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

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Correct me if I'm wrong, didn't his phone ping at the HS after he dropped off his 2 friends?
Yes - his phone pinged around the high school football field around midnight, according to LE. This information came from the podcast that Tom's mom was involved in. You can read my notes on it on page 18 of this thread.

Also - there were 3 friends with Thomas - Michael, Caleb and Christen (not certain on that spelling, but its a female friend).
 
So sorry it ended this way; I just heard about this. I have to agree with your theory, somewhat. I'm assuming you think it was an accidental shooting and those involved panicked?
 
RIP Tom. Just clicked on this thread to find that he was found. Thoughts and prayers to his family, but I imagine that after the initial grieving that they will be relieved that the search is over.

I had a feeling that something happened out at Lake Marvin, and I remember "driving" out there on Google Street View, as though I had driven out there in person. So many shocking regrets: when the dogs were following the scent and were stopped by the river, why on earth didn't they drive around and start again on the other side? (Maybe they did, I didn't real the article.) Also, why didn't they search the north side of the road? Good grief! I know there was a lot of ground to cover, but you would think he would have been found before 26 months.

Let's hope that justice is done, and quickly.
 
There are several things that bother me and I'll mention a few.

Thomas's exgirlfriend called him the night he disappeared. Why? She felt something was off. Didn't she also make a big deal about saying Thomas wasn't gay because of the things he'd asked her to do?! I think that is preposterous and not evidence of anything.

Could Thomas have been drinking and contemplating hurting himself behind the school?

Why would he have had a gun. Or if the other boys were with him, what were they doing with a gun.

Why did the dogs follow Thomas's scent to the river? Was the river low enough that he could have crossed? If he crossed the river and then to the road, could he have shed his backpack in frustration at the point where it was found? He must have had the ability to travel on foot on his own for a distance.

Did he continue down the road to the lake?

Is there a possibility he was hit by a car? By drunk schoolmates? And the impact put him away from the road?

The reason I picture this is because years ago, a friend was at a party, got drunk, left her date and ran 3 miles on a dark dirt road in the country in her bare feet, crying hysterically. It was our senior year of high school. She was hospitalized shortly after that.

Just another angle but why would anyone want to physically hurt this young man?
 
I just went back and read @806mom's notes from the podcast, and I find them extremely troubling. I hope I am wrong about this. I will go back and read through the rest of the posts now, in case there were developments since I last checked on this story, which was before that podcast came out. But I will say this----those questions I raised in my post above would be answered if there was a person or persons who were involved in directly where and how the search took place. This is very disturbing.
 
So sorry it ended this way; I just heard about this. I have to agree with your theory, somewhat. I'm assuming you think it was an accidental shooting and those involved panicked?
Not sure if you are asking me or not - but I do think there is a *chance* this happened. Again, it would be in my top two of possibilities that happened. I rank this higher than a stranger murdering him, his committing suicide, or a bad drug deal.
 
There are several things that bother me and I'll mention a few.

Thomas's exgirlfriend called him the night he disappeared. Why? She felt something was off. Didn't she also make a big deal about saying Thomas wasn't gay because of the things he'd asked her to do?! I think that is preposterous and not evidence of anything.

Could Thomas have been drinking and contemplating hurting himself behind the school?

Why would he have had a gun. Or if the other boys were with him, what were they doing with a gun.

Why did the dogs follow Thomas's scent to the river? Was the river low enough that he could have crossed? If he crossed the river and then to the road, could he have shed his backpack in frustration at the point where it was found? He must have had the ability to travel on foot on his own for a distance.

Did he continue down the road to the lake?

Is there a possibility he was hit by a car? By drunk schoolmates? And the impact put him away from the road?

The reason I picture this is because years ago, a friend was at a party, got drunk, left her date and ran 3 miles on a dark dirt road in the country in her bare feet, crying hysterically. It was our senior year of high school. She was hospitalized shortly after that.

Just another angle but why would anyone want to physically hurt this young man?

So in one hypothesis, Tom drives himself to the water treatment plant 5 something hours after being seen on CCTV and his phone last pinging in Canadian proper. He ditches his car and starts walking East, eventually through scrub and somehow crosses the river, intersects with Lake Marvin Rd. dumps his backpack along a fence line, then continues for 15+ miles where he takes a turn down a random side road, goes into the woods, dies, and covers himself. We would need to ignore the shell casing, lack of gun recovered, recent urination behind the truck (which I don't recall was ever verified as Tom's) and the blood on his driver-side door.

In the second, Tom meets with an unknown individual(s) shortly after getting gas and is in the Canadian center for less than an hour where his car is caught on CCTV driving around the HS area. His phone pings to confirm. Then a few hours later around 5am, his car drives to the water treatment area where presumably a male gets out and urinates behind/on the back of it. Most shell casings eject to the right and rear of the shooter, so in this scenario, Tom is shot from the passenger side or through the passenger side open window or door. The bullet does not exit due to small caliber, and only a small amount of blood falls to the door. Tom is transferred to a different vehicle, his stuff dumped on the way to where he is eventually concealed. The interesting thing is why they chose a wooded area close to the lake but not the lake itself.

I want to know why his ex was suddenly concerned and texting him at just the right moment. A clairvoyant premonition doesn't cut it for me.

Above is JMO.
 
I've been listening to this recap on Youtube.

Does anyone recall if Sheriff Lewis was there at the very beginning when when Thomas went missing. When Penny first called the Sheriffs Office using the non-emergency line. I know an officer responded. Who was it? And how long before Lewis showed up?

