Found Deceased TX - Thomas Brown, 18, Hemphill County, 23 Nov 2016 #2

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Or could the casing have been planted by somebody? If so, who might've had both a reason and opportunity to do that?

This is a real possibility, IMO.

Possible motive: To obstruct the investigation into what happened to Tom (i.e., if the casing was planted, it did not come from the gun that killed Tom, IMO);

Possible opportunity: Between around 11:40 PM Thanksgiving Eve and around 8:30 AM Thanksgiving morning, 2016 ...:
“[On Thanksgiving morning], Christian Webb and her father, Trey, a well-to-do Canadian resident who owns a helicopter sales and service company, had decided to search for Tom in one of the company’s four-seater helicopters.
[...]
After getting [a] call [that Tom’s Durango had been found], Lewis raced to the scene. He and a deputy approached the Durango. ‘We walked around the car several times, looking around,’ he said. ‘There was nobody in the car. Then we started circling around, you know, kind of looking in the area to see if we could see anything, find anything.’

[...]

Scattered inside the Durango, which was unlocked, were cans of smokeless tobacco, two pairs of football cleats, towels, jumper cables, a pillow, and a clown costume (which Tom had worn for a school drama production, Penny later told me). There was no sign of his wallet, his keys, his cellphone, or his mother’s debit card.

Lewis, however, did spy Michael Caseltine’s debit card, which had fallen between the front seats. And there was a thin streak of blood on the inside of the front driver’s door by the handle. ‘It looked like it was probably a knuckle cut or something, or a finger cut or paper cut,’ he said. ‘It was very dry.’

There was one other thing Lewis and his deputy discovered: a .25-caliber shell casing on the floorboard. Lewis said he was confounded, because as far as he could tell, ‘there was nothing in the car that said that there was a gunshot that went off in that car. There was no splatter. There was no gunpowder residue in the car. There was nothing.’

[...]

[transcribed from the podcast:
That afternoon, Sheriff Lewis also dropped by to update Penny and the family on everything he'd found. ‘He just said that, he asked us, he said there was a shell casing, the 25 caliber in the car. He asked us if we had one, and we said, “no, we don't have a caliber of gun like that.” And then, I don't really remember what else he said. He just said he was returning the car and I questioned it.’] (BBM)
Tom Brown’s Body, Chapter 2: Tom’s Loop

I definitely have an opinion on who might've had both a reason and opportunity (and the means) if the 25 caliber shell casing was planted. That’s the easy part. I hope and pray that the investigators have conclusive hard evidence of whatever crime was committed (actually, more likely than not, there will be multiple arrests and charges, IMO).

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

inmyhumbleopinion, I also see a lot of possibilities and haven't settled on a firm detailed theory other than homicide. Skip Hollandsworth says he has not either. The upcoming Grand Jury will reportedly be chiefly to put a number of people on the witness stand, under oath and under penalty of the law, to attempt to determine who is lying. My son recently pointed out the principle of Occam's Razor which states, in general, that you should not add any “entity” to the hypotheses without necessity. Simply said, Occam’s razor says that other things being equal, simpler explanations are generally better than more complex ones. The “razor” term indicates that unnecessary competing assumptions should be eliminated. The simplest explanation is usually the right one. Key word is USUALLY. In an increasingly complex world, the simplest explanation may not always be the right one. It just means that you should begin with the simplest explanation. If many known factors cannot be explained within the simplest theory, you should move to the next simplest hypotheses that may explain the unknown factors. And so on.

Just some food for thought:

1. Tom was killed by two or three “young” people whom he knew but were not within his social circle of close friends but had some reason to harbor resentment toward him. He was being surveilled until such time that he was alone and could be confronted (covert). Murder possibly was not initially intended but something got out of hand during the confrontation and Tom died. Parents of the people involved assert that the death was “accidental” and are covering for their children. Severe incompetence and lack of training within the HCSO has bungled the case and is the primary reason that the case has been unsolved.

