GUILTY CA - Gavin Smith, 57, Oak Park, 1 May 2012

[2rose]

What really puzzles me is why LE had to serve a warrant in the first place, and use SWAT, drawn guns, plus dogs (as reported) to do so. Was the homeowner uncooperative? Did something happen since the last reported search (cell phones seized) to make this person unwilling to allow a second search? It was reported that a lawyer for the family was at the house.

It doesn't sound to me like law enforcement gave the home owner an option. It seems the raid was a surprise. They appeared about 7:30 in the morning & used a loud speaker to tell everyone in the home to come out. After the women & children did so, the police went in with guns to check & secure the house. The police do not seem to have been interested in the female home owner as no arrests were made. The wanted to capture Johnny Creech ... he appears to have been some kind of temporary resident there. My thinking of why they went in with guns is that this Creech guy has a rap sheet ... perhaps with drugs & guns ... so the police took precautions in case Creech met them with resistance. It sounds like there is a lot more to this case then we know about at this time.

 

[shefner]

Well we know it takes a good reasonable cause to get a search warrant. I just can't imagine what kind of message LE was sending with this "raid."

 

[2rose]

Gavin Smith timeline ...

In his younger days Gavin Smith had some bit parts in movies ...
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808291/

about 1990 - Gavin Smith married Lisa & by all accounts he has been a good father to their 3 sons.

about 1993 - for the past 18 years he has been working for Fox & by all accounts he has been a good employee.

about 1996 - when the real estate market was very high, the Smiths bought a West Hills home & for the past 15 years they have been living in that same mortgaged home. Gavin has been the income earner & his wife Lisa is a stay-at-home mom with no outside income source.

about 2007 - they started experiencing some marital problems ... his wife became religious which annoyed him ... & he sought comfort in the arms of a few other women which annoyed his wife & 3 sons.

Gavin was thinking ahead that after his retirement from Fox, he would take on some acting jobs again.

Recently his wife has been helping her mother through a cancer battle. Such an event is known to cause added stress within a couple's relationship.

The Smith family started experiencing some financial troubles.

An article mentioned that Gavin was not a habitual drug user, but was known to occasionally use recreational drugs.

About October 2011 they listed their West HIlls home for sale. One article showed a picture of the Smith family home & one can see that the for sale sign still hangs. The real estate market has experienced a dramatic drop since they bought their home. So even though they have faithfully paid their mortgage for 15 years, the current market value of their home is LESS than the amount they STILL owe on their mortgage. This means that if their house does find a buyer, Gavin will still have to continue paying off a mortgage when he & his family no longer live there. Of course, in addition Gavin will have to pay for new lodgings.

2012 The Smith family defaulted on a mortgage payment. If that continues their home could be foreclosed on.

2012/04/14 Gavin's oldest son Evan tweeted that his father had left the family ... "Thoughts and prayers out to my amazing Mom and bros plz. My dad decided to leave the family last nite. Real family sticks together". After that Evan refused to talked to his father any more.

2012/05/01 Gavin was now living outside the family home & went missing.

I do not want to disparage a stranger's character or lifestyle. But looking at these facts I have gathered from numerous articles, it seems like his life was devolving.

For 18 years his income at Fox was able to sustain the family without any financial problems.
So I am wondering what was the new source draining their finances lately ?
Was it planning for the children's college tuition ?
Was it his mother-in-law's illness ?
Had he perhaps felt weighted down with surmounting problems & developed an expensive drug habit to cope ?

The police have not shared his cell phone records publicly ...
this would tell us if he was drawn out of his residence by a phone call around 10pm.
Another possiblity is that he left voluntarily to obtain some drugs.

Police have said his cell phone was pinging around the valley until 4:30am at which time it stopped & has never been heard from again.
If he had suffered a car accident, his cell phone would most likely still be pinging.
But the phone & the car, like Gavin himself are missing also.

So it would seem that a person either turned the cell phone off or destroyed it.
If Gavin ran into foul play, then it seems likely that his attacker would have tried to get rid of cell phone pinging to avoid being tracked down.
Another possibility is that Gavin himself killed the cell phone ... if he thought his current lifestyle was spiraling out of control & wanted a fresh start.

