CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #14

[Angelo]

Eventually, son-in-law shouted down that Bob wasn't there. The housekeeper got on with her housekeeping, but her feeling of dread increased when she saw that Bob's bed wasn't made. That was yet another thing that she had never encountered in all her years of working for Bob before.

Son-in-law JeM left before the housekeeper. It's likely he returned though, as it's reported he left a note on the counter for Bob, telling him he would return the next day to finish up the repairs. He never did.

At some point, someone made Bob's bed, because it was made that night when police were finally called to check on Bob.

Mrs Harrod had been calling and calling Bob that evening, because he hadn't answered her usual call. It wasn't until 9pm California time though, that JuM, son-in-law's wife, finally called Fontelle and told her Bob was missing. Mrs Harrod says she told her Bob had been missing since 11am. It was Mrs Harrod who called California LE, from Missouri, to report Bob missing.

Around 9.32pm that night, Bob's grandson AH, who lived a block away, stood on the driveway of Bob's home waiting for LE to accompany him inside before he would enter the house and check his grandfather was okay. Grandson AH is the son of daughter JuM and son-in-law JeM.

Police found everything in order, but no sign of Bob at all.................

BBM~

Yes, JeM never returned and his excuse for not returning, given by his SIL, is ludicrous!

JeM's SIL wrote that he didn't return because Mr. Harrod was not answering his phone.

 

[zwiebel]

It makes no sense whatsoever. If your father-in-law has disappeared, you have seen a car behaving suspiciously outside his house, for about 10 minutes, (according to Son-in-law's son, AH) and then he doesn't answer the phone the next day.....

You just do nothing?

 

[shana]

{snip}
Maybe someone else could chip in with this? Maybe starting with those hundreds of thousands of dollars Bob loaned to his grandson, AH, and what ever happened to that money?
{snip}

Above is respectfully snipped to address this one issue.

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #10


btw, that post by me and many others by some who no longer post here are definitely worth a read (or a re-read, as the case may be).

~jmo~

 

[bourne]

It makes no sense whatsoever. If your father-in-law has disappeared, you have seen a car behaving suspiciously outside his house, for about 10 minutes, (according to Son-in-law's son, AH) and then he doesn't answer the phone the next day.....

You just do nothing?

I agree. I say follow the money trail. I've only started to follow this case but from what I've read, looks like someone with money-grubbing hands did something awful to this nice man. Who received the bulk of his will?

 

[believe09]

I agree. I say follow the money trail. I've only started to follow this case but from what I've read, looks like someone with money-grubbing hands did something awful to this nice man. Who received the bulk of his will?

His two eldest daughters are the co conservators of his estate until he is located or formally declared dead instead of missing, presumed homicide. His grandson so far seems to have been the person who has benefited the most financially. IMO.

Thank you so much for your interest!!!

The most important aspect of the national media will hopefully be tips...tips are needed, and it is quite possible that the kind of tip which might tie everything together is a small observance that someone filed in the back of their head.

A while back we had a discussion that was guided by Oriah-we discussed small and big changes that friends and acquaintances might have noticed during the months following the disappearance...is there a person associated with Bob's case who might have changed their appearance, become depressed, moody, jumpy, turned to substances or addictive behavior of any kind, moved, left a job etc...I think that these are the one off type things that might help narrow the focus for the investigation.

Of course, the best gift of all would be someone simply coming clean and telling PPD where he is.

 

[Wondergirl]

What kind of searches have been done for Bob?

What are the theories on where he may have been taken?

What is the deal with the bed sheets?

 

[Cubby]

While we are on the topic of Bob's grandson, AH's deposition, note he stopped making payments on his mortgage within 4 days of Mr. Harrod's disappearance. 4 days!

His reason for not making his mortgage payments as of August 1, 2009 was because he believed his loan with Bob would be forgiven upon his grandfathers death. There is no record of any documentation regarding the grandson's loan being forgiven upon Mr. Harrod's death, despite his daughters stating under oath Bob kept meticulous records.

Meanwhile, the grandson's mother and wife of the last person to see Bob alive posted on her community forum that they suspected foul play within 24 hours of Bob's disappearance.

Two of the three Michael's family members post and/or make changes in their lives within 96 hours of Bob's disappearance indicative of their belief he was no longer with us.

