IA IA - David Schultz, 53, Wall Lake, 21 November 2023 #2

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

A perp, who didn't know, which truck exactly DS was driving (type/license plates/loaded or unloaded), but wanted something important of him, could have rang DS' cell phone and ordered him to MM126. If the unknown person waited for him in the vicinity, he could have seen, when and in which truck DS would appear. I think, truckers know, when a truck stop is always closed and normally wouldn't head for that business/parking lot. DS should have known and had almost no reason, to stop there.

After that, the perp could have waited for DS near the exit or whatever.

Was he lured to the closed truck stop - please help come pick me up type scenario - then when he got there, he's wondering 'hey where are you? can't see you here?'

 

[Bogbacal2]

Thinking out loud... Maybe DS got a phone call, anonymously or known, telling him there was an emergency which leads DS to to take that wrong turn. Even so, DS was close enough to Weichmans to hurry and unload-unless DS knew he had to unload the piglets because no one was there and it would take too long.

 

[mst]

We know that he picked up pigs as the last load of night. We know he got to mm and was there for 16 minutes doing something on the phone. We know he got off the exit. We know he took a very long time to get to the trucks final resting stop. We know pigs were not unloaded at Weichmans and I think we know that truck never was at weichmans to unload as LE has said so. We know wallet and phone in truck with cash and ID and keys were in it. Finally, we know coat, pocketknife, phone charger, and a towel were found. These are the facts from LE. Taking only the facts, any reason is still on the table for this man's disappearance. His demeanor, morals, etc are all just opinions from a family member

 

[TL4S]

If nobody was going to be at Wiechman's when DS was supposed to unload, then it doesn't seem it would matter that much if he was late, as long as the pigs were safe and there by the time they were to be picked up the next morning. JMO.

So, if he was going to walk away, why not just unload them at Wiechman's first, only a couple minutes from the 20/71 intersection, before taking off? That just doesn't make sense to me at all. And if he planned to walk away, why pick up the load in EG and drive all the way back to Sac City to begin with?

It's been mentioned that he might have left the $2000 in the truck for his wife because he felt bad. But didn't feel bad enough to leave her to deal with his two trucks, which weren't even in her name, and not even knowing if he was coming back, and the financial responsibility of the pigs, if anything had happened to them? Or who was that going to fall on? Not bad enough to walk away and leave a mystery for his wife and children to be burdened with for the rest of their lives?

If he did indeed walk away, then the way he went about it is over-the-top crappy, IMO, and probably why I don't think this is what he did. JMO. But stranger things have happened...

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

We know that he picked up pigs as the last load of night. We know he got to mm and was there for 16 minutes doing something on the phone. We know he got off the exit. We know he took a very long time to get to the trucks final resting stop. We know pigs were not unloaded at Weichmans and I think we know that truck never was at weichmans to unload as LE has said so. We know wallet and phone in truck with cash and ID and keys were in it. Finally, we know coat, pocketknife, phone charger, and a towel were found. These are the facts from LE. Taking only the facts, any reason is still on the table for this man's disappearance. His demeanor, morals, etc are all just opinions from a family member

Those are the concrete facts and there are a few others to add (as per whomsoever did the helpful timeline).

However, since this is a true crime forum and we are all trying to figure out what happened, then there's got to be factored in 'likelihood' and then figuring out 'well if he did x, y, z.. then what?' and indeed the reported character of the person from people who knew them - not just the family but his haulage boss and other people will have chipped in to LE in private no doubt.

Although it is true that *anything* could have happened including alien abduction and spontaneous combustion, it doesn't seem likely. To me it seems highly unlikely a man would up sticks and abandon his entire life, children, wider family, career, and all documentation, and his cash, without some serious signs and clues in the build up and planning stage. Also, here on WS when has that ever actually been the case? Most disappearances end up being sad sorry affairs and very very local.

JMO MOO

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

If nobody was going to be at Wiechman's when DS was supposed to unload, then it doesn't seem it would matter that much if he was late, as long as the pigs were safe and there by the time they were to be picked up the next morning. JMO.

