ND ND - Thomas 'Tom' Bearson, 19, Fargo, 20 Sep 2014 #1

[Jacie Estes]

It is like South Dakota. Can't have any ruffled feathers. South Dakota has the highest rate of sex trafficking, though I think Williston is closing in. SD trafficking is because of Sturgis Rally and pheasant hunting but it is 'that which is never spoken' because of the revenue. There is also something in South Dakota right now called EB-5 and it is the dirty little secret because a certain former governor is running for US Senate. http://www.argusleader.com/topic/3f928c9b-0fb1-4e09-a978-d8c88ecad2ff/eb-5-scandal/ The Land of Bill Janklow where you can run a red light, kill a guy on a motorcycle, blame it on your blood sugar and there is no problem, except for the dead guy. smh

I am not surprised that NDSU doesn't want scandal; they want mom and dad to send their children to school and spend lots of money in town. 'Greed is Good' - Gordon Gecko

I agree about the media not being as aggressive here as in larger metro areas. From personal experience (and a former Forum Co. employee), I think it's about politics. Fargo is a small city when it comes to this. I don't want to say too much, but I believe even a Pulitzer prize piece would get cut if it would ruffle the feathers of important connections (primarily monetary). Not to be forgotten, Fargo is a very conservative community. If something too explicit, or "radical," or contrary to the sensibilities of a conservative readership were to appear, there would be relative outrage. I'm trying to remember an article that ran in the Forum within the past year that received such a reception by angry readers. It was something that at least some readers found to risqué for Fargo's community family-friendly newspaper. Horrors if there isn't enough fluff about some do-gooder or some medical misfortune that the community needs to rally behind (not that there's anything wrong with that). I guess it's just that I'm cynical and not a fan of the conservative climate. Alas, I will admit that I'm a liberal even though I will probably be stoned for it.

 

[Rocco]

And why not? There is absolutely NOTHING stopping the media from having a 60 minutes style interview with those young men. Sit them down at a nice coffee table with some hot, bright lights and a really experienced interviewer, (they could certainly call me) and just GRILL them for a few hot seconds.

Close up camera shots.

I want to see it.

Yes, there is SOMETHING stopping them from doing interviews. That something is called attorneys. And what exactly do you think do you think they would say during an interiew???? You know darn well they're all going to say "Duh, I don't know what happened to him. He left the party and we never saw him again." Do you really think underage kids are going to start blabbing about where and from whom they got alcohol? Do you really think they would agree to being grilled by people from the media? Why would they do that? And if you want them to explain what was meant by those tweets, do you really think you're going to get the truth if it was something nefarious? If it was your child, would you want them on a newscast, with their faces out there for all the world to see, to remind everyone that he may have been involved in a situation that ended up in someones death? That's not a 'Small town boy does good" story.

Sure an interview would be great but for entertainment purposes only and no kid would ever agree to that. They'e got to be shaking in their boots the way it is.

 

[IBsleuthin]

Yes, there is SOMETHING stopping them from doing interviews. That something is called attorneys. And what exactly do you think do you think they would say during an interiew???? You know darn well they're all going to say "Duh, I don't know what happened to him. He left the party and we never saw him again." Do you really think underage kids are going to start blabbing about where and from whom they got alcohol? Do you really think they would agree to being grilled by people from the media? Why would they do that? And if you want them to explain what was meant by those tweets, do you really think you're going to get the truth if it was something nefarious? If it was your child, would you want them on a newscast, with their faces out there for all the world to see, to remind everyone that he may have been involved in a situation that ended up in someones death? That's not a 'Small town boy does good" story.

Sure an interview would be great but for entertainment purposes only and no kid would ever agree to that. They'e got to be shaking in their boots the way it is.

(Embolded by me)...Yes, yes I do think they would especially with the right person sitting across the table from them. These are not seasoned convicts, these are a bunch of recently weaned tenders. They would end up telling me what they wrote in their diary when they were ten.

Yes they would tell the truth because they would feel if they didn't tell the truth their very bowels would likely turn to Jello. They would feel COMPELLED to tell the truth or endure the consequences.

If this were MY CHILD? Oh! My children would be BEGGING law enforcement to take them in and put them in the jail if I thought that they were hooked up with this type of low life, gutter floating, no character, slack jawed, cowardly behavior. Child protective laws be damned, I'd have them by the back of the scruff and they would come clean.


