Found Deceased IA - David Schultz, 53, Wall Lake, 21 November 2023 #3

[moonrise]

I wonder if the truck has a dash camera, and maybe even a secondary camera where the load/trailer could be monitored while driving? Even if the truck didn't originally come with camera(s), aftermarket ones are readily available and fairly inexpensive. Do those cameras pick up sound as well as video?

One would think that any recordings would've been checked by the police right off the bat, but I haven't seen any mention of it, so maybe there were no cameras.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Trailer was unloaded where the truck was found. This is pretty simple. They just back an empty trailer up to the loaded trailer and the piggy's walk from one trailer to the other. Trailers were owned by the guy David worked for Les Brown. It was likely his responsibility to get the pork chops onto Wiechaman's and had the equipment to do so. Whether or not they used a clean trailer or not and had paperwork or needed paperwork is anyone's guess. I would say no considering the circumstances. Get the piglets to a nice warm place where they have food and water was probably the main concern.

Sarah said David's mechanic drove the truck to his shop from where it was found. LE then had the truck towed from the mechanics place two days later to process the truck for evidence and told her she could come get the truck when they were done. Apparently LE didn't tell her they were having the truck towed and when they later told her she could come get it, she was handed the keys in an envelope which was marked "Evidence" which upset her.

Thanks for this info. I think it must take quite a few people to do all this and encourage unhappy piglets to go out from one trailer to the other? Poor things, I don't eat animals so it's hard to think about this side of things.

You'd think this situation alone would have a lot of people buzzing with curiosity - other truckers, Weickmann's staff, local people, everyone involved. I wonder if LE are getting many confidential tips?

Re skid marks, I really hope they were duly noted, measured, photographed etc?

 

[Joe Friday]

So while someone could perhaps drive it in low gear without even having to use the clutch, tho not ideal, they’d have to be smart enough to know to apply both parking brakes at the destination site, or at least one, so the truck wouldn’t roll away if on a slight incline, and we saw through some pics that there was a slight incline, at least near the intersection. I don’t recall if there was one closer to the house where it was found.

My point being, if this was a novice driver, could they have gotten away with not using either of the red or yellow brake knobs at its final location if the ground was completely flat there? I don’t recall if anything had been mentioned about it being parked properly in that regard, so this is just me wondering if perhaps the reason it was left there is that if someone else drove it there, they had to roll onto the flattest part of the road they could find if they had no clue how to park it.

The truck could have been left in gear without the engine running and the parking brakes not set. This would hold the truck from rolling depending on which gear the transmission was left in and the steepness of the grade if there was one. Like I said earlier trucks are normally left parked in neutral when parked. I doubt who ever was investigating bothered to look to see if the truck was parked in gear or in neutral. Maybe the mechanic would remember.

I doubt anyone thought to look to see if both the truck and trailer parking brakes were set either.

Also as I mentioned if the truck looses air the parking brakes will automatically be set. This is a safety feature in case an air brake line ruptures or the air compressor stops pumping air. Once the air pressure drops to a certain pressure the red knob will pop out automatically stopping air flow to the trailer which is intended to keep air pressure in the truck to operate the brakes and bring the truck and trailer to a stop.

Funny how it takes air to release the parking brake and it also takes air to apply the regular brakes when stopping. The way is works is there is big spring in a mechanism called a Brake Chamber and when air is applied the air pushes against the spring to allow the parking brakes to release and the wheels to turn. When there is no air the parking brakes are permanently on by the pressure of the spring. When the driver steps on the brake pedal air is applied to a separate area inside the brake chamber which applies the brakes to slow down.

Well anyway, on older trucks the air pressure leaks out over time since things get old and air leaks develop. After David's truck sat there for 14-15 hours not running the air pressure likely leaked away over time and the parking brakes would have been applied automatically without anyone even being there. Trucks normally run about 120 PSI for air pressure and the brake valves will release the air to the trailer around 45 PSI.

I guess if LE really wanted to they could have tested to see how long it would have taken for the air to leak down on the truck, hooked to that trailer, with the both the truck and trailer parking brakes released (air in parking brake system) to see if that was a possibility the truck was parked with the parking brakes released, but were eventually applied as the truck lost air pressure. Air temperature has a lot to do with how long it takes for air to leak out also. The colder it is the faster the air seems to lead out. An experienced driver would not park the truck and trailer without pulling the brake knobs and setting the parking brakes. Actually you just need to pull the yellow knob and the red one pops out by itself when parking. If you only pull the red knob, the yellow knob will remain in until it is pulled out.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

I wonder if the truck has a dash camera, and maybe even a secondary camera where the load/trailer could be monitored while driving? Even if the truck didn't originally come with camera(s), aftermarket ones are readily available and fairly inexpensive. Do those cameras pick up sound as well as video?

