Found Deceased TN - Blake Smith, 20, Knoxville, 3 Feb 2018

[BlkMtnGirl]

I have 360 circles with my daughter in her 20’s, my husband, unmarried aunt, sister, brother-in-law, mother, father, four friends, and an acquaintance who travels a lot. In our case it has nothing to do with keeping tabs on anybody. I guess it’s hard to explain to the uninitiated, but it’s super handy when you’re supposed to meet up with somebody, for example. Or if you wonder if your husband remembered to stop at the grocery. Or if you wonder why your grown child didn’t call you as usual that day. Any of us can turn it off at any time if we wanted to, but none of us do anything that exciting. (Except maybe the lady who travels, and she apparently has nothing to hide.)

 

[eucalyptuz]

In my opinion, sending a copy of his W2s to his dad, doesn’t spell “will to live”. If he was suicidal and his Dad asks for his tax receipts as he’s working on the family’s returns, well, he’s not going to go “Hey Dad, what’s the point?”

In terms of most Christian beliefs, our time on earth is a gift from God and to end that prematurely would be a violation of God’s law, resulting in the suicider losing salvation. This is a very hard and strict interpretation and some religious scholars argue that suicide, like any sin, is forgivable and there will be repentance and absolution. In any case I don’t think taxes or religious beliefs are a compelling argument against the possibility of suicide in this case.

 

[Dalebecky1]

Did you watch the video? His dad said he did not call him at 2 AM because he reasoned that Blake may be staying overnight with a friend who commutes to college and he tried not to worry until the morning when he tried to text and call his son and did not hear back. This seems like a very reasonable response to the situation and in the end his dad was right that something was wrong. Several posters in this thread shared they used these types of apps not to track every movement or due to lack of trust but more as a safety precaution so they know their family members are ok. I posted a link to the app website several pages back and noted that users of the app can choose who sees their location and disable the location function. It was not as if they were tracking him without his knowledge. If he was doing something he didn't want his parents to know about he could have disabled the app or left the phone in his dorm. But he apparently did neither. His instagram is also private but his family can see it. So if he posted that photo, then he was intending to share with his family where he was located. JMO. Maybe he agreed to use the tracking app for safety because he did ministry work visiting criminals in the local jails? His dad also said he liked to hike and maybe it was his habit to visit parks alone. IDK. I don't really understand the use of these types of apps but every friend I have with college age kids worries about them when they go off to school and struggles with when to let them make their own decisions and when to "butt in". That doesn't really seem strange to me. Parents of adult college age kids have to walk a line of trusting and still checking on their kids for the sake of their own peace of mind. I don't think there is anything they could have done to rescue Blake if they HAD called at 2 AM. I think by then he was probably already in the freezing water. JMO.

I totally agree with you. I have the app on my 19 year old college students phone. He was 2nd in his graduating class. Never once got into trouble. He actually asked me to skip a day of school his senior year so he could go with friends to see the new Star Wars movie. We live in a very rural area. Sometimes there is no phone service. There are many deer in this area and logging trucks which cause accidents. I used the app to make sure he got to school safely in the mornings because he drove. The app would send me a message when he made it to school. I still have the app on his phone. He knows he can disable it. I don't check it unless I've tried to text him and he hasn't returned my calls. I guess just to give me piece of mind. If i did check it and notice a strange location I wouldn't instantly call the police. I would assume he is with friends doing college stuff. However I would most certainly check in the morning and start to get worried if he didn't return to his dorm. However with that being said I know my son has stayed many times with college friend in their dorms which is on a different campus. So, with that being said I can not see anything strange or different about BS parents actions. Seems 100% normal.

 

[Gardener1850]

I didn't think that there was anything that they could have done to help him. I just, at the age of 20, and a Junior in college, felt that it was a bit odd, and it didn't help the situation at all. His dad did say he felt it was unusual behaviour for B, but brushed it off. I thought it was odd that the Papini woman had it on hers (It didn't help there either). My cousins two kids have it on theirs but they're in 8th grade and H.S... I don't really see where the app is of much help. Toss the phone in someone else's car and send them on a wild goose chase. It just looks as if they felt they needed control over him for some reason. Maybe they wanted to make sure he followed school rules. I just can't get putting a tracking app on a man old enough to vote and join the military.

RBBM. Well it DID do some good because they found his car with it and soon after LE found his body in the general area. At the very least, his poor family will not have to wait months or years for his remains to be found. Or spend a lifetime wondering where he is and hoping he is off somewhere living a nice life. You could say in this case the app allowed his parents closure (although I'm sure that is little consolation to them right now in their state of grief).

I get what you are trying to say, sort of, but we really have no idea how "controlling" his parents were about it or how Blake felt about the use of the app. The app is also not as one-sided as you are framing it-- Blake could see where his family members were located as well. I'm not sure why it matters now, though, if his parents were control freaks, as you suggest. He is gone and the COD has been ruled accidental. Even if the COD is changed to something else, parents can't control their college age kids actions from out of state-- they didn't cause his death. And they can't prevent the actions of others either. No phone app is going to control other people or stop accidents. The app is merely a tool this family chose to use to stay in touch and check in. And in this case it helped track him down when something went wrong. JMO.

 

[rsd1200]

I know someone who put a GPS tracker on her kid's truck, not because she couldn't trust him, but because she was overprotective. The kid had never done anything to get in trouble.

There's another possibility as well. One of the parents could have severe anxiety, and this may have been the only way they could cope with him being at an out of state school.

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It's possible but with the strict religious beliefs it just kinda made me wonder. Did they keep tabs for a reason? Was it because of their beliefs? Had they had a reason to worry? Was he there to meet someone fairly far away from campus. That is a pretty out of the way place, and Farragut Park, OP said had kind of a reputation. After a conservative pastor was caught in a park here (I knew him), along with some others that night, it just sent up a flag, that maybe he'd been there to meet someone, unapproved of, and things went south.

ETA: It's probably an accident anyway. He likely got out there and got stuck, and got tumbled fooling with the car, and wandered off the bank, and drowned.

 

[rsd1200]

I have 360 circles with my daughter in her 20’s, my husband, unmarried aunt, sister, brother-in-law, mother, father, four friends, and an acquaintance who travels a lot. In our case it has nothing to do with keeping tabs on anybody. I guess it’s hard to explain to the uninitiated, but it’s super handy when you’re supposed to meet up with somebody, for example. Or if you wonder if your husband remembered to stop at the grocery. Or if you wonder why your grown child didn’t call you as usual that day. Any of us can turn it off at any time if we wanted to, but none of us do anything that exciting. (Except maybe the lady who travels, and she apparently has nothing to hide.)

That's cool and all, and whatever is comfortable for your family. I might have used on my kids through h.s. but I'd not want one on my phone, as an adult. I've got 911 on there and ICE numbers. I have had to review co-workers internet activity, at times, as I was responsible for much of our IT Dept. and was not comfortable with doing that either (but it was a part of my job).

 

[ilvrk]

The Blount County Facebook page has a very interesting comment on its post about Blake's death.

 

[AmyinTheHam]

I wonder if he met up with friends at the park (Instagram pic) and then later went to the house under construction to party. Around here houses being built are notoriously used by kids to hang out in on the weekends... So I just wonder if that was going on and an accident of some type occurred there... Drinking, drugs or who knows what could have been going on, or none of that, just hanging out perhaps. Then somehow he went into the water and went into hypothermia then went under the water and his friends panicked and could not find him and staged a scene? I would be interested to learn if he still had one shoe on.. If he took off his shoes to get in the water the scared friends could have put one in the car with his phone and chain and hat (it makes sense to me he may have removed these items before getting in the water). I can see guys even daring each other to go get in the water for x amount of minutes or something crazy... I can't imagine if that occurred why they would not just call LE at that point for help, but even if he wasn't doing anything bad they may have been. They may have known drinking would get them kicked out of school, and shamed by their family. I just think someone else was there with him and I hope that more details are found that help the family get the answers they are probably so desperate to find at this point. I can't figure out how the dog didn't track him outside of the car though... Lots of random thoughts here, sorry for that. Just trying to think this all out... It is a local story for me (he is from my area).

 

[rsd1200]

RBBM. Well it DID do some good because they found his car with it and soon after LE found his body in the general area. At the very least, his poor family will not have to wait months or years for his remains to be found. Or spend a lifetime wondering where he is and hoping he is off somewhere living a nice life. You could say in this case the app allowed his parents closure (although I'm sure that is little consolation to them right now in their state of grief).

