So I took a ride around the area earlier, and here are some observations:
I had Ad. Farragut Park confused with Carl Cowan Park. They are connected, but though CCP is wide open style, AFP is secluded. You go up a hill and then down into a small wooded area near the river. Very easy to see why this is known as a good "meeting place". It took me less than 10 minutes to drive between the park and the house.
I was stunned by how close the house is to the houses around it - I at first thought I must have had the wrong house. I expected it to be much more secluded. I could stand in the back yard of the house on the opposite side of the water and hit the other house with a rock. The water is mostly dried up right now immediately behind the house due to the lake levels being lowered, he would have had to have walked a little ways to even get to water of any depth.
Ballard Road does have a very small, old private property sign at the entrance, but it not cordoned off in any way. There were several vehicles at the house, though I cannot tell what they were as the neighbors appeared to be home and I didn't feel comfortable stopping to look. They looked like workers to me though, not police - don't hold me to that, just my impression.
If you look at street view, you'll notice a small house at the entrance to Ballard Way - that house appears deserted now, as does the house opposite. There are three brick houses on E. Old Topside that have a full view of the backyard of the house - two opposite the house on the other side of the water, and one up the hill on the other side of Old Topside. The last Google Street view I have seen was taken in May 2012 - there have been many trees removed since then, and the builders of the house appear to have had all trees between them and the water cleared. I could actually see the top story of the house from all the way out on Topside Rd, not just from E. Old Topside.
I'm left with more questions than answers after having seen the area. How in the world did he hit the house and the neighbors not hear it??? How was there a car running all night with a block on the gas pedal without them seeing or hearing it???
RBBM
Thank you for your excellent report, LadyO!
I've wondered about this also.
It would be helpful to know -and LE may have looked into this already- if anyone heard or saw anything between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
As to the timeline:
"Jim Smith said he first realized something was unusual late Saturday when he used an app he uses to track his son's location to zoom in on residential location. Smith said he knew something was wrong when he woke up the next morning and saw Blake was still at the same location.
'I called his roommate in the dorm and he said he didn't make it in that night,' Smith said. 'At that point, I became alarmed and began making phone calls to security at Crown College.'"
http://www.wvlt.tv/content/news/BCS...r-says-disappearance-worrisome-472670223.html
Also, I found this earlier post by Gardener1850 quite helpful:
Found a video interview with his parents:
https://www.knoxnews.com/videos/news...ent/110120836/
According to that his parents tracked him with an app called "Life 360". They noticed he was at an unusual place Saturday night late at night when he was supposed to be at the dorm.
When he still wasn't back at the dorm at 2 AM his dad was concerned. Dad called his roommates at 7 AM and found out he never made it back there. Then they contacted college security and police. Dad said no blood in car so they are hoping for the best. A friend had dropped him off at the dorm after work around 2 PM, then he had texted his dad his W2's so his dad could help do taxes. His dad thinks he got in his car and drove to the park right after that because the picture was posted to instagram not long after the text. He likes to hike so his dad thinks he went to the park to hike.
(RBM)
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...-Knoxville-3-Feb-2018&p=13912421#post13912421
So we do know at least Blake's phone -and likely his car- was at the construction site at 2am and stayed there until, say, 8am- or 9am-ish Sunday morning, when it was found with its engine running.
It would be helpful to know, IMO:
1. what time the construction site first showed up as Blake's -or his phone at least- location. LE may already know this if they were able to retrace Blake's movements prior to 2am via Life360.
2. what time the wreck happened. Did anyone hear or see anything overnight?
3. how long the car had been running before being found. It seems like someone would have heard something perhaps not overnight, but by the early morning hours on Sunday.
Another thought I have is if Blake or someone else was trying to unstuck the car, that would have made a lot of noise, especially with the tires still running, and for a prolonged period of time, IMO.
And the same goes for the car being damaged so extensively, especially if it was done intentionally (it would take time to dent up the car, bend a door back, rip the mirrors off, etc.).
Finally, why no call for help (that we are aware of)?
All MOO.
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