Hey
@Odyssey ! Hope you're doing well!
From what I understood (though I could definitely be wrong)
1) Grandma called the hotel and was told that Farren had not returned, leaving an unpaid bill and all his belongings
2)JDPD called the hotel, spoke to the people he was living with and was told that he had left for work and not returned
3)no more contact until Uncle visits 10 years later
From what Sgt Rand had said I thought that JDPD had at least called the hotel to get the facts at the time as he states these things are the only things he knows to be factual.(I must add here though that I did think it odd that if JDPD had spoken to anyone then they didn't record their names!) Which would make sense. He said:
I could be wrong. And yes, you could be correct, his roomates could have just assumed he left for work.
In fact now I am looking at this statement it also kind of reads like maybe the last time his roommates saw or heard from him was also 26th April, but I think by anyone he meant "family" specifically.
Since Sgt Rand seems happy that the roommates were correct in what they said, and this is in the case file, I am also happy to go along with this. We have to believe some things as truth and work from there otherwise there are just too many variables and we may as well give up. The gay man comment does not appear in Farren's case file since it was an unverified comment made to RC years later...perhaps it should be included, I don't know.
I think the interview with the Oregonian was more about what RC had done in trying to find Farren rather than Farren himself. So I am not surpirised that this wasn't mentioned as it was before his time.
My own opinion, but with everything we now know about the area, and specifically about this hotel, then I am more inclined to see the manager's comments as iffy...it not downright suspicious.
As you said the hotel workers were unlikely to know Farren's day-to-day movements or have much interaction-so I have to ask myself in that case,
how did they not only remember him 10 years later, but specifically remember both where he was going AND who he was seeing? They certainly didn't just assume he had left for work...they specifically remembered something different. Even if we don't know the whole story of that conversation, they must have certainly intimated that Farren was seeing a gay man, thus spurring RC's ad placements in the gay press and comments to the Oregonian.
JMO but I do believe that someone who worked at that hotel has more info.
