Found Deceased MA - Michael Doherty, 20, Franklin, 14 May 2017

[Curiosity7]

Hi there. Just so you know, no where did I say Michael wanted to play survivor, far from it. I am saying that he was either pranked or perhaps dared (I'm leaning toward pranked). Similar to the alleged prank done to the girl Taylor (which I posted earlier). I am not inferring Michael knew he was being pranked--a prank requires the party pranked not knowing (by definition).

Also, the times are estimates. There are reports saying Michael left at around 1:00AM, at 1:30AM. The only true time, it appears via reports, is the 1:08AM time. However, although this time (1:08AM) is certain--the exact location of that time (which indicates the last ping from his phone) is not certain. It must be realized that the location is "BELIEVED" to be in an area from the marsh. There is no hard and set fact that that last ping (at 1:08AM) came from any potential "trail" entrance (it is "believed" it may have, it is "assumed" it could have been, it is "surmised", but it is not a fact).

Also, there is the question of the "clean" shoe, which I asked about in my first post on this thread. I cannot find any reporting of such "clean" shoe (or shoes). I only found that one shoe did not appear to be "washed up" (as in it did not float in the water and then wash up on the bank of the brook.

The brook in the satellite maps is not the trail. I noticed that some think that is the viewable trail. That is the brook. I have not been able to see any trail from any satellite map, and I looked at many. If someone has any map that shows the "trail" (which is overgrown per witnesses), then please provide a link.

As for the pranking and being driven (perhaps) to Maple Street--I look at it this way. Michael was not an idiot--far from it. I look at where he ended up (near the party house) as perhaps his own determination to "play by the rules" (as one 21 year-old party goer stated Michael was akin to). Perhaps he was pranked to get back to the party house.

In the shows that I mentioned (in my earlier posts), these are not cartoons. In other words, pranks have serious outcomes (good or bad), and trying to live and thrive in a swamp is tough. Michael may have been placed in a scenario with a phone that was "charged a little" from the party home (per reports), and given a ride not to his home, but to a prank he was not prepared to undertake.

I truly believe there will be no clear answers on what happened. But I find that Michael did accomplish what he set out to do--by getting to that destination. Why on Earth would an engineering student, a straight A student, a bright young man go to the end of Oak Extension and then trudge through mud and water, barefooted by the time he got all the way to Maple Street--only to turn around and trudge fully barefooted all the way back to the party home?

From Maple Street, using his shirt to cover his head in the rain, he gets into the mud to cross, loses one shoe, crosses, loses the second shoe & shirt, then walks on the Franklin side of the brook to the party house location. Why he was not found is a mystery. It could be because wetlands in Franklin are protected areas? There are strict contamination regulations when it comes to wetlands in Franklin (separate for Franklin) as well as those incorporated with the wetlands regulations in all of Massachusetts.

The trail is clear from a google map...it is an old rail trail, I believe, and you can see the tunnel-like impression in the treeline that leads from Oak St. Ext to the golf course.
Hope this helps.

 

[Steleheart]

Yes, and in 3D you can see that it is quite wet in places

 

[JuniorSleuthy]

I thought much of what you state and nothing adds up to make this appear to be a normal situation of a kid getting lost in the woods and ultimately ending up in his condition within that area.

The time periods do not make sense, Verizon pinged his phone at 0108 hrs and the kids at the party stated he left around 0130 hrs. Why would his shirt be off and with one shoe? Where is his phone? Did people search that area near Jimmy Street before Saturday?

I hope the police department will be vigilant in finding out what really happened to Michael.

One more thing, I do not personally know Michael or anyone connected with him--however, from what I have viewed about him appears that he had a passive type of personality.

 

[zunge]

I thought much of what you state and nothing adds up to make this appear to be a normal situation of a kid getting lost in the woods and ultimately ending up in his condition within that area.

The time periods do not make sense, Verizon pinged his phone at 0108 hrs and the kids at the party stated he left around 0130 hrs. Why would his shirt be off and with one shoe? Where is his phone? Did people search that area near Jimmy Street before Saturday?

I hope the police department will be vigilant in finding out what really happened to Michael.

One more thing, I do not personally know Michael or anyone connected with him--however, from what I have viewed about him appears that he had a passive type of personality.

