Found Deceased IA - Xavior Harrelson, 10, Montezuma, 27 May 2021

[Pavelsky]

My interest in it is less in him being able to reach out but in finding out what was going on in his life just prior to his disappearance. Who was he talking to, what was he thinking/doing, etc.

True, his on line presence is a distraction to what happened the last day that some one saw him! Bottom line: bring Xavior home!

 

[enw10110]

He probably had access to some kind of phone or tablet... he must have taken the selfie that's on his flyers. That leads me to think he was online in some way too... probably social media. Why else would he take a selfie?

IMO.

 

[otto]

My interest in it is less in him being able to reach out but in finding out what was going on in his life just prior to his disappearance. Who was he talking to, what was he thinking/doing, etc.

I've been reading this discussion off and on since the beginning, but haven't been able to get a fix on what might have happened. I suppose there are four possibilities:

• he met his demise at home
• he went out in the middle of the night to stay with a friend
• he sneaked out and a random stranger pegged him as a vulnerable child
• suicide.

Although he and his mother had another common argument, I don't think anything bad happened at home. It was their habit to argue. That leaves three possibilities:

• he stayed with the wrong friend
• he was abducted
• suicide.

Has anyone come forward as the person who took him in when he needed refuge? If not, that sounds like a grooming situation. If it's known where he stayed while away from home, and that has been cleared, that leaves two possibilities:

• abduction
• suicide

What were his favourite places? That might give a clue to suicide locations. Abduction is something else altogether. Has anything come from reviewing CCTV in the area?

 

[otto]

He probably had access to some kind of phone or tablet... he must have taken the selfie that's on his flyers. That leads me to think he was online in some way too... probably social media. Why else would he take a selfie?

IMO.

Is the photo on his missing poster a selfie?

 

[Yemelyan]

I've been reading this discussion off and on since the beginning, but haven't been able to get a fix on what might have happened. I suppose there are four possibilities:

• he met his demise at home
• he went out in the middle of the night to stay with a friend
• he sneaked out and a random stranger pegged him as a vulnerable child
• suicide.

Although he and his mother had another common argument, I don't think anything bad happened at home. It was their habit to argue. That leaves three possibilities:

• he stayed with the wrong friend
• he was abducted
• suicide.

Has anyone come forward as the person who took him in when he needed refuge? If not, that sounds like a grooming situation. If it's known where he stayed while away from home, and that has been cleared, that leaves two possibilities:

• abduction
• suicide

What were his favourite places? That might give a clue to suicide locations. Abduction is something else altogether. Has anything come from reviewing CCTV in the area?

Great post, and follows my line of thinking as well.

I fully admit that my opinion on this is being influenced by the fact that I was just reading about an unsolved disappearance of a ten year old girl from the 80s. She was also a caretaker-type child (in her case, because her mother was involved in drugs); there were also many arguments in the home. On a custodial visit with her biological father, they argued over whether she should come to live with him instead of the neglectful situation at her mother's. She left the house and disappeared, never again to be found. Investigators are still working the case under the theory that she telephoned an adult "friend" of the family from the payphone at a local store and was possibly picked up by this man just prior to her disappearance.

So, maybe I'm being unduly influenced by just learning about this other, totally unlinked case but the family dynamics seem similar to Xavior's situation and in scenarios like these the potential for grooming seems high. But, there are many other possibilities based on what is known.

 

[Gigi3]

I keep checking in and hoping for updates. I can’t believe he hasn’t been found if he truly just ran away. The longer this goes on, I fear maybe he was groomed and abducted.

 

[SandyQLS]

What about his black high top sports shoes, part of the attire he is described as last seen wearing? The shoes make sense if a boy was leaving, going outside, running away - but not so much with pajama pants except just to go briefly out or to play. I mean that I believe XH was resourceful enough that if he were really leaving on his own, he would have worn his jeans because they are warmer and have pockets for stuff. And I think living in Iowa, he would have thought to take a jacket, at least a hoodie. I don't seem to be able to explain how the described last seen attire does not fit with at home in house, nor with left premises; it only fits with play outside in immediate area or go to neighbor's house. I do not believe that a stranger predator just happened to drive up and abduct XH.
MOO poorly written JMO.

