and ended up driving toward the Moreno Valley area.

If they decided to go the backroads, they could have missed a turn anywhere.
Is there still snow in the mountains where they could become stranded?
Is it a desert like area? Slip off the road and get bogged down in the sand? What about the heat?

They need to find them. It's been two days now.

 

[watcher9]

Can they tell the difference if the phones were turned off or just lost signal or a dead battery?

 

[JerseyGirl]

"... About 15 minutes later their dad's phone was shut off as they drove on Highway 15 near Deer Springs Road.

http://www.10news.com/news/son-missing-couples-cell-phones-turned-off-after-leaving-casino-051115

I looked on the map and Deer Springs Road is south of the Casino and in the opposite direction towards their son's home.

If they were playing the nickle slots between 10:00am and 2:00pm, knowing them being diabetic, I hope they ate something before getting on the road.

 

[keeponsearching]

There is a gofund me accout for the missing couple.
Some details of the two missing and family.

 

[Lethalmatthew]

I find it very odd that they ended up on Deer Springs Road. As you can see in this map, Deer Springs Road is in a very different direction from the casino than La Quinta, where they were heading. Also, Deer Springs Road is WEST of the interstate, while Dianna and Cecil came from the east.

 

[slashkiss]

Did they turn the wrong way on 15? Maybe exited to turn around?

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

lost and disoriented? Someone hiding in their backseat? Did she win and get followed?

I am reminded of the women in Michigan a few weeks back who got lost and were eventually found. http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-and-Lee-Marie-Wright-Ishpeming-10-April-2015

And I am glad there are better pictures of this beautiful couple aside from the first in the thread, which are probably license photos, but not flattering IMO. Much more life to them both than those photos show IMO.

Hoping good news breaks for this couple soon!

 

[Treelights]

I can't imagine what this family is going through.
It is interesting and frightening that both phones were turned off at different times.
Something which her son says neither of them do.

He says they always call to say they are leaving the casino, but didn't this time.
It seems as if something occurred just as they were leaving. But the question is what??
They see them leave and get into their car. They know what direction they traveled.
Could someone have been in the back seat, out of view?

The totality of events is very odd.
IMOO.

 

[Treelights]

As strange as all this sounds, if someone was not after them, and they weren't "lost", and if it's not an accident,
I wonder maybe if they turned off their phones themselves, and had one last gambling excursion,
before they possibly decided to commit suicide.
I don't like thinking that way, but there have been several murder suicides lately here in the state of Colorado,
that it crossed my mind, that it can happen anywhere, any state.
I hope that is not the case, and they are found alive.
IMOO.

 

[Psychedelia]

As strange as all this sounds, if someone was not after them, and they weren't "lost", and if it's not an accident,
I wonder maybe if they turned off their phones themselves, and had one last gambling excursion,
before they possibly decided to commit suicide.
I don't like thinking that way, but there have been several murder suicides lately here in the state of Colorado,
that it crossed my mind, that it can happen anywhere, any state.
I hope that is not the case, and they are found alive.
IMOO.

I was wondering this too. Barring a carjacking / someone in the car waiting for them, the phones going off around the same time led me to wonder this.

 

[Treelights]

"Acosta said his mother’s sister, Sylvia Likens, was a victim of a violent crime in the 1960s. Likens was tortured and murdered in Indiana, he explained.
He hopes that his parents have not suffered the same fate..." (Snipped By Me.)


Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loc...l-Missing-Couple-303486431.html#ixzz3ZxIBxUl5

 

[TravelingBug]

They didn't go the wrong way to the son's house.

You COULD go back roads, but they're NOT very pleasant driving and it'd honestly be longer than taking the freeway with the higher speeds, etc.

The only freeway they could have taken - that's a true freeway from the casino (and not a two lane type thing) would be to do what they did and go west to get back to the 15 at Deer Springs Road and go NB up to the 215 to the 60 to the 10.

Had they gone to the 76 to the 79 then they'd have had to take the mountain way to the Palm Springs / La Quinta area which many (many, many) people don't drive.

And given the need for frequent potty stops they absolutely would NOT have gone that way. It's narrow and winding and rarely even a pull out on that route (and they'd have almost certainly had next to no cell reception, which doesn't seem like something they'd go for anyway)

More about Deer Springs Road in a "Part 2" to this.

 

[TravelingBug]

Deer Springs Road - the full road - IS on the west side of the 15, but it IS Deer Springs also right at the east side of the freeway where the 15 entrance/exit ramps are on the east side.

It's just on that when the road actually RUNS east from the 15 beyond the point of the entrance/exit ramps on the east, on that side from there the road is called Mountain Meadow.

They really did NOT go out of their way going that way from the casino. It's the most logical and the most easily drivable route. Again, especially when you add in the factor of the need for frequent potty breaks.