One would think that any recordings would've been checked by the police right off the bat, but I haven't seen any mention of it, so maybe there were no cameras.

It was mentioned early on he had no cameras, and no tracking app like Life 360 on his phone.

 

[moonrise]

It was mentioned early on he had no cameras, and no tracking app like Life 360 on his phone.

Thanks. I must've missed it.

 

[Normancita]

He was definitely running late which did not get explained. He had to switch load spots with another driver because he was running late and is why he was the last one loaded.

I am curious, who is the person with whom David switched? Is it possible that the original load driver was the ‘intended mark,’ but David having to switch with that person could be a scenario of ‘wrong place-wrong time?’
Maybe this is a case of mistaken identity…

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I am curious, who is the person with whom David switched? Is it possible that the original load driver was the ‘intended mark,’ but David having to switch with that person could be a scenario of ‘wrong place-wrong time?’
Maybe this is a case of mistaken identity…

Good point!

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

I am curious, who is the person with whom David switched? Is it possible that the original load driver was the ‘intended mark,’ but David having to switch with that person could be a scenario of ‘wrong place-wrong time?’
Maybe this is a case of mistaken identity…

Definitely an interesting thought, but I would think if someone else was the target, they’d know what color truck they were driving and the license plate number so as to target the right person. Plus, they wouldn’t know exactly when the truck would be at the intersection of 20 and 71. We’ve read sometimes there are delays getting the livestock loaded. Animals don’t always cooperate. Perhaps a few other truckers passed by the same intersection in that same hour or so. And we learned David stopped at M126 for 16 minutes. If someone knew he left Eagle Grove at a certain time, they’d have been expecting him 16 min earlier at that intersection.

 

[TwoDaysL8r]

I agree. It was 100 percent personal

I think about Mark Latunski - what if it was a Grindr date gone very, wrong, as they often do? The phone activity at MM126 just makes a planned meeting seem very likely. What if the person he was meeting was not what he thought/catfish - struggle at the pulloff point, put in a car?

I am curious, who is the person with whom David switched? Is it possible that the original load driver was the ‘intended mark,’ but David having to switch with that person could be a scenario of ‘wrong place-wrong time?’
Maybe this is a case of mistaken identity…

Very good question.

I think the phone activity at MM126 is more likely - but that's a great point.

 

[mst]

IIRC, I believe the truck was towed back to its usual parking spot because the wife asked the mechanic to, as LE 'weren't doing anything'. Later, LE took the truck from the parking spot for a few days and later again returned it.

Why did the mechanic tow the truck and not just drive it?

Somebody must have driven the piggies to the drop off point at Weikmann's before they all froze and died of dehydration and became worthless - who and how? Did they not drive the truck itself there and offload? Did they disconnect the truck from the cargo (which would involve needing to drive the truck a little way anyhow) and use a different truck to take the load? I'm confused.

mechanic probably did not have right endorsement on his license

 

[mst]

Trailer was unloaded where the truck was found. This is pretty simple. They just back an empty trailer up to the loaded trailer and the piggy's walk from one trailer to the other. Trailers were owned by the guy David worked for Les Brown. It was likely his responsibility to get the pork chops onto Wiechaman's and had the equipment to do so. Whether or not they used a clean trailer or not and had paperwork or needed paperwork is anyone's guess. I would say no considering the circumstances. Get the piglets to a nice warm place where they have food and water was probably the main concern.

Sarah said David's mechanic drove the truck to his shop from where it was found. LE then had the truck towed from the mechanics place two days later to process the truck for evidence and told her she could come get the truck when they were done. Apparently LE didn't tell her they were having the truck towed and when they later told her she could come get it, she was handed the keys in an envelope which was marked "Evidence" which upset her.

are we positive trailer was unloaded? i thought trailer was just hooked up to another truck

 

[FromGermany1]

Sarah said David's mechanic drove the truck to his shop from where it was found. LE then had the truck towed from the mechanics place two days later to process the truck for evidence and told her she could come get the truck when they were done. Apparently LE didn't tell her they were having the truck towed and when they later told her she could come get it, she was handed the keys in an envelope which was marked "Evidence" which upset her.

I didn't know (or forgot), that it was handled this way: first the mechanic drove, later the truck was towed.

