GUILTY AZ - Sidney Cranston, 40, Kingman, 16 June 2015 *Arrest*

[Satchie]

He certainly felt comfortable going to court. But I'd rather see the actual case descriptions before drawing your conclusions. As best I can tell, one case is his divorce, one is for eviction of a tenant, another is for repayment of debt, the others are just hard to know what the issues were. For example, he bought properties that were in foreclosure (by a bank, which regularly does what you describe above). Then he'd have to get the owner to vacate the property, and if they didn't, get a court order.

 

[azure]

He certainly felt comfortable going to court. But I'd rather see the actual case descriptions before drawing your conclusions. As best I can tell, one case is his divorce, one is for eviction of a tenant, another is for repayment of debt, the others are just hard to know what the issues were. For example, he bought properties that were in foreclosure (by a bank, which regularly does what you describe above). Then he'd have to get the owner to vacate the property, and if they didn't, get a court order.

Agreed. If he was a landlord or buying properties out of foreclosure, I don't find the number of cases surprising at all.

 

[cluciano63]

Eleven days missing is too long for a guy with a girlfriend, family etc to drop out of sight, Imo. Maybe a "lost weekend"...but this scary. I fear for him.

 

[leep]

I think there is either somebody close involved or it's somebody upset over a property deal gone bad all MOO of course.

 

[Eileen730]

Could he possibly been going to buy something from someone?

 

[steelman]

Sidney Cranston Jr., 40, was a real estate agent for 12 years in Kingman, Ariz., before taking an early, short retirement in Mexico for about a year and a half, according to his father, Sidney Cranston Sr. of Wilson.
Cranston Jr. had returned to Arizona to tend to business and was reportedly set to show an unknown property to an unknown client on June 16, but he never showed up for the appointment.

Cranston Sr. believes his son was abducted.

“There is no way my son would miss an appointment,” he told the Union-Sun & Journal this week. “It's not like him, he's a responsible kid.”
According to the Kingman Daily Miner, after Cranston Jr. was reported missing, his cell phone was “pinged” — the battery was dead — but police traced his last call and found that it came from a house that his friend was working on at the time.

A neighbor told Chris Cranston, Sidney Jr.'s younger brother, that on the afternoon of June 16, he had seen a white SUV with tinted windows pull up to the side of the house, where Sidney had a brief conversation with someone inside. The neighbor said he was working on something and looked away briefly, and when he looked back both the SUV and Cranston Jr. were gone. Cranston Jr.'s motorcycle was still at the house, though, along with his laptop and office briefcase.

It is believed that Cranston Jr. had thousands of dollars on him when he went missing and there has been no activity on his bank account since June 16, the Daily Miner reported.
Cranston Sr. says police identified several people of interest in Sidney's disappearance but they offered no useful information. At this point, he said, neither Kingman Police Department nor the Mohave County Sheriff's Office has any leads on his son's whereabouts.

An article from his "local" newspaper there in New York.

Take note: This is one of those sites where you are entitled to 5 free views before you get locked out.
Browse selectively. There doesn't appear to be a whole lot of new information here.

http://www.lockportjournal.com/news...cle_9485459e-addc-58d8-8f9e-7fe67d984c01.html

 

[wendybtn]

I'll tell you what I don't understand. Why is it that when someone goes missing and the family sets up a "Missing Facebook" type page and issue flyers and what-not, why don't they provide pertinent details ? I was sitting here this morning going back over the last couple of pages to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

What I noticed more than anything were all the questions people keep asking about the tiny details, many of them simply being details that would provide some insight and direction into his disappearance.
----------------------------

Does he have a car, where is it ? What kind is it ? Is he a realtor, or is it a hobby ? Is he married ? Girlfriend ?

Does he have a phone in his possession, have the cops pinged it yet or even tried ? Any checking into his financial activities since going missing ? Anything showing up on bank accounts or credit cards ? How would his brother know he was carrying around a few thousand dollars, and is that common for him ?

Was the door to his home locked or unlocked ? Any signs anything was stolen or taken ? Any signs of a struggle ?

Why was he dressed so casual? Why would clients pick him up instead of the other way around? Was this normal procedure for him ?

Could he be in Mexico ? Could he be at the horse track over in Vegas ? When was the last time he talked to family ? And the list goes on and on and on......... It's just one sensible question after another...unanswered.

