The spinning out on the grass before impact, plus the hope that he wouldn’t have been going top speed on a gravel road, does offer hope. However the entire back window being smashed out makes me think the impact wasn’t trivial...
TX TX - Jason Landry, 21, enroute from TSU to home, car found crashed at Luling, 14 Dec 2020 #3
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The spinning out on the grass before impact, plus the hope that he wouldn’t have been going top speed on a gravel road, does offer hope. However the entire back window being smashed out makes me think the impact wasn’t trivial...
ForensicToxicologist
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Things that have (or haven’t) been done and contradictions that have been made have me doubting the way LE has handled this. I started out with “did the best they could given the situation and facts” and it’s unfortunately been steadily declining to “slightly incompetent”. MOO
Seattle1
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From the photos, I believe tree branches helped with the shattering of the rear window.
Gemmie
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kittythehare
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The press release qualified the statement 'believed to have no injuries' was based upon the lack of blood.
The speculation about a possible head injury was based upon his stripping of his clothes 900 feet away, having walked that long carrying what was probably a heavy enough back pack.
A brain bleed will cause a raised temperature. a brain bleed is not concussion, a person may remain conscious for quite a while after having sustained one.
It is a possibility still.
Against that is that he had the presence of mind to take his backpack, to leave the keys for the breaker yard and to take his wallet.
BUT, a brain bleed is not always apparent immediately and he engaged in physical exercise, walking, immediately, possibly, afterwards.
Vehicle was allegedly not there at 11.30pm.
WAS there at 12.30pm and the person, Jason, had already walked a significant distance.
That leaves a short enough window.
A lack of blood at a scene is an inadequate fact to qualify a lack of serious injury or a reason to not investigate more thoroughly or mount an immediate search for the accident victim.
The removal of the vehicle from the scene when it was posing zero threat to other road users, it was in a field, quite a way from the road, is a tad strange.
His ultimate destination that night is moot because he had no way to contact anybody having misplaced his phone.
The speculation about a possible head injury was based upon his stripping of his clothes 900 feet away, having walked that long carrying what was probably a heavy enough back pack.
A brain bleed will cause a raised temperature. a brain bleed is not concussion, a person may remain conscious for quite a while after having sustained one.
It is a possibility still.
Against that is that he had the presence of mind to take his backpack, to leave the keys for the breaker yard and to take his wallet.
BUT, a brain bleed is not always apparent immediately and he engaged in physical exercise, walking, immediately, possibly, afterwards.
Vehicle was allegedly not there at 11.30pm.
WAS there at 12.30pm and the person, Jason, had already walked a significant distance.
That leaves a short enough window.
A lack of blood at a scene is an inadequate fact to qualify a lack of serious injury or a reason to not investigate more thoroughly or mount an immediate search for the accident victim.
The removal of the vehicle from the scene when it was posing zero threat to other road users, it was in a field, quite a way from the road, is a tad strange.
His ultimate destination that night is moot because he had no way to contact anybody having misplaced his phone.
Seattle1
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But why? They've (CCSO) already acknowledged they missed the ball on the missing person investigation. They removed the vehicle as procedure allows. It's true, looking back, it may have helped if this was delayed but it's too late now. They can only work with the facts and details in hand now.
Caldwell County Sheriff’s Sgt. William Miller told CrimeOnline that investigators were not immediately concerned about Landry’s safety just after the discovery of his vehicle, because of how frequently police receive reports of abandoned cars in the remote area of central Texas.
“That happens all the time,” Miller said. Much more often than not, the owner will reclaim the vehicle after a day or two, having left it to seek help for car trouble, or in some cases, because they got into a DUI crash and did not want to call police to the scene. Miller reiterated earlier police statements that there is no indication alcohol or drugs contributed to Landry’s wreck.
Late last week, Miller said, Texas DPS turned over the missing persons investigation to the Caldwell County Sheriff’s office, while DPS focuses on the crash investigation.
“There were certain things that weren’t done” in the first hours after the discovery of Landry’s abandoned car, Miller said. “We weren’t conducting a true missing persons investigation.”
With that investigation now in the hands of the Caldwell County Sheriff, “we are more focused on where was he, what he was doing” before he vanished, Miller said. He said his department has been working around the clock to reach friends and associates of Landry’s who may have been in communication with him around the time of his disappearance. Miller also said investigators are working to confirm Landry’s cell phone carrier and determine whether he would have had a signal at the site of crash, which the sergeant described as “some real back country.”
Over the phone, Miller walked me through the route that may have led Landry onto Salt Flat Road, demonstrating that one navigational misstep could have easily taken the student in that direction by following the natural slope of a highway. Asked about earlier reports of dogs picking up a scent at an abandoned home near the crash site, Miller said canines brought in to search the area were “going back and forth” between the abandoned house and a pond that was later drained and searched, without finding Landry. But investigators are not certain the canine was picking up on Landry’s scent, because a deputy and a trooper had checked the same house just after the wreck was discovered.
Texas DPS has not responded to a request for comment.
Missing Texas State student Jason Landry’s abandoned car did not cause immediate concern; police work to overcome early investigative delays
kittythehare
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'Texas DPS did not respond to a request for comment'
Quite.
Quite.
