CA CA - Michael Negrete, 18, Los Angeles, 10 Dec 1999

[Just Jake]

Were there any big raves happening that weekend. Being that the weekend had not come up yet, he might have gearing up for a party of sorts. No one wants to do ecstasy and play video games alone. He might have been stocking up for some upcoming event.

 

[Just Jake]

Or. Gaming and speed go together good. Speed is also what students do to cram for tests and it also lends itself to more unscrupulous and unsavory people.

 

[Just Jake]

In 99, the rave scene was at its end so to speak and alot of the e was speedy. So it would be an easy jump from e to speed. If Michael was on the low end of the spectrum in anyway, the e or speed or even Ritalin for that matter might have helped or had a different effect on him. Is there any way of knowing if he had cash on him at the time. When was his last atm cash pull.

 

[Just Jake]

I remember parking on campus being a pain. If we stick with the theory that it's the guy in the jacket or someone met him at the dorms, then where does this individual park?

 

[dotr]

I remember parking on campus being a pain. If we stick with the theory that it's the guy in the jacket or someone met him at the dorms, then where does this individual park?

Maybe, ( if there was an individual involved ) he tells MN, that he cannot find a parking spot so it would be handier to meet at a location like the bus stop?
speculation.

 

[Just Jake]

That bus stop is too far. Plus wasn't Michael barefoot.

 

[Just Jake]

When does he tell him he can't find parking?

 

[Just Jake]

Sorry for all the indie posts. It's how I think. Here is a scenario or idea. There is no online guy. If we stay with guy in the jacket concept then there is also a middle man. Someone in the dorms introduced Michael to this guy. Michael and the guy dealt with each other already by proxy. That's why Michael left the room so easy and low key. HE THOUGHT it was standard operating procedure. Meet the guy downstairs like I have before. Get the gear. Done. They both already know that parking is limited so and cars sitting idle might get campus police on them so they drive around the campus. Michael forgot his wallet or didn't have the right amounts so the tweeker dealer might have hit him and then something bad happened.

 

[Just Jake]

I just did some more reading saw a few a more things I have not read before.

Subliminal Distraction Theory: http://visionandpsychosis.net/Miss_Negrete.htm

And the heavy construction site theory about the UCLA Campus. I remember that the campus was under massive work over. There could have been a UCLA coverup as well. Michael could have tried to re-enter The Hall from a different way and gotten hurt badly in construction and then actually buried in the rubble itself.

 

[Just Jake]

Not sure how dog tracking works. Maybe the shoes that Michael did wear were recently washed or so new they didn't have a proper scent to track. I remember once seeing a map of his trail and it was a rather meandering trip as sniffed out by the dogs.

 

[BettaFranka]

The reason people believe that Michael Negrete left on his own accord was because it was apparently reported that he was captured walking out the dorm alone at 4:30 AM by front desk cameras. This was accompanied by witnesses that reported a young man with his description being seen leaving the dorm rooms alone at approximately the same time. He did not appear to be distressed when this happened.

I've tried to find information about the footage of security cameras but couldn't find anything. Could you provide a source? If not, do you remember reading what else the cameras have shown? I'd appreciate it.

 

[BettaFranka]

If UCLA was under heavy construction, I lean towards the accident theory. He didn't have the key, tried to re-enter the dorms and fell in a construction site. A cover-up isn't necessary to explain the absence of a body. If he fell in an area where a body was hard to spot (like a hole, for example), it is possible that he was covered with concrete or rubble as soon as works resumed in the morning. Moreover, LA Times mentioned that at first le didn't take the case seriously, so it's possible that by the time the search started his body was completely covered or destructed.

I'm also open to the possibility that he met with foul play. However, I don't believe that it was someone he met online, otherwise, police would have found something suspicious in the computer. This is assuming that the investigators aren't withholding important information. If he indeed met with foul play, he was probably a victim of a crime of opportunity. He went for a walk and someone used a weapon to coerce him into a vehicle.Judging by Google Earth, UCLA seems to be open for any vehicle. A killer or a rapist might have been passing through the university to get to their home, spotted Michael and harmed him.

The drugs and the stranger might be red herrings. Just because they were there it doesn't mean that they had anything to do with the case. The scent path doesn't strike me as weird either. I mean, Michael lived at the university and was probably making several trips to different places within and near UCLA almost everyday. The trail the dogs scented was so strange because it was the scent from many trips.

