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

[moemoe]

Being a local I will shoot you straight, I high doubt a "junkyard dog" was on the premises. A dog on the premises has been mentioned twice now in this thread. It's more to scare people away from possibly entering, in this part of the country it's essentially unheard of because of liability issues.

I can go check if you'd like but the scene is probably hot for a few days.

I am also from the area... I guess I would call myself a local, but the main point was that there are many many expensive RVs in the area so you would think there would be some sort of cameras. At least if it were my business I would have them in place. But it is kind of an out there area, so maybe not... One can be hopeful though!

 

[IBsleuthin]

Hmmm---I'm going to have to disagree with you there IB. From your link the Moorhead police said they are trying to look into how he died. That tells me he didn't die from a gun shot wound, stabbing, or beating, or it would be obvious how he died. Alcoholic poisoning and people who panicked comes to mind. That in itself may be foul play but not the kind we normally mean.

Excellent point and well taken.

My initial remarks were more along the line of them thinking he'd taken his own life and it had been obvious, hence the "No foul play" remarks.

 

[IBsleuthin]

Hmmm---I'm going to have to disagree with you there IB. From your link the Moorhead police said they are trying to look into how he died. That tells me he didn't die from a gun shot wound, stabbing, or beating, or it would be obvious how he died. Alcoholic poisoning and people who panicked comes to mind. That in itself may be foul play but not the kind we normally mean.

This is a good thought here and something I've witnessed first hand on several occasions with some young people in our area. (BBM).

 

[IBsleuthin]

Wow that's a really good point "people who panicked." It is possible someone just moved him, I hadn't thought about that yet. The only thing that makes me think that wouldn't be the case though is that CM has acted so innocent to me this whole time. I really don't think that he knew anything about what happened after Tom left. And if he had fatal alcohol poisoning, how did he walk over 6 miles? Unless maybe he had more alcohol with him? Even if he took some shots right before he left there is no way in my mind that he walked that far, but I'd defer to the experts here too maybe it is possible? Don't know.

At this point we would again be assuming that he had nothing to drink after he left that party. I'm still hung up on the text that said he mentioned going somewhere with some baseball players.

If he went to a party after he left CM's house and drank more, passed out....

We simply don't know at this point where he went after he left CM's house.

 

[IBsleuthin]

No I don't think he walked. I think it's possible someone who was with him realized he had consumed too much alcohol and possibly considered taking him to a hospital. Maybe he stopped breathing and they panicked and drove to a secluded area and just dropped him off, fearing they were going to be in a lot of trouble and not using any kind of sound judgement because they had been drinking themselves. The sad thing is, in North Dakota you cannot be charged for taking someone who is a minor to the hospital because you think they may need medical attention from drinking too much. Nor can the person you bring in be charged. That's specifically designed to make sure no one hesitates to bring someone to the hospital because they fear repercussions because they are under age drinkers.

I could be way off on what happened here because this all sounds so strange. Someone in LE made a statement about looking at what he was wearing and what he had with him to determine how he got to where he was found. What the heck does that mean? I'm going to rule out he was wearing a parachute so that's not the answer.

Rocco how about the whole crossing the state lines issue?

I cannot recall what the legalities are with that. Depending on whether the person was alive or not when they were transported?

 

[IBsleuthin]

Well, the more I think about it, the more I'm thinking Rocco might very well have figured this out.

His/her scenario seems quite plausible, very logical and a whole lot less scary than some of the things I had going through my mind.

 

[IBsleuthin]

I'm just putting this out there...I have no idea, don't know the players involved here.
This could indeed be a perfectly innocent tweet but I thought it was odd.

"Weird knowing I was one of the last 3 people to see Tom"

I purposely have not included the name of the person who tweeted that. I do understand how a young brain works on a limited frame. But...how would he know if he was one of the last 3 people to see Tom?

I mean, if someone leaves HOW would you know who else saw him after that?

?

 

[IBsleuthin]

This news site gives permission to share this information:

http://www.inforum.com/content/initial-autopsy-results-ndsu-student-could-be-back-soon

Of particular interest is the last few sentences of this story concerning the need to view the scene from an elevated view, as well as the fact that the police are not investigating if any of the RV's have been broken into because they are generally left open.

Not sure I agree with that line of thinking.

I would like to know if his phone has been found yet.

 

[buffetoflies]

Hmmm---I'm going to have to disagree with you there IB. From your link the Moorhead police said they are trying to look into how he died. That tells me he didn't die from a gun shot wound, stabbing, or beating, or it would be obvious how he died. Alcoholic poisoning and people who panicked comes to mind. That in itself may be foul play but not the kind we normally mean.