----------------------------

It's not just this case, this would apply to many of them that we follow here on Websleuths. I think if I was a family member searching for a missing loved one, I would provide every tiny detail humanly possible in an attempt to jog someones memory and to help give a better overview of the circumstances leading up to the disappearance.

90% of the questions asked in this forum could easily be answered and explained by either his brother or his closest friend, and yet you won't find anything regarding the facts of the case except those sketchy snippets of information provided in the newspaper and on TV reports.

If they are going to go to the trouble to set up a missing persons page or issue flyers , why not provide enough information about the person to give people direction on where they should begin looking?

IMO, most people who start the missing persons facebook pages for their loved one are just attempting to passively disseminate information, get their person's pic and name out there. I highly doubt many of them expect to be asked questions that they probably consider LE territory. And I bet they have been cautioned not to talk too much to unknown people on the internet, by LE, friends, family, etc.

 

[steelman]

IMO, most people who start the missing persons facebook pages for their loved one are just attempting to passively disseminate information, get their person's pic and name out there. I highly doubt many of them expect to be asked questions that they probably consider LE territory. And I bet they have been cautioned not to talk too much to unknown people on the internet, by LE, friends, family, etc.

Little by little we've obtained enough information to get a pretty good overview of the circumstances involved around his disappearance. The most informative article I've seen to date was the one in post #99 by Mica and reposted below. My point was, if I was searching for somebody, I would've made every one of those details known from day one in a concentrated effort to find the missing person. Sometimes the smallest details turn out to offer the biggest leads, especially from the public.

http://bullheadcitybee.us/news-stor...e-into-disappearance-of-realtor-from-kingman/

For now I'm pretty much out of ideas. It seems like this disappearance would somehow revolve around a real estate deal, but it may turn out to have absolutely nothing to do with that what-so-ever. There's bound to be some kind of electronic paper trail that ties him to the people in that white SUV, which seems to have a recurring role in this story. Phone, texts, e-mails, tweets, Facebook, court documents.....something has to tie back to them.

In that article I posted, it says that they have talked to a few persons of interest, but come up empty. I guess none of us have any way of knowing if one or more of those persons were involved with the vehicle in question. Searching the SUV forensically wouldn't be the worst idea in the world, but I don't know if the cops have enough probable cause to obtain a warrant.

The vehicle is described as a white SUV, with dark limo tinted windows, a large CB radio antenna on the roof and 22-inch rimmed wheels.

I guess at this point it's just a waiting game, until somebody stumbles across him either alive or dead.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Dang, I was hoping there would be some news today......

 

[oceanblueeyes]

The thing is, Beverly Carter was petite, pretty, blonde and rich, and the guy who killed her stalked women. His motive, which is not uncommon, was his severe sexual/psychological problems around pretty blonde women. I just don't think there's the same kind of predator fixating on 40 year old businessmen. The motives behind the murder of men like that is more usually robbery, revenge, or some kind of business or personal relationship gone wrong.

He is not a large man himself. No matter what the motive may be men can be in just as much danger as female realtors. They can be killed just as easily as a female. Here it is said there were two 'so called' clients and they would have no problem overpowering a rather small man.

This could be done solely for a robbery motive. I haven't seen anything that supports it was done for revenge or sour business dealings. If he had already had unpleasant business dealings with them he certainly wouldn't want to do business with them again and imo, he wouldn't have gotten into a vehicle with someone who had ill will toward him...although I haven't seen where Sid had any enemies.

Imo, he did not know the 'clients' when he got in their vehicle to show the property.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I believe Sid was lured there by fake buyers who pretended they wanted to buy his property.

I don't think he knew the two that have not come forward. I do think these two have done something very bad to a man who was known as a nice person and he may have been a little too trusting thinking it would be okay to go by himself. Sometimes males do not see the danger like females do but the dangers still exist.

I think they have murdered Sid and his body is somewhere out there in the desert. The only reason they would not come forward and speak with LE is they are the ones involved in his disappearance and murder, imo.

He had no reason to walk out on his good life and his girlfriend. He is gone (dead imo) because he had no choice in the matter.

It may take weeks/months to find him just like it has taken a long time in other cases when the body has been discarded somewhere out in the desert.

What a tragedy.