 

[John.121]

First post here. I've been reading about the Michael Negrete disappearance extensively for a few months now. One thing i can't believe with this case is the complete dearth of information that is out there about it, or at least that has been released publicly. I mean this only happened in 1999. There is more info out there about disappearances from the 1800s than this one! Besides here, reddit, and a couple of short general chat threads on random forums you can't find anything about it.

Also, the bit of information we do have doesn't seem to be solidified or agreed upon in any aspect. For instance in more than several reports (and small articles covering it on 'people who vanished' lists) i have read it says that Michael Negrete left his room in the dorm to congratulate the video game opponent and went back INTO his room never to be seen again. Yet on long threads such as this discussing it, pretty much everyone seems to be working from the angle that he left the dorm room completely and never went back inside. So which is it?

If he left his dorm ROOM, congratulated his opponent and then turned around and went back into the room only to disappear then surely his dorm/room mate would know more?

I certainly think it's much more likely that something happened outside the dorm room, either inside the dorm complex or whether he left the complex entirely as is being discussed, but why then is it being written in several places that he walked back into his ROOM after high-fiving his opponent only to vanish?

Why would he just suddenly be going to buy drugs at 4am after a long night of playing video games? Doesn't make sense. Why didn't he go to bed at that time of the morning when he was tired? It had to have been some kind of 'lure' that got him to leave the dorm building at that time when he most likely was about to go to bed. I wonder have any of the 'authority figures' of the UCLA ever been questioned? Professors, lecturers, teachers etc? To me it seems there would only be a few possibilities that would get you to leave the dorm at that time, even briefly, such as an authority figure, or a girl/love interest.

I think too much emphasis is placed on him not taking his keys. He could have just been tired/stressed/weary and forgotten his keys, but then again the fact he didn't take proper shoes, or anything really, suggests he was only planning a short stop anyway. I don't really put much into the construction accident thing either. I mean if he forgot the keys i can't see him being the type of person that would attempt to dangerously climb some construction site in the dark in the middle of the night. How many people do that unless they are stupidly drunk/intoxicated? He couldn't have been that drunk from partying if he was able to concentrate on video game battles for hours. There would have been a way he could back in without the keys even if it meant disturbing another student/security or something. I just see that as a much more likely thing for him to attempt than climbing all over heavy construction to get through a window back in or something.

Imo, there has to have been another student possibly in another building involved or someone that messaged him before he turned off the computer, beeped him on a pager etc to quickly come and do/get something for/from them that he viewed as being too important to wait until the morning, and something happened either on his way there or once he got there (he was introduced to someone in a car etc)

 

[dotr]

Welcome to Ws John.121!
This case, like many of the ones involving male students inexplicably disappearing, is confusing because nothing seems to make sense, but glad you are willing to take a crack at it.

 

[dotr]

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/16/local/me-51723/2

(Page 2 of 2)

Missing Adults Leave Few Traces


Crime: Searches are often daunting because of a lack of evidence and limited resources. The disappearance of Michael Negrete continues to frustrate investigators.


April 16, 2001|KURT STREETER | TIMES STAFF WRITER
They quickly decided they couldn't trust the bloodhound's trail, figuring the dog was probably confused. They thought a strange man might have been in the dorm that night, but the lead took them nowhere. They searched the dorm's garbage chute and through every construction site on campus but found nothing. They tracked down dozens of UCLA students who had lived in the dorm. The students told the same story, again and again: No one knew, or saw, anything.
For Howell and Purcell, there was none of the usual evidence: no blood, guns, bullets or bodies.
"Usually, those kinds of cases lead us in a certain direction. There's a light at the end of the tunnel," said Howell, wiping his large hand over his face. "In this case, there's absolutely no certainty anywhere. It's maddening."
Howell said the lack of evidence and leads has caused him sleepless nights. He has even dreamed about finding Negrete. He and Purcell consulted a Sheriff's Department homicide profiler, an expert who tries to solve crimes by looking at statistical data and probing into criminal psychology. The profiler advised them they had, more than likely, already interviewed somebody who knew what happened. This eats at Howell.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/n/negrete_michael.html

 

[John.121]

Hi dotr, yes i've been reading up on quite a few of these cases extensively, but i'd say this is the one that interests me the most simply because there seems to be nothing recent at all and also nothing 'solid' or definitive in the first place. At least with Brian Shaffer for example we have a few things, even if they are bits and pieces (footage of him outside the bar, brief interviews with the GF, friend, etc). I remember reading a while back an article, or a reference to an article, stating that there is footage of Michael Negrete leaving his dorm willingly. Well where is this footage? Why has it never been made public, and why has seemingly nobody seen or heard about it except for some vague reference in an article from years and years back?