All joking aside here, at this point we all haven't a clue who did this. But, investigation 101 always starts with the last people/person to see the victim alive. Going just from that, we have some interviewie candidates that is for sure. My experience has been that most people want to confess. There are a few who have some mental illness and they want to brag. Either way people love to talk. I have a hard time believing that if this young group was involved in actually taking this young man's life, that ONE of them wouldn't crack and come forward.

If in fact this group of kids, and that's what they are, kids, is able to endure public scrutiny and police pressure and still not give up what happened then this group of kids is not anyone I would want anywhere near me.

 

[Rocco]

(Embolded by me)...Yes, yes I do think they would especially with the right person sitting across the table from them. These are not seasoned convicts, these are a bunch of recently weaned tenders. They would end up telling me what they wrote in their diary when they were ten.

Yes they would tell the truth because they would feel if they didn't tell the truth their very bowels would likely turn to Jello. They would feel COMPELLED to tell the truth or endure the consequences.

If this were MY CHILD? Oh! My children would be BEGGING law enforcement to take them in and put them in the jail if I thought that they were hooked up with this type of low life, gutter floating, no character, slack jawed, cowardly behavior. Child protective laws be damned, I'd have them by the back of the scruff and they would come clean.

But they would NEVER AGREE TO IT AND WHY WOULD THEY??? So that's the end of your colorful post, now isn't it.

"Wanna be on TV so we can grill you about the night in question"?

"SURE!!! Sounds like fun!!! Wow Wow---we get to be on TV! Gotta hurry and call mom and dad so they can let all the relatives know"

 

[IBsleuthin]

But they would NEVER AGREE TO IT AND WHY WOULD THEY??? So that's the end of your colorful post, now isn't it.

"Wanna be on TV so we can grill you about the night in question"?

"SURE!!! Sounds like fun!!! Wow Wow---we get to be on TV! Gotta hurry and call mom and dad so they can let all the relatives know"

:newhere: :hypno: You offer a plausible theory here, fellow sleuther. Thank you for sharing your views.

 

[MagicMan08]

A lot of new information posted today. I am glad to see this thread is gaining some traction and other sleuther's are coming in and reading what has been laid out before them by all of us and forming their thoughts and opinions.


I agree that the complete media silence is troubling. As the former local media employee had stated this is a large city but it very much so has a small town jive to it ingrained into its way of life up here. -A bit off topic but I went to college game day up here and the local media personalities walked around freely and weren't bothered by anyone. Coming from near the twin cities that would not be the case down there, however the twin cities covers half of MN if not more.

The local politics and money speaks volumes about what is allowed to be covered by the press and when, this is true nationwide though. To give the people from out of town an idea about our news media, just last year one of the major news channels was proudly broadcasting "Now in HD." As another poster had mentioned this is a metro area of 200,000+ people but they still air benefits for sick people on their prime time news broadcasts...that struck me as different coming from the twin cities news market as well.

The more eyes we get from other sleuther's on this site the better, however that's exactly what it is. Guesses and theories combined with very little from the media and le. We don't have much else to work with.

Here's to hoping something else shakes lose. I will be back at least once daily and it appears many of you are to.

 

[aquarius76]

I think it is time to out some pressure on LE and media.
Unfortunately, I have some experience with with LE investigations that led me to lose some faith in their diligence. My dad was killed in a vehicle accident in 2010 that involved an illegal immigrant w/o licence or insurance who ran a red light and struck my dad, only 59 years old. My dad and I were very close, so the grief was immense. The local PD was very tight lipped on the investigation, telling me we need 90 days to press charges, 90 for the plea, during that time everything was held confidential. They promised me criminal charges were coming, which calmed me at the time. I called and called, finally after a year, no charges, nothing. I advocated my case on a national radio show and finally got the attention of the county district attorney. They met with me and criminal charges were filed - only bc of my insistance. I was assigned a victims advocate, but I felt her role was more to calm my fear and frustration. I discovered only 1 witness was interviewed out of 5-10 that were present at the scene. So I scoured photos and found another witness myself by markings on his truck. A statement was taken, but 2 years after the accident, so they held little water in court. In fact, much of the info from interviews was not admissible in court, including the statement by the person who killed my dad! We hired a PI for the civil case, and thats where the majority of our interviews and info came from. I could go on, but the point is, the LE is not invested in finding justice as much as the family is. My dad's case took 3 years of my life due to justified mistrust and lack of diligence by the local PD - although we had lawuers, I became my own lawyer, my own victims advocate, PI, etc.
TBs family no doubt has even bigger hurdles and grief ahead of them and they need advocates that are not assigned by the state. We need to advocate for them and pressure the media and PD to gather as much info as possible. Interviews, photos, search warrants, etc.
Coming from someone who's been there (on a lesser scale), this silence is unacceptable.

