Why was SK struggling so in his life in general and economically, specifically? He was a nice- enough looking man, from a stable- seeming family, who had completed a mission, which is a very positive thing in the LDS church -Those men are usually quite sought-after as husbands.
Also, he did a foreign mission, which is always thought to go to the best LDS young man with the best family connections as well, IMO. I think it's very reasonable and true that he wasn't married because he wasn't in a position financially to, and I believe this, but -- Why? This has always bothered me: He complained to friends/family that his job in SLC with the SLC Tribune online kept him from having any time with friends and family (he worked evenings or weekends) but then he quits it and moves to St. George, which is a much smaller job market, takes a job with whatever matchbin.com is or was, and this move puts him AWAY from friends and family and I'd say way down the earnings ladder and also on a dead end to a career path. Apparently, he knew few people there as far as friendships and networking would go, too..
What I can find out about his job history shows what I believe is a disturbing trend of a downward progression from promising jobs which could have turned into his profession to a hand to mouth type situation handing out fliers ( or is it flyers?)
Why did this happen to someone with really strong multi-generational LDS connections ( LDS help their own more than any other people on the earth with a pure common cause of loving their church and brothers and sisters, let me tell you!!) This was all happening to him at a time when my husband was getting promoted left and right and was extremely successful. Don't tell me the " job market was depressed". It might have been for unskilled laborers, but this young man had 1) His family and their connections. 2) A very positive history of being a helper and good young man. 3) A good education and a nice appearance and conduct as far as is known. 4) The LDS church, which has tons and tons of people working and networking full time to get jobs for their members if all else failed him.
Steven was on top with the best people in the world ( if Utah LDS culture is like eastern seaboard LDS culture) to help him and apparently, he didn't ask or someone betrayed him horribly in his last known days. ( referencing the phone call in LV between G.W. and him. I think G.W. is way high on the hinky meter in what he said and replied and asked, then did himself.)
IDK, it's strange to me that Steven couldn't get a break unless it was his arm. Was he hiding an impairment like dyslexia or high- functioning autism ( which usually has the feature of the affected being unaware unless they were given the diagnosis personally)?
This is a young man who worked at the offices of the governor as an intern in 2003-2004 ( partial years for both dates). Still, it shows he had abilities and ambitions as a young adult, I'd say.
Steven was a college graduate ( I don't recall where he went to college off the top of my head) and desired a career in either public relations or communications. I have no clue what his major was.
He worked for his father at a newspaper where his father was the editor when he was just out of HS, using a nom de plume of "Steven Threll" - his legal first and middle names.
Might he have reverted to this name if he's still alive?
His job history as I've been able to find is:
- March 2007, employed in some position of online version of the Salt Lake City Tribune. Laid off in July 2008. Reason-?
- Sales with MatchBin.com , Salt Lake City in October 2008. Moved to St. George, UT because of " cold winters" in SLC area, he said. Was fired from Matchbin.com 4/ 2009.
-12/ 2009- part-time job for Travis Window and Blind Cleaning Company, distributing flyers. Also during the month of December, Steven was subcontracting to put up Christmas decorations to earn extra money.
How does it make sense that a guy with a college degree and a father in the newspaper business for many years ( he was an editor when Steven worked for him) could not get and keep a job with a newspaper that wasn't owned or managed by his dad? His degree was likely in the PR field, as it's said that and Communications were his major interests post- graduation.
How does a guy with the drive for success, marriage and family life that LDS who are born into the lifestyle have instilled in them for all their lives go from writing ( or otherwise working for) the SLC Tribune to handing out window washing fliers in two years' time? Unless the economy was a lot worse in his area of the country than it was here, he should have been able to go to his Bishop and gotten true, concrete assistance almost immediately for free or almost free housing, food from the storehouse, clothing. This would help him get all his daily living needs met, then the Bishop and Elders would most likely have been very helpful and gotten him into a workforce that had extreme potential and many fellow LDS members who should have supported him and mentored him until he was secure and not worried about STUPID childish things like cold winters, or missing his family or that. He didn't seem to grow up emotionally in the career world OR to do what most LDS members will do automatically, as we are commanded- turn to his church leaders for help regionally, if not locally. Or in the region he wanted to be in, let's say. Maybe he wanted to move to warm and sunny Miami , since he quit one job because " it was colder in the northern part of the state". RME. Bishop to bishop networking with Steven could have seen him with a job lined up in Miami before he ever reached the FL state line. I know this is true.
I want to know what this is about:
His family says he had/ has a quirk of taking a very long time to answer in a conversation. Is he a person with a form of autism which was never diagnosed or treated? Did he have this lag time from childhood or only as an adult?
Could he have been prescribed a medication like an anti-depressant that made him mentally lethargic? ( sometimes, the type of medication has no relationship to a narcotic and the lethargy is specific to the individual's reaction).
I have read in a physical description that he has bilateral scars behind his ears. Was this for tubes as a child, or cosmetic ear pinning or what? Did it affect his hearing at some point in his developmental phases of language processing, perhaps if related to chronic ear infections?
In summary, IMO, the " largest" things he seems to have done in his entire lifetime were to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, which in my years in the LDS culture was almost a given for a male teen and then to go on an International mission which he apparently completed successfully. He kind of " peaked" achievement wise after his mission to Brazil. That is not a typical pattern of living for a person with his upbringing and teaching, to put it mildly. He did have short stints with 2 probably " good" starter jobs in the newspaper business...
If you aren't LDS and don't know, the wards ( specific LDS church building for you in your zip code or designated area) had Eagle Scout recognition ceremonies, with the guys in those long shorts and long socks and there were always some LDS elders ( men who held positions of authority) who were Scout leaders.
Anyway, I think this guy was so sheltered and naive that 1001 different things could have started happening in his life and he would have been too ashamed and shy to tell his parents. I also think he missed making the connection between the church's benefit programs due to real need like he had, and himself. He knew what he fasted for- it was for the tithe given for aid to LDS members who find themselves in financial disadvantage, which he became himself.
I think his parents were coming down on him pretty hard about 1) Lack of money for things like rent and food and 2) Not getting stabilized in a good career which comes WAY BEFORE a strict LDS man should be getting a girlfriend and marrying. LDS traditionally do not owe a lot of money, but make higher than average wages. Maybe one of the reasons his currently living and active in the case family members can't accept most of the theories about what happened to him is because of a sense of guilt, whether justified or not.
That's why I think it's very wrong of anyone to say anything about him not being married already. He had NOT accomplished goal #3 . The life goals for LDS men are, in this order: 1) Mission. 2) College degree. 3) Lifelong career which is stable and with very good earning potential, and 4) Marriage in a Temple to a devout LDS woman and to provide a very large and happy life for as many children as God gives, while remaining faithful to the promises made at the time of baptism and re-affirmed in the Temple ceremony to be a leader in the church as best as possible and to raise children in the church.
In my major former city of residence, LDS men helped younger LDS men get a job and keep it. There are all kinds of job training centers and job search centers within the LDS wards or stakes ( several churches or wards in a city form a stake), at least in the Atlantic coastal states.