IL IL - Jesse Ross, 20, Chicago, 21 Nov 2006

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The walk Jesse would have taken to get to the 4 Points Sheraton would have taken more than 10 minutes. Not sure why he would opt to walk back to the hotel on a break that only lasted 30 minutes.

Just from looking at a map, the two hotels were a considerable distance apart, at least in my opinion. Any route he would have to take to get from the Sheraton Towers to the 4 Points would have not been a straight, easy walk. It looks like Jesse would have had to walk through some tunnels to get to 630 Rush. That is not exactly pedestrian friendly, especially at 2:30 a.m. in the cold. I used to live in Chicago and I can't say that I had ever walked a route that took me through any of those tunnels (like lower Wacker Dr., etc.) at night, or even in broad daylight.

I don't think Jesse 's route would have been as well lit, bustling safe and easy as the articles on Jesse made it out to be.

Was it customary for the kids to walk from the 4 Points to the Sheraton Tower during this trip? Or did they take cabs?
I think if Jesse actually did walk from the Sheraton Towers to the 4 Points, he could have been jumped/met with foul play on that walk, especially if he were attempting to walk through some tunnels. That is not somewhere you want to walk in Chicago at 2:30 am.

Is it true that Jesse didn't say to anyone what he was doing on the break and that his friends just assumed that is where he went?

Is it possible he was intoxicated and got lost while attempting to walk to 630 Rush St? A lost kid not dressed for the weather at 3 am could be an easy target.
I don't know how LE can say he was not intoxicated just by viewing him on CCTV. He may not have been stumbling but he could have had enough to be vulnerable.
He could have gone into the water but why anyone would get near the river in the middle if the night in the freezing cold is beyond me.

I wish we knew how and where exactly those other men had wound up in the river. I am going to do some quick research to see what I can find.
 
I've been reading through this thread tonight and I'm a native of Chicago. I've also been to conferences in both of these hotels. The link below shows going from the Four Points to the Towers.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Sheraton+Chicago+Hotel+and+Towers,+301+E+North+Water+St,+Chicago,+IL+60611/Four+Points+by+Sheraton+Chicago+Downtown%2FMagnificent+Mile,+630+N+Rush+St,+Chicago,+IL+60611/@41.8912194,-87.6226348,17z/data=!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x880e2ca9ef45c823:0xba6bddb06ea558a1!2m2!1d-87.619314!2d41.889062!1m5!1m1!1s0x880e2cace4aeb54d:0xe3857eb9c685055e!2m2!1d-87.625784!2d41.893778

I find it very hard to believe that if he left the Four Points in only that windbreaker that he would not have caught a cab. At that time of night, there would have been plenty of cabs in the area as it is very, very close to a lot of bars and clubs. I can't say for certain but there are usually cab stands near the hotels as well. If Jesse walked from the Four Points to the Towers he would have been very, very cold. He would have also been caught on a multitude of cameras. There are street cameras on almost every intersection in that area to say nothing of all of the storefronts he would have passed. If he went down Michigan Avenue he would have been on camera about every 20 feet. Even in 2006.

Of course now, there are more cameras and more CCTV, but there was ALOT then too. He would not have crossed the river going to the Towers. IIRC the main entrance to the Towers is not on the river side of the hotel and he would have to actually walk around the hotel to get to the riverwalk. Back then the riverwalk was not was it is now, but there was one. It's cold downtown on nights when it's 27 degrees. Especially if the wind is coming off the lake which blows down the streets sometimes so hard it'll nearly blow you over. He would have been shivering getting from the entrance to the hotels to cab or vise versa. Walking anywhere on a night like that he would have been freezing.

ALWAYS MOO
 
There are a lot of accounts of people falling into the Chicago River late at night in the winter after drinking. Again, I don't understand why anyone would get so close to the water, especially if they would have to climb over a railing to get to it.

I can't find any reports of someone going in and not being recovered.
 
MysteryMaven said:
There are a lot of accounts of people falling into the Chicago River late at night in the winter after drinking. Again, I don't understand why anyone would get so close to the water, especially if they would have to climb over a railing to get to it.

I can't find any reports of someone going in and not being recovered.
Click to expand...

Sometimes I wonder if people are purposely lured near the water then "accidentally" fall in..
 
Wonder if this man found in the Chicago River last month has been identified yet?

http://abc7chicago.com/news/body-found-floating-in-chicago-river/318339/

"The body was discovered Sunday morning in the 500 block of East Grand in the Streeterville neighborhood."

.......................................................................................................................................................................

Also, this unidentified body was located in the river a few weeks ago..

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ago-river-near-bridgeport-20141006-story.html

"A person's body was found in the South Branch of the Chicago River this morning near Bridgeport, according to police.

The Police Marine Unit was called to the river near 2500 S. Senour Ave.--a few blocks west of Halsted Street"
 
Thanks for sharing these sites - It could take months before these bodies are identified (at the earliest) - however... the best way to find out is to find the author of these articles and email them to ask for updates.