 

[MINNESOTA-MOM]

It is like South Dakota. Can't have any ruffled feathers. South Dakota has the highest rate of sex trafficking, though I think Williston is closing in. SD trafficking is because of Sturgis Rally and pheasant hunting but it is 'that which is never spoken' because of the revenue. There is also something in South Dakota right now called EB-5 and it is the dirty little secret because a certain former governor is running for US Senate. http://www.argusleader.com/topic/3f928c9b-0fb1-4e09-a978-d8c88ecad2ff/eb-5-scandal/ The Land of Bill Janklow where you can run a red light, kill a guy on a motorcycle, blame it on your blood sugar and there is no problem, except for the dead guy. smh

I am not surprised that NDSU doesn't want scandal; they want mom and dad to send their children to school and spend lots of money in town. 'Greed is Good' - Gordon Gecko

Wow! I'm not that far away in MN & I've never even heard of EB-5. I went to college in SD too. Never a Janklow fan. I lived in SD when he ran over that man... So sad. Apparently, SD is good at hiding skeletons in their closet too...

This is just getting crazy that no one is reporting about TB investigation... If they have nothing, they should be asking for help... You know... The "anything small you can think of about that night, please report" stuff... OR if they do have POI, they could assure the public that the investigation is being diligently pursued... I can't believe that students/parents kept in the dark aren't outraged. Maybe I am being over dramatic but it doesn't feel like it.

 

[MINNESOTA-MOM]

I think it is time to out some pressure on LE and media.
Unfortunately, I have some experience with with LE investigations that led me to lose some faith in their diligence. My dad was killed in a vehicle accident in 2010 that involved an illegal immigrant w/o licence or insurance who ran a red light and struck my dad, only 59 years old. My dad and I were very close, so the grief was immense. The local PD was very tight lipped on the investigation, telling me we need 90 days to press charges, 90 for the plea, during that time everything was held confidential. They promised me criminal charges were coming, which calmed me at the time. I called and called, finally after a year, no charges, nothing. I advocated my case on a national radio show and finally got the attention of the county district attorney. They met with me and criminal charges were filed - only bc of my insistance. I was assigned a victims advocate, but I felt her role was more to calm my fear and frustration. I discovered only 1 witness was interviewed out of 5-10 that were present at the scene. So I scoured photos and found another witness myself by markings on his truck. A statement was taken, but 2 years after the accident, so they held little water in court. In fact, much of the info from interviews was not admissible in court, including the statement by the person who killed my dad! We hired a PI for the civil case, and thats where the majority of our interviews and info came from. I could go on, but the point is, the LE is not invested in finding justice as much as the family is. My dad's case took 3 years of my life due to justified mistrust and lack of diligence by the local PD - although we had lawuers, I became my own lawyer, my own victims advocate, PI, etc.
TBs family no doubt has even bigger hurdles and grief ahead of them and they need advocates that are not assigned by the state. We need to advocate for them and pressure the media and PD to gather as much info as possible. Interviews, photos, search warrants, etc.
Coming from someone who's been there (on a lesser scale), this silence is unacceptable.

So sorry about your dad. Also very sorry for the subsequent struggle to find justice. The fact that witnesses weren't interviewed is beyond belief & I can understand your anger & mistrust with LE. I don't trust them either although I "hope" each LE agency is different...

I love your idea to put the pressure on... So.. Any idea on what specifically to do? Call the Moorhead police? Call the Forum? Post on their FB pages? Dealing with LE is something new to me.

 

[Trino]

As arm chair detectives, there's a lot we don't know. The Bearsons are quiet; is this because LE is informing them of progress? You can bet LE knows the instrument(s) used in the homicide; perhaps telling the public would encourage the killer(s) to get rid of them. You can also bet LE knows a lot, including if the murder took place at the RV sales facility or elsewhere. Maybe, too, they have good ideas about who is involved.

As I mentioned in a previous post, LE, in most cities, has changed its mode of operation. This is not the good old days of investigations. We are the public; any one of us could potentially be the killer(s) or helping the killer(s) as they try to escape a murder charge. Any person on this board could be involved. WS is an open book; JW's and CM's parents could be reading this, and what if these kids are not involved?

As to putting those associated with TB in front of a camera, that is not going to happen, and the media is not going to run stories about potential suspects who aren't about to be interviewed. (Perhaps you've heard of the Sam Shepard case.)

