Found Deceased Benjamin Stephen Oberto, 45, 13 November 2024 disappeared after leaving restaurant in Crystal Lake, IL

[Slamalam]

Local news source:

Police investigating after father disappears after leaving Crystal Lake restaurant

Police are investigating after a Wisconsin father disappeared after leaving a restaurant in Crystal Lake Wednesday evening before his phone later went dead.

www.lakemchenryscanner.com

Benjamin is from New Berlin, Wisconsin but was last seen leaving 1776 restaurant in Crystal Lake, IL. He was last seen wearing jeans and a navy blue zip-up with a gold logo on it.

According to his wife, his last phone call was at 9:26pm that evening and at 10:11pm his phone went straight to voicemail. His phone last pinged near O’Hare airport at 9:45pm on Wednesday, but it has been confirmed that her husband did not take a flight out of O’Hare Airport.

He drives a 2019 silver Subaru Impreza (no license plate given).

He has two sons, ages 3 and 21.

 

[Slamalam]

Facebook post from local police with interesting comments, but seems like some of the confusion may be based on how Facebook shows timestamps on posts.

Lake & McHenry County Scanner

HAVE YOU SEEN HIM?: Police are investigating after a Wisconsin father disappeared after leaving a restaurant in Crystal Lake Wednesday evening before his phone later went dead.

www.facebook.com

 

[Deleted member 296739]

Well that is rather suspicious- did he encounter harm and someone tossed his phone at the airport or was he at the airport?
moo

 

[Shadowtrix]

Following. This is very local to me.

 

[truthfinder2019]

Again another strange case, makes me think of the other case we’re discussing

Found Alive Thread 'WI - Ryan Borgwardt, 45, Green Lake, 11 Aug 2024 *evidence that he faked his death and is alive in Eastern Europe*'

Nov 8, 2024

Authorities believe ‘missing’ father of 3 faked his disappearance, fled the country

Authorities in Wisconsin believe that a father of 3 faked his own disappearance and fled the country.

www.wvlt.tv

Green Lake County Sheriff‘s Office said the family of 44-year-old Ryan Borgwardt reported him missing on August 12 after he failed to return home from a kayaking trip.

Authorities searched extensively for eight weeks, using drones, radar, and boats.

Searchers found an overturned kayak and life jacket they believed belonged to Borgwardt.

Sheriff: Missing and presumed dead kayaker in Green Lake County actually alive

GREEN LAKE, Wis. -- A kayaker that went missing over the summer from Green Lake County, is said to be alive, and possibly fled the United States.According to Gr

fox47.com

Deputies searched further and...

• PommyMommy
• Replies: 938
• Forum: Located Persons Discussion

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[truthfinder2019]

His facebook

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www.facebook.com

Instagram (does not work …) Login • Instagram

Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-oberto-a7929357/

 

[typical_vacation]

I live in southern WI and grew up in the Crystal Lake area. This is weird. I wonder what he was doing in McHenry county?
O’hare is in the wrong direction of New Berlin.
Edit; like really the opposite direction.

 

[IQuestion]

Local news source:

Police investigating after father disappears after leaving Crystal Lake restaurant

Police are investigating after a Wisconsin father disappeared after leaving a restaurant in Crystal Lake Wednesday evening before his phone later went dead.

www.lakemchenryscanner.com

View attachment 545386

Benjamin is from New Berlin, Wisconsin but was last seen leaving 1776 restaurant in Crystal Lake, IL. He was last seen wearing jeans and a navy blue zip-up with a gold logo on it.

According to his wife, his last phone call was at 9:26pm that evening and at 10:11pm his phone went straight to voicemail. His phone last pinged near O’Hare airport at 9:45pm on Wednesday, but it has been confirmed that her husband did not take a flight out of O’Hare Airport.

He drives a 2019 silver Subaru Impreza (no license plate given).

He has two sons, ages 3 and 21.