I get what you are trying to say, sort of, but we really have no idea how "controlling" his parents were about it or how Blake felt about the use of the app. The app is also not as one-sided as you are framing it-- Blake could see where his family members were located as well. I'm not sure why it matters now, though, if his parents were control freaks, as you suggest. He is gone and the COD has been ruled accidental. Even if the COD is changed to something else, parents can't control their college age kids actions from out of state-- they didn't cause his death. And they can't prevent the actions of others either. No phone app is going to control other people or stop accidents. The app is merely a tool this family chose to use to stay in touch and check in. And in this case it helped track him down when something went wrong. JMO.

Maybe it helped a little but the car would have been found at the construction site Monday morning. I'm sorry if I'm not a fan of these things. I had nanny software on our home computer when the kids were in school. After they left home, I can get in contact with them by text or messenger. I'm just a bit weirded out by someone being able to check my whereabouts anytime they wish. I know that folks have them, as I said, my cousin uses them on her under age kids, but I don't want folks checking in on me like I'm a child nor would I want to do so to my adult children. I think maybe it's my culture or something. We don't get into each other's business like that.

 

[AmyinTheHam]

The Blount County Facebook page has a very interesting comment on its post about Blake's death.

The one about money? It is odd...

 

[rsd1200]

I wonder if he met up with friends at the park (Instagram pic) and then later went to the house under construction to party. Around here houses being built are notoriously used by kids to hang out in on the weekends... So I just wonder if that was going on and an accident of some type occurred there... Drinking, drugs or who knows what could have been going on, or none of that, just hanging out perhaps. Then somehow he went into the water and went into hypothermia then went under the water and his friends panicked and could not find him and staged a scene? I would be interested to learn if he still had one shoe on.. If he took off his shoes to get in the water the scared friends could have put one in the car with his phone and chain and hat (it makes sense to me he may have removed these items before getting in the water). I can see guys even daring each other to go get in the water for x amount of minutes or something crazy... I can't imagine if that occurred why they would not just call LE at that point for help, but even if he wasn't doing anything bad they may have been. They may have known drinking would get them kicked out of school, and shamed by their family. I just think someone else was there with him and I hope that more details are found that help the family get the answers they are probably so desperate to find at this point. I can't figure out how the dog didn't track him outside of the car though... Lots of random thoughts here, sorry for that. Just trying to think this all out... It is a local story for me (he is from my area).

That makes sense too. He could have also gotten his car stuck and they were trying was to get it unstuck. If there was drinking then folks will try strange things rather than call a tow truck or other, sober friends, for help. He could have gotten knocked down trying to get his car out (hence shoe and chain), and dazed, and went to take a leak at the waters edge and fell in. I don't know why he'd be there, there's nothing there. Maybe just driving and checking places out, or he did go there to meet someone.

 

[ilvrk]

The one about money? It is odd...

Yes. It's already been deleted though.

 

[rsd1200]

The one about money? It is odd...

Sheriff's page o is there another?

 

[flute4peace]

We have the app. Circle wirh my hisband, myself, kids 21, 18 & 14, MIL & BIL. Nobody's comolained about it, it's more of a novelty I guess. That said, I have no internal map so get lost easily, and there have been times my husband has been able to help me figure out where I am. Once when I was in a brand new shopping center he called to ask if I was ok because the app had shown I was in the middle of a field for an hour and was worried lol.

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[rsd1200]

I noticed this pic of a rescue team on the Sherrif's page. It appears to be in that area. If so, the water is not that deep but I guess it could have been in the place near he went in. (or I really need glasses). Could he have been intoxicated, fell in, and drowned? Unconscious and placed in there, and drowned? Fell and struck his head, and drowned?

 

[ilvrk]

Sheriff's page o is there another?

Yes, the Sheriff's page. But the comment is gone now. Am I allowed to copy it here?

 

[Gardener1850]

That's cool and all, and whatever is comfortable for your family. I might have used on my kids through h.s. but I'd not want one on my phone, as an adult. I've got 911 on there and ICE numbers. I have had to review co-workers internet activity, at times, as I was responsible for much of our IT Dept. and was not comfortable with doing that either (but it was a part of my job).

What are ICE numbers? Sorry, it's probably something easy, but all I can think of are the immigration people, lol (I think I need more coffee).

 

[Dalebecky1]

Yes. It's already been deleted though.

Are you willing to give us a rough translation of the comment?

 

[Dalebecky1]

In case of emergency = ICE

 

[ilvrk]

Are you willing to give us a rough translation of the comment?

It basically said "Follow the money" and that the latest rumor suggests some type of involvement with a college employee, and that a cover-up might be going on.