My concern is: Did LE and/or the mechanic notice (AT THE SCENE) some extraordinary settings on the dashboard or where ever (100% layman here), that didn't correspond to the way, you would normally park on the side of the road?

I found the idea, DS could have jumped out of the truck (when idle??) and running away, not quite so absurd (100% layman again).

 

[FromGermany1]

Are the loaded piglets marked and recognizable as the ones, DS had loaded? Or can you theoretically change a trailer with 100 piglets against the same looking trailer with different 100 piglets?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I didn't know (or forgot), that it was handled this way: first the mechanic drove, later the truck was towed.

My concern is: Did LE and/or the mechanic notice (AT THE SCENE) some extraordinary settings on the dashboard or where ever (100% layman here), that didn't correspond to the way, you would normally park on the side of the road?

I found the idea, DS could have jumped out of the truck (when idle??) and running away, not quite so absurd (100% layman again).

I would imagine that if the mechanic, who is a good friend of DS, was the first person to enter the cab and touch anything or manipulate any of the controls, he would immediately notice if anything was left in an abnormal condition that DS wouldn't do.

Pure speculation on my part but obviously the mechanic would know (unless he has something different to say to LE) that DS would never leave his truck and a loaded livestock trailer shut down dark in the middle of the drive road with no lighting and no hazard warning to other traffic.

If LE looked inside the cab first before the mechanic got there, assume they did, it's possible they touched things or moved things slightly but they surely would not have turned the starter key, or pressed any knobs and buttons, or in any way driven or altered the road position of the vehicle.

So, even if the mechanic was not the first person or even the tenth person to look inside the cab, he was surely the first to touch the drive controls and can see for himself what position and what condition the vehicle and all controls were left in. He would surely know if this was something a qualified experience driver such as DS would do or was an odd way to leave things?

JMO MOO everything I say is speculation.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Are the loaded piglets marked and recognizable as the ones, DS had loaded? Or can you theoretically change a trailer with 100 piglets against the same looking trailer with different 100 piglets?

Wow that's a far out theory! Piglet switching. Anything is possible right but why? Would it ever be worth the time, effort, planning, and cost to switch out 100 terrible piglets for 100 excellent piglets? Maybe...

JMO MOO

 

[adot0902]

Are the loaded piglets marked and recognizable as the ones, DS had loaded? Or can you theoretically change a trailer with 100 piglets against the same looking trailer with different 100 piglets?

I don’t know about Pigs. But my cousin sells Chickens, and someone bought some from him and returned their own infected chickens (who had chicken influenza). No way the Department of Ag would have known if my cousin didn’t have cameras. They said that multiple time and we had them hanging around for a month until his farm was cleared. It was a mess.
But my experience is no they wouldn’t know.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Do piggies have tags in their ears?

Is the trailer officially sealed and security coded after livestock has been loaded?

 

[FromGermany1]

I don’t know about Pigs. But my cousin sells Chickens, and someone bought some from him and returned their own infected chickens (who had chicken influenza). No way the Department of Ag would have known if my cousin didn’t have cameras. They said that multiple time and we had them hanging around for a month until his farm was cleared. It was a mess.
But my experience is no they wouldn’t know.

Exactly THAT was my line of thought: changing healthy (checked by the veterinarian) piglets against uncontrolled piglets possibly. Not done by DS, but by criminals.
Earmarking was probably done on the original pigs, but Idk.

 

[adot0902]

Exactly THAT was my line of thought: changing healthy (checked by the veterinarian) piglets against uncontrolled piglets possibly.

It’s VERY expensive to uncontaminate a farm, in excess of $20,000 for a very small operation. You have to remove layers of soil (the poop), burn/bury things in a very specific manner. It’s cumbersome, I can definitely understand why if you had sick pigs you would want to pull a swap like this, if you didn’t have the right insurance it would easily put you out of business and bankrupt you.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I'm not clear on what role Weichman's has in this insofar as quality control and whether they're just another intermediate trucking transfer station or a farm or whatever -but- I do know if I were them, I'd be highly suspicious of taking a late load of piglets who'd been missing in the freezing cold and not fed or watered for that long. Never mind whether they'd been switched out!

Separate theory entirely: Is it possible DS had accidentally perpetrated a crime such as a very serious road traffic violation or something for example that caused serious harm to another and decided his best bet in life was to disappear himself rather than bring trouble or shame on himself and family? Because I can imagine driving a huge truck an accident can happen. This is just a wild idea and not a comment on the missing person's character in any way whatsoever.

JMO MOO