Found Deceased OH - Joey LaBute, 26, Columbus, 4 March 2016 #2

[CookieM]

I think the jumbled text means something but I'm not necessarily talking about the content of the message itself.

Within 10-20 minutes of Joey disappearing into the crowd at the bar, his cousins started texting him asking where he is. Those texts would presumably move to the top of Joey's unread text messages.

I feel like a "butt text" would more likely go to someone at the top of that list. I realize he was texting Matt earlier that evening (in a tense discussion btw) but I think whoever sent that text consciously sent it to Matt.

Maybe I'm wrong. But a tense discussion earlier that night where Joey accuses the other person of lying, the last known correspondence from Joey is sent to the same person, then Joey goes missing. That's a huge red flag.

rbbm

I think I must be unusual because I also sent my location to a friend I had not communicated with in a really long time (as in over a month!) I only realized because he sent a text saying "Should you being at Costco worry me?"
I had to laugh about that one.
I really must have weird butt dialing issues, ya'll....

 

[Sleuthster50]

whatever the purpose of the text, the cell phone ping it created is likely what triggered law enforcement to search where they did.

 

[Leader6518]

I'm also thinking that the person who placed him in the water had told someone what happened. And that person anonymously reported the body was along the banks in that specific area. That would make sense why the police were actually there searching for a body involved in a missing person case. Because they were told to look for that particular body. Maybe the anonymous caller was in fear of his life if he told, and he made a deal with police that he'd only tell them where the body was if they agreed to make it public that they were randomly searching that particular area. Now that they have the body, maybe the police will be able to pressure that anonymous caller to "wire-up" and get the perpetrator to confess.

Or, if there are businesses in the area, it was caught on surveillance and LE just caught it recently while reviewing all the surveillance tapes they secured.

 

[Leader6518]

That's exactly my thought. And being that they found the body partly submerged, it may have had branches piled on top to weigh it and and hold it in place. That would make sense why the responders to the scene stated right away that they believe it to be a suspicious death. They couldn't see any obvious signs of death or injury, but it'd be awful suspicious to have branches and logs piled on top.

I'm pretty sure that during one of the first reports that a body had been found it was stated the body was tangled in branches. I can't go back and look, but it was one of the first news reports.

 

[Leader6518]

-snip

No leads or tips led them to that particular location on the River, near Audubon Metro Park. Sgt. Dave Sicilian tells us the Special Victims Bureau was searching local bodies of water for multiple missing person cases.
He says the body wasn’t too decomposed and is in relatively good condition. The young man’s body was found fully clothed, caught in debris about 6-10 feet from the banks of the river.

http://nbc4i.com/2016/03/30/police-still-working-to-identify-body-found-in-scioto-river/

This is what I was talking about in my previous post. I just didn't read down far enough to see someone had already provided that info.

 

[Leader6518]

No offense to anyone's ideas, but I am not so sure the jumbled text means anything at all. I have actually been out and about (just shopping, so I wasn't drunk or anything -- drunk on bargains, maybe lol) and received a text from a friend questioning some bizarre text they received from me. Something like: msdnfinea ????? What does that mean?
And only then did I realize I texted them some nonsense while putting my phone in my back pocket again. It certainly wasn't code or anything. So I wonder if that's what happened here. It just seems far fetched to me that he's text a message for help. You'd think he'd call 911 and the operator would at least be trying to figure out where the call was coming from. A text to a friend/family member would be useless because the friend would have no idea where he was. I know that in a crazy situation we may not do rational things, but I don;t think the text is a message, and definitely not code.

Like I said, that's just my opinion and I'm not trying to minimize anyone's brainstorming efforts.

CookieM, you are probably right. I've done the same thing and received them.

 

[Leader6518]

I think the jumbled text means something but I'm not necessarily talking about the content of the message itself.

Within 10-20 minutes of Joey disappearing into the crowd at the bar, his cousins started texting him asking where he is. Those texts would presumably move to the top of Joey's unread text messages.

I feel like a "butt text" would more likely go to someone at the top of that list. I realize he was texting Matt earlier that evening (in a tense discussion btw) but I think whoever sent that text consciously sent it to Matt.

Maybe I'm wrong. But a tense discussion earlier that night where Joey accuses the other person of lying, the last known correspondence from Joey is sent to the same person, then Joey goes missing. That's a huge red flag.

Mayor Perk. I have seen references to the "you're lying" text. I read that it was a screen shot of an interview, but couldn't watch it at the time. What did the conversation consist of? Was i only you're lying or was there more?

Does anyone have a screen shot of that text?