Also, I've been following this case and I had no idea there was another man at the same hotel, nevertheless that he was found in the Chicago River. *mouth drop*

Thanks for the info!!!
 
ChicagoCrimeSearch said:
Thanks for sharing these sites - It could take months before these bodies are identified (at the earliest) - however... the best way to find out is to find the author of these articles and email them to ask for updates.

Also, I've been following this case and I had no idea there was another man at the same hotel, nevertheless that he was found in the Chicago River. *mouth drop*

Thanks for the info!!!
Click to expand...

Some of these drowning incidents might raise eyebrows..

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?gl=...320571337273.00044c04d06291f1853e8&dg=feature

"Missing College-Aged Men
Men missing presumed drowned, some suspicious, some not.

Markers with black dot: area is fairly accurate.

Markers without dot: area unknown, location is educated guess based on details of case and location characteristics.

Markers shaped like push pins indicate death more likely to be "accidental".

Blue markers: contain additional information to a case"
 
The question remains, where is Jesse, if he drowned where is his body, if not in the water?
 
Bumping for Jesse, with this perhaps harsh, but also hopeful, imo, lengthy UK article from 2006, concerning missing people..

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/mar/09/immigrationpolicy

"While most of those who go missing later return or get back in touch, thousands do not. A few may be identified through their remains while others may emerge years later with new identities.

"The most vulnerable people who go missing are in care," said Janet Newman, one of the co-founders in 1992 with her sister, Mary Asprey, of the National Missing Persons Helpline (NMPH). About a third of all children in care will at some stage go missing, with girls between 13 and 17 the highest proportion. While, understandably, the greatest publicity is given to runaway children, there is also a growing number of young men for whom life has become too problematic at home and who slip quietly away, often never to be seen again.

The young men of 24 to 30 who make up this largest group go missing for a variety of reasons, ranging from an inability to find work to drug and sexual problems. "Some have problems with drugs, " said Ms Newman. "When we find them, they say 'do my parents still care?' Some of them are young men who are worried about their sexuality. It is so sad in this day and age that they can't talk to their families about it."

Another significant group consists of middle-aged men. "Men go through the hardest time in their 50s. They get depressed and the tragedy is that the wife doesn't notice."
 
dotr said:
Some of these drowning incidents might raise eyebrows..

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?gl=...320571337273.00044c04d06291f1853e8&dg=feature

"Missing College-Aged Men
Men missing presumed drowned, some suspicious, some not.

Markers with black dot: area is fairly accurate.

Markers without dot: area unknown, location is educated guess based on details of case and location characteristics.

Markers shaped like push pins indicate death more likely to be "accidental".

Blue markers: contain additional information to a case"
Click to expand...


Definitely interesting and eyebrow raising.

Seeing this reinforces the fact that nobody will ever convince me that this many young college aged young men of similar characteristics "accidentally" drowned in this very concentrated region. No way. Something else a tad more sinister was responsible for many of these deaths and disappearances, IMO.
 
It has probably been brought up here before, but am wondering if it is possible that Jesse has been found, but has been misidentified?
This young fellow, was missing for 30 years and was only recently identified, as the UID found in a lake and buried many years ago.
Thinking and wondering if something similar may have happened with Jesse..

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...n-Ontario-6-July-1984&p=11230363#post11230363

Also posted this link in thread.
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5151336-nixon-s-body-had-been-in-the-lake-for-days-or-weeks/

" Nixon was last seen by his uncle at the corner of King and James streets. He said he couldn't stop for a coffee because there was someone he needed to meet.

Almost a month after he went missing, Toronto police pulled a body out of Lake Ontario near Bluffers Park in Scarborough. But police didn't make the connection to Nixon at the time because, based on the condition of the body, it did not appear to match Nixon. DNA matching was not available at the time.

Gruspier said because of the length of time the body was in the water, the original estimates for age and weight did not match Nixon's description.

"When bodies have been in the water, they gain weight," said Gruspier, who added the original pathologist also estimated the body's age at between 30 and 40, although Nixon was only 23."
rbbm.
 
theres no way he was found unless it was just bones that were found..hes been missing for quite a long time ..i said from the night he left the hotel that he went in the river though...Iam not saying this to me mean or anything but he was a very tall and very skinny guy with glasses and some serious red hair the kinda guy u might say gets picked on so i know he was alone and caught on camera at like 130 am leaving the hotel i could see him running in to a group from the bar that maybe said a few not so nice things to him that might have led to him being throwen in the river and it was way too cold for him to get out...
 
CanManEh said:
theres no way he was found unless it was just bones that were found..hes been missing for quite a long time ..i said from the night he left the hotel that he went in the river though...Iam not saying this to me mean or anything but he was a very tall and very skinny guy with glasses and some serious red hair the kinda guy u might say gets picked on so i know he was alone and caught on camera at like 130 am leaving the hotel i could see him running in to a group from the bar that maybe said a few not so nice things to him that might have led to him being throwen in the river and it was way too cold for him to get out...
Click to expand...