One of our daughters and her husband are both real estate agents in Charleston, SC. In fact I have to brag a little because our son-in-law was awarded Top Real Estate Agent for 2014. But they never go to show a home or property alone even including the male real estate agents. Its just not safe nowadays to either meet someone alone and no one now should let the client get into their vehicle or get into theirs. It doesn't matter if the client is going to be shown million dollar homes or smaller properties. The fact the agents have to consider is they really don't know the person/s they are showing the properties to and must use extreme caution.

IMO

 

[Satchie]

I was thinking, there might have been an attempt to force him to reveal his PIN number, or some other kind of extortion, but it was unsuccessful.

We had the case in Canada of a guy getting killed apparently for his 2007 truck, but he was selling it for $24,000, not $2,000, and that particular model is allegedly worth $100,000 if shipped overseas in the black market.

It's so hard on his family not to know, the ABC video shows how upset his brother is.

 

[ButForFortune]

Read more: http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/29381586/search-underway-for-missing-az-realtor#ixzz3dtAjYWsc

Hmmm. . . his last phone call at 1:30 was to someone who manages his trust? What kind of trust? Why? To obtain $$$? To inquire about $$$ missing?

 

[Mica]

Just a thought...

Sidney has a real estate webpage with a contact me tab. I wonder if the authorities checked into his webpage to see if he had any contacts for property he was selling.

http://www.kingmanpremierproperties.com/

 

[bellajodella]

I am Sid's ex wife. I am deeply concerned about his disappearance and can shed some light on a few details. I know Sid well, having spent 9.5 years with him ending in our divorce in 2011. Sid and I have not emailed since Spring of 2012 and last talk was in 2011.
Yes, he lives in Mexico. Yes he has a long-term girlfriend he is happy with in Mexico. This information is per a mutual friend. None of Sid's friends or family have met or communicated with her as far as I know.

Yes Sid has his Bachelor's in Civil Engineering and worked as a Civil engineer for a few years in Kingman. He quit doing that after we split and made his investment properties his main means of income.

No he hasn't always been trusting of others and always packed a .38 when he lived in WNY. But he thought the desert community was a kinder place and stopped carrying, although he had his CCW. It is sad to think of this bit of fact considering his possible fate.

Yes he is a casual guy and is likely underdressed for most occasions, however, he was, indeed, showing his OWN undeveloped properties, usually raw land, so realtor customs do not necessarily come into play.

Carrying a lot of money is not something I ever saw him do. Either he truly did get paid a few months rent on a property or he preferred to use cash when traveling...I don't know. He wasn't the kind of person that would have stressed about having too much money on him. He was pretty confident in himself, which may have been to his detriment.

I'm guessing all of his court involvement is from having to evict people or work to get his money back from people who didn't fulfill their contract with him. One post on this thread said it best talking about a way to make money on properties by selling them to people who may not be able to fulfill their obligation and then reselling it when the first party defaults. This was Sid's business model as he explained it to me before we split up. Although he didn't say he would choose people who were unlikely to meet their contractual obligation.

I am personally aware of cases where Sid did not give full disclosure or did not fulfill written promises of improvements to the buyers, yet they were locked into a contract to pay him. Do I think one of these people rose up to kidnap or hurt him? I don't know but that possibility is out there.

He also had numerous customers of his engineering practice that went to the board about him or threatened to (when we were married) and he did not choose to reach out to rectify those matters with these angry customers. These are just facts.

In general I know he cut some ethical corners here and there, that's all. I'm just giving this an objective look as much as I can.

I am devastated to think of any harm coming to him and I'm surprised I feel that strongly since he IS my EX but I DO still care. I was the one that initiated the divorce but it was mutual and I don't miss him. I just don't want his life to come to a screeching halt because of an accident or foul play at such a young age. No one deserves to be missing and no one's family and friends should have to go through such anguish, worse yet if there is bad news at the end of the day.







No he hasn't always been trusting of others and always packed a .38 when he lived in WNY. But he thought the desert community was a kinder place and stopped carrying, although he had his CCW.

 

[thesiren]

Wow I read this entire thread for the first time tonight?

If he frequents Mexico, is it possible he has a bank account there to get by without touching any of his money in the States?

 

[Purplepixii]

I am Sid's ex wife. I am deeply concerned about his disappearance and can shed some light on a few details. I know Sid well, having spent 9.5 years with him ending in our divorce in 2011. Sid and I have not emailed since Spring of 2012 and last talk was in 2011.
<snip>
No he hasn't always been trusting of others and always packed a .38 when he lived in WNY. But he thought the desert community was a kinder place and stopped carrying, although he had his CCW.