So, if he was going to walk away, why not just unload them at Wiechman's first, only a couple minutes from the 20/71 intersection, before taking off? That just doesn't make sense to me at all. And if he planned to walk away, why pick up the load in EG and drive all the way back to Sac City to begin with?

It's been mentioned that he might have left the $2000 in the truck for his wife because he felt bad. But didn't feel bad enough to leave her to deal with his two trucks, which weren't even in her name, and not even knowing if he was coming back, and the financial responsibility of the pigs, if anything had happened to them? Or who was that going to fall on? Not bad enough to walk away and leave a mystery for his wife and children to be burdened with for the rest of their lives?

If he did indeed walk away, then the way he went about it is over-the-top crappy, IMO, and probably why I don't think this is what he did. JMO. But stranger things have happened...

Also, if he was abandoning his life and say, running off with another woman to start a new life living in a hippy commune... abandoning a truckload of piggies together with ALL his own documentation and strewing clothes along the road would be the absolute worst idea. It could have flared passing LE or town sheriff type person or even a fellow trucker to immediately start hunting him down and put out radio alerts and trucker call outs and local news appeals.

Even if LE were only wanting to charge him with unlawfully abandoning livestock, parking dangerously, and trucking violations and ensuring his truck was cleared from being dangerous on the road ... they'd have been 'on it'!

JMO MOO

 

[TL4S]

Also, if he was abandoning his life and say, running off with another woman to start a new life living in a hippy commune... abandoning a truckload of piggies together with ALL his own documentation and strewing clothes along the road would be the absolute worst idea. It could have flared passing LE or town sheriff type person or even a fellow trucker to immediately start hunting him down and put out radio alerts and trucker call outs and local news appeals.

Even if LE were only wanting to charge him with unlawfully abandoning livestock, parking dangerously, and trucking violations and ensuring his truck was cleared from being dangerous on the road ... they'd have been 'on it'!

JMO MOO

Yes. How much easier would it have been to lie and tell his wife he had another load to haul, and just left? Period. No livestock, no being late, no driving for a couple extra hours, no having L or whoever else expecting him anywhere at any certain time. He would have gotten a much better head start before S ever knew anything was amiss. I just can't wrap my head around it.

And if it were a hoax, with DS and S in on it together...what would be the final goal? How could he ever come back?

If he was targeted for elimination, why do it at that intersection, move the truck, move the body, etc. If that exit was so safe to attack him at, why not just shoot him and take off, gangsta style?

If it was random, why was the truck moved?

I have my own theory, but even that doesn't fully add up. I am completely perplexed.

 

[Joe Friday]

im catching up so forgive me.
this sheriff's dept doesn't seem to care about missing people. when the other guy went missing, they shrugged and told his sister, "he'll probably turn up in a pond in a few years." they did even less for him than they did for dave, and i believe he was found on a search FOR dave... beyond the searches that occurred however i am not sure any investigative process is going on here... but i still have 7 pages of reading to catch up on

County Sheriff dept handling DS case is a different county Sheriff dept from the one that handled Mark's case. Mark lived in Calhoun county to the east of Sac County where David is from.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Also, DS could have had a disturbing incoming communication as opposed to making or taking an arranged call? But what?

Something that really threw him and he did something he wouldn't normally do, ie agreed to pick up / collect / help someone from the roadside or suchlike - an unusual an exceptional event because he'd been misled or lured?

JMO MOO

I've been thinking along these lines.

Say DS had placed a gambling bet -- a big one, to try to get out from his financially strapped situation. (Maybe actual gambling, maybe a stock buy or something else, maybe even some online scam that seemed alluring).

He's really counting on this to come through. He stops at the closed stop to check for updates, and sees bad news. It didn't come through, or the scam is revealed, whatever.

So now he's really down, defeated.

Maybe he took off voluntarily with someone, thinking there was still a chance to make his gamble pay, if he just did XYZ as the scammer or bookie was telling him, and then things went bad from some unknown location? But he still wouldn't likely have left a trailer full of piglets and a truck with no running lights in the middle of the road.

