CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #13

[believe09]

Here is the pic I was thinking of. It just misses anything crucial on the letters but I think it's been cropped and the original might show the details.
It's from the OC Register, here: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/-214111--.html?pic=1

Do you think Bob marked his mail "Read" in what looks like a Sharpie? He reminds me so much of my grandfather.

 

[zwiebel]

:blush: Thanks, yes I meant 14 months later...typing too quickly.

We need a clean up smiley...you know, one with a broom.

Here's a broom with a smiley for you. Excuse the toothmarks - my mutt helps with chores.

ETA It was the right way up when I took it, honest!

 

[zwiebel]

I just feel Bob would have had a routine in the morning, and part of that would have been bringing in the mail, and reading it each morning. The CL may be the only one who can say if it was already in the house or not. My hope is that because of the events that followed, every detail of that day will have stuck in her mind. To be honest, just that little clip from Disappeared makes me think this is the case.

 

[Laughing]

I emailed Frank Girardot of the newspaper group.

Perhaps he will write about Bob?

Laughing

 

[Seajay]

I just feel Bob would have had a routine in the morning, and part of that would have been bringing in the mail, and reading it each morning. The CL may be the only one who can say if it was already in the house or not. My hope is that because of the events that followed, every detail of that day will have stuck in her mind. To be honest, just that little clip from Disappeared makes me think this is the case.

I know that everytime I was involved in something that was important, that I thought I might need to remember clearly later, I would write it all down, time, dates, location and everything that was said and done by whom. Hopefully the CL is as anal as I am. LOL

 

[GrainneDhu]

That photo won't be any good - it was taken two months after the event. Mrs Harrod might have left Bob's glasses untouched but she'd hardly be likely to leave the mail unopened. Sorry.

Still, knowing mail was delivered at 10.30am, give or take ten minutes or so....that gives us something to work with, doesn't it? The CL didn't come everyday, so Bob must have been in the habit of bringing his own mail in. I don't think the CL would have brought the mail in that day, after all. This seems to be what happened with her:

Arrives at Bob's just before Noon.
Knocks on the door. No answer.
Checks the mailbox for the key. It's not there.
Sits on the stoop, waiting, worried, for Bob to return.

It would have been a little odd for her to remove the mail from the mailbox when she saw the key wasn't there, knowing she'd have to sit on the stoop with a pile of mail in her hand.

If Bob brought it in himself....then we know he was around at 10.30ish, but that he didn't get time to open it. That narrows the timeline down. LE report states it was unopened.

I agree about the CL; I think it would feel really awkward to sit there waiting for Bob with his mail in her hand. I think she'd be more likely to make a mental note of it, then ask Bob when he came back if he wanted her to bring the mail in (assuming he didn't just grab it himself on the way in the door).

It could be that whatever happened to Bob happened before mail delivery, the perp was still in the house when the mail came and decided to bring in the mail in a deliberate attempt to baffle the timeline.

 

[GrainneDhu]

Do you think Bob marked his mail "Read" in what looks like a Sharpie? He reminds me so much of my grandfather.

I thought my father was the only person who did that! Even with his junk mail.

 

[believe09]

I emailed Frank Girardot of the newspaper group.

Perhaps he will write about Bob?

Laughing

I will email him too.

 

[zwiebel]

Hopefully, by this time he's probably received an email warning him against WSers' suggestions, along with a load of reasons why Bob's story is really not worth covering.

That should get his interest up.

 

[zwiebel]

I spent no little time creating and posting my new avatar especially for the forthcoming episode of 'Disappeared', only to realise now it's too small. Nobody can see what it says. Great.

 

[believe09]

It is a lovely avatar, and yes I expect that there will be a concerted effort to minimize or sabotage any chance this case has at drawing real interest.

It is a double edged sword to do so, imo. Again, the Jon Stewart schtick springs to mind..."Please proceed Governor Romney."

 

[zwiebel]

I thought my father was the only person who did that! Even with his junk mail.

I do it too! And I mark bills paid. I don't mark the junk mail but I do read every bit of it, even though I annoy myself by doing so.

 

[Oriah]

I don't mean to redirect again and again- because this conversation that is going on is great!
But going to do it anyway, lol. Don't ya'll think the timeline could be impacted greatly by the mail situation? The timeline is too tight. Who saw a mail carrier, who did not. Who mail carrier saw, and who they did not. What mail was transferred from outside residence to inside. Who transferred keys or anything else during time frame mail carrier may have delivered mail or been in neighborhood etc. That sort of thing.

Shoot, now I want to look into the legal responsibilities of postal carriers.

 

[Oriah]

I do it too! And I mark bills paid. I don't mark the junk mail but I do read every bit of it, even though I annoy myself by doing so.

O/T but lol, I shred and then throw in the circular file.

 

[zwiebel]

I'm posting a thumbnail of my new avatar before I change it. You must have superb eyesight believe09; I can't make it out at all.

 

[zwiebel]

That's better. I can see this new avatar, and it's a picture that tells a story too, I hope. I'll shut up about avatars now.

 

[zwiebel]

I don't mean to redirect again and again- because this conversation that is going on is great!
But going to do it anyway, lol. Don't ya'll think the timeline could be impacted greatly by the mail situation? The timeline is too tight. Who saw a mail carrier, who did not. Who mail carrier saw, and who they did not. What mail was transferred from outside residence to inside. Who transferred keys or anything else during time frame mail carrier may have delivered mail or been in neighborhood etc. That sort of thing.

Shoot, now I want to look into the legal responsibilities of postal carriers.

I think Bob received a call around 10am from a non-family member. That is only half an hour away from the time mail was supposed to be delivered. So if Bob didn't bring it in, we might be able to take a guess he wasn't around to do so.

Except daughter PB says she called and spoke to him about 11.45. When she overheard JeM state quite clearly he was going to the hardware store. We know this because PB was at pains to put all the details of the call in Bob's mp report.

 

[zwiebel]

Would this type of postal carrier just deliver mail? Or is it possible they delivered some of Mrs Harrods' packages and required a signature?

 

[GrainneDhu]

I do it too! And I mark bills paid. I don't mark the junk mail but I do read every bit of it, even though I annoy myself by doing so.

My mom kept every receipt and bill she ever got from the day she set foot in the US. Some time back in the 1980s, my parents were audited by the IRS because my father forgot to sign one of the places on the return.

I actually pitied that auditor. My mom drowned him in documentation, charm and niceness and when it was all over, the IRS figured out that the IRS owed my parents over $4K.

They've never been audited again. I think she traumatised that poor agent.

 

[GrainneDhu]

I don't mean to redirect again and again- because this conversation that is going on is great!
But going to do it anyway, lol. Don't ya'll think the timeline could be impacted greatly by the mail situation? The timeline is too tight. Who saw a mail carrier, who did not. Who mail carrier saw, and who they did not. What mail was transferred from outside residence to inside. Who transferred keys or anything else during time frame mail carrier may have delivered mail or been in neighborhood etc. That sort of thing.

Shoot, now I want to look into the legal responsibilities of postal carriers.

Depressing thought: are we sure that Bob even had mail that day? That possibility popped into my mind since we didn't get any mail here today, not even junk mail.

When I lived in town, our mail carrier drove a vehicle to the top of each street and then walked the street to do the actual mail delivery. If one house didn't have any mail, he didn't bother walking up to their mailbox.

Tangential thought: why are so few houses in the US built with mailboxes rather than mail slots? My mother, being English, was determined to have a proper mail slot but most houses in Iowa just have boxes, even if the box is mounted directly to the house.