Yes, even if they were going via 15 (instead of 76 to 79 to 371 through the mountains) they could have turned the other way from the casino and wound around by Old Castle Road, etc. but it's definitely not how most people would drive b/c of the differences in the road and the winding bits on that, etc. And I don't think a GPS would have even opted for that option.

They did exactly what I would have done doing the same route.

Truthfully I'm not really a fan of going anywhere near Valley View because of the roads - and I'll drive the mountains in Germany, etc.

But here in SoCal, where many people just don't drive straightforward roads particularly well sometimes, and many don't really drive curvy, winding, narrow roads with drop-offs well, and then you throw in those that do tending to be people who have fun snazzy little cars or are on motorcycles, it just is a messy combination.

Thus my preference to avoid that way when I have a reasonable option. There are bad crashes OFTEN that just bring things to a stop.

Going to Deer Springs to get on the 15 would have given Cecil and Dianna the most straightforward, few turns needed, higher speeds, and frequent potty stop option possible given their starting point and destination.

Especially when you also consider when they'd normally do the drive to La Quinta coming from Anaheim (where they actually live) they'd be doing the same thing most of the way. They'd take the 91 across and ultimately again do the 60 to the 10 out to the desert.

So that'd also be the familiar route for them also, versus coming in the back way via the mountains.

 

[TravelingBug]

I looked on the map and Deer Springs Road is south of the Casino and in the opposite direction towards their son's home.

If they were playing the nickle slots between 10:00am and 2:00pm, knowing them being diabetic, I hope they ate something before getting on the road.

That had been my thought also.

But on the 11 pm KNSD news update I summarized as it aired, they specifically said they were there for "gambling and lunching" so I'm assuming that means they had been eating enough that it was very evident on camera.

Or I hope raying:

 

[TravelingBug]

So they saw them leave the casino on surveillance on foot walking to their car or them getting in the car? I'm thinking either someone was waiting for them back at the car or a carjacking, but then again it's 2:00 in the afternoon, I'm sure the first 15 minutes of the trip from the casino to their son's are well travelled roads?

The shutting off of phones and not calling the son to say they were on the road and headed to his house concerns me, especially since it's something they normally do.

What also concerns me is their GPS tracking on the vehicle not picking up a signal.

They said that Cecil "like a true gentleman" went and got the car and pulled it up to the entrance for Dianna.

So they couldn't have been accosted in the lot because Cecil got from the parked car to the entrance and is on film picking up Dianna.

I guess that doesn't mean someone couldn't have been crouched in the back, but with him getting in and out twice, her getting in, etc. it seems like it'd have been harder to do and someone would probably have been caught off guard by him making another stop in a very visible area, a much greater risk to try to be hiding than if they had just walked to the car in the lot like most would.

 

[TravelingBug]

MY thought about not calling is wondering if they knew they'd need gas to get to La Quinta and so if perhaps they might have planned on leaving Valley View, going down far enough to get gas right before getting on the 15, and maybe making a last minute potty stop and THEN considering that "heading out" and calling from there? :waitasec:

And then it meaning whatever happened happened right in the last few minutes, and if they may not have quite gotten all the way to the freeway entrance at Deer Springs where Cecil's phone pinged, but if that was the nearest tower and so it pinged there, but they may not have been quite all the way there, and it was somewhere not long prior.

 

[Treelights]

With the tracking device in the car either shut off or damaged, if they weren't in an accident, it really does seem like they or someone else doesn't want them found.
IMOO.

"The parent’s cell phones last pinged a few miles north of the casino and then they were shut off. Their car is also outfitted with a tracking device, similar to OnStar, which was also shut off, either because it was removed or damaged."

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015...ted-missing-after-leaving-valley-view-casino/

 

[steelman]

When I saw this part :

The 2014 White Hyundai Sonata they’re driving is equipped with a tracking device but the company says they are getting no signal. “They said as result of them not getting a reading the antenna has either been completely severed from the vehicle or buried in something like a parking garage,” said their son.

That sealed the deal for me. This is bound to be some kind of catastrophic accident.

There have been so many of these missing person cases that have ended up in the water lately, another one would fall right into step. They are going to find them within a couple of miles of where the phones stopped pinging.

 

[TravelingBug]

I'd say that they are at the bottom of a canyon somewhere close to the last phone placement. If the car went over a cliff The tracker died at the same time they did.

That's my thought, as well, unfortunately.

That somewhere a crash has been missed (which we've seen before, even on searches with helicopters and the route being driven by others) and that explains the car tracker not locating them AND his phone also now being off.

If someone had carjacked them and taken the car or done something to them, the car should still have been trackable b/c of the locator.

If someone had robbed them and taken their valuables, unless it happened right by the Deer Springs entrance (which seems very unlikely to me, knowing that area) I just don't see how that could have happened and not have been seen...meaning someone would have to have had his phone prior, and then just happened to think to turn it off there.

I don't know...I just see a crash seeming to be the most likely option, especially knowing the area.