Which seems to leave an involuntary removal, or his body is nearby but simply not yet found, as the only rational options.

All just my thinking out loud and MOO

 

[StarRemy8]

We know that he picked up pigs as the last load of night. We know he got to mm and was there for 16 minutes doing something on the phone. We know he got off the exit. We know he took a very long time to get to the trucks final resting stop. We know pigs were not unloaded at Weichmans and I think we know that truck never was at weichmans to unload as LE has said so. We know wallet and phone in truck with cash and ID and keys were in it. Finally, we know coat, pocketknife, phone charger, and a towel were found. These are the facts from LE. Taking only the facts, any reason is still on the table for this man's disappearance. His demeanor, morals, etc are all just opinions from a family member

BBM I think I have missed exactly how they knew it took the truck a very long time to get to the trucks final resting stop. How do we know when the truck arrived where it was later found?

 

[Joe Friday]

It's good to see David was finally added to NamUs.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

I wonder if he has been added to CODIS as well? Could come in handy if his body was found somewhere far, far away.

JMO

 

[Joe Friday]

Apparently LE used cell "GPS" data from David's phone to track his locations, which should give a play by play as to exactly where the phone was, went and for how long it was where ever it was. This would be much more accurate then cell tower pings. That must be why LE is giving specific times, such as when he arrived at the Hwy20/71 exit. Which would also mean LE should know exactly what time the phone started traveling north from that location and what time the phone arrived where the truck was found parked and how long it took for the truck to travel from the exit to where the truck was found. According to the press release no time was given as to when the phone started traveling north and a time suggesting the truck may have been there since 12:40 AM was given for when the truck arrived where it was found parked in the middle of the road.

Knowing the exact times when the truck left the exit and arrived where it was found parked, it would then be possible to determine the average speed at which the truck was driven between those two locations. I think that could determine if someone familiar with driving trucks was driving or not.

JMO

Description from NamUs:

David Schultz was scheduled to pick up a load of hogs from a site in Eagle Grove, Iowa in the evening on 11/20/2023. David was then scheduled to drop the hogs off at Wiechman Pig Company in Sac City. Schultz was seen on video camera in his semi truck on 11/20/2023 around 2330 hours at the Marker 126 gas station in Duncombe, IA just north off Highway 20. Cell gps data indicates that David's phone travelled on Highway 20 to N14/Union Avenue in Sac County. David's phone continued north on N14 and the phone came to rest on N14 just north of D15/190th Street. David's semi truck containing his phone/wallet were located in the roadway in the northbound lane, which is the opposite direction of the hog site that David was scheduled to drop the pigs at. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[B4igo2it]

Thinking out loud... Maybe DS got a phone call, anonymously or known, telling him there was an emergency which leads DS to to take that wrong turn. Even so, DS was close enough to Weichmans to hurry and unload-unless DS knew he had to unload the piglets because no one was there and it would take too long.

this makes sense. LE should have his digital phone records by now.

 

[Valiant]

In my opinion, a lot of people underestimate how crushing the desire to escape can be, whether is it to run away or take one's own life. At that point, logic goes out the window. If it happened here, it can well be a spontaneous decision. Logically you'd think he'd deliver the pigs and leave the truck somewhere safer. But people in such a situation aren't thinking logically any more.
I'm not saying he ran away or committed self harm. I just don't think those can be ruled out.
If anyone was around these forums on the early days of the Nicholas Francisco thread, I don't think anyone even considered voluntary disappearance until quite some time went by and finances were thoroughly analyzed.

 

[Joe Friday]

Thinking out loud... Maybe DS got a phone call, anonymously or known, telling him there was an emergency which leads DS to to take that wrong turn. Even so, DS was close enough to Weichmans to hurry and unload-unless DS knew he had to unload the piglets because no one was there and it would take too long.

this makes sense. LE should have his digital phone records by now.

If David received a call or message from someone near to the time he is was driving his last load of pork chops, that would be known to LE and that person should have been questioned by now.