But, it seems hard to believe that so many strange coincidences could simply just happen. Especially the issues surrounding the failure to collect evidence, the destruction of evidence, and the magical appearance of evidence. Then one must consider the ongoing narratives regarding “runaway” and “suicide” despite circumstances that indicate to the contrary. Then later adopting the bizarre theory that Tom’s family was somehow involved in hiding his body and covering up a suicide while pointing fingers at others. To explain these anomalies, we must move to the next step.


2. Same basic theory as #1 but a large portion of the local investigative incompetence was intentional for the purpose of providing cover for the child (or children) of an influential resident(s).

Great post, @OutWest. Sadly, this is probably pretty close to what happened, IMO.

 

[nannymo]

Was Tom's wallet, keys and Penny's debit card ever found? I can't remember!

 

[OutWest]

I haven't heard that anything else has been found other that part of his drivers license at the site where his body was hidden.

 

[Razz]

Forgive me for being pessimistic on a grand jury handing out indictments and classmates/parents being arrested.

Papaw Chambers case was a crusher and I have learned not to hold my breath on waiting/hoping that arrests
are just a matter of time.

Same PI, same inept small town TX LE., similar accusations of murder...

Strong women, mothers, daughters, leading the fight....

And nothing.

 

[OutWest]

Forgive me for being pessimistic on a grand jury handing out indictments and classmates/parents being arrested.

Papaw Chambers case was a crusher and I have learned not to hold my breath on waiting/hoping that arrests
are just a matter of time.

Same PI, same inept small town TX LE., similar accusations of murder...

Strong women, mothers, daughters, leading the fight....

And nothing.

Yes, that's my fear. It is a possibility. If the story ends with justice not being served to the level it should, I hope that Tom's family at least get the answers that they have been seeking and that they deserve.

 

[OutWest]

A few days ago I did some reading on the Chambers case. Oh my, another tragic story with a number of suspicious occurrences.

 

[kelsie]

I truly do not understand how anyone could think this was a suicide because the evidence doesn't point that way at all, IMO...

 

[kelsie]

A few days ago I did some reading on the Chambers case. Oh my, another tragic story with a number of suspicious occurrences.

The one with Ms. Levin?

 

[nannymo]

At least there is a body in Tom's case. I think no body in the Michael Chambers case keeps it from being prosecuted. Not enough evidence.

 

[jellybean96]

But that's just the thing. Everyone is assuming TB was shot. What evidence do we have of that? A spent cartridge in his car, a small amount of blood, and he was discovered deceased some miles away?
So...
1). Where is the bullet? Did investigators thoroughly search the area where TB was found? Did they thoroughly search his car? Autopsy of TB shows no bullet holes in the skull or anywhere else.
2). What is the motive for someone to shoot TB?
3). Suicide is a huge possibility. Why?! a). It was the first thing Penny thought when speaking to LE. Why? Because suicide runs on her side of the family.
b). TB was known to be distraught by his Mom and his girlfriend c). The girlfriend called him that night to ask if he was OK. d). A suicide hotline had been called from TB's phone that night. e). Was a gun ever found to match the casing that was found in his car?
4). IMO, I believe TB's phone was dumped or planted by LE as they had it and never entered it into evidence after they found it. Best to get rid of it so independent searchers could "find it" the next day during Private Investigator Klein's organized search.
5). Where Tom was found is imo the most confounding aspect of this case as it was so far away from his car. But could he have hiked there? We don't really know the path he took that night. Dogs can be unreliable. It was cold that night. Did he lay down and cover himself up with leaves to keep warm in the area where he was found, subsequently dying of hypothermia? That would explain the absence of a gun. And if this happened, couldn't it be classified as an accidental death,?

Imo, the above scenario is as plausible as the, "he was murdered and dumped." 4 years of investigation has not yet netted a killer, a gun, a bullet or a motive. All jmo from another angle.

