So I just listened to the podcast and this is what I learned:
James and his sister, Kristen, lived together with a woman named Mai (spelling?). James invited Mai to live with him and Kristen at Kristen's house after he met her at a bar and she told him she would be homeless soon if she didn't figure something out. He's a kind soul and offered her a room at their house for cheap.
His best friend, Cody, says in the podcast that
James didn't talk about Mai much. His aunt, Valerie, says that her brother (James' dad) said Mai could be "overbearing" and "text James a lot" so his dad didn't initially worry when
Mai called him saying James was missing on Sunday morning (they had gone out Saturday night).
James and Kristen both were not interested in going out for this birthday party on 11/3/2018.
Mai, however, convinced James to come out with her and her friends. He was last seen
alone outside of the bar The Pickle after a bouncer denied him entry on the basis of him being "too intoxicated". Cody says that James does not have a history of getting way too drunk/"blackout" drunk - usually just happy and giggly drunk. He did say that James is not one to avoid confrontation though - if he is angry, he will stand up for himself/others. Cody says that, to him, as James' best friend since the 3rd grade, James
looks pissed/stressed in the last known CCTV footage of him.
During the week after James disappearance, his sister Kristen asked Mai via text a few questions about Saturday night.
Mai responded with, "Talk to the police." NICE. I mean, this is her roommate for Gods' sake and James is
MISSING and she won't even answer a few simple questions? Very sketchy. After the disappearance, Mai also suddenly moved out of the house they all lived in together without telling Kristen, so Kristen changed the locks, and Mai apparently got angry about this.
How odd that Mai was so quick to call James' dad on Sunday but refused to answer any of Kristen's questions about how the night went.
James' aunt, Valerie, thinks a River Watch volunteer task force would be a good idea. La Crosse has one -
Welcome – RiverWatch | UW-La Crosse
I just moved back to the Eau Claire area and messaged her offering any assistance because this case bothers me so much. I think, at the very least, the roommate knows more than she's saying. :/ And, again, the bouncers at the Pickle are usually sucky. I've seen them turn down entry for people based on race/gender factors before and blame it on their level of intoxication. They let pretty girls in and sometimes deny dudes simply for being dudes. Depends who's working. I haven't been to that bar since I was like 22, so 2 years or so, but it was the worst.