According to the interview with some of the partygoers, they started searching at 10:30 am. See link. The Franklin police recorded the phone call from the family at 1:35 pm.




http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20170515/franklin-search-comes-up-empty

 

[JaJo]

The trail is clear from a google map...it is an old rail trail, I believe, and you can see the tunnel-like impression in the treeline that leads from Oak St. Ext to the golf course.
Hope this helps.

I believe Michael was looking for the path off the path he was on that was a short cut to his house, but that path was overgrown and he went right by it in the dark. From looking at the Google map, maybe he walked to where the path ended at the brook and he crossed over it there...and then back again? Searchers must have followed that same path Michael did and that's how they found his shirt/shoe so quickly.....and concentrated on that area in their search.

One of the Google maps posted pinned the area where the shirt/shoes were found, but maybe it was further down the brook where they were found?

 

[msphilosopher]

Hi there. Just so you know, no where did I say Michael wanted to play survivor, far from it. I am saying that he was either pranked or perhaps dared (I'm leaning toward pranked). Similar to the alleged prank done to the girl Taylor (which I posted earlier). I am not inferring Michael knew he was being pranked--a prank requires the party pranked not knowing (by definition).

Also, the times are estimates. There are reports saying Michael left at around 1:00AM, at 1:30AM. The only true time, it appears via reports, is the 1:08AM time. However, although this time (1:08AM) is certain--the exact location of that time (which indicates the last ping from his phone) is not certain. It must be realized that the location is "BELIEVED" to be in an area from the marsh. There is no hard and set fact that that last ping (at 1:08AM) came from any potential "trail" entrance (it is "believed" it may have, it is "assumed" it could have been, it is "surmised", but it is not a fact).

Also, there is the question of the "clean" shoe, which I asked about in my first post on this thread. I cannot find any reporting of such "clean" shoe (or shoes). I only found that one shoe did not appear to be "washed up" (as in it did not float in the water and then wash up on the bank of the brook.

The brook in the satellite maps is not the trail. I noticed that some think that is the viewable trail. That is the brook. I have not been able to see any trail from any satellite map, and I looked at many. If someone has any map that shows the "trail" (which is overgrown per witnesses), then please provide a link.

As for the pranking and being driven (perhaps) to Maple Street--I look at it this way. Michael was not an idiot--far from it. I look at where he ended up (near the party house) as perhaps his own determination to "play by the rules" (as one 21 year-old party goer stated Michael was akin to). Perhaps he was pranked to get back to the party house.

In the shows that I mentioned (in my earlier posts), these are not cartoons. In other words, pranks have serious outcomes (good or bad), and trying to live and thrive in a swamp is tough. Michael may have been placed in a scenario with a phone that was "charged a little" from the party home (per reports), and given a ride not to his home, but to a prank he was not prepared to undertake.

I truly believe there will be no clear answers on what happened. But I find that Michael did accomplish what he set out to do--by getting to that destination. Why on Earth would an engineering student, a straight A student, a bright young man go to the end of Oak Extension and then trudge through mud and water, barefooted by the time he got all the way to Maple Street--only to turn around and trudge fully barefooted all the way back to the party home?

From Maple Street, using his shirt to cover his head in the rain, he gets into the mud to cross, loses one shoe, crosses, loses the second shoe & shirt, then walks on the Franklin side of the brook to the party house location. Why he was not found is a mystery. It could be because wetlands in Franklin are protected areas? There are strict contamination regulations when it comes to wetlands in Franklin (separate for Franklin) as well as those incorporated with the wetlands regulations in all of Massachusetts.

BMM - Dared or pranked still is a choice by Michael to part take. The first scenario I laid out was the dare scenario which doesn't make sense if he wanted to leave at 12:30 AM. The other I said was the pranked scenario but still Michael would have had to choose to take the challenge and head to house party (per your theory coming from Maple street) instead of saying "screw it" and going home either by the streets or through the marsh...

I think it's smart to consider he was coming from Maple street because it's a perspective that hasn't been considered until now. I'm only trying to make sense of it based on what we know...

Also, it seems like his shoes "wasn't washed up" on the other side based on the "condition". Source: http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Search-Continues-for-Missing-College-Student-422490354.html

This whole incident is so baffling.

 

[JaJo]

According to the interview with some of the partygoers, they started searching at 10:30 am. See link. The Franklin police recorded the phone call from the family at 1:35 pm.

http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20170515/franklin-search-comes-up-empty

Maybe that's when they found the first shirt/shoe taking the path Michael took and called the police in?

