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

[marloweclover]

Regarding the fall, the link is to a US Dept. of Labor paper that discusses fall injury stats. If you do the math from the numbers provided, roughly 11% of falls between 11-15 feet were fatal for the period studied. It doesn't get into the landing position, or the surface below. But as a broad assessment, it's possible but rather bad luck to die from a fall of that distance.
Adobe Acrobat

 

[iamshadow21]

Regarding the fall, the link is to a US Dept. of Labor paper that discusses fall injury stats. If you do the math from the numbers provided, roughly 11% of falls between 11-15 feet were fatal for the period studied. It doesn't get into the landing position, or the surface below. But as a broad assessment, it's possible but rather bad luck to die from a fall of that distance.
Adobe Acrobat

Maybe unlikely he was killed by the fall itself, but if he was knocked unconscious... Humans can drown in only a few inches of water.

MOO

 

[Batgirl 2.0]

Breedlove said a human shoulder bone had caused the pump to jam

Hard for me to interpret “a human shoulder bone”—wonder if he means a scapula (shoulder blade), a clavicle (collarbone), a humerus (upper arm bone) or a shoulder bone complex of all three?

 

[LetsSolvIt]

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
View attachment 519000

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

View attachment 519001

• 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."

I just can’t get my head around a man of Caleb’s stature (5’11”) entering a man whole that is 25” wide (approx. 2ft in diameter — assuming it’s a typical circle) and only 15” deep. If it was open that night and he accidentally stepped into it, his leg would drop only a bit more than one foot. Granted that might have caused a fracture or sprain for one leg, but how would the rest of his body end up in there.

If he intentionally tried to enter the open manhole to start out on what is being referred to here as an urban adventure, turning his body in the space of 25” x 15” seems impossibly tight for his size and weight.

On another topic, most photos I’ve seen of Caleb show him as a brunette. But there is one where he appears to be very blond — an indication of his playfulness?

Rest in Peace, dear Caleb, and healing prayers for your loved ones.

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

The alarm is for the pump system itself, not the network of pipes. If he fell in a manhole a distance away from the lift station, an alarm wouldn't sound until his remains, or some of them, actually reached the station and interfered with the machinery.

Yes, and I’ll not find it up thread now…… but pretty sure that the alarm was to alert that the system or some pump / conduit / pipe was clogged or plugged IIRC? And that was the alert to check the system? MOO

 

[IDK]

I’m curious why they didn’t find anything when they initially inspected the pipes with the sewer pipe camera? I googled a picture and they look like a small diameter, very flexible tubing with camera attached that would easily fit and navigate through the pipe and its’ fittings. IMO.

 

[IDK]

I just can’t get my head around a man of Caleb’s stature (5’11”) entering a man whole that is 25” wide (approx. 2ft in diameter — assuming it’s a typical circle) and only 15” deep. If it was open that night and he accidentally stepped into it, his leg would drop only a bit more than one foot. Granted that might have caused a fracture or sprain for one leg, but how would the rest of his body end up in there.

If he intentionally tried to enter the open manhole to start out on what is being referred to here as an urban adventure, turning his body in the space of 25” x 15” seems impossibly tight for his size and weight.

On another topic, most photos I’ve seen of Caleb show him as a brunette. But there is one where he appears to be very blond — an indication of his playfulness?

Rest in Peace, dear Caleb, and healing prayers for your loved ones.

I thought I read it was 15 feet deep, not 15 inches?

 

[Muddy K]

I just can’t get my head around a man of Caleb’s stature (5’11”) entering a man whole that is 25” wide (approx. 2ft in diameter — assuming it’s a typical circle) and only 15” deep. If it was open that night and he accidentally stepped into it, his leg would drop only a bit more than one foot. Granted that might have caused a fracture or sprain for one leg, but how would the rest of his body end up in there.

If he intentionally tried to enter the open manhole to start out on what is being referred to here as an urban adventure, turning his body in the space of 25” x 15” seems impossibly tight for his size and weight.

On another topic, most photos I’ve seen of Caleb show him as a brunette. But there is one where he appears to be very blond — an indication of his playfulness?

Rest in Peace, dear Caleb, and healing prayers for your loved oneonesthe

The manhole in question is 15 feet deep, rather than 15 inches, as @IDK mentioned

In this terribly bizarre case, there are so many measurements, dimensions, engineering terms of art, grates, grills, chambers, tanks, lifts, pumps, covers, access panels, it's dizzying.

I am happy to try to learn all of them in pursuit of understanding what happened to Caleb in a way that I can completely accept as feasible and probable. Until then, my questions outweigh what little acceptance I have been able to muster so far.

 

[SMK777]

The manhole in question is 15 feet deep, rather than 15 inches, as @IDK mentioned

In this terribly bizarre case, there are so many measurements, dimensions, engineering terms of art, grates, grills, chambers, tanks, lifts, pumps, covers, access panels, it's dizzying.

I am happy to try to learn all of them in pursuit of understanding what happened to Caleb in a way that I can completely accept as feasible and probable. Until then, my questions outweigh what little acceptance I have been able to muster so far.

What is also confusing is the amount of agencies— FBI, US Marshals, Texas Rangers — who believed in foul play but now seem to be leaning toward accident. I suppose because of where Caleb was found…. but there must not have been any evidence or leads pointing to any suspect prior to finding him, then.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

I thought I read it was 15 feet deep, not 15 inches?

OM Gosh! That is certainly a different situation. Of course his entire body could drop in there!

Apologize for my dyslexia :/

 

[IDK]

OM Gosh! That is certainly a different situation. Of course his entire body could drop in there!

Apologize for my dyslexia :/

No apologies needed!