I would agree that LE is sometimes incompetent, but do we know if that is true in this case? In short, LE, in most cities, now gives as little info as possible to the public. Things have changed. Again, note that the Bearsons are not demanding info from LE.

I don't believe we should be angry at LE for doing their jobs. Right now there is nothing to say they are not doing them. We are not paid investigators; we are posters who share ideas.

 

[aquarius76]

Call Moorhead PD would be a great start. The family is dealing with tremendous grief, so to depend on them to advocate and scour thru crime scene photos for evidence is cruel. But it will come to that if justice is not served.
Hopefully, they have already hired their own attorneys (I found civil attorneys are much more diligent than county/city attorneys, bc their pay depends on winning the case) and PI would be great too. You never know which statements could be thrown out in court - the initial statement to the PD by the person who killed my dad was thrown out bc she was under the influence of pain med at the time. Luckily there were depositions/statements given to the civil attorneys that were admissible.
Put pressure on the PD. Thats something I have experience with, but it takes more than 1 person. I wasn't taken seriously or even given the time of day until I got the national media involved (just 1 interview on a national radio show, but it did the trick). So media attention is critical too. I think we should make some calls and voice our concerns.

 

[aquarius76]

I am saying this for the benefit of Andrew S's family as well. I hope they have people on their side advocating for justice. If they feel up to it, there are nationl and local media outlets that love to air stories like this. Sometimes it takes some media pressure to get the PD to get their act together and realize thar this can't be brushed under a rug! However, the media outlets will be most interested in hearing from the family directly impacted. I know it takes tremendous strength to put yourself out there like that, but it might be the only way to get enough noise generated.

 

[Trino]

Less we forget - the FBI is also involved in this case because it crosses state lines. Perhaps the FBI has said no press conferences.

 

[kelso319]

Watching the media press conference where the police let the media know they had found the body did me in, i wanted to jump through the screen and start asking questions. It was upsetting. They handled the Sadek case the same way.

Nice to hear your perspective as a former reporter. Glad to hear that when you were reporting you guys would have been out there looking for info. It saddens me to think that politics run the paper to that degree.

I guess it kind of makes me mad too the paper didn't go to JW and others who claim to have been at the party the day Tom was reported missing, before anyone had a lawyer etc.

(BBM) Unfortunately, politics run everything to that degree...

 

[MINNESOTA-MOM]

Less we forget - the FBI is also involved in this case because it crosses state lines. Perhaps the FBI has said no press conferences.

I agree with your sentiment about the fact that we could be incriminating innocent people. I am going to STOP at your STOP SIGN, Trino. Point taken.

However I will not blindly trust LE (whether it's the police OR the FBI) after the last case that they bungled (Sadek). A simple statement regarding the case would be suffice. They don't need to tell me all of the evidence & lay out their game plan for the investigation. But assuring me they are working on it is a good step. I have a son Bearson's age attending college not too far away -- how am I to know there isn't a killer on the loose targeting college-aged boys? (And why am I the only concerned mother?!)

I don't need all of the answers from the LE. I just want to know if MY son is safe. Because the way I see it, there have now been two boys murdered while attending college within 5 months of each other... The other disturbing fact is this: From a bird's eye view, there are no real answers or CONCERN from LE on either of the cases.

And if the FBI has said that there should be no statements or press releases, there should be a statement or a press release as such.

Jmo. (And Trino, I DO agree with you about the pointing fingers stuff. I just think our two opinions of LE are different because we've had different experiences.)

 

[human]

It is like South Dakota. Can't have any ruffled feathers. South Dakota has the highest rate of sex trafficking, though I think Williston is closing in. SD trafficking is because of Sturgis Rally and pheasant hunting but it is 'that which is never spoken' because of the revenue. There is also something in South Dakota right now called EB-5 and it is the dirty little secret because a certain former governor is running for US Senate. http://www.argusleader.com/topic/3f928c9b-0fb1-4e09-a978-d8c88ecad2ff/eb-5-scandal/ The Land of Bill Janklow where you can run a red light, kill a guy on a motorcycle, blame it on your blood sugar and there is no problem, except for the dead guy. smh

I am not surprised that NDSU doesn't want scandal; they want mom and dad to send their children to school and spend lots of money in town. 'Greed is Good' - Gordon Gecko

Sturgis makes me ill!!!!!! I know people who go there. Rich people. There are girls riding topless or you can see into the tents where they are getting their tattoos that they have their whole privates exposed for all to see.

