Just spent the morning reading this post and have a few I want to quote for one reason of another. This will make it easier for me in the long run.
Let's say for the sake of argument BK flew into Savannah in 2004...perhaps even from Denver.
One of the hottest restaurant associated leads we had at the beginning of the year was from a woman who was sure she knew him from food trade shows in Orlando. She was in the industry for 15 years and was certain she had a nodding acquaintance with him but did not know him directly. She could not recall if he had a booth or he was attending like everyone else. She remembered seeing him at more than one trade show.
What if he did travel for business? So let's go backwards and try and figure out how do we figure out what airlines were flying into Savannah from the west during the time he was missing. Then we can either kick it to FBI Bill or approach the airlines directly to check manifests if they still have them available. Did they have someone who did not come back???
Am I insane or does this seem doable??
I think you are looking in the wrong direction and wonder if he left from the east coast.
Burger King was not in a bad part of town at all. Richmond Hill is a fairly affluent area, in the three years that I lived there I never once saw a transient or witnessed any crimes. It (Burger King) is in your typical "restaurant row" right off of the exit. McDonald's, Taco Bell, Wendy's, Arby's, KFC are all grouped in that area. There is also a truckstop right across the highway. VERY busy truckstop, might I add.
Quoting to come back to if need be. Good info to know about the area.
the restaurant industry is a tight community. i believe the National Restaurant Assoc. still has a monthly magazine. see if you can get his face in there. the food industry also includes, schools, hospitals, nursing homes etc... all distributors have food shows. usually 2 big ones each year. it is put on by distributors, the vendors all have booths and restaurant owners, school lunch ladies etc...come to them. GFS has an annual show in the fall in Ft. Wayne along w/ other cities.
Quoting because I'm unsure of if this was looked into more?
Also possible for one of us to find a web site to post his info to.
Benjaman Kyle:
Mugged. Beaten. Car stolen.
no abandoned rental car reports checked at the time.
no abandoned personal car reports found, Benjaman K
did his own search.
The gay possibility:
He could have been traveling, something happened, they
beat him up and put him next to the dumpster.
Would we ever know?
Hurricane Charley: 2004 Aug. 9 – 15
It hit Florida hard and the up the coast too.
Victim of that hurricane?
He could have been in town for a visit. a convention.
a funeral. a wedding. a reunion.
a vacation. a boating trip. a fishing trip.
I looked up Aug. 2004, Savannah, Ga and there were many conventions and groups and events then.
It was the time of the 2004 elections.
Aug. 31, Florida primary.
Aug. 30 to Sept. 2, Republican Nat’l Convention, New York
I looked up funerals, Aug. 04, Savannah, Ga.
There was one that looked promising. The woman could have been a sister, no picture available. The obituary listed a brother that lived in Ohio.
I checked that person's name. It seems he is still living in Ohio.
The restaurant industry vendors or convention sounds like a good lead.
He did say he thought he worked in a nice restaurant and was familiar with
the appliances and design.
What would be the convention for those who design restaurants? a kind of architect firm?
BK could study restaurant design books or magazines or ask to go into
kitchens. The more he is around things he thinks are familar, maybe it will jog his memory.
I wish BK or his nurse or the Dr Phil show would post updates, once a month, at least.
What I do know is that there are so many people who are searching to find his identity.
So glad there is someone on this board that knows the Richmond Hill area, that is a big help.
IMO, and not to keep bringing this up.. the gay comment should be looked into and if you (not you - general you) know someone that has ties, please pass this on. I hope to get something up within the next week if possible that will be easy for people to email.
what I have not seen mentioned -
online dating
Long shot - he met someone on line - possibly while gaming.
His wife found out - he ended up driving to clear his head or meet up with this person.
If he is gay, he feels bad that it wrecked his kids lives. Look at the NJ Governor.
Could be he hid it for so long that subconsciously he's still hiding it?
I actually wrote on the other thread about his surgery and possible pins/plates
I remember reading somewhere where these pins / plates have serial numbers.
I know it would be a big ask but if its true that he has pins/plates (can tell via xray) and that they have a serial number - then he could be traced as to who he is that way, if it cant be seen on xray - the serial number then they could open him up.
Id be willing to suffer surgery to find out who I was .
I think he was a businessman on his way somewhere, and he was mugged and severely beaten, clothes stripped off him (was he sexually assaulted ?) and his car taken.
Thats what I think happened to him. I think he was on his way through from another state ...