Limecat
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In 1997 I was t-boned at a 4 way stop ( not my fault). Even though the guy that hit me hadn’t gotten up a huge amount of speed, he’d sort of rolled through the stop and hit me on the driver’s side, hard enough to knock my vehicle around 180 degrees and some distance down the road. No side airbags. I wasn’t really knocked out I don’t think but I just remember hearing a really loud knock on my window, and seeing people standing around. I got out of my car and asked who had banged on my window.
No one had. It was my head hitting the side window. And yes I had a concussion that affected me for a few months.
Just my experience and MOO
happyday
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I’m giving LE a little bit of a pass on how this case has been handled. They admitted themselves they did not handle it as a missing person case but an abandoned vehicle situation at first. <modsnip> They had to be curious about the backpack being left and the fact that the driver obviously stripped all his clothes off in the road though. <modsnip> The front of the car looked survivable, and I bet their protocol is to just have the car towed ASAP. I think they’ve done a decent job since they realized the driver is actually MISSING. I wonder if this has ever happened before in Luling? I hope they don’t take abandoned vehicles for granted anymore. I don’t think they will.
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Limecat
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Sorry to quote myself. I wanted to say what I learned about concussions at that time. I’d always thought it was concerning because your brain sort of sloshes around in your skull and hits the “opposite” side, causing bruising and swelling. Yes, that is true, but in milder cases like my own, my doctor told me the following:
The inside of the skull is not entirely smooth. There are rough, bony “points and edges”, and even if the impact is not severe, the brain gets dragged across these edges and there is surface damage done to the brain. Enough to cause some symptoms, but not enough to cause severe swelling, bruising, or bleeding. I hadn’t ever heard that.
ForensicToxicologist
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Those statements are exactly why I thought they did the best they could at first. I gave them a pass as well. What else could they do? BUT after hearing more info from KL, and seeing the body cam pic paired with things on the scanner thread that I can’t mention here, my mind has changed. They were incompetent in the fact that they did not collect his belongings and search (really search, not just look around) at that point based on the above. Even if they just thought it was a drunk car ditch. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and I did cut them slack for that because abandoned cars do happen fairly often. Now, I’ve more so switched to come on, investigate and process your darn scene. Natural investigative skills/curiosity/hinky meter should’ve kicked in big time for trained LE. I do think they are now doing what they can. MOO
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Curious_in_NC
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ITA. They seem to have reason to suspect right away that JL might have been incapacitated (for whatever reasons) and possibly exposed to the harsh weather conditions that night. I can't understand why they didn't make more of an attempt to find him right away unless they thought: (a) he was in hiding and would come back for his clothes, or (b) another party was involved and therefore he was no longer nearby, for as yet undisclosed reasons. And I know there seems to be no evidence at all yet to support this second option.
And could the reasons for towing the car asap after it was found simply be that it gives business to the tow operator and generates impound lot fees asap?
Spartygirl
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HA!!! It's just not the young guys... my hubby and friends around here wear shorts year round.Not sure if your question about shorts and a t-shirt were 'that's all he had with him?' or if you were surprised at how little he was wearing on such a cold night. If the latter I want to relay something I've seen a lot of here. Middle school and high school students, standing, at the bus stops, wearing nothing but shorts and a t-shirt (or less on top if a girl) in weather in the 30s and low 40s!!! I'd shake my head thinking they were all crazy. lol And there was a guy at work that wore short and sandals every single day of the year. NEVER once saw him in pants. I used to tease him about it. He made me cold just looking at him! So if the latter, his outfit wouldn't surprise me for someone his age. Ahhhh... to be young again. lol
I am in Michigan...cold winters, but shorts, no pants
2 of them wear sandals a few others will wear tennis shoes with shorts in the winter.
These guys are in there 40's to 50's
Crazy---Yes, IMO
but there are guys that do this at all ages
10ofRods
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It wasn't "zero threat," according to police procedure. IMO. It's not just the impingement on public roads that's under consideration. There are several other factors, including repeated calls and use of police resources regarding the same abandoned vehicle and the same strange circumstances - that would have been noted and called in by more and more people as the day progressed.
kittythehare
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You are describing an inconvenience, not a threat.
mlhenn
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There’s been speculation which abandoned house it is. A map was posted upthread along with the suspected pond (east of the house)...but again, speculation.
Seattle1
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I can only equate how long it takes for AAA to arrive my location in a large city. Nonetheless, I think it's important to point out the demographics of Luling, TX. Reportedly, the population is less than 6,000. Located in the gently rolling hills just east of San Antonio and south of Austin, Luling is a microcosm of what made Texas great - oil, cattle, farming, railroad and river. Zedler Mill on the San Marcos River at Luling's southern edge.
The tow company was said by KL to be located at a 24-hour diesel center --primarily big rig towing capacity which seems appropriate for the area. KL said he wasn't able to talk to the driver that recovered JL's vehicle from SFR but another operator was helpful to him while he waited for the impound yard to open at 7 AM.
I don't doubt that DPS called in the abandoned vehicle report for removal and there's probably not a huge selection of operators in Luling serving passenger vehicles to choose from. Sunday night, probably not too busy, and this sounds like the kind of town that doesn't put things off until tomorrow. MOO
Luling, Texas - Wikipedia
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