CA CA - Cory Weiss, 23, San Francisco, August/ September 2001

[hannah1988]

The connection to Lyle Stevik is really interesting. The time frame is SO close!

A few things that make me think that Cory is not Lyle though:
Height off by 4"
Lyle may have had an accent; Cory wouldn't have.
Hair color - Cory's is listed as brown; Lyle's is listed as black.
Eye color - Cory's is listed as brown; Lyle's is listed as hazel.

Together, these discrepancies make me lean towards it not being the same person, BUT I definitely think it's an interesting possibility to discuss.

 

[MysteryMaven]

Have a look at page 1 of this thread, I emailed LE a few days ago. Haven't heard anything back yet.

I keep checking to see if they got back to you!

 

[MysteryMaven]

This may be a really stupid question, but here it goes.

Let's say that someone goes into the witness protection program. Is the person's info posted on missing people sites? I could see why it would be beneficial to list the person as missing -- that way people aren't tipped off that they are actually in witness protection.

I'm not trying to imply that Cory is in witness protection. I'm just in awe that someone can drop off the radar like that, and I'm trying to think outside the box.

That is a really good question! I don't have the answer, but I may have some time to research. It's possible witness protection would keep missing notices active to help conceal the person. People might get suspicious if missing notices are deactivated but yet there is no explanation or update to a case. It could go either way, but maybe there is something online about that.

 

[hannah1988]

Thanks! Glad the Witness Protection idea wasn't too out there.

I also wonder if maybe he used a nickname/alias and that's why the search engine isn't pulling up much information on "Cory Weiss". The faculty minutes have his full name, but I'd expect that those were written formally.

 

[leilarose68]

Thanks! Glad the Witness Protection idea wasn't too out there.

I also wonder if maybe he used a nickname/alias and that's why the search engine isn't pulling up much information on "Cory Weiss". The faculty minutes have his full name, but I'd expect that those were written formally.

maybe someone should find out what professors were in the math dept. at the time, and they can email them about Cory?
EDIT: okay... so i just looked up Wash U in St Louis math department, and who is the first math professor I come across? Professor Guido Weiss. He is the oldest serving Professor At Wash U and former chair of the math department. I bet he knew Cory. SO CRAZY he was the first person I came across, and even though Weiss is a pretty common Jewish name.... very strange coincidence.
http://www.studlife.com/scene/profile/2011/10/13/introducing-professor-guido-weiss/
Okay. I think I'm going to email him.

Also, I wonder if this was Cory's other grandfather?::
http://www.stljewishlight.com/obituaries/article_5f9093fc-89dd-11df-9bc6-001cc4c002e0.html

 

[hannah1988]

OOO. maybe someone should find out what professors were in the math dept. at the time, and they can email them about Cory?
EDIT: okay... so i just looked up Wash U in St Louis math department, and who is the first math professor I come across? Professor Guido Weiss. He is the oldest serving Professor At Wash U and former chair of the math department. I bet he knew Cory. SO CRAZY he was the first person I came across, and even though Weiss is a fairly common name.... so weird.
http://www.studlife.com/scene/profile/2011/10/13/introducing-professor-guido-weiss/
excerpt from the article on Dr. Guido Weiss:
**When asked if he continues to communicate with previous students, Weiss said affectionately, “Oh yes, I still stay in close contact with my whole caboodle.”**

---also, anyone think that the obit for Calvin H. Weiss 2nd from the bottom of the page is Cory's other grandfather?
http://www.stljewishlight.com/obituaries/article_5f9093fc-89dd-11df-9bc6-001cc4c002e0.html

Wow! We're definitely thinking the same way. I was just about to post about contacting math professors, and I was thinking about emailing that same one tonight because of his last name -- He's got to remember a student that shared his same last name.

However, I'm a little hesitant to contact him, because I don't like the idea of "butting in" without the support of family. They may be at peace with what happened to Cory and may not want strangers reaching out to people about him. If that's the case, I wouldn't want to impose. JMO.

 

[leilarose68]

Wow! We're definitely thinking the same way. I was just about to post about contacting math professors, and I was thinking about emailing that same one tonight because of his last name -- He's got to remember a student that shared his same last name.

However, I'm a little hesitant to contact him, because I don't like the idea of "butting in" without the support of family. They may be at peace with what happened to Cory and may not want strangers reaching out to people about him. If that's the case, I wouldn't want to impose. JMO.

I just saw your post, and I contacted Professor Weiss a few minutes ago :/.
I guess if Professor Weiss feels uncomfortable he either won't respond or will let me know that this isn't appreciated.
Hopefully he sees that it comes from a place of just wanting to find out where this missing man is because Cory is a human being and has a story and it's just heartbreaking to see nothing out there on a missing person.

perhaps i shouldn't have emailed him. hopefully i worded it sensitively enough so he knows I only mean well.