Re: suicide hotline - there was a search for the number but I've seen nothing that says her actually called it. Have I missed MSM about him calling it?

 

[jellybean96]

yup, they are looking for someone to refuse a polygraph in order to use the refusal as evidence of guilt.

Well thats one way you could take what Kaleb said.

 

[nannymo]

It is my understanding it was never called. I am not totally convinced he was the one who searched for it. Maybe it was MC? His Dad committed suicide. May be he used Tom;\'s phone the see what the number was because of concern for his Dad?

 

[jellybean96]

It is my understanding it was never called. I am not totally convinced he was the one who searched for it. Maybe it was MC? His Dad committed suicide. May be he used Tom;\'s phone the see what the number was because of concern for his Dad?

Ok, that what I thought. I am not convinced he looked it up either.

 

[jellybean96]

Can someone refresh my memory? I dont have this in my notes --- what time was Thomas and friends at the wooden bridge on the night he went missing? I know it was before his stop at Fronks (just before midnight) but do we have a specify time frame they were there?

Its been a long year (!!!) and I feel like I need a new time line.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Re: suicide hotline - there was a search for the number but I've seen nothing that says her actually called it. Have I missed MSM about him calling it?

It is my understanding it was never called. I am not totally convinced he was the one who searched for it. Maybe it was MC? His Dad committed suicide. May be he used Tom;\'s phone the see what the number was because of concern for his Dad?

Ok, that what I thought. I am not convinced he looked it up either.

According to Texas Monthly: “[Sgt. Rachel Kading] said they also couldn’t determine for sure whether Tom had died by suicide. They did say they had sent Tom’s phone to a lab, where technicians had discovered that [...] on Thanksgiving eve, while Tom was with Christian and Kaleb King, he had used his phone’s internet browser to search ‘suicide hotlines.’ But there was no evidence that Tom had called any of the numbers from his phone.” (BBM)
Tom Brown’s Body, Chapter 7: The Wake

I’m leaning more and more towards someone other than Tom doing the search on Tom’s phone.

And if so, I also believe either that very person or someone with the knowledge that the search been done on Tom’s phone earlier that evening is involved in his death, IMO.

I really, really hope this was not premeditated .

 

[8th Bob-White]

Per the AG meeting there was NO evidence of a call to a suicide hotline after the search. They did say that there were other ways to place a call without it showing up, but not a direct call from his phone.

 

[8th Bob-White]

Around 8pm Tom & Kaleb dropped off Michael and then got into Christian's car. I'm not sure what time they were at the walking bridge but it was around 9:45pm for the suicide hotline search per the AG meeting so it would have been at the time he was with Christian & Kaleb.

 

[Rush4087]

Around 8pm Tom & Kaleb dropped off Michael and then got into Christian's car. I'm not sure what time they were at the walking bridge but it was around 9:45pm for the suicide hotline search per the AG meeting so it would have been at the time he was with Christian & Kaleb.

The suicide hotline search has always bothered me because based on the other evidence, suicide just seems unlikely.

But why else would TB have done the search?

Were the three teenagers at the bridge area at around the time that the online search was done?

What do CW and KK remember from around 9:45 pm that night? Did they meet up with anybody at the bridge? Did one of them remain in the car while the other two walked?

If the online search was done by someone other than Tom, who would have had access to Tom's phone at that time? Seems only Christian and Kaleb - as MC had "called it a night" at around 8 pm.

Apparently it was just TB and MC cruising during the 6-8 pm time period (in Tom's Durango). Then later (from 8 pm until drop off back at the parking lot) it was TB, KK, and CW (in CW's car).

 

[Razz]

At least there is a body in Tom's case. I think no body in the Michael Chambers case keeps it from being prosecuted. Not enough evidence.

It wasn't a body. Skull and some bones.
(With no indication of gun shots in the skull. What we can surmise is that TB didn't run off and he is deceased.