These guys are businessmen, doctors, lawyers, etc that go to this. I told my hubby that those girls are someone's daughters. Would they want their daughters doing that? They have daughters and I know they would kill anyone that participated in their degradation.

They are participating by supporting that debacle. Vomit!

 

[JamieT]

I got scolded by other users in my first post by questioning WHY Andrew Sadek or TB weren't receiving more press about a week ago. I am mortified as a mother of a college freshman boy that more people aren't demanding answers! You better believe I would be making an a#s out of myself if this were my child.

Andrew Sadek not only had rocks in his backpack but it was also STRAPPED on his body so it didn't fall off. He also had a life "planned..." He was going to continue his schooling & had a girlfriend, etc... He was murdered & the LE were/are complicit. They were holding FELONY charges over his head unless he worked with them as an informant. A week after he disappears, they pull out YEAR old charges on him? Why? So people would say... "Poor kid... He was in legal trouble so he committed suicide." Or think his life mattered less because he was selling drugs... You know what? It worked.

Andrew's only sibling died in a car accident & because of that, he was very sensitive to his mother. When we all tried to tell her he was hiding & on-the-lam, she'd say, "If he could, he WOULD call me to wish me a happy Mother's Day." She knew & felt he was gone but WANTED to believe he was alive & had ran away.. What an awful way to treat her.. Imagine her heartache? Then when he was found, the LE at NDSCS said that his autopsy was "not a big priority." His toxicology came back NEGATIVE for drugs of ANY kind.

No resolution to his case & nothing is going on. They haven't even returned Andrew's laptop to her! It's really, really disgusting.

I am hoping for better results for the Bearson family... I'm hoping MN & FBI will be more competent than the LE who handled Andrew's case...

I'm done ranting. I know this thread isn't about Andrew but in a way it kind of is....

Hi all, this is my first post and I just want to thank everyone for their input/insight on this sad case. I don’t have much to add other than a couple things that are just too strange in my opinion. I’m just going to list what I think.

-I strongly agree with MM on the AS case; suicide does not make sense given the details of the case.

-On Monday, September 22, I learned that TB had gone missing from my coworker – her daughter is a second year student at NDSU. Her daughter said a few students were discussing TB’s disappearance and had said TB was really nervous about telling his family of his DUI arrest. To me this validates MM’s theory that perhaps the cops did arrange something with TB so charges would be dropped in his DUI case..

-Has anyone seen a single story/article since September 30? Perhaps in smaller media outlets but certainly not mainstream. I haven’t seen an article dated in October yet but I haven’t dug too deep.

-TB goes missing on Saturday and his body is found on Tuesday at an RV parking lot. If his body was dumped on Saturday, why didn’t a person working at the RV site discover this? To me, the body had to have been dropped on Monday night – it’s the only way it would make sense why he wasn’t found until Tuesday.

I hope the reason LE is being so quiet is b/c they have it all figured out but that is not the vibe they are giving out.

 

[human]

D

I agree with your sentiment about the fact that we could be incriminating innocent people. I am going to STOP at your STOP SIGN, Trino. Point taken.

However I will not blindly trust LE (whether it's the police OR the FBI) after the last case that they bungled (Sadek). A simple statement regarding the case would be suffice. They don't need to tell me all of the evidence & lay out their game plan for the investigation. But assuring me they are working on it is a good step. I have a son Bearson's age attending college not too far away -- how am I to know there isn't a killer on the loose targeting college-aged boys? (And why am I the only concerned mother?!)

I don't need all of the answers from the LE. I just want to know if MY son is safe. Because the way I see it, there have now been two boys murdered while attending college within 5 months of each other... The other disturbing fact is this: From a bird's eye view, there are no real answers or CONCERN from LE on either of the cases.

And if the FBI has said that there should be no statements or press releases, there should be a statement or a press release as such.

Jmo. (And Trino, I DO agree with you about the pointing fingers stuff. I just think our two opinions of LE are different because we've had different experiences.)

Totally agree. Why not give the public a daily update on something so horrendous!! No one is worried or cares?

 

[SummitSlam91]

Maybe the investigators on this case took a page out of Sun Tzu's Art of War.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make
the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

Its that or they probably botched the project.

 

[jggordo]

I believe that many LE and Police / Sheriff agencies now have FB pages. Possibly asking questions on them could get some answers or at least let them know that Justice for these two young men is being and will be followed until a real conclusion is made. If there truly is no information, would getting a reward fund started help?

JMO