 

[hannah1988]

I just saw your post, and I contacted Professor Weiss a few minutes ago :/.
I guess if Professor Weiss feels uncomfortable he either won't respond or will let me know that this isn't appreciated.
Hopefully he sees that it comes from a place of just wanting to find out where this missing man is because Cory is a human being and has a story and it's just heartbreaking to see nothing out there on a missing person.

perhaps i shouldn't have emailed him. hopefully i worded it sensitively enough so he knows I only mean well.

It's okay. I know that you mean well (as we all do here), and I'm sure that this will come across in the message.

I hope we get more details soon!

 

[Mouse]

FERPA/HIPAA covers a fair amount of ground, so I wouldn't hold my breath about Professor Weiss saying much, even if there is anything to say. At least, anything that would actually be of any use (such as mentioning if a student seemed depressed) would be off-limits due to privacy in education laws. Not saying Prof. Weiss won't contact you and have plenty of stories, but don't be surprised/hurt if he doesn't.

ETA: Also, for me personally, anyway, there's little chance that I would remember a ton of specifics about a student that I had in class a decade ago, even one that shared my last name. I've had at least one student involved in a pretty big crime, and I couldn't tell you much about him except that s/he was in one of my classes that semester. And I teach at a community college, with much smaller classes and more professor-student interaction than is typical at a school like WU--

 

[leilarose68]

FERPA/HIPAA covers a fair amount of ground, so I wouldn't hold my breath about Professor Weiss saying much, even if there is anything to say. At least, anything that would actually be of any use (such as mentioning if a student seemed depressed) would be off-limits due to privacy in education laws. Not saying Prof. Weiss won't contact you and have plenty of stories, but don't be surprised/hurt if he doesn't.

ETA: Also, for me personally, anyway, there's little chance that I would remember a ton of specifics about a student that I had in class a decade ago, even one that shared my last name. I've had at least one student involved in a pretty big crime, and I couldn't tell you much about him except that s/he was in one of my classes that semester. And I teach at a community college, with much smaller classes and more professor-student interaction than is typical at a school like WU--

HIPAA honestly would be totally irrelevant here as Cory's professor wasn't his health provider or health professional.
Regarding FERPA, i don't know the exact specifics of it but I doubt a professor's recollection of a former student's general personality or general behavior would be in violation. I have only heard it mentioned with regard to official records and official information about the student. It's probably very gray area and up to the professor's judgment. If the Professor doesn't want to talk about Cory I doubt it will be because of FERPA specifically. And I definitely don't expect the professor to say much, if anything, but I figure there's so little information in this case one might as well try.

Regarding whether or not the professor remembers him: it's very possible that Prof Weiss could have heard about the case, seeing as Cory was finishing up his math degree just a year before (maybe even a couple of months before) he went missing. I'm sure people must have been talking about it, if only a little bit. I find it hard to believe Cory would have been that isolated that a few people at the school didn't even know. I imagine he had a thesis advisor or a project advisor his senior year, and perhaps kept in touch w that professor.

So if Professor Weiss is comfortable speaking about Cory, he will respond. And if he's not, he won't. And all that being said, I don't even know if he's his professor!I can't take back the email now so I guess we'll just have to see.

 

[Blair]

Some articles on the applicability of witness protection. Sounds like the Program varies widely not only from nation to nation, but state to state within the US. Currently, most of them appear to be suffering from a significant lack of funding.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/nyregion/28witness.html?ref=witnessprotectionprogramus&_r=0

Part of the state’s trouble in protecting witnesses, though, goes beyond money to the very policy it applies: the attorney general’s State Witness Assistance Program refuses to relocate most witnesses who have a criminal record or a drug problem, or are unemployed, saying that to do so might send criminals into unsuspecting cities and neighborhoods.

“That rules out about 80 percent of the people we have to rely on for our cases,” said Mindy Mellits, a homicide prosecutor in Camden.

As a result, many people who witness crimes have little confidence in the law enforcement system’s ability or resolve to protect them; meanwhile, some killers have been able to escape prosecution by silencing witnesses with threats or in some cases, bullets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/nyregion/09cutolo.html?ref=witnessprotectionprogramus

This article is included because it refers to faking a death to ensure witness safety.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/16/justice/witness-protection-program/

More than 18,400 men, women and children have participated in it, and not one of the 8,500 witnesses or the 9,900 family members has been harmed, according to the U.S Marshals Service. "It's a big feather in our cap," Harlow said.