 

[Finlay]

I've been reading this discussion off and on since the beginning, but haven't been able to get a fix on what might have happened. I suppose there are four possibilities:

• he met his demise at home
• he went out in the middle of the night to stay with a friend
• he sneaked out and a random stranger pegged him as a vulnerable child
• suicide.

Although he and his mother had another common argument, I don't think anything bad happened at home. It was their habit to argue. That leaves three possibilities:

• he stayed with the wrong friend
• he was abducted
• suicide.

Has anyone come forward as the person who took him in when he needed refuge? If not, that sounds like a grooming situation. If it's known where he stayed while away from home, and that has been cleared, that leaves two possibilities:

• abduction
• suicide

What were his favourite places? That might give a clue to suicide locations. Abduction is something else altogether. Has anything come from reviewing CCTV in the area?

My mind has visited the places your thoughts are coming from. But I haven't been able to reconcile the 11AM (mysterious?) sighting of X ("possibly" while in possession of someone's bike). Do you think we should discount that as a case of mistaken identity or simply "faulty eyewitness testimony"? Or can you factor that into your possible scenarios another way?

 

[TristanP]

There has never been mention of a cell phone and am guessing that this is not an option for trying to understand what happened. My assumption is that Xavior did not have a cell phone which is common in rural areas!

He must not have had one, but it seems like his mom would have wanted him to have one since she supposedly was so dependent on him.

 

[ekardh]

Great post, and follows my line of thinking as well.

I fully admit that my opinion on this is being influenced by the fact that I was just reading about an unsolved disappearance of a ten year old girl from the 80s. She was also a caretaker-type child (in her case, because her mother was involved in drugs); there were also many arguments in the home. On a custodial visit with her biological father, they argued over whether she should come to live with him instead of the neglectful situation at her mother's. She left the house and disappeared, never again to be found. Investigators are still working the case under the theory that she telephoned an adult "friend" of the family from the payphone at a local store and was possibly picked up by this man just prior to her disappearance.

So, maybe I'm being unduly influenced by just learning about this other, totally unlinked case but the family dynamics seem similar to Xavior's situation and in scenarios like these the potential for grooming seems high. But, there are many other possibilities based on what is known.

Just out of interest, what case is that you're talking about?

 

[Finlay]

He must not have had one, but it seems like his mom would have wanted him to have one since she supposedly was so dependent on him.

I don't doubt for a second that he likely did Not have a cell phone with cell service. But honestly, it seems like it would be **SOOO** easy for someone his age to get a used/leftover/ second-hand device from one of his friends which probably did not have cell service, but was still able to connect to wifi. I would be surprised if he truly did not have any type of digital-access at all. My guess is that someone in that trailer park - or a nearby resident - had wifi service. So if I were on the LE team, I would be checking the immediate neighborhood to see if there may have been a history of some device connecting to their wifi service which may show some connection to X.

 

[TwinMama]

Just out of interest, what case is that you're talking about?

I believe it’s Kacey Perry.

 

[mrsu]

IMO it seems odd that he wouldn’t have a phone. If it was true that his mother was dependent on him for care, wouldn’t you think there would need to be a way for her to get in touch with him in the event that she’d fallen or something else happened.

Random thing I noticed from an old news video. Their trailer does not have wheelchair access so she must be able to utilize the stairs into her house with the prosthetic leg decently.

My opinion on the bike sighting. What I think happened was initially when it was reported, the neighbor SR, who reported X missing, said X had gone missing sometime “prior to” 11am. This was posted and shared publicly with his poster many times via Facebook. IMO I believe that could look something like this…mom wakes up shortly before 11am and assumes he’s outside like normal. Doesn’t realize until a bit later that he’s gone. Calls the neighbor later around 4pm to possibly ask if she’s seen X and that he’s missing. Tells the neighbor he must have gone missing prior to 11am since he hasn’t been around since then.

I think the seen at 11am and bike details were just misinterpreted as she assumed he was outside on his bike like normal and even the neighbor hadn’t seen him that morning like usual. This would also fit the description of him being in pajamas and mom probably noticed what shoes were missing and assumed that’s what he was wearing. I doubt he’d be out riding bike with his friends in his pajamas, but I could be wrong.