2. There were two Sheriff vehicles that go in front of the Hardware store (seen on camera), driving towards Fronk Oil Gas Station. Was Sheriff Lewis or Gregory Pine one of these driving towards where Thomas was?
 
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I've been listening to this recap on Youtube.

...

Does anyone recall if Sheriff Lewis was there at the very beginning when when Thomas went missing. When Penny first called the Sheriffs Office using the non-emergency line. I know an officer responded. Who was it? And how long before Lewis showed up?

2. There were two Sheriff vehicles that go in front of the Hardware store (seen on camera), driving towards Fronk Oil Gas Station. Was Sheriff Lewis or Gregory Pine one of these driving towards where Thomas was?

SBM.

I find it hard to believe that Hemphill County, that has nine deputies total listed on its website, would have two deputies on duty overnight on what should be a quiet night before Thanksgiving. I wonder if the two deputies shown side-by-side indicate a shift change. Maybe one was at the end of his shift while the other (PG) was at the beginning of his.

Also, when the Sheriff suggested that TB had met an older man online and had run away, when did he ever put out an APB for an older male traveling with a teenager?
 
SBM.

I find it hard to believe that Hemphill County, that has nine deputies total listed on its website, would have two deputies on duty overnight on what should be a quiet night before Thanksgiving. I wonder if the two deputies shown side-by-side indicate a shift change. Maybe one was at the end of his shift while the other (PG) was at the beginning of his.

Also, when the Sheriff suggested that TB had met an older man online and had run away, when did he ever put out an APB for an older male traveling with a teenager?
Nope. One was never put out.

I *do* remember Penny saying that when she made the initial missing persons report that it took a long time (like over 45 min ) for Deputy Pine to respond (according the Podcast from Page 18 of this thread). To me, this is curious. WHY would it take a deputy so long to answer a call when Canadian is so small? I have been to Canadian many times (its close to where I live) and you can get anywhere in that town within maybe 5-10 MAX (and that is counting being stopped at the stop lights and allowing time for someone to look for their keys, lol). I have tried looking up what other calls the Sheriffs office could have been dealing with overnight, and have yet to find a call log online. BUT no major incidents, wrecks, burgerlies were reported by the newspaper for the night Tom went missing that Pine could have been tied up with. So was he just not in a hurry to look for a missing teen or was he busy doing something else? Sheriff Lewis didn't show up to look until 7 am.

(I had wrote a long paragraph about something else, but self deleted it because it would have gotten deleted anyway :) I don't have MSM to back it up, so it probably doesn't belong in this thread.)
 
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Ok something else that just hit me - so, so much of this case has been discovered/revealed in the month of January. While individually, each instance isn't a huge deal. But when looking at the dates together, every January for 3 years has proven to be a notable month for this case.

1/15/19 Tom's remains found at Lake Marvin
1/18/18 Hemphill Co sued AG over documents being released related to investigation
1/27/17 backpack and computer found at Lake Marvin
 
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Just watched the Crime Daily videos.

It's interesting that Tom's brother was only 9 minutes behind Tom's truck driving in the same direction that evening. Tom's brother also advised he thought Tom was still alive.

I'd be very interested in knowing what is in the Sheriff's case file re Tom. The sheriff feels it would hinder the investigation. Do they have a suspect?
Were there other surveillance videos of cars that evening other than TB, his bro and Police vehicles?

I guess some believe something happened at the gas station that evening but there were no surveillance cameras there.

So, who would know about the road to the back of the water treatment? If Tom's body was in the truck, whoever it was had to get rid of it. How? Drag his body in the dark, across the river to another waiting car? This doesn't sound plausible.
 
So, who would know about the road to the back of the water treatment? If Tom's body was in the truck, whoever it was had to get rid of it. How? Drag his body in the dark, across the river to another waiting car? This doesn't sound plausible.

RSBM
Fm2YedW.jpg

This is the back road you are referring to right? I agree it is a likely route if they didn't see any other cars going the N 2nd /60 route up to Lake Marvin Rd. I wish we knew more about where the cadaver dog hits were exactly. Brainscratch mentioned Klein was interested in the area Tom was found due to finding other items of Tom's(which they are not ready to disclose ) but not whether there were hits on the car.


MISSING: Private investigators employ cadaver dog in search for Tom Brown | The Canadian Record
We know K9 Chance was brought in by Klein and "closed a lot of doors" allowing him to focus on specific suspects. This is a different dog than the first dog that tracked to the river and stopped, but was it used on the car or in the car area?

It is possible for another car to have been involved and not caught on these specific CCTV, especially if they were purposely avoiding going through downtown.
 
No, I wasn't referring to that back road. (The orange line?) Wow, so that's a road. Didn't know that. Could it be that may have been the trail Tom took if he walked away from the water treatment plant and his car?

Why do think the call from the girlfriend was odd? Or timed in such a way to appear.....faked concern?

I hadn't read anything about the spent cartridges outside his truck. Or where he was found.

If someone took him, why throw out the backpack where it could eventually be found? Why put the body where it could eventually be found? And again, who would do this to Tom and why?
 
Brainscratch Searchlight update:
Loundon's words re if there is someone out there that knows what happened, they should be fairly shook right now. The biggest bargaining chip is off the table now, however. So I'm sort of connecting a dot or two but I'm wondering how this all came about
(the murder and if it was a murder) and why. And how is it that the kids knew he was out there?! (Somewhere near the lake). Did TB ever show there that night? Did he meet with an older man as the Sheriff suggested in the beginning? The sheriff also suggested suicide but walked that back. What the hey?!
 
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