 

[JaJo]

Yes, and in 3D you can see that it is quite wet in places

Is there a link to see the area in 3D?

 

[tc1236]

I still can't get past that they found him 200 yds away from his last known location. Have any searchers given a comment about that yet? Not to demean the searchers but rather I wonder if he was really there the whole time. i.e. are there a number of searchers who are dumbfounded that he turned up there? wouldn't the bloodhounds find him in two minutes at that distance? I just can't imagine that they would keep missing him for 6 days when he was that close. but again, I have no experience in these matter...

 

[msphilosopher]

Is there a link to see the area in 3D?

Go to the address on Google maps and click the 3D button.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/P...36433d305c0dca!8m2!3d42.1038457!4d-71.4326307

 

[msphilosopher]

I still can't get past that they found him 200 yds away from his last known location. Have any searchers given a comment about that yet? Not to demean the searchers but rather I wonder if he was really there the whole time. i.e. are there a number of searchers who are dumbfounded that he turned up there? wouldn't the bloodhounds find him in two minutes at that distance? I just can't imagine that they would keep missing him for 6 days when he was that close. but again, I have no experience in these matter...

The searchers set out a 1 mile radium from where is phone pinged. Apparently this was outside of the radius.

Since they were told he headed home, the logical explanation was that he would be somewhere towards his home, not behind the house party.

The searchers did this in good faith. JaJo knows some of the searchers personally to fill in the gaps for you.

 

[LaneGirl]

Having been young and drunk and perhaps having also ingested other various substances, and having also walked home alone on various occasions and through various terrains, I cannot understand a young, fit healthy make succumbing to the elements so quickly. I live in the northern Midwest where winter temperatures can be far far below zero, and even with that I can't think of an incident where something like this happened even in that severe weather.


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RSBM

Because we are a family of hikers/backpackers this is an area that we have to pay attention to, I'm just using the snipped part of your comment and I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just bringing out that it CAN happen I still have the feeling that something is off on this case, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that hyperthermia set it quickly.

I think in cold, windy, rainy and wet conditions hyperthermia can set in 50 degree weather in about 30 min. If its especially windy and one is wet this speeds up cooling of the core body temperature.

Add to that alcohol is a vasodilator and would bring blood to the skin which makes one "feel warm" some even after only one drink, but because the blood is brought up closer to the skin it would cool off much faster if one is exposed to the elements.

I'm adding a link to an article to show athletes can succumb...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/health/09brody.html

"Skiers, hikers and fishermen are among those most at risk, even in relatively mild weather — if their clothes get wet, if there’s a brisk breeze, if they are tired and hungry or if they have been drinking alcohol. And hypothermia can occur in a few hours in water as warm as 60 or 70 degrees".

 

[JuniorSleuthy]

I would classify this type of prank as bullying, especially if Michael was indeed dropped off at Maple Street. Each person could react differently in this type of situation, and if the kids did in fact do this (and I hope they admit to doing it if it is true), he/they knew the weather situation and the fact Michael was only wearing a shirt and no jacket.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

I still can't get past that they found him 200 yds away from his last known location. Have any searchers given a comment about that yet? Not to demean the searchers but rather I wonder if he was really there the whole time. i.e. are there a number of searchers who are dumbfounded that he turned up there? wouldn't the bloodhounds find him in two minutes at that distance? I just can't imagine that they would keep missing him for 6 days when he was that close. but again, I have no experience in these matter...

The searchers set out a 1 mile radium from where is phone pinged. Apparently this was outside of the radius.

Since they were told he headed home, the logical explanation was that he would be somewhere towards his home, not behind the house party.

The searchers did this in good faith. JaJo knows some of the searchers personally to fill in the gaps for you.

RBBM

I think that (the BBM part) was stated somewhere upthread, too, and I just wasn't sure, so I looked it up, and here is what I found:

"May 18, 2017 09:00hrs - Media Release
The Franklin Police Department is continuing to search for missing 20 year old resident Michael Doherty. Over the last several days ground, air, and water assets and personnel have covered approximately a 1+ mile radius from the last known location where Michael was seen. There are still areas within that radius that need further scrutiny." (BBM)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10154317921080916&id=162770995915

So Michael's remains were found within the one-mile radius.

Having said that, I am not terribly surprised he was not found sooner since all indications were (i.e., where his shoes and shirt were found, where his phone last pinged, he was supposed to be heading home, which is in the opposite direction from where his remains were found) that he would be found exactly where the searchers had been looking.