A couple of things i wanted to touch on with regards to this one: I read somewhere (possibly even earlier in this thread) that Michael Negrete was residing on the 6th floor of his building. That's quite high up. Now i've never been inside a dorm building in the US (I'm in the UK) but would he have had to access like a small elevator or stairs to get outside of the dorm complex? Perhaps there was an accident involving the elevator shaft/stairway? But again, surely if something happened inside the dorm building he would have been found, or some lead/evidence would have been picked up.

I was thinking about the bus stop thing too. I don't think it's that likely, but maybe he was planning an all-nighter or something and did decide to take a bus a few stops down the street to a 24 hour store or something. This would explain why he turned the computer off and just threw on some flip-flops for a short trip, but wouldn't explain why he didn't take his bank card (could he have had a small amount of cash on him?) If there were even buses running at that time it's likely he would have had to wait for quite an amount of time for the next one to turn up. It's not like there are 4 buses an hour running at 4 in the morning. He surely would have had to wait for a while for the bus to arrive. Perhaps someone drove past saw him standing there and offered him a ride?

Lastly on the bus stop, from what i've read and researched on this, i saw on reddit i think an ex UCLA student saying that particular bus stop is not even the nearest one to his dorm and it's quite a walk away. To me the only thing that makes sense in that instance (assuming he did board a bus in the first place) is that he got on the earlier/nearer stop, realized he'd forgotten his money and jumped back off the bus at the stop that his scent was traced to. From there something happened or he was offered a ride back up the road to the dorm or something.

All very confusing, as you say.

 

[Picachu]

Thank you, dotr, for that oudraft from the LA times. That was actually to a lot of help, because here we could read that the possibility of an accident at the construction site had been considered, wherefore consequently also every construction site were searched through, but without anything being found.
This helped, because one of the most common theories have otherwise namely been that he had specifically such an accident where he then remained. A theory which however with this information suddenly became much more questionable, if not even directly disproven.

If nothing happened at the construction site, then John.121's theory of Michael walking out in some errand and then being picked up by someone, is suddenly among the most likely ones.

It is of course possible that something happened in the dorm and that someone among those being interrogated knows the answer, just like was also suggested in the article, however if so then I feel that there would have been at least some type of trace or clue to be found if such had been the case. :/

 

[Rose_Red]

I've tried to find information about the footage of security cameras but couldn't find anything. Could you provide a source? If not, do you remember reading what else the cameras have shown? I'd appreciate it.

No, I wish I could. I've read several articles on Michael Negrete. Many of them years ago. I tried to find the article I had read this from and could not. I found other posters who have posted the same information about camera footage and tried to contact them about whether or not they could remember the source. There were no replies, so far. Anyway, all I can really remember is reading that Michael Negrete was seen walking out by a couple of students entering Dykstra Hall and their description of his clothing matched the camera footage. This may have been incorrect or misremembered information, unfortunately. Another poster that I did not contact, posted that they heard about footage in a local news report on TV. I also tried to find news footage on the case that could have been aired in 1999-early 2000s, but YouTube and the internet was not like it is now, so I found nothing. Maybe someone else will have better luck.

There may have been no footage, but I would say that just because no footage has been released doesn't mean that no footage exists. In the Maura Murray case, I believe its been stated that there were cameras that caught her on the day she disappeared, but for whatever reason that footage is not being released.

 

[Rose_Red]

I wonder why they are investigating this as a homicide and if they have any leads? It was always portrayed to the public as if he vanished into thin air.

This is a good question. I wonder if the LAPD have more information on this case than they have released. I wonder if they have a drug angle and/or more information about the man in the sketch that they haven't revealed. If that post by SteveTheSoundGuy is true, and he really is Mike's brother, then the LAPD and must have more information about drug use and a possible connection to his death; i think that could be a reason to put this case under the homicide department.

 

[Rose_Red]

BettaFranka,

EDIT: I don't know how to edit posts, if possible, but this is the only other thing that I found:

"He was last seen at 4 a.m. on the sixth floor of Dykstra Hall.
Howell said there may be witnesses who saw a man matching his
description walking out the front door around 4:35 a.m."

The quote above was taken from the Daily Bruin written in April 2003.