This kind of thing does happen ... I knew someone in the neighborhood throughout my childhood & years later, one day his adult children found him & took him back home, 500 hundred miles away.

If you think this doesn't occur, then I refer you to a high profile case with Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend of 8 years, who pulled a vanishing act with a staged death ...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...aged-death-alive-U-S-investigators-claim.html

So there are a million possibilities for what happened to Gavin Smith.
The most probable have already been stated by many ... car accident or foul play.
But another scenario MIGHT have been that Gavin went out to buy some drugs, a disagreement ensued & the other guy pulled out a gun.
Gavin with his height & strength & athleticism may have been able to pull off a quick maneuver & avoid getting shot ... but what if the antagonist ended up getting shot in the heat of an altercation ?
... Could Gavin have then been frightened about having to do jail time & with his home life falling apart & retirement coming soon
... or firing (if FOX found out about his drug buy)
... might he have just decided to walk away from his current life ?
Perhaps that IS him on the restaurant surveillance tape ?

 

[shefner]

I would think his car would have been seen by now....unless its being hidden.

 

[Seek&Find]

The Los Angeles Times identified the owners of the Canoga Park home as John and Chandrika Creech.

Authorities reportedly left with boxes, a computer and a black SUV belonging to the husband.

A source close to the matter told the station that police were pressuring the husband to take a lie-detector test.

link

 

[Seek&Find]

Neighbors told reporters that deputies had their guns drawn when they first arrived at the residence in the 8600 block of Santa Susana Place. Dolson said that was because of the wrought iron fence that surrounds the entrance to the house. Once the residents were given the search warrant, they allowed the police in, Dolson said, and no forced entry was required.

link

 

[katydid23]

It sounds to me like, purely speculation on my part, maybe this Johnny C. is a suspect of some kind in Gavin's disappearance. Maybe they have a reason to believe that Creach was the last person that Gavin was with before he went missing. ?

 

[Seek&Find]

They also towed away a black Audi SUV.

link

BBM. In case it comes in to play later. Wonder what year?

 

[Seek&Find]

It sounds to me like, purely speculation on my part, maybe this Johnny C. is a suspect of some kind in Gavin's disappearance. Maybe they have a reason to believe that Creach was the last person that Gavin was with before he went missing. ?

Hm. We can't sleuth him yet, right? Interesting info available.

 

[katydid23]

Hm. We can't sleuth him yet, right? Interesting info available.

I think we can sleuth him, because he was named in a mainstream news article as the man LE was searching for with a warrant. So according to WS rules, he should be sleuthable. :smile:

eta: and let me guess...past drug dealing record?

 

[Seek&Find]

I asked a mod to be sure. I try to behave. . Hadn't looked at criminal records yet.

 

[Seek&Find]

"There was nothing out of the ordinary for this kind of a search warrant service," said Lt. Dave Dolson, with the sheriff's homicide detective bureau.

Deputies later towed a black Audi station wagon from the property. They also carried away two boxes of evidence, in addition to bags, folders of papers and several pieces of electronic gear such as hard drives and DVD players.

Neighbors identified the home's resident as John Creech and his wife and daughters. Daniel J. Teola, an attorney who represents the family, said John Creech was not home at the time of the search, but his wife and children and an elderly woman were there. He said the house had been previously searched about three weeks ago, by a smaller group of deputies.

The car that was towed, he said, was the family's only means of transportation. He confirmed the family knows Gavin Smith, but would not elaborate.

link

 

[Seek&Find]

Per video here, they said wife "has had contact in the past with Gavin Smith", "questions by detectives lead toward naming the husband who lives here as a suspect in Gavin Smith's disappearance." Said someone close to the fam said John's being pressured by LE to take a lie detector test, but on advice of counsel, he declined. From the quotes attributed to unknown source, it sounds like it might've been his attorney, Treola, as statements in vid match statements attributed to him in linked pieces above. Treola is a criminal defense/family law attorney, per Martindale. Also at vid, two cellphones were confiscated from this residence as part of first search/warrant three weeks ago.

 

[Salem]

I asked a mod to be sure. I try to behave. . Hadn't looked at criminal records yet.

If he has been named by LE and they are obtaining and executing search warrants, he is fair game. Not his mother, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, etc. But you bet you can sleuth him.