The program has made some limited information available to the public on its website: It provides 24-hour protection to all witnesses while they are in a high-threat environment; witnesses receive financial assistance for housing and subsistence for basic living expenses and medical care; the program also provides for job training and employment assistance.

http://www.usmarshals.gov/witsec/index.html

Federal Witness Protection Homepage

 

[U2forever]

This may be a really stupid question, but here it goes.

Let's say that someone goes into the witness protection program. Is the person's info posted on missing people sites? I could see why it would be beneficial to list the person as missing -- that way people aren't tipped off that they are actually in witness protection.

I'm not trying to imply that Cory is in witness protection. I'm just in awe that someone can drop off the radar like that, and I'm trying to think outside the box.

Hannah, you beat me to the punch. I thought about witness protection but wanted to read through the thread first before posting about it. I do not know how LE deals with WP and missing persons. I do know that WP is federal but that does us no good.

BTW Hannah, there are no stupid questions.

 

[leilarose68]

Hannah, you beat me to the punch. I thought about witness protection but wanted to read through the thread first before posting about it. I do not know how LE deals with WP and missing persons. I do know that WP is federal but that does us no good.

BTW Hannah, there are no stupid questions.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say that there's something to the fact that he disappeared either right before or after 9/11. But I'm not! And that would be silly

I do wonder whether Missing Flyers are issued for WP people or the FBI and local police orchestrate to just ignore the disappearance altogether. Seems to me that most WP people weren't the most law-aibiding people themselves, so idk if Cory seems like the best fit for this kind of scenario. But there's always a chance

 

[U2forever]

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say that there's something to the fact that he disappeared either right before or after 9/11. But I'm not! And that would be silly

I do wonder whether Missing Flyers are issued for WP people or the FBI and local police orchestrate to just ignore the disappearance altogether. Seems to me that most WP people weren't the most law-aibiding people themselves, so idk if Cory seems like the best fit for this kind of scenario. But there's always a chance

Sure does make one curious.

WP is so hush hush, and there is a good reason why but for the families sake, why make them suffer. :silenced:
I have read theories about the McStay family being in WP.

:dunno:

 

[leilarose68]

Sure does make one curious.

WP is so hush hush, and there is a good reason why but for the families sake, why make them suffer. :silenced:
I have read theories about the McStay family being in WP.

:dunno:

I think the family members of WP persons are always told (if the person under WP is estranged from the family or generally at odds with them, maybe not). It's the community or friends I guess that are kept in the dark. I imagine if someone's a really trusted confidant or insanely close friend who won't break the trust of the family, they will be told.
Often if a WP person contacts someone they weren't supposed to, the WPP will hide them again, but at a certain point if they keep breaking the rules, they're on their own I think. at least this is what i've read on various sites about the WPP

 

[leilarose68]

I think the family members of WP persons are always told (if the person under WP is estranged from the family or generally at odds with them, maybe not). It's the community or friends I guess that are kept in the dark. I imagine if someone's a really trusted confidant or insanely close friend who won't break the trust of the family, they will be told.
Often if a WP person contacts someone they weren't supposed to, the WPP will hide them again, but at a certain point if they keep breaking the rules, they're on their own I think. at least this is what i've read on various sites about the WPP

Reading more abt WPP, often family members are hidden as well. So if the US Marshals Service thinks the family is in great danger because of their association w their WP relative, they will definitely hide them. If you look at the stats of people hidden by WPP, they say they've hidden more than 8,500 witnesses and 9,900 of their family members.

 

[beachlvr0810]

Well.. all I can say is I've told my family that should I ever go missing, to come on to websleuths so you guys can find me! hahaa

That's exactly what I told my husband! And he has definitely paid attention to the fact that I love Websleuths. He called me Friday night from work and asked me if I was on Websleuths because one of his co-workers had just left work in a panic and upset after receiving a call that his son was missing.

 

[zwiebel]

CarlK can probably advise you about a Namus entry. I believe they made some changes recently. Not sure what though.

It's some distance from San Francisco, but an unidentified male was found buried in Piercy in 2012. 5"11-6"5 is the only description. The remains were skeletal, but the clothes are pretty intact, as you can see at the link. I don't know if that would be possible if the remains had been there since 2001.

http://www.mendocinosheriff.com/missing/coldcases.html

I have tried an alternative spelling of the name - corey - but still came up with nothing. I am wondering if he has been declared deceased and a death certificate issued?

 

[zwiebel]

I'm re-thinking any chance those remains are Cory. I've just realized what I thought were funny-looking jeans are long underwear. I can't imagine any 23-year-old wearing them, really.

 

[Tulessa]

How sad for such a handsome young man,