Found Deceased CA - Blaze Bernstein, 19, Lake Forest, 2 Jan 2018 #2

[kkdj]

I just can't understand why the friend would think BB would still be waiting for him at the park at 4 a.m. This makes no sense to me. Obviously, BB wouldn't wait until 4 a.m. when he could have just walked home.

 

['Ailina]

I really think his parents are trying to set things up and lure him to come home so things can go back to "normal".

I can also see this as a very personal gesture. As a parent, it sounds like something I'd do if my kid disappeared.

 

[mrsu]

There have been several comments about the person who picked him up and not knowing the family. While it’s completely plausible s/he didn’t know Blaze’s family, s/he certainly knew where he lived considering they picked him up from his house! I noticed a few comments regarding this (the driver not knowing where Blaze lives) and wanted to put that out there.

The parents found where Blaze had given this friend his address, so prior to that the friend did not know where he lived.

 

[denver303]

After reading a bit too much about this for the past couple of days, I am leaning towards either a hookup gone bad or an accident in the dark park, or both. I think the chances that BB went to the park for a hookup are very high, but I don't think we have evidence as to how that hookup turned out. BB running off from the driver could have just been enthusiasm. Or it might have been fear.

If Bad Person had hurt or kidnapped BB, BP might have taken the phone. Female friend sends BB a message, and BP replies with an out-of-character "I'm fine, no need to send the police, dogs, or drones to look for me" message that she realizes isn't actually from him.

Now, the accident scenario. BB is walking through the park, perhaps after the hookup (or whatever took him there). BB sends female friend a message like "OMG it's so dark out here I might fall down a ravine LOL". Shortly thereafter, BB actually falls down a ravine and is severely injured or killed. Female friend tries to chat and doesn't get a response, thus her concern. BB is not found during searches due to being well-concealed under a rock.

Anyway, I hope I'm wrong and Blaze will soon be reunited with his friends and family!

 

[luckylis]

There have been several comments about the person who picked him up and not knowing the family. While it’s completely plausible s/he didn’t know Blaze’s family, s/he certainly knew where he lived considering they picked him up from his house! I noticed a few comments regarding this (the driver not knowing where Blaze lives) and wanted to put that out there.

Driver knew where he lived because BB texted the address to him. This has already been in numerous media reports.

Also in media reports, is the gender identification of the driver, a male.

 

[T_mar]

I really think his parents are trying to set things up and lure him to come home so things can go back to "normal".

im confused. What was Cherry referring to? His father texted from his sons phone research??

 

[Seajay]

Homicide usually takes the Missing Persons cases. For obvious reasons....most often missing persons are found deceased.

 

[PetDetective]

Quick question, pure speculation. Any locals know if there is a Greyhound bus stop near the Park? Or a commuter bus that would go to a Greyhound bus stop? I found an Orange County Transit Authority bus schedule at the below link, but figure a local could sort out the bus schedule much quicker than I:

http://www.octa.net/ebusbook/CompleteBusBook.pdf

Edit: My thinking is BB wasn't fully on board to go back to school. He had a flight of fancy, but didn't want to deal with his parents and friends asking about his whereabouts. He left his phone and took cash, as the Greyhound ticket would not show up on a credit card statement. No idea where he would be headed, though.

No buses run that late at night around here. Definitely no greyhound station nearby. Closest major transportation center is in Irvine, which is not within walking distance.


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[T_mar]

why would father text using his sons phone research for the foodie paper?

Cherry what do you mean? Did I miss something?

 

[PetDetective]

Cherry what do you mean? Did I miss something?

I think she is referring to this
http://www.thedp.com/article/2018/0...county-upenn-penn-philadelphia-missing-person


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[Oyecomova]

Had a funny image of vigilante luminol techs chasing people down with dust and lamps.

Sorry. Carry on.

Yes!! I fully support that! 😉

 

[Mudcat]

Let me address this. Gay/Bi Males DO NOT use poppers during sexual liaisons, that is an out-of-date presumption. Poppers were used heavily in the pre-AIDS era, particularly in the 70's and early 80's, they fell out of common use in the late 80's because of a since disproven connection to HIV infection. A certain faction of gay males still use poppers but I can say without fear of contradiction that Blaze WAS NOT involved in that particular community.

Thanks for offering your opinion. I do know for a fact that using poppers with certain meds causes an extreme and precarious drop in blood pressure.
It has also been suggested that perhaps the partner was an older teacher who may use them. I'm not saying this is what happened and admittedly this theory is a stretch, but an accident isnt impossible either. And hey, we haven't even concluded this as a gay encounter either.