Yet, for the first 72 hours LE believed Bob may have left for a few days to cool off after the heated family meeting. It wasn't until Mrs. Harrod arrived they realized they had a big problem here.

 

[Cubby]

Bob's grandson, AH's deposition:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - CA CA - Bob Harrod-Court Documents No discussion

It's a large file and takes a few minutes to load.

From AH's depo. page 37 starting at line 21.

Q: Did she (PB) ever just come out in substance and ask you why you weren't paying the trust deed?

A: Yes.

Q: Your response would be?

A: Again, not recalling the specifics, the gist was that it wasn't my grandfathers intent.

Skip to page 50, line 9 where the questions again relate to Bob's "intent" according to AH.

Q: Do you recall telling me in that conversation that your Aunts, as trustees, were doing some things that did not sit well with you?

A: Yes.

Q: What did you mean by that?

A: I meant that I didn't believe that they were following through with the intentions that my grandfather had.

Q: What is your understanding of the intentions your grandfather had?

A: That my note was to be forgiven upon his death or --


.
.
.

 

[Cubby]

Some other interesting things to note from AH's depostion:

He obtained a deed of trust from Bob in 1999 with the purchase of the home on Windflower. He and his wife filed for bankruptcy in 2000. The missed payments, deed amount amount of 250,000, was included in the bankruptcy. I'm not sure of the dollar amount owed to Bob included in the bankruptcy, just that money owed Bob was included.

Also noted in the deposition was that there were several notes from various financial institutions other than Countrywide and his grandfather.

He also notes there were personal loans to him from his grandfather somewhere in the area of 100K.

I can't help but wonder about the multiple loans from multiple institutions. Was AH playing with Bob's money in a manner which was illegal?

 

[Cubby]

Just adding up the numbers from AH's deposition and it looks like Bob loaned him about a million dollars.

250K on Windflower when the house was first purchased.
650K or so that was the current note when he stopped paying his mortgage
100K or so in personal loans.

That's a lot of money. I'd be curious to see how much of it was actually paid back.

 

[suzyq211]

This is it! Finally, after all these years...Bob Harrod's case gets the media attention that he always deserved! I pray this brings out leads that will help to bring him home to Fontelle/Mrs. Harrod, and bring those responsible to JUSTICE!

 

[zwiebel]

What kind of searches have been done for Bob?

What are the theories on where he may have been taken?

What is the deal with the bed sheets?

Welcome to Bob's thread, Wondergirl! Hope someone will correct me if I get anything wrong, but I believe:

Searches - There was a brief, 'welfare' check search by police and grandson on the night Bob disappeared. There was a forensic check of son-in-law's vehicle. There was a forensic search of Bob's home but that wasn't until two years after he'd vanished. As for community-based, feet-on-the-ground searches.....I don't think there has been a single one.

Theories - on where Bob may have been taken. LE hasn't expressed any, as far as I know. Except to say they don't believe it was a stranger abduction. Bob's daughters, early on, pointed the finger at the hairdresser. The suspicious black vehicle son-in-law was reported to have watched outside Bob's house for about 10 mins, was remarkably similar to the hairdresser's car. LE stated she had a solid alibi.
Someone posting as 'watchful neighbour' suggested Bob might be being held prisoner by his wife Fontelle, in his own home.
Perhaps a little more realistically, you will find a few more theories from our search and rescue professional, down in the SAR thread here: Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community


Sheets - It's either a big deal or nothing, depending on how you'd feel if a relative came into your house without your permission, and changed the sheets on you and your partner's bed.
Bob's youngest daughter JuM (wife of son-in-law JeM), drove down to Bob's house the day after Bob disappeared, let herself in, and put new sheets on the bed. Mrs Harrod hadn't made it back from MO at that time.

Much, much later, JuM compiled a 'memorabilia list, of all the things in Bob's house daughters say Bob had either borrowed from them, or were legally theirs. Amongst them were the sheets JuM had put on the bed, the morning after Bob disappeared. See 'the list' here in our legal documents:
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #5

 

[zwiebel]

Spring, 1949. Fontelle sees Bob.....

"When I first met him I looked in his eyes, right straight to his soul and he just seemed like a good person."

'Black and white photos of the young couple sit on a coffee table. Here we are fishing, she says. Here he is wearing the beard he grew for the Kansas City Cenntenial, she says.'