Sad. Minnesota has a new law which says "Underage drinkers in Minnesota can no longer be charged with a crime if they attempt to seek medical help as part of a new medical amnesty law which went into effect Aug. 1, 2013"

source

 

[Rocco]

Sad. Minnesota has a new law which says "Underage drinkers in Minnesota can no longer be charged with a crime if they attempt to seek medical help as part of a new medical amnesty law which went into effect Aug. 1, 2013"

source

The same law is in effect in North Dakota. I'm all for it as I feel it will help save lives by removing the fear factor of getting in trouble which is probably huge for a lot of kids.

Thinking about this case some more last night, I'm leaning towards the police knowing by now what happened. The fact they zeroed in on that specific location makes me think they've got this pretty much solved. I think it's just a matter of dotting some i's and crossing some t's before we learn exactly what happened here. Unless he got into a car with some strangers, which I doubt, they know who he was with and when he was with them. And from pings on his phone and on the phones of the people he was with that night, they know who was in the area he was found.

 

[oswald111069]

Sad. Minnesota has a new law which says "Underage drinkers in Minnesota can no longer be charged with a crime if they attempt to seek medical help as part of a new medical amnesty law which went into effect Aug. 1, 2013"

source

The phone that they texted to cody was not tom's....right?
his was not working right since it quit working at 40%.
and the number they texted to call back was 3202665538.
I checked that number and it is registered to a guy named smith who has over 10 different addresses.

 

[lucky181]

The phone that they texted to cody was not tom's....right?
his was not working right since it quit working at 40%.
and the number they texted to call back was 3202665538.
I checked that number and it is registered to a guy named smith who has over 10 different addresses.

I thought it was implied that LE used Tom's phone to trace him to Moorhead.

 

[IBsleuthin]

Sad. Minnesota has a new law which says "Underage drinkers in Minnesota can no longer be charged with a crime if they attempt to seek medical help as part of a new medical amnesty law which went into effect Aug. 1, 2013"

source

Why is this sad?

 

[IBsleuthin]

The phone that they texted to cody was not tom's....right?
his was not working right since it quit working at 40%.
and the number they texted to call back was 3202665538.
I checked that number and it is registered to a guy named smith who has over 10 different addresses.

From what I've gathered so far, the phone they texted CM with was Tom's phone. But the tweet said, "This is Jake..." Then they said, Call us back at #3202665538.

I've had this happen with someone who knows that their phone is going dead, they want me to know it's them but to call a different number, (usually the phone of someone nearby who's phone is working). (Because if you text someone with someone else's phone who's never contacted that person before, the text comes up either unavailable or just the number. Many people, including myself won't answer those texts).

This can all seem very complicated but not really.

I'm with Rocco on this one...In a panic someone forgot that their phone was a pinging away in their little hot pocket. If Tom's phone was pinging so was someone else's!

 

[creepedout]

Death officially ruled a homicide.

http://www.valleynewslive.com/story/26624807/bearson-death-confirmed-as-homicide

 

[Lalasmooch]

Sad news I hope they can figure out what happened. Those of you following this a bit closer, is 'jake' on twitter or has he spoken publicly? I feel like we've heard more from cody who barely knew him then this guy himself who was with Tom all night leading up to his death.

 

[angela]

Death officially ruled a homicide.

http://www.valleynewslive.com/story/26624807/bearson-death-confirmed-as-homicide

Oh no! This is so sad. I don't know why this surprises me so much. I guess because I really thought this would be an overdose. This article makes me think he was killed somewhere else and his body transported there in a car. His shoe could have came off in the car. I am confident this will be solved quickly. I have some suspicions which I will need to keep to myself for now. RIP Tom.

 

[creepedout]

OK... creepy. They're asking the public to look out for a cell phone... and a Nike tennis shoe. That rings a bell.

http://www.inforum.com/content/ndsu...-homicidal-violence-police-looking-shoe-phone

 

[angela]

OK... creepy. They're asking the public to look out for a cell phone... and a Nike tennis shoe. That rings a bell.

http://www.inforum.com/content/ndsu...-homicidal-violence-police-looking-shoe-phone

Rings a bell? Can you elaborate?

 

[Rocco]

I thought it was implied that LE used Tom's phone to trace him to Moorhead.

If they were just going off the pings from his phone, I don't think they would have searched the river because the pings would have led them to the RV area. Then again, maybe his phone is in or near the river but additional information and pings from the phones of others led them to the RV site.