I would think they could find out what type of surgery he's had from Xrays. My lower back is fused. Technology has changed a lot, they should be able to pin point what year it was done. I think this is his best shot.
Is he in pain?
Is he on pain meds?
The fire ant bites make me also think that BK may have been hiking or camping nearby. My nephew hiked the Appalachian trail through Georgia and would often hike into towns near trail heads to eat at fast food joints or stock up on supplies. They would leave their huge packs of hiking gear hidden near a trail head. There are registries all along the trail and even a website for the Appalachian trail. I will do some research to see if there are any major hiking trails in the area. August 31, 2004 was very close to labor day and many people take long vacations at that time to go camping or hiking.
I like this idea as well.
Next thought -
what if they were not ant bites?
My hubby has had lots of skin problems since late summer, they are now calling it some sort of lupus. It looked like insect bites. Were the bites documented?
Does Ben remember what the bites looked like (probably not)
Can someone else that was around him comment on what the bites looked like, or find a picture online of fire ant bites to look at? Tons of skin pictures online. I know that from when my hubby had something.
I've heard back from the Great Grand Hobo Duke of Cyber Space and he will be posting the information about BK on their Hobo Grapevine.
I also emailed 3 others from the Hobo Society but haven't heard back from them.
If it is the hobo site I found online there is nothing posted about him.
This needs to be revisited.
Theory number 1 for Monday:
BK had moved to Florida to retire. BK still has his regional accent. BK is a loner, with few family or friends.
Hurricane mid Aug. 2004. BK decided to leave FL and go north. He comes up to the
Savannah, GA area. He is attacked, either robbed for money or carjacked and then beaten and left by a Burger King dumpster.
Hotel records are a mess what with the hurricane and Red Cross in town and other organizations. His car was sold for parts or dumped in a deep lake or river.
His home in Florida destroyed. He never filed for homeowner's insurance. Insurance companies did not mind. His neighbors did not know him well, and when no body was found, assumed he left FLorida and moved back home. Mortgage company had a destroyed house on their hands and either wrote it off or thought BK had skipped out and was living somewhere else.
BK has never had his fingerprints taken. In the Viet Nam war era, he either lucked out on the draft or he was considered 4F or he was a college student.
Somewhere, maybe, his brothers wonder why they have not heard from BK for so long, but just think, oh, you know Ben.
We can hope that the Y-DNA search will find something. Or that the drivers license facial recognition software will find him.
Since you mention FL, maybe he was driving down to fish but couldn't due to weather.
Maybe he did fish in FL but started driving back home?
Maybe he got sunburned from being on a fishing boat?
Maybe his "ant bites" where gnat bites?
I posted earlier in 50-60 year old thread, asking about fingerprints for the military. I found some interesting facts about this. Leads me to believe
1. Ben was from English Canada, and came to the states some 20+ years ago(would make sense for the voice expert theory)
2. Ben has been declared deceased.(prints no longer in military database)
3. Ben left the states prior to military call in 1968, and only returned due to family passing
Any other thoughts on this.....
Article of fingerprints
Does the FBI have your fingerprints?
http://www.slate.com/id/2117226/
What is in the Defense Manpower Data Center Data Base
http://www.defenselink.mil/privacy/notices/osd/DMDC01b.html
Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPCOM) applicants
http://www.mepcom.army.mil/hq.html
Quoted for your thoughts mostly..
I actually think he did not serve because he's too young or lucked out in the draft.
http://drphil.com/slideshows/slideshow/4682/?id=4682&slide=1&showID=1146&preview=&versionID=
“Do you have any idea of what you were doing in Georgia?” Dr. Phil asks.
“I think I came down there to see the ocean,” Ben says.
..Question..
Is CAME DOWN THERE a colloquoism? Something that someone from Indiana would say?
I live in Oregon and if I was in Georgia and I was asked, what are you doing in Georgia? I would say, I CAME OVER HERE to visit Savannah.
and if I was back in Oregon after the trip .... and then asked.... what were you doing in Georgia? I would say, I WENT DOWN there to visit Savannah.
It makes me think he lived in a state above Georgia.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Sav...s=IN&2y=US&2l=39.768299&2g=-86.158096&2v=CITY
Maybe I am making too much of his choice of words, but he does have a good grasp of the English language and appears intelligent.
So, it is a regional way of saying things? Anyone?
carolwood: What would you say if you were asked, what were you doing in Georgia?
Anyone else? What would be the way you answered the question? What were you doing in Georgia?
Normally it would be went down there.