 

[eric136]

I do agree that some people may be looking too much into the gibberish text, but the text is still relevant because it was sent/received that exact night that he disappeared, after the "I'm Driving" phone call. It may not be anything that would help us trying to figure anything out and speculate, but it's probably quite relevant to LE.

I thought the gibberish text was received then the aunt called him (I driving call).

 

[eric136]

Mayor Perk. I have seen references to the "you're lying" text. I read that it was a screen shot of an interview, but couldn't watch it at the time. What did the conversation consist of? Was i only you're lying or was there more?

Does anyone have a screen shot of that text?

 

[Momoffourboys]

I have a 6s plus and when i put the letters in, first i got "unhappy" and then "john".

(Eta: i just tried again and got "injection")

I guess each phone has a mind of its own. Mine has several.

 

[lupinibean]

Mayor Perk. I have seen references to the "you're lying" text. I read that it was a screen shot of an interview, but couldn't watch it at the time. What did the conversation consist of? Was i only you're lying or was there more?

Does anyone have a screen shot of that text?

Link to the interview: http://myfox28columbus.com/news/local/columbus-detectives-searchinh-for-missing-26-year-old-man

Edited, somebody already posted the screen shot. Link to interview above.

 

[Sillybilly]

Ive been looking at the maps and trying to maybe figure out if he was abbreviating his location if he was being taken somewhere against his will.

The best I could come up with is John H McConnell Blvd + Studio Movie Grill with the thought that maybe he was abbreviating John H + Studio ("Jnhstioj"). The location is close to where he was found. Ive got a link to the map of the area below if it works. Its just a short trip south of there to some parks that could get access to the River.


https://www.google.com/maps/place/S...e!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x0cd3a0b3e99e691e

Hatfield, I think this is a very strong possibility.

Frequently when I go to google and quickly type in the search field (for example, Sillybilly), I may see *illy*, then I quickly try to enter correct by entering the *S* before *illy*, and I end up with some convoluted combination like perhaps *illybSlly* . It's as if I am typing faster than google search is loading and google misses some of the letters, then when I try to fix the word, google catches up by somehow adding my additional attempts at correcting .. but ultimately containing some of the intended letters while omitting others.

I'm not sure Joey was necessarily attempting to abbreviate, just that very fast entering of text can sometimes become messed up, but the gist is there.

IMO, given the proximity, he may have been making arrangements to meet someone at that location or telling someone that he was already there.

 

[osu]

I have an iPhone 6S and after the putting in the first four letters it auto corrects to "johns".

 

[Sillybilly]

Google maps shows an 18 minute walk between the Union and the Studio Movie Grill:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Uni...b3e99e691e!2m2!1d-83.0064686!2d39.9678366!3e2

Do we have a timeframe/estimate between when his friends said he left them at the bar to when the jnhstioj text was made?

 

[OccamsRazor]

I do agree that some people may be looking too much into the gibberish text, but the text is still relevant because it was sent/received that exact night that he disappeared, after the "I'm Driving" phone call. It may not be anything that would help us trying to figure anything out and speculate, but it's probably quite relevant to LE.

No. Per the news reports, the gibberish text was sent BEFORE he told his aunt he was "driving."

 

[RybieMagoo]

I have a Galaxy Note and it brought up "Justin" for me.

 

[Esse]

I thought the gibberish text was received then the aunt called him (I driving call).

I'm having a problem understanding the timeline.

What time did the aunt call? Was it after 1:22 a.m.?

I have an article that states the following:

"Family members said the last message sent from LaBute’s phone sent at 1:22 a.m. Saturday simply read: “Jnhstioj.”

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories...tage-to-help-locate-missing-columbus-man.html

 

[OccamsRazor]

The missing puzzle pieces involve his social life and everyone he came into contact with that evening. We know his roommate was an employee of the Union. Joey probably knew the employees there through his roommate. We know Joey was on a date that evening. We know he saw friends that evening at the Union, including a Matt and a Chad. He later texted Matt and accused him of lying about something. We also know, based on the report of a witness on the prior thread, that he saw Joey active on Scruff/Grindr that night. All of this is critical. Hopefully, the detectives are taking a deep dive into his life and questioning everyone.

 

[OccamsRazor]

I have a Galaxy Note and it brought up "Justin" for me.

Somebody else in an earlier post got "Justin" too. Justin was the name of Joey's roommate, who works at the Union. Somewhere there is a link containing an interview with him. Interesting.

 

[Tiggerford]

A thought I just had- has anyone here considered car2go? Perhaps Joey ended up using a car2go to get somewhere quickly, instead of walking back to his own car. I'm sure on a crowded Friday night there were at least a couple car2go(s) in the area. Just trying to think outside of the box here.