Did he dine alone? Was he on a business trip?
Cameras in the restaurant? IE, was he speaking to anyone else before he left?
Did he leave in his own vehicle or did he walk to his hotel? What business did he have in Crystal Lake?
Airports have cameras... did his car drop someone off at airport? Does his vehicle have "On Star/" positioning?
Last phone call at 9:26 PM, then pinged near O'hare at 9:45 , that's only 19-20 minutes. Impossible to go from restaurant to O'hare (37miles!!!) in that amount of time. So, was he already on his way to airport when call was made? Was his hotel close by? Is this part of his normal territory?
Ugh, not enough info to get traction, IYKWIM
EDIT TO INCLUDE: Oberto drives a silver 2019 Subaru Impreza, which does not have the manufacturer’s STARLINK service. Info in this article included it.

MSN

Please let this man be safe...

 

[IslandGirlOBX]

I'm curious what time he left the 1776 Restaurant in Crystal Lake, Illinois and where he was (or where he said he was, if the caller had asked) when his last call was made/received at 9:26 p.m. According to Google Maps, 1776 Restaurant in Crystal Lake is 33.7 miles (a 45-minute) drive from O'Hare International Airport along I-90, which is also a toll road (so there would most likely be cameras/license plate readers on this route). If he wasn't planning to fly out of O'Hare or to travel in that direction for any reason, that's quite a long ways to go from the restaurant (or to have your phone end up), JMO. I wonder why he was in Crystal Lake in the first place - for business, perhaps? And who he was with. I'm also curious as to where "near" O'Hare his phone was actually found (on airport property? Or at a nearby business? In a trash can? Side of the road?) and what its condition was when it was found. All MOO.

Edited to clarify that the individual he spoke to at 9:26 p.m. on his last confirmed phone call was not necessarily his wife as I originally inferred.

 

[truthfinder2019]

This is the timeline from thread #1

• Was last seen at 8:55 pm Wednesday at 1776 Restaurant in Crystal Lake.
• Made his last call at 9:26 pm ( we do not know from where)
• Phone pinged 9:45 pm area of Chicago, Rosemont and O’Hare Airport, but did not board a flight there
• Phone went directly to voicemail at 10:11 pm
• His I-PASS toll record registered him at the Elgin plaza but there was no exit toll

ETA
Unless his linkedin is outdated, he appears to be a sales manager for Massanois, a New York City based national importer and distributor of fine wine and craft spirits.

 

[IQuestion]

This is the timeline from thread #1

• Was last seen at 8:55 pm Wednesday at 1776 Restaurant in Crystal Lake.
• Made his last call at 9:26 pm ( we do not know from where)
• Phone pinged 9:45 pm area of Chicago, Rosemont and O’Hare Airport, but did not board a flight there
• Phone went directly to voicemail at 10:11 pm
• His I-PASS toll record registered him at the Elgin plaza but there was no exit toll

ETA
Unless his linkedin is outdated, he appears to be a sales manager for Massanois, a New York City based national importer and distributor of fine wine and craft spirits.

BBM above: Okay Truthfinder2019 makes sense...the restaurant has a special called "Winesday" which takes place on Wednesday (really challenging my sleuthing skills, huh?) and all wine under $75 is half off. Maybe that is why he chose to go to that restaurant...as a regular customer/potential customer/ SWOT analysis??

 

[ErinC]

So is the Impreza also missing? If so, check bodies of water near where the phone last pinged.

 

[Slamalam]

This is the timeline from thread #1

• Was last seen at 8:55 pm Wednesday at 1776 Restaurant in Crystal Lake.
• Made his last call at 9:26 pm ( we do not know from where)
• Phone pinged 9:45 pm area of Chicago, Rosemont and O’Hare Airport, but did not board a flight there
• Phone went directly to voicemail at 10:11 pm
• His I-PASS toll record registered him at the Elgin plaza but there was no exit toll

ETA
Unless his linkedin is outdated, he appears to be a sales manager for Massanois, a New York City based national importer and distributor of fine wine and craft spirits.

Oops! “from Thread 1”, was there already another thread created for him? If so, I didn’t see it and apologize for creating another.

 

[IslandGirlOBX]

So is the Impreza also missing? If so, check bodies of water near where the phone last pinged.

All MOO:
I thought the exact same thing about checking bodies of water along the route. Also, according to WGN, the vehicle has not been spotted since it passed the Plaza 9 toll in Elgin, Illinois at 9:27 p.m. on the night he was last seen, Wednesday, November 13, 2024.

