Found Deceased PA - Dakota James, 23, Pittsburgh, 25 Jan 2017 #1

[mbison]

Did they say report on his last phone ping?

 

[ChuckMaureen]

DJ is walking toward Scott Place, the road between the Theater parking garage and the Century Building, sort of a "back alley" shortcut. I wonder why he just didn't go directly to Seventh Street?

 

[Usher737]

This gives us more information than before. We know he did not take the T and started to walk. He was heading in the direction of the 7th street bridge. Notice the blonde woman and purse on the bench in the background. I believe there is also a man standing there. Hopefully, more video will give us a new location and his cell phone records can add to this mystery.

 

[cutieburgh]

Did they say report on his last phone ping?

Dakota James was last seen around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday in the area near Market Square. The family said police told them his cellphone pinged in the area near Grant Street around that time as well.

 

[mbison]

For locals, what do you think the odds are that somebody really drunk could fall into the water?

 

[ChuckMaureen]

This is where DJ would end up after walking between the buildings:

Was he walking to the parking garage or simply taking a shortcut to get to a bridge?

 

[AMWord]

For locals, what do you think the odds are that somebody really drunk could fall into the water?

Really high unfortunately IMO.

 

[Falcon500]

Let's be real here. Posting all of those flyers and having family and friends searching downtown is admirable. Not trying to be insensitive but this young man is not just standing on a street corner somewhere. He has fallen into one of the rivers and it will be quite sometime before his body his found due to the time of year and current.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Let's be real here. Posting all of those flyers and having family and friends searching downtown is admirable. Not trying to be insensitive but this young man is not just standing on a street corner somewhere. He has fallen into one of the rivers and it will be quite sometime before his body his found due to the time of year and current.

That is a likely scenario, there certainly is precedent but DJ walked a path (as per the released screen capture from surveillance video) that took him behind and between buildings, basically through a dimly-lit and/or unlit alleyway... who knows what goes on.

 

[jns207]

DJ is walking toward Scott Place, the road between the Theater parking garage and the Century Building, sort of a "back alley" shortcut. I wonder why he just didn't go directly to Seventh Street?

I'm not sure if I've got his direction right in my head. But could he be cutting across the plaza to continue towards 6th street rather than turning on to Scott Place? Meaning, he was planning to cross the bridge on 6th rather than 7th?


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[ChuckMaureen]

Also note: DJ appears to be using his phone, i.e.: it's powered on, and he is nowhere near Grant Street, which is where LE reported a last ping was detected. Now, it is possible his phone was still pinging to the cell near/on Grant Street but given he is in an urban environment (lots of tall buildings) it seems to me the phone would attempt negotiation with a cell closer to the phone.

Note: a phone does not have to be on a call to "ping" a cell.

Something's odd with that "last ping" report.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

I'm not sure if I've got his direction right in my head. But could he be cutting across the plaza to continue towards 6th street rather than turning on to Scott Place? Meaning, he was planning to cross the bridge on 6th rather than 7th?

I am not sure to which bridge DJ may have been heading (if he was indeed heading to any bridge) but given his orientation and walking direction, he is definitely heading toward Scott Place.

That path would take him right past the entrance/exit of the parking garage and if he continued straight past that it would take him to Fort Duquesne Blvd.

 

[cuomo]

Apologies, unsure how local you are. The Warhol Bridge (7th Street Bridge) has been closed for months due to construction. The HOV lane entrance to I279 is a block past the Rachel Carson Bridge (9th Street Bridge). The encampments were eliminated in 2015 and the homeless were relocated. There is a fence up there now preventing homeless to set up tents again. In any event, that the 7th Street Bridge is closed, and that Dakota lived in the Parkview Apartments in Allegheny Center, leads us to realize that the Clemente Bridge (6th Street Bridge) makes more sense to walk over to reach home rather than the 9th Street Bridge. The North Side is actually quite a nice area as a whole. Up the hill on the North Side isn't the best area -- Perrysville, Northview Heights, Fineview -- but these neighborhoods are nowhere close to North Shore/ Allegheny Center/ Central Northside.

My opinion is that it would be difficult for a person to fall into the river if the individual was walking over the bridge, but perhaps not so difficult if the person was walking along the trail near 10th Street Bypass. Directly across the 6th Street Bridge is PNC Park (along with the 3 restaurants that are part of the ballpark), 4 separate restaurants/bars, a bank, and 2 hotels. Once you cross the bridge, 6th Street becomes Federal Street which leads to Allegheny Center.

I walk through Allegheny Center on my way to work in downtown every day. I can think of 2 homeless people that I see on a regular basis during my commute and 3 other homeless people I see on occasion. All 5 of these homeless people hang out on both the downtown/cultural district area (as well as the trail along the 10th Street Bypass) and the North Shore. I wonder if the police have spoken with them to ask if they saw anything?

 

[jns207]

I am not sure to which bridge DJ may have been heading (if he was indeed heading to any bridge) but given his orientation and walking direction, he is definitely heading toward Scott Place.

That path would take him right past the entrance/exit of the parking garage and if he continued straight past that it would take him to Fort Duquesne Blvd.

Thank you for the clarification! I was writing my post while you posted the second image with the parking garage. I finally got my bearings on the maps.


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[mbison]

This gives us more information than before. We know he did not take the T and started to walk. He was heading in the direction of the 7th street bridge. Notice the blonde woman and purse on the bench in the background. I believe there is also a man standing there. Hopefully, more video will give us a new location and his cell phone records can add to this mystery.

Are you saying there is another person in the still shot released by the police? I think I am missing something because I don't see anybody.

 

[bellesnwhistles]

Are you saying there is another person in the still shot released by the police? I think I am missing something because I don't see anybody.

At first I didn't either but if you look closely towards the back there is a bag on one of the benches and what looks like two people standing by the columns next to it

 

[frankpgh]

Agree with a previous poster. My opinion - if he was heading down that alley it is because he was likely heading towards the 6th Street bridge, which would be closest to Allegheny Center where he lives. He would certainly know that the 7th street bridge is closed (it has been since November). I do not believe that he could have accidentally fallen into the water. There would be no reason for him to be down near the river on the City side of the bridge. Once on the North side side of the bridge, also no reason for him to be along the river trail. If he had crossed the 9th street bridge, I would definitely consider the trail and river as a possibility.

The more info that comes out the more I believe that there are other actors involved with this. If he's in the river, it is because someone put him in that river. I don't think there are many plausible reasons for him to have accidentally ended up in there.

As for phone use, I would do the same thing if I were him - walking home late at night, pull up the phone, start looking for an Uber while I'm walking. I doubt he would need Google Maps to find his way.

If this does turn out to be a criminal act, I would hope they'd revisit the other case of Paul Kochu - too many similarities.

 

[cutieburgh]

It seems people do know something. On this FB post under comments from KC there are reply comments from and April June Love.

https://www.facebook.com/missingdakotajames/?ref=page_internal&hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE&fref=nf

 

[ChuckMaureen]

I do not believe anyone else appears in the screen capture. What people are interpreting as being "two people" is actually bushes and the rear side of a trash container.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

I suspect DJ would have walked / intended to walk this path: