TX TX - Caleb Harris, 21, Texas A&M University student, Corpus Christi, 4 Mar 2024 #4

[Muddy K]

This picture might help. The inner rim of that metal collar is where the manhole cover would sit. The collar itself sits on top of the person-sized poured-concrete tube. IMO, Asst. Chief Green may have meant the entire collar had been broken off at some point. Given that this field appears to be a crop field, it's not unthinkable to me that a combine, plow or drag might have accidentally done that kind of damage.

Also, for me this picture is useful in showing how a manhole connects to the piping it's meant to provide access to. JMO, but it seems to me that human remains would have to negotiate a hard right angle and significant reduction in diameter to even enter the water flow.

 

[SMK777]

From the transcript:

“and they did find that there was a open manhole
13:55
cover. It wasn't just the cover it. Actually, the entire,
13:59
um, top of the manhole had been knocked off.”
===

Where Asst Chief Todd Green says the above, what does he mean by it? I guess I can’t picture what “the entire top had been knocked off” means.

Manhole cover, I think I understand. But what is meant by “the entire top”?

Maybe the metal surrounding the manhole cover, like the full grating or surrounding concrete area had been lifted?
In any case, it does sound as though Caleb might possibly have fallen in.

Walking on History: Surprising Secrets of Manholes

Historic manhole covers, embedded in pavements and roads across the country, often hide infrastructure systems deep below our streets.

heritagecalling.com

Manhole cover - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[SMK777]

I was just wondering about Caleb’s phone. If he accidentally fell in, I wonder if his phone over the 4 month period would have been destroyed and corroded by the chemicals?

 

[SMK777]

 

[IDK]

Don’t know if it’s just me— I am not getting the audio, even when open in YouTube?

 

[SMK777]

Don’t know if it’s just me— I am not getting the audio, even when open in YouTube?

Working for me….how odd.

 

[IDK]

Working for me….how odd.

Thanks I’ll try again later!

 

[slowpoke]

Don’t know if it’s just me— I am not getting the audio, even when open in YouTube?

Working for me.

Partial transcript:
1:19
After draining the well, nothing was found,
1:22
but that would change in late June when there was a jam in
1:24
the wells lift pump believed to be caused by a human bone.
1:28
The, the likely scenario was that those remains were in a uh a 15 inch
1:33
um
1:35
sewage pipe
1:36
and the
1:38
rain from tropical storm storm Alberto was,
1:41
it was just a couple of days before that discovery
1:44
uh pushed that, that uh those remains through the system.
1:49
Um and ended up in that location.
1:51
Investigators still don't have a cause or manner of
1:53
death and police say that's likely to remain undetermined
1:57
and the lack of signs of foul play could be that the body was just too decomposed.
2:02
It was pretty much just skeletal remains for the most part.

 

[SMK777]

Working for me.

Partial transcript:
1:19
After draining the well, nothing was found,
1:22
but that would change in late June when there was a jam in
1:24
the wells lift pump believed to be caused by a human bone.
1:28
The, the likely scenario was that those remains were in a uh a 15 inch
1:33
um
1:35
sewage pipe
1:36
and the
1:38
rain from tropical storm storm Alberto was,
1:41
it was just a couple of days before that discovery
1:44
uh pushed that, that uh those remains through the system.
1:49
Um and ended up in that location.
1:51
Investigators still don't have a cause or manner of
1:53
death and police say that's likely to remain undetermined
1:57
and the lack of signs of foul play could be that the body was just too decomposed.
2:02
It was pretty much just skeletal remains for the most part.

Thanks for that!

 

[landfall867]

@Centaurus, thank you for the map. I can't recall any discussion surrounding this open manhole. Was this reported to the CCPD at the time?

I can't conceive how LE and these numerous search organizations could have missed an open manhole in a field so close to his apartment. You would think *someone* would have reported this.

Few things about the open manhole covers and locked lift stations…

For the open manhole, it’s possible a person or worker noticed it was open quickly after the incident (before anything was public) and they closed it without thinking much. Or, after the story became public, a worker realizes “oh *advertiser censored*, I think there was an open manhole/ unlocked lift station…better go and fix that before I get blamed for the accident”

I can certainly see a situation involving a bit of backtracking to cover a negligent act.

I know people like to speculate, and someone running around Corpus Christi abducting and murdering young adult males is certainly a more interesting story…but so far there is almost nothing suggesting this to be the case (at least what has been released to the public).

I guess we’ll have to wait and see if the investigation turns up anything.

 

[SMK777]

I know people like to speculate, and someone running around Corpus Christi abducting and murdering young adult males is certainly a more interesting story…but so far there is almost nothing suggesting this to be the case (at least what has been released to the public).

SBM
Agreed. I think LE would say something about foul play being investigated at this point, if it were true. Yes, the investigation is still open, but that’s just the norm. It doesn’t seem as though they have any leads pointing to foul play. I may be proven wrong, but I don’t think so.

 

[flowershop]

This confirms a direct connection between the Perry lift station and the open manhole in the field. That is one thing I was a bit confused about earlier. They either didn't do a very thorough job of searching the field, OR, that manhole was opened after the initial field search. Also, from what he said, they didn't really investigate the pipes between open manhole and lift station (no mention of a camera used). However, IMO this open manhole does seem a very plausible entry point.

Also, this leads me to believe the discovered remains may have been more limited than I had originally thought. Did they ever say what remains were discovered? I apologize upfront for this question - If a body had been in the water fora couple months, would it break apart naturally? I don't know what a body does over time if in the water. And, IMO,no mention of clothes is still a bit baffling.

I am led to the same thoughts when it comes to the limited amount of the remains and the possibility that these remains could travel through pipes.

 

[Muddy K]

IMO, the Channel 5 video posted just upthread reveals one thing that, if it is fact, is important: that a human bone caused the lift station pump to jam. It suggests that Caleb's body was so decomposed that it was completely disarticulated, making it possible that skeletal remains could flow from somewhere else to end up in the wet well chamber.

Looking at the one scenario that seems to be trending, that Caleb somehow fell into the open manhole in the crop field, I think we have to assume that his body would have been intact during and after the fall. We don't know if the manhole was dry or water filled, but we do know that manholes are not shredders. For some time, Caleb's body would have remained intact, it seems to me.

(I need to say right here that if Caleb did fall into that open manhole, I hope that he instantly died from a broken neck, anything other than languishing for hours or days fearing he would never be found.)

Continuing with the hypothetical, but graphic content ahead.

Imagining decomposition and recalling that the open manhole was repaired or closed sometime after April 18th, and knowing further that LE and other searchers did not find anything in that manhole either before or on April 18th, I'm wondering what the state of the remains would have been during the approximately six weeks between March 4th and April 17th, the day the woman first noticed the open manhole and reported it. Would there have been an odor rising? Is it possible for a body to decompose into skeletal pieces in six weeks?

I can guess that there could have been rainy days and dry spells, so warm air and water swirling around in there. Would animals climb down an open manhole? Etc, etc.

What I want to understand is how Caleb's body could be reduced to parts small enough to drift into the 15-inch pipe at the bottom of the manhole in just six weeks. Because, IMO, the only reason LE did not find Caleb in that manhole on April 18th is because his body was not there.

 

[SMK777]

Missing Student May Have Accidentally Fallen into Manhole, Police Say, as They Reveal New Details of Finding Body​

@MassGuy

A Corpus Christi, Texas, investigator sheds light on one of the biggest unanswered questions: how Caleb Harris' body might have ended up in a wastewater well

Missing Student Caleb Harris May Have Accidentally Fallen into Manhole, Police Say, as They Reveal New Details of Finding Body

As the investigation into missing student Caleb Harris' death continues, police are sharing new details about how the 21-year-old's body may have ended up at a wastewater well near his apartment without there being any evidence of "obvious homicide."

people.com

• Deputy Chief Billy Breedlove of the Corpus Christi Police Department tells PEOPLE that there was an open manhole located in a farm field about 600 feet from where authorities believe Caleb was last seen
• The exact cause and manner of Caleb’s death are still unknown, police said
• As the investigation into missing student Caleb Harris' death continues, Texas authorities are sharing new details about how the 21-year-old's body may have ended up at a wastewater well near his apartment without there being any evidence of "obvious homicide."
• The Corpus Christi Police Department announced on Wednesday, July 17, that human remains discovered on June 24 at the Perry Place wastewater lift station had been positively identified as belonging to Harris, who was last seen in the early morning hours of March 4 leaving his off-campus apartment.
  
  But as police shut the door on one aspect of Harris' death, other unanswered questions remained, chiefly, how did the student end up in the sewer system in the first place?
  
  Deputy Chief Billy Breedlove of the Corpus Christi Police Department tells PEOPLE that they still don't know exactly what happened. While it's possible that Harris was "harmed and then was put there" — authorities haven't yet ruled out the possibility of foul play, although they have no evidence of it — the investigator says it's also possible that an accidental fall was to blame.
  
  Speaking with PEOPLE on Thursday, July 18, Breedlove says that around 3:03 a.m. on March 4, Harris sent a Snapchat photo to a friend that showed a small bridge located a few hundred feet away from his apartment complex.
• About 600 feet away from there, investigators found a manhole in a field.
• The manhole] was covered with grass at the time and no one was [initially] able to find this or notice that this hole was there,” Breedlove says — but, importantly, its cover "had been knocked aside."
  "We don't know how that occurred," he adds. "It is an area that is farmed every year. So there's the likelihood that a farming implement knocked it off and with the high grass growing across there, it would be sort of camouflaged to most people walking around there.”
  Another factor that may have impacted visibility? Breedlove says that the night Harris went missing "was probably one of the foggiest nights we'd had."
• Although police can't say for certain how he entered the manhole, which measured 25 inches wide and 15 feet deep, Breedlove says police do believe that the open manhole was Harris' point of access into the sewer system.
• “There are four other manholes on the roadway, and we cannot rule out that he entered the system in one of those, but it is more likely to have entered through the open hole,” he says, adding that police are uncertain if there was water in the open manhole on the night of Caleb’s disappearance.
  
  Breedlove tells PEOPLE that someone actually called authorities about the open manhole on April 18. But when they went to the location and drained it, "there was no indication of a body."
  
  Then, they even went to the lift station where Harris' body was eventually found and "drained the tank there," too — but again, they came up with nothing.
• Then late last month, Tropical Storm Alberto came through the area — and on June 24, employees at the lift station notified authorities that a sewage pump set off an alarm, indicating that something was jammed in the pipe.
  
  Because of the water accumulation, Breedlove says, “we believe that the body," which had been in the pipe, was then "pushed into that lift station."
  
  “They opened it,” Breedlove continues, “and found what appeared to be a human bone, which we now know was one of the shoulder bones."Missing American Teen Found Safe After Leaving Cruise Ship in Germany: Reports
  
  After authorities arrived, Breedlove says that the rest of the remains were gathered and transported to a facility where authorities could “spread it out and empty that truck."
  
  "We were able to find some small other pieces of bone," he adds. After the remains were identified, Harris' parents were immediately notified. “They were waiting,” Breedlove says. “They had given consent for us to collect [their] DNA so we could make a comparison since we did not have any DNA on file for Caleb."
  
  About the conversation they had with the family, Breedlove says: “We've had a good relationship with them. At the time, we were expressing our sadness. It was tragic [for] them losing this young man."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Caleb Harris.
  CALEB HARRIS/FACEBOOK
  
  Breedlove says the investigation into the case, which he describes as unique, is ongoing.
  
  “We put together a team of very experienced investigators,” he says. “We had what we would consider good leads of some vehicles coming and going from the area. They never materialized...it was very frustrating."
  
  Another source of frustration? The apartment complex where Harris lived "had no working surveillance cameras," so police had to make due with footage from a nearby complex, which did still allow them to "run down pretty much all the vehicles that had come and gone from that area at the time of his disappearance."
  
  The investigator says that police, like the entire Corpus Christi community, "really hoped that we would find him well."
  
  Instead, what they had to offer his family was a "different type of closure."
  
  Although they may never have all the answers, for now, Breedlove says police are "going to continue to investigate what we can."
  
  Harris' family released a statement after the remains were identified, saying, "we all have heavy hearts this evening as we learned of the positive identification of our sweet Caleb."
  
  "We will grieve our son," they continued. "Thank you for your prayers and support during this tragic time."