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/02/local/la-me-disappeared3-2010feb03

 

[believe09]

Searches - There was a brief, 'welfare' check search by police and grandson on the night Bob disappeared. There was a forensic check of son-in-law's vehicle. There was a forensic search of Bob's home but that wasn't until two years after he'd vanished. As for community-based, feet-on-the-ground searches.....I don't think there has been a single one.

Respectfully, zwiebel. We have no idea how many searches have been done of Bob's home and what has been found. We know that OC Sheriff's CSI processed the house again two years after he disappeared. That would lead me to believe that there was a tip or a very strong piece of evidence that was discovered. What ever it was, it warranted a closer look at the house.

 

[zwiebel]

Thank you believe09!

 

[zwiebel]

Spring, 1949. Fontelle sees Bob.....

"When I first met him I looked in his eyes, right straight to his soul and he just seemed like a good person."

'Black and white photos of the young couple sit on a coffee table. Here we are fishing, she says. Here he is wearing the beard he grew for the Kansas City Cenntenial, she says.'

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/02/local/la-me-disappeared3-2010feb03

Sorry to bump my own post. I wanted people to be able to compare the efforts made by Fontelle, and those made by other family members, to help journalists highlight Bob's case.

Autumn, 2009. Bob's daughter RB speaks about her missing father.

"Dad got heated. He's very selfish, very conditional."

'JuM (daughter) and JeM (son-in-law), contacted through RB, would not comment for this story.'

http://www2.ocregister.com/articles...RecommendedOnly=1&oncommentsPage=2#slComments

 

[Opie]

Well, have checked and rechecked our cable TV package, and we do NOT have the necessary channel to watch the show tonight. I'll be one of those glued to this thread to read what is being said/shown. Thanks in advance to those who will be posting that info.

 

[zwiebel]

BBM

I think we have to tie some pieces together here. I don't know if you read the summary of the Disappeared show that aired in Australia, but in it the oldest daughter Paula mentions discovering Bob was gifting money to the hairdresser while doing/filing his 2008 taxes.

Daughter JuM posted about Bob pushing them away around Christmas, his not acknowledging his grandson or great grandchildren and we know from CA Exile that Bob had given each of his daughters 15K and asked them to leave him alone for 6 mo's.

All three of the above events happened at about the same time. I believe at this same time a call was made to Adult/senior protective services which was closed based on Bob dismissing them and his being of sound mind.

I suspect Paula giving Bob a heads up had to due with Roberta's "earlier January attempt" to coordinate a demand letter after discovering the gifts to BL. The letter itself explains Roberta's efforts, in her own words.




I understood this to mean Paula contacted Bob to give him the heads up on the demand letter Roberta was preparing on behalf of the sisters 'in agreement' at which time Bob placed an angry call to Jeff probably telling him to keep his wife out of Bob's business.

Bob's daughters have always stated these actions were on behalf of Bob's best interest, but clearly they were unwelcome actions based on Bob's response.

And this brings me back to Det. Radomski stating he believes that answers to Bob's disappearance lay in the battle over the estate. We know from Roberta's own words above this battle began in December of 2008 or January of 2009.

January of 2009 was certainly a pivot point in this battle over the estate. A lot happened that month.

I was thinking about this, how odd it was that Bob was angry with son-in-law over something his daughter/daughters did.

Is it possible JeM himself was helping draft that 'demand' letter? Or even JeM's son, AH? That might also explain why Bob directed his anger at JeM, rather than the daughters.

 

[zwiebel]

Well, have checked and rechecked our cable TV package, and we do NOT have the necessary channel to watch the show tonight. I'll be one of those glued to this thread to read what is being said/shown. Thanks in advance to those who will be posting that info.

I'm sad for you Opie, but glad I'll have some company!

I second your thanks to anyone who can pop in and give us an update, even if it's in the ad break. I'm dying to know if the narration has been put back. I really hope so.

 

[zwiebel]

Look everyone, remember how we puzzled and puzzled over whether there was any possibility anyone stayed overnight in Placentia, the night of the not-heated family meeting the night before Bob disappeared? How it really bugged Oriah?

Isn't there an answer in this old video interview here, with Det. Loomis?

'No-one seems to know anything. The last person again, to see him, would have been his son-in-law JeM, who had been down from the mountains for a couple of days, working on the house, getting everything ready for Fontelle.'

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/video/6194564-placentia-man-81-still-missing-after-2-years/