Go Sleuths!

Salem

 

[katydid23]

I wonder if it was a love triangle? I mean, the wife says she has been 'in contact' with Gavin in the past. Maybe Johnny C. was jealous, and thought Gavin was interested in his wife?

 

[Seek&Find]

Ok, I'm not as good at sleuthing as many here, and haven't pulled criminal records, so if someone wants to do that, please have at it!

POI's full name is John Lenzie Creech, from what I've found.

First thing I found that interested me was his business, listed as "My Money Management, Inc." listed here and confirmed at California Sec of State's website. (You have to search for the biz name to find it on SOS site.)

Company Age: 2 Years, 6 Months
Principal Address: 8306 Wilshire Blvd #491
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Made me wonder, with the Smiths' financial issues, if Gavin was a client, found improprieties, and confronted John.

Found the name of the cafe' they'd mentioned wife owned. (Also verified at SOS link above.)
Does it seem odd that a cafe' with 5-10 ee would have rev that high? Maybe just reported wrong??

Company Name Pawbucks Cafe, INC.
Contact Person Mr john creech
Company Address 8306 Wilshire Blvd. #491, Beverly Hills, California, United States
Annual Sales Range(USD) US$2.5 Million - US$5 Million

Link

This ad seemed odd for a cafe'...electronics?? Link

I am looking to buy high quality items:
Electronics- HDTVs, t.v.s, mobile phones, mp3 players,
Athletic apparel- Nike, Adidas, Puma, Converse shoes
Sunglasses- Oakley, Nike, Bolle, Carrera, Spy, Smith
Furniture- wrought iron stands, wooden desks, mirrors, tables and statues.

Please do not call unless it's necessary. Please send all catalogs to my address with pricing sheet.

Found this bill of lading for import goods. Import/export can cover a world of sins.

There's also a West Hills Trading Company here that looks to be associated with John. You can click through rudimentary links on this page. Cannot find record on SOS. Info about the website where the West Hills info is posted:

Since started as a global B2B marketpalce platform in 1999, HIWTC has grown to No.1 e-Commerce trade leader providing online and off line excellent services to over 22,400,000 members. Based on export & import marketing, we are operating not only B2B website, EDI services, trade consulting and so on, but also offline trade-related services for SMEs.

With our worldwide network and high brand recognition, we are extending our business field to the global market by providing great value such as e-Business logistics support, offline business opportunities collection, hold a variety of industrial exhibitions and fairs.

Over 30 million trade offers are posted in our website, which cover all industries and extend the largest scale in the world. Besides, our B2B website is listed on the top level of several famous ranking sites such as Alexa, Rankey, 100 HOT etc.

link

That's all I have so far. Stopped looking til given green light. I'm sure others can find more, better, and probably more relevant info, not to mention better sources, etc. Cannot find other records for Western Hills. Just seems like it could be a front, or an easy way to dispose of things, or bring things into the country. Others in fam may be in import/export. I'll say Moo since this may all be useless.

Ps we might be able to find more with biz address above...

 

[Seek&Find]

I wonder if it was a love triangle? I mean, the wife says she has been 'in contact' with Gavin in the past. Maybe Johnny C. was jealous, and thought Gavin was interested in his wife?

Could be!

 

[Seek&Find]

There's another biz associated with that address/John called L.A. Denim LLC per this website. Can't find on SOS.

Don't know if any of this means anything. These convoluted trails have mattered in at least one other case, so posting just in case. Could also be if businesses were struggling, more desperate for $, involved in other things. Or not.

 

[Seek&Find]

Hello. I am looking for a long term business partner who can supply me with all the latest high demand items: Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Ipods (all types), plasma and hdtvs. I am willing to fly to Singapore to inspect maerchandise and potential partnerships.

I look forward from hearing from you.

Best regards,
John Creech

link

Found other import bills of lading online too. Curious where he's selling these electronics he's importing...

Moo

 

[SuziQ]

Based on information in various articles, I believe the house where the search warrant was served (Canoga Park) is NOT the residence where Gavin Smith was spending the night (Oak Park) and from which he went missing. The Smith home is located in West Hills, and he worked in Calabasas.

~jmo~

Thanks for the clarification. I couldn't figure out the who's and where's.