 

[charminglane]

David was the last load and running late.
Were there workers at that last load to help?
If so, did they know there was a scheduled incoming load?
Did DS walk in on something because he was unexpected?
One would think that anyone would have heard the truck coming in, but maybe over pig noise at a barn even at night the animals are really noisy?

Scratch all of the above
No one else would load those pigs and get a move on.

 

[MntnHiker]

So if DS did walk away on purpose, he had to have help, I'm assuming. He needed a ride out of the place where his truck was left. I doubt he would plan to just hoof it for miles...to what? Either someone was waiting for him or had dropped a car off previously for him to get in and drive off. Would anyone who lives or drives out that way have remembered seeing a car in that drive area earlier that night? I don't know. It's not impossible, I know people do walk away and weirder things have happened, but this seems off to me.

I still personally haven't ruled out something medical. That could explain turning the wrong way down the road - he is out of it, possibly disorientated maybe panicking because he knows something is wrong. Either he got out of his truck and wandered a distance away and was just not found yet or could he have been picked up by someone? Maybe got out of the truck disoriented, a car comes by, possibly even wanting to help, and then something happens after they take off?

Have we heard for sure whether or not he was gassing up at the truck stop? And whether or not his phone usage was simply scrolling the phone/typing on it or taking a call? I could see a scenario where he was filling up and just absent-mindedly scrolling his phone while waiting for the gas. I don't know that his phone usage there is significant or not unless we know he was actually communicating with anyone. MOO

 

[HD1]

I remember seeing something where they did come back for the truck and investigate it, I wonder if they found anything on it..

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

Apparently LE used cell "GPS" data from David's phone to track his locations, which should give a play by play as to exactly where the phone was, went and for how long it was where ever it was. This would be much more accurate then cell tower pings. That must be why LE is giving specific times, such as when he arrived at the Hwy20/71 exit. Which would also mean LE should know exactly what time the phone started traveling north from that location and what time the phone arrived where the truck was found parked and how long it took for the truck to travel from the exit to where the truck was found. According to the press release no time was given as to when the phone started traveling north and a time suggesting the truck may have been there since 12:40 AM was given for when the truck arrived where it was found parked in the middle of the road.

Knowing the exact times when the truck left the exit and arrived where it was found parked, it would then be possible to determine the average speed at which the truck was driven between those two locations. I think that could determine if someone familiar with driving trucks was driving or not.

JMO

Description from NamUs:

David Schultz was scheduled to pick up a load of hogs from a site in Eagle Grove, Iowa in the evening on 11/20/2023. David was then scheduled to drop the hogs off at Wiechman Pig Company in Sac City. Schultz was seen on video camera in his semi truck on 11/20/2023 around 2330 hours at the Marker 126 gas station in Duncombe, IA just north off Highway 20. Cell gps data indicates that David's phone travelled on Highway 20 to N14/Union Avenue in Sac County. David's phone continued north on N14 and the phone came to rest on N14 just north of D15/190th Street. David's semi truck containing his phone/wallet were located in the roadway in the northbound lane, which is the opposite direction of the hog site that David was scheduled to drop the pigs at. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Thank you for posting this.

I had assumed in a previous post that LE must have been using GPS, because of the way they said they "tracked" David's movements and could give such specific timings. It's good to have confirmation.

This means LE know exactly where David (or at least his phone) went that night, at what time, and for how long. It was already unlikely David ever reached Wiechman's, but I think this thoroughly debunks any possibility of it.

The thing I'm interestd to know is whether the truck drove slowly along Union Avenue, or kept stopping and starting; was it stationary for any extended periods, and if so, where exactly.

 

[StarRemy8]

I was just looking at the google map again and it's weird his name comes up as a business would...I've never seen a missing persons name any time I've ever looked on the map to see their last location.

Also interesting that Scharn Trucking is right there. I know someone mentioned a possible motive might be another trucker that was angry about DS possibly taking away a lot of their business but this trucking company being right by where his truck was and having anything to do with it is probably a stretch...