 

[mrsu]

Re: dad sending text from son’s phone. I admit, this raises my eyebrows too.

1. Why text from the son’s phone that is allegedly broken? The whole phone thing is very bizarre.

2. Do you really take time to do this while your kid is missing?

http://www.thedp.com/article/2018/0...county-upenn-penn-philadelphia-missing-person

 

['Ailina]

I think she is referring to this
http://www.thedp.com/article/2018/0...county-upenn-penn-philadelphia-missing-person


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Oh! So there's an article reference. We didn't get that.

This article provides a completely different context than the one I was thinking. Please disregard my "personal gesture" comment.

 

[KaliChick]

Right! However people were commenting that the friend didn’t go talk to the parents because he didn’t know where they lived, etc. My point was he picked him up so he had an address.

 

[NancyDrew0728]

My daughter went to high school with Blaze. The high school they attended is a commuter high school in which kids from all over the county or other counties attend. Most of my daughter's high school friends did not know her home address, as they mostly saw each other at school since they lived too far apart to see each other after school or on the weekends. Also, I didn't know some of my daughter's high school friends, and except for one of her friends, I did not have their contact info, and they did not have mine.

Knowing this, it completely makes sense to me that the guy (high school friend from what I have read) who picked Blaze up did not know his home address. It also makes sense to me that the parents did not know who this guy was or had any contact info for him.

Personally, I think this guy did what Blaze asked him to do which was drop him off at this park, and after Blaze disappeared and did not most likely respond to this guy's texts, he became worried and eventually returned to the park at 4am to see if he could find Blaze. My theory is that Blaze is a victim of a Grindr hook up gone bad with whomever he was meeting at this park.

Re: dad sending text from son’s phone. I admit, this raises my eyebrows too.

1. Why text from the son’s phone that is allegedly broken? The whole phone thing is very bizarre.

2. Do you really take time to do this while your kid is missing?

http://www.thedp.com/article/2018/0...county-upenn-penn-philadelphia-missing-person

I think it’s just poor reporting - other sources show it was an email.

 

[PetDetective]

Re: dad sending text from son’s phone. I admit, this raises my eyebrows too.

1. Why text from the son’s phone that is allegedly broken? The whole phone thing is very bizarre.

2. Do you really take time to do this while your kid is missing?

His father stated earlier today that they had to go to the Apple store. My guess is Blaze busted the screen on his phone, borrowed a relative’s, Dad just took the broken one in to be repaired and now has access to it and his contacts.


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[DAnthrplgst]

At this point I'm thinking that Blaze is not in the park. OCSD has searched it high and low apparently and the parents were able to get drone flights to scout the area as well. They are still analyzing the drone footage but if Blaze was in the park I think OCSD would have found him after all the searches. The fact OCSD called the foot searches off tells me they are confident Blaze isn't in the park.

I initially speculated that this might have been a hook-up gone awry but based on what we currently know, I no longer think this was a hook-up. Call it 20+ years of being around gay hook-up culture but this just doesn't smell like a hook-up gone wrong. If there is one thing I can say about younger gay guys who engage in hook-ups, they are very PICKY and in todays day and age of social media they insist on multiple photos, snapchat messages or kik messages. After being away from Grindr for a long time I re-installed it on my phone to see what the scene was like now and nearly every 18-30yo profile had either a snapchat or kik username attached to it with directions to message the person on either platform.

Anyway. I don't think this was someone new to Blaze, I think this was someone Blaze knew long-term, the mysterious HS friend that is. What happened to Blaze? I have no clue but as sad as it is, I think Blaze may have taken his own life.

 

[KaliChick]

Driver knew where he lived because BB texted the address to him. This has already been in numerous media reports.

Also in media reports, is the gender identification of the driver, a male.

I understand that. My point was more that people have questioned why he didn’t go talk to Blazes family, etc. It was pointed out that he went to a commuter HS (I did as well so I get that), so it would t be odd for the driver to not know where Blaze lives. However, he picked him up. Had an address. So why didn’t he go to the house and check on him when he wasn’t responding to texts, etc?

 

[rgreene]

I have never posted, so I hope I don't break any rules.
I have a 20 yr old son and if he was in a park late at night he would probably just go behind the car or a tree. But, if he needed a restroom, he probably would so to his buddy--- "walk with me to the RR because you never know who is hanging around."