I wish Michael had been found sooner, but based on logic and reason, I really don't think anyone was expecting to find him where he was found. I know after a couple of days, I figured he would be found in water.

 

[msphilosopher]

RBBM

I think that (the BBM part) was stated somewhere upthread, too, and I just wasn't sure, so I looked it up, and here is what I found:

"May 18, 2017 09:00hrs - Media Release
The Franklin Police Department is continuing to search for missing 20 year old resident Michael Doherty. Over the last several days ground, air, and water assets and personnel have covered approximately a 1+ mile radius from the last known location where Michael was seen. There are still areas within that radius that need further scrutiny." (BBM)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10154317921080916&id=162770995915

So Michael's remains were found within the one-mile radius.

Having said that, I am not terribly surprised he was not found sooner since all indications were (i.e., where his shoes and shirt were found, where his phone last pinged, he was supposed to be heading home, which is in the opposite direction from where his remains were found) that he would be found exactly where the searchers had been looking.

I wish Michael had been found sooner, but based on logic and reason, I really don't think anyone was expecting to find him where he was found. I know after a couple of days, I figured he would be found in water.

Thanks humble I was reviewing articles earlier today and had read 1 mile from phone ping somewhere but can't find it now.

I retract the statement for now...

 

[JuniorSleuthy]

I do not know, Michael's remains were found within the one-mile radius--why was he not found sooner?

 

[ArtChick83]

I believe Michael was looking for the path off the path he was on that was a short cut to his house, but that path was overgrown and he went right by it in the dark. From looking at the Google map, maybe he walked to where the path ended at the brook and he crossed over it there...and then back again? Searchers must have followed that same path Michael did and that's how they found his shirt/shoe so quickly.....and concentrated on that area in their search.

One of the Google maps posted pinned the area where the shirt/shoes were found, but maybe it was further down the brook where they were found?

The more I think about it the less it makes sense for him to choose to walk home through some crazy "path" through the woods in the dark of night. Let alone in the rain n... without a jacket, without a flashlight or a working phone. Why would anyone do that? I've been super drunk before and even then I wouldn't do it. He's a smart kid. Just doesn't make sense to me unless he was on some sort of drug as well.

 

[Curiosity7]

The more I think about it the less it makes sense for him to choose to walk home through some crazy "path" through the woods in the dark of night. Let alone in the rain n... without a jacket, without a flashlight or a working phone. Why would anyone do that? I've been super drunk before and even then I wouldn't do it. He's a smart kid. Just doesn't make sense to me unless he was on some sort of drug as well.

Exactly.
The story from the beginning simply doesn't make sense - at all!
Judge Judy Sheindlin often uses the phrase "If it doesn't make sense, it's probably not true."
That's what sticks with me when I think of Michael's case.

Rest assured LE knows much more than has been made public.
I continue to hope that Michael's parents find out exactly what happened to their son.

 

[Spider92]

I still can't get past that they found him 200 yds away from his last known location. Have any searchers given a comment about that yet? Not to demean the searchers but rather I wonder if he was really there the whole time. i.e. are there a number of searchers who are dumbfounded that he turned up there? wouldn't the bloodhounds find him in two minutes at that distance? I just can't imagine that they would keep missing him for 6 days when he was that close. but again, I have no experience in these matter...

I've never been part of a search but I would suspect that a well organized professional search would use a map to mark off the spots that had been already searched. One would think they could easily consult that map and determine if the area he was located had been "cleared" yet.
Ironically, the search seemed to focus almost exclusively on the water, and if he had been found there, he almost certainly would have already been deceased. If they had focused first on dry land, maybe they would have reached him in time. I don't say that to be critical but a diver is "search and recover" while a land searcher could have been "search and rescue". If nothing else, they could have encouraged or at least allowed civilians to be more active in the search on dry land.

 

[tarheellvr]

The more I think about it the less it makes sense for him to choose to walk home through some crazy "path" through the woods in the dark of night. Let alone in the rain n... without a jacket, without a flashlight or a working phone. Why would anyone do that? I've been super drunk before and even then I wouldn't do it. He's a smart kid. Just doesn't make sense to me unless he was on some sort of drug as well.

You're right....it doesn't make sense. He was described as brilliant by some and was also very athletic and fit. I agree with other posters and IMO, some type of drug could easily have been involved. The loss of such an outstanding human being is beyond sad!
Peace, love, and light to Michael's family.