People in NJ say it all of the time, we are always going down somewhere; unless you ski, then you went up to such & such.
Yes, I can see myself saying that I came down there, depends on who I was talking to and where I was at the time.
I don't think that BK was taken to Burger King to dispose of his body in the dumpster. If the attacker wanted him dead, they would have just left him somewhere isolated, where there was no chance of recovery. If his attacker brought him to Burger King it was because the attack was an accident ,self-defense perhaps or mistaken identity or the attack was purely to take money or a car. The intent was never to kill BK. They/ She/He wanted him found.
The other possibility is that somehow BK wandered around with a head wound, totally out of it, for some time. It was long enough to get sunburned, he took his own clothes off to get the fire ants off from him and eventually collapsed by the dumpster. Was there any evidence taken to find out what was used to cause the head wounds? That could be telling about where the attack actually occured.
Agree.
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-Great sites:
Here is another one.
http://www.geocities.com/yvain.geo/dialects.html
number 11 appears to be where they have identified BK's speech is from. 'snipped'
North Midland (11)
Created as the people in Pennsylvania migrated westward and influenced by Scotch-Irish, German, and English Quaker settlers. This and the South Midland dialect can actually be considered a separate Midland Dialect region that serves as a transition zone between the north and south. They call doughnuts belly sinkers, doorknobs, dunkers, and fatcakes.
Thank you for the link.
It gives me an idea of where to focus posts I'm going to make.
Lurker here, just had to comment.
I'm originally from Ontario, Canada and that is what I would say.
Edit - though I can definately say that his current dialect is not Canadian. Not Michigan either - similar but more nasal on the vowels. He has a very distinctive way of saying the word 'thought.' Almost like Pittsburghese. I know that he was evaluated by a speech expert - I will go look for that info.
Can you post a link to videos you've watched?
I did not get to see the Dr Phil show, but from 2 videos I've seen, I do not rule out NJ/Pennsy. I originally come from Union County NJ, I do not talk like the Sopranos.
My hubby's grandma lives in Miami, the only time has a weird way of talking is when she says Miami.
Reminds me of people from or not from Oregon. If you live there you pronounce it differently.
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Not a stupid question.
We have discussed the draft extensively.
Since his fingerprints did not show up in the military, he was not in the service.
He is just the right age to have gone to Viet Nam.
But, there was a draft in those years. He may have had a 'good' number and did not have to register.
http://www.sss.gov/lotter1.htm the viet nam lotteries
http://www.landscaper.net/draft.htm 1969 draft for 19 yr olds.
BK probably 21 that year.
He could have been in college and exempted. He may have been 4F.
He may have ran off to Canada, that was the popular place in those years.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/defenseandsecurity/a/canadadodgers.htm
Canada wants to build memorial for Viet Nam war draft dodgers who went to Canada.
This is what I dug up the other day when I started devoting time to this. I'm going to c/p my whole thinking...
I was watching 24 last night. The character Bill Buchanan looks to me to be around Benjaman's age so I looked him up; he was born in 1954.
James Morrison/Bill Buchanan link
This is all before my time, but I wonder if this has been considered to figure out his age? The draft was for people born between 1944 and 1952 from what I can see. People born in 1953 were never called.
The Vietnam Lotteries - December 1, 1969 -determined the order of call for induction during calendar year 1970 - for registrants born between January 1, 1944, and December 31, 1950 (all men within the 18-26 age range)
RESULTS FROM LOTTERY FOR MEN FACING THE DRAFT IN 1971 - The highest lottery number called for this group was 125. All men assigned that lottery number or any lower number, and who were classified 1-A or 1-A-O (available for military service), were called to report for possible induction.
RESULTS FROM LOTTERY FOR MEN FACING THE DRAFT IN 1972 - The highest lottery number called for this group was 95; all men assigned that lottery number or any lower number, and who were classified 1-A or 1-A-O (available for military service), were called to report for possible induction.
RESULTS FROM LOTTERY FOR MEN FACING THE DRAFT IN 1973 - The lottery drawing held February 2, 1972, determined the order in which men born in 1953 were called to report for induction into the military.
no new draft orders were issued after 1972.
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In closing, and if you've actually read what I've posted lol
If you go to any forums, think to put this in your profile.. say a link to the flier or if the forum gives you a photo album like the one I met believe on, make a photo album & upload his pics.
Once I switch to my windows computer, I was going to take print screens (computer picture) of a word file, then I'd be able to upload that as well.