Hi Bellajodella - thank you ever so much for the insight you've provided about Sid. It's always really useful to have family/friends get involved in these sad cases as we get to find out more about the person which can assist us sleuthing. It's obvious you still care about Sid, which is rare in this day & age - please know that we care too :tyou:

 

[Mica]

Welcome bellajodella! Thank your for taking the time to join and for the information you provided. As SarahLouCards stated, we do care too.

Please don't hesitate to provide updates, as long as they don't jeopardize the investigation.

 

[steelman]

I am Sid's ex wife. I am deeply concerned about his disappearance and can shed some light on a few details. I know Sid well, having spent 9.5 years with him ending in our divorce in 2011. Sid and I have not emailed since Spring of 2012 and last talk was in 2011.


Carrying a lot of money is not something I ever saw him do. Either he truly did get paid a few months rent on a property or he preferred to use cash when traveling...I don't know. He wasn't the kind of person that would have stressed about having too much money on him. He was pretty confident in himself, which may have been to his detriment.

I'm guessing all of his court involvement is from having to evict people or work to get his money back from people who didn't fulfill their contract with him. One post on this thread said it best talking about a way to make money on properties by selling them to people who may not be able to fulfill their obligation and then reselling it when the first party defaults. This was Sid's business model as he explained it to me before we split up. Although he didn't say he would choose people who were unlikely to meet their contractual obligation.

I am personally aware of cases where Sid did not give full disclosure or did not fulfill written promises of improvements to the buyers, yet they were locked into a contract to pay him. Do I think one of these people rose up to kidnap or hurt him? I don't know but that possibility is out there.

In general I know he cut some ethical corners here and there, that's all. I'm just giving this an objective look as much as I can.

snipped by me--BBM

Welcome to the forum. I think you were probably referring to my post back on #119.

I think this may boil down to him taking a down payment from some unnamed individual(s), the deal turned sour for whatever reason, they demanded their money back, Sid was hesitant to give it back, and things went downhill from there. That "couple of thousand dollars" we keep hearing about could end up being the root of this whole case and may end up being the cause of his disappearance. The reason that money never found it's way into a bank account, was because the deal was still up in the air.

There may have been a very heated argument out in the middle of the country, away from prying eyes, where things got completely out of hand. There's a whole lot of shady individuals living in and around Kingman, Az, and anybody that has ever spent any time there knows what I'm talking about. It seems to be sort of a melting pot for criminals in hiding and drug dealing/buying. Many of those types don't have very cool heads, nor do they have the ability to reason things out. I'd say it's about as close to the wild, wild West as still exists in this modern age.

Once Sid got the money in hand for a down payment, he may have been trying to persuade the buyer to go ahead with the deal. That may well be why he hitched a ride that day with the white SUV, "let's take a ride out there and talk some more". He may have believed he would be able to calm the buyer down a little bit and still make the deal work. The more he resisted refunding the money, the madder the buyer got. So.......the buyer simply TOOK it back, by force. This of course could be viewed as both an assault AND a robbery, both serious crimes. If Sid threatened to turn him in due to it.......well.....you can fill in the blanks from there.

All the person in the white SUV has to do is keep insisting he wasn't involved. That of course only applies if LE even knows who this person is.
Whatever paperwork had been generated in this deal, say a receipt for the down payment, may have been in Sid's possession that day he hopped into the SUV. The receipt disappears, the money disappears, Sid disappears..........no paper trail to follow, no proof of a crime.

They need to find that SUV and test it forensically. They also need to talk to neighbors of the owner of that vehicle and find out if he spent an unusual amount of time cleaning it up and detailing it out after Sid went missing.

 

[Satchie]

If he frequents Mexico, is it possible he has a bank account there to get by without touching any of his money in the States?

Yes, but there's new legislation that all foreign banks have to report accounts opened by US citizens.

I wonder how many bites he got on his previous offer of 12% financing - seems hard to believe anyone would accept those terms. If they did, they'd be pretty mad that he's now offering 0%! I hope LE and the family's PI are looking carefully into his business dealings, that does seem the most likely trail, in the absence of any other leads.

Unfortunately, without a good reason they can't get a search warrant to seize anyone's SUV and test it.