 

[katydid23]

I don't doubt for a second that he likely did Not have a cell phone with cell service. But honestly, it seems like it would be **SOOO** easy for someone his age to get a used/leftover/ second-hand device from one of his friends which probably did not have cell service, but was still able to connect to wifi. I would be surprised if he truly did not have any type of digital-access at all. My guess is that someone in that trailer park - or a nearby resident - had wifi service. So if I were on the LE team, I would be checking the immediate neighborhood to see if there may have been a history of some device connecting to their wifi service which may show some connection to X.

Also, I bet he had some friends or neighbours who had PlayStations, or Nintendo's or tablets, from which he could text others.

 

[Finlay]

IMO it seems odd that he wouldn’t have a phone. If it was true that his mother was dependent on him for care, wouldn’t you think there would need to be a way for her to get in touch with him in the event that she’d fallen or something else happened.

Random thing I noticed from an old news video. Their trailer does not have wheelchair access so she must be able to utilize the stairs into her house with the prosthetic leg decently.

My opinion on the bike sighting. What I think happened was initially when it was reported, the neighbor SR, who reported X missing, said X had gone missing sometime “prior to” 11am. This was posted and shared publicly with his poster many times via Facebook. IMO I believe that could look something like this…mom wakes up shortly before 11am and assumes he’s outside like normal. Doesn’t realize until a bit later that he’s gone. Calls the neighbor later around 4pm to possibly ask if she’s seen X and that he’s missing. Tells the neighbor he must have gone missing prior to 11am since he hasn’t been around since then.

I think the seen at 11am and bike details were just misinterpreted as she assumed he was outside on his bike like normal and even the neighbor hadn’t seen him that morning like usual. This would also fit the description of him being in pajamas and mom probably noticed what shoes were missing and assumed that’s what he was wearing. I doubt he’d be out riding bike with his friends in his pajamas, but I could be wrong.

I understand and could totally get behind this point if view if it didn't seem like LE were kind of sticking fast to the "last seen at 11AM" perspective. I may be wrong on that but it seems like that statement originated from LE and there hasn't wavered. The part about X having last been seen "with his/a bike" may be more suspect, but I haven't gotten the feeling that LE has shown any doubt about the 11AM sighting. (Despite their seeming unwillingness to provide more detail about that sighting.) I have said before that the lack if detail around the "last seen at 11AM" info keeps me up at night. It's not just the lack of detail that goes with that comment, it's also the fact that no one seems even remotely close to retracting or "softening" the statement, that troubles me. If that statement really did kind of just develop a life of its own due to some misunderstanding, I feel like someone would have adequate a comment by now that would have "dialed it back" to some degree. As always, MOO on that though.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Between the strange focus on what he ate on the Wednesday night and the sketchy detail about last sightings, I wonder if the vagueness is all about opening up the possibility that he simply vanished in the night. I realise this doesn’t fit with an 11am sighting on Thursday but police don’t seem completely solid on that anyway.

To be clear (because I am respecting victim friendly rules) I’m not necessarily pointing the finger at anyone in particular here. What I do believe is that whoever is responsible would have been known to him in some way and that person could easily be someone that doesn’t live with him. IMO, amateur speculation etc.

What he ate the night he disappeared was discussed? On MSM? I don't remember anything about it; could it matter somehow?

 

[katydid23]

What he ate the night he disappeared was discussed? On MSM? I don't remember anything about it; could it matter somehow?

Maybe it helps establish time of death---if he ate some solid foods, and was killed very soon after---the food will not be digested and will still be in his stomach I believe.

If they food is fully digested, he was alive for several more hours?

 

[Kiranerys]

What he ate the night he disappeared was discussed? On MSM? I don't remember anything about it; could it matter somehow?

I believe the discussion around food was the mum trying to prove a point (MOO) but I have only seen this on social media so can't discuss it here.

 

[Beans]

I think there’s also perhaps a chance they have someone in custody already, and maybe have done for a few days. Things have gone very quiet indeed and it doesn’t feel like a situation where they can’t be sure whether or not there’s a child predator around.

 

[Yemelyan]

Just out of interest, what case is that you're talking about?

Kacey Perry, 10 years old, Portland, Oregon. I was thinking it happened in 1988 but it was actually 1990. There is a recent episode of the podcast The Vanished about the disappearance.

Again, not to confuse anyone, the case is clearly unrelated to Xavior's but the similar life circumstances struck me.