ITA with you regarding the possibility that Jesse might have been seen as an easy victim, and fallen prey to unruly patrons leaving the bars and be pushed or fall into the water - but other bodies have been readily located, why has Jesse not been recovered too?
 
Ya your point is a good one dotr . I guess the same scenario i mentioned could have happend but maybe they forced him into a vehicle and took him elsewhere do dispose of..
 
I might be wrong, but I know he was pictured leaving the room where the meeting had taken place, but am I right in that there was no footage of him leaving the hotel, yet there were cameras at the entrance/exits?
 
Faithandhope said:
I might be wrong, but I know he was pictured leaving the room where the meeting had taken place, but am I right in that there was no footage of him leaving the hotel, yet there were cameras at the entrance/exits?
Click to expand...
rbbm.

July 9 2012

http://www.examiner.com/article/where-is-jesse-ross

"On Nov. 21, the day Jesse was to return home, Jesse walked out of the meeting of the mock U.N. for a 30-minute break around 2 a.m. A surveillance camera catches him in the hotel lobby, but no where else. The outdoor security cameras did not record Jesse leaving and walking to the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers where he was staying.

"They can't prove to us that he even left the hotel," said Jesse's mother, Donna Ross.

Law enforcement searched the area and the Chicago River, which runs next to the hotel, but nothing turned up.

None of Jesse's credit cards or his cell phone were used. It is as though he vanished into thin air."
 
I haven't been on this thread in a while and wanted to add a couple more items.

First, and this is just a general statement about all of the cases on Websleuths, the problem we have as amateur sleuths is we don't have access to all the information. I would bet a decent sum of money that in every case on this website there is some very significant detail that is being withheld from the public, probably to keep the integrity of the investigation in case the perpetrator is caught. I'm not a big fan of this kind of behavior but I know it exists.

Second, what this means to us as amateurs is we have to find somewhat novel ways to break through those barriers put up by government agencies. The truth is they don't want our help, despite them being short on manpower, money, and time.

Third, what this means in this particular case of Jesse Ross is it may be that someone has to track down all of the people who interacted with Jesse that night. I know that's been done by the police and the public has been given a very general idea of what was happening before that surprise, mock UN meeting was called. But I would like to hear the specifics. Where was everyone when the meeting was called? What were they were doing? What were their plans if the meeting hadn't been called? Who was with whom? Etc.

The reason I point out the above is I often try to imagine some kind of alternate timeline for some of the cases on here. What if this hadn't happened . . .what if that hadn't happened . . . would the person have still disappeared or been murdered? For example, what if Jennifer Kesse hadn't gone on vacation the weekend before she disappeared? What if Jodi Huisentruit had left for work on time that morning? What if Maura Murray hadn't crashed her crash? Stuff like that.

In Jesse's case I try to figure out if he would've still disappeared had the UN meeting not been called. And what could help my answer to the theoretical puzzle is if I knew where everyone was, what everybody's plans were, etc.

I try to imagine him being in somebody's hotel room hanging out, having a good time, etc. and then just leaving the room to never be seen again. Do we believe that would've happened in some alternate timeline? Because the UN meeting was a surprise--none of the students knew it was going to happen. So, if Jesse had pre-determined plans to disappear that night, the UN meeting certainly altered what he was planning to do, since he didn't know the meeting was going to happen. I add in that this was their last night in Chicago. So if he was planning to disappear, that night was his last chance.

When I think about it in those terms, I'm left with the idea that yes, he did plan to disappear before the night was over. Why? I can imagine him thinking: Okay, there's going to be some parties tonight. Everybody will be busy. And I will slip out and nobody will know I'm gone until it's too late. They won't be able to assess the time at which I left. They won't be able to say exactly where I was. They'll be too busy with their own interactions.

However, when the UN meeting is called, it throws a hitch into his plans. Now they're all there together. And they get the notice all at the same time. Jesse can't say he's not going because that would be suspicious since he's known as being very conscientious. I suppose he could've said he'll catch up with the others by making the excuse he had to go to the bathroom or something. But, in a surprise situation like that he might've not been able to think on his feet quickly enough, so he went with the others to the meeting.

Then, when he's in the meeting he starts to remember the promise he made to himself. Thus, when the break happens he figures this is the perfect way to leave. He figures the others will think he got sick or went to the bathroom or got bored, whatever. And he'll have a lot of time to execute his plan before the others get suspicious. And guess what? He was right.

What this all means as to what he actually did and where he is, I don't know. No cabbies have said they saw him. Nobody saw him on a street. Nobody at the hotel where he was staying said they saw him walk in. And of course there's still the business of no one seeing him leave the UN conference hotel. Poof, he was gone.
 
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