If you map his route from the 1776 Restaurant in Crystal Lake to O'Hare International Airport, there aren't a lot of bodies of water along the way. The road does cross the Fox River at one point in/near Algonquin, but there don't appear to be many little ponds, lakes, etc. along the roadway in any other areas that he and his vehicle would have gone into had he ended up going off the side of the road for any reason.

I do wonder, however, if maybe he went off the road and into a ditch, and he and his vehicle have just not been found yet. A night out having dinner and likely drinking wine or other spirits during (based on his job) could have lead to some form of impairment and a wrong turn (maybe why he ended up traveling in the complete opposite direction of home? MOO), dozing off, swerving to avoid hitting something in the road and going off the side and into a ditch -- all of this is JMO as a possible theory that doesn't involve any foul play! -- and I mean absolutely no judgment there -- I'm merely offering a suggestion of where to potentially look along the route(s) he may have taken to see if he and/or his car can be located!

I wish we had more information regarding where exactly the phone last pinged. I assume the police are basing the last known location of the phone on the general area where it last pinged (hence the near O'Hare/Rosemont references) and have not recovered the actual phone, which, to me means it's most likely still with him and/or the vehicle. If he were to have gotten in an accident/gone off the road, you would think his phone would still be usable and not go straight to voicemail as it apparently did when his wife tried to reach him around 10:11 p.m. if I'm not mistaken. That, to me, leads me to believe either the phone went into a body of water (from an accident where his vehicle ended up in a body of water and ruined the phone), or it was intentionally destroyed, leading me to suspect foul play. Or another option: he could have intentionally turned it off, which in MOO, I kind of doubt.)

A lot of questions still need to be answered in this story. Did he leave the restaurant alone? Did anyone see him leave and which way he was headed? If his wife was under the impression he was going to drive home to Wisconsin after the dinner, he should have headed that way -- not the way his phone pinged and his plates were picked up going through the toll in Elgin. Surely everyone who attended dinner with him that night have been questioned by police to see if they have any additional information or saw anything -- or could advise whether he mentioned going somewhere else in town before heading home. Also, I'm curious as to whether his wife (or the police) have checked yet to see if there has been any form of activity on any of his debit or credit cards or his bank account. All MOO.

https://wgntv.com/news/northwest-suburbs/family-searching-for-missing-father-last-seen-leaving-crystal-lake-restaurant/

 

[Deleted member 296739]

Edited to clarify that the individual he spoke to at 9:26 p.m. on his last confirmed phone call was not necessarily his wife as I originally inferred.

RSBM
Thanks for that- I’d missed it

 

[Thora_Jay]

Benjamin is a hair over 6 miles from me. threads from the announcement of Benjamin being missing is all over the local Facebook places I am a member of and all over my local news.

His vehicle information is Wisconsin plate #ANJ2349 2019 Subaru Impresza. His vehicle was spotted passing the Plaza 9 toll in Elgin @ 9:27pm.
WGN article

 

[tiffkinsadder]

Hope he is safely located.

 

[Shadowtrix]

So is the Impreza also missing? If so, check bodies of water near where the phone last pinged.

This was my initial thought, too. The longer this goes without the vehicle being located, IMO there’s a high probability this was an accident and he wound up in water.

 

[Sconnie]

Interview with his wife on tonight's WISN news out of Milwaukee:
New Berlin Dad, Ben Oberto, Missing for Two Days

 

[Cubby]

I haven't been here in forever, but this case captured my attention. Based on the information available, my guess is he was going to take 90 east to 294 and go North, home. 90 east from Elgin has a 70 Mph speed limit, so while it might appear out of the way, time wise it's faster.

I looked at the toll information for 90. See link.

Tolling Information Overview - Illinois Tollway

Find Illinois Tollway toll rates for all vehicle types. Access up-to-date pricing, payment options, and information on I-PASS and Pay By Plate prices.

agency.illinoistollway.com

All of the *tolls are for exits. The first eastbound open toll isn't until the O'Hare area at Devon. We know he didn't pass through that toll, or exit.

It was raining Wednesday night, and wet leaves are like hitting black ice. I'd look for evidence of a wreck on the south side/eastbound lanes starting prior to the Devon Toll Plaza and working west. It's possible he lost control of the car and went off the road to an area that isn't visible from the road.

Hoping he is located soon.