CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #15

[zwiebel]

Sorry, I dropped into the English term for it above. By stair lift I meant stair elevator.

 

[believe09]

I hadn't thought of that. Bob was a tall man. If anything had happened to him upstairs, the stair lift would have been an easy way to bring him downstairs.

Jumping off of Oriah and zwiebel. This makes all the sense in the world. Once down the stairs, Bob would be much more easily manipulated into whatever vehicle. OMG, what a horrible image.

I am so sorry Mrs Harrod.

*if* this was a means of transporting him from upstairs, for example, to downstairs it makes complete sense that in a panic the daughters would insist the chair lift stay in tact.

Or, it could be just pure meanness. Keeping something which was obstructive and belonging to Georgia in the way of Mr and Mrs Harrod moving on with their lives.

There is no end to that kind of meanness in this case.

 

[zwiebel]

I wish those responsible for Bob's estate would issue a new reward poster. Leaving out the 'family excluded' bit, which frankly just confuses and distracts potential searchers. I think it was done to cast suspicion of Fontelle's family, but daughters don't seem to realize that to people with no knowledge of the case, it makes them look bad as well. Outsiders can - and have - thought that the estate is entirely separate from them and has deliberately excluded them from claiming the reward.

I also don't like the idea of people being asked to call tips in to daughters' private investigator. A PI who was paid to work minimum hours and only report 'general milestones'. That doesn't allow for all huge amount of work involved in following up tips. And would the PI pass tips on to LE, or to Bob's daughters? Given the lack of activity on their part for highlighting Bob's case, is it likely they would follow up tips?....or even remember to pass them on to LE. Daughter JuM, after all, can't even remember the Placentia Police Depts' phone number, or keep it to hand.

I don't know. If I didn't know better, I'd think daughters weren't that keen on anyone claiming the reward, even if it meant Bob being brought home.

ETA: I know missing posters can be made by anyone, but what about reward posters. Do they have to be made by the people offering them, or can anyone do it?

 

[zwiebel]

Jumping off of Oriah and zwiebel. This makes all the sense in the world. Once down the stairs, Bob would be much more easily manipulated into whatever vehicle. OMG, what a horrible image.

I am so sorry Mrs Harrod.

*if* this was a means of transporting him from upstairs, for example, to downstairs it makes complete sense that in a panic the daughters would insist the chair lift stay in tact.

Or, it could be just pure meanness. Keeping something which was obstructive and belonging to Georgia in the way of Mr and Mrs Harrod moving on with their lives.

There is no end to that kind of meanness in this case.

The stair elevator I recall from a grandparent's house was fairly streamlined, but still a 'contraption'. The seat was a mix of metal and either leather or faux leather upholstery, with controls on the arm, and then the rail going down the stairs had a recess and was made up of two or more components. Although all the materials would be easily cleanable, I think there would be an awful lot of inaccessible places where small forensic traces might be scattered, and remain.

 

[Cubby]

I don't believe the PI was hired to find Bob. I believe the PI was hired to dig dirt on the BL. I'd bet if someone were to ask Det. Rad how closely he was working with Bob's daughters PI, he'd likely say, not at all.

I wonder if that PI is still working for Bob's daughters, or if he dropped them as clients?

I do agree it is time for an updated reward flier. And that nonsense about excluding family should be eliminated, unless of course Bob's daughters want their implied message of secrecy among the family to be highlighted with bright flashing lights. Because that is ALL that ridiculous 'family is excluded' indicates.

 

[believe09]

I wonder if that PI is still working for Bob's daughters, or if he dropped them as clients?

The PI/Bodyguard, right?

 

[believe09]

I think the family offering the reward, out of Bob's own money, needs to edit their poster.

Outsiders are certainly free to issue MP posters and have them sent or posted by locals. It is always good to raise the profile of a case like this one...this one might just need one more nudge to be solved. One more recollection, one more remembrance, one more hiker stumbling across something....

Removing the silly caveat to the reward would be a step in the right direction to some how indicate, for once, that this family would like to recover this man at all costs.

I wont hold my breath.

 

[zwiebel]

What would be really wonderful is if one kind person could design a new missing poster, and another could design a reward poster, both in time for Bob's missing anniversary.

I used to be able to design magazine pages, but I always had a basic design template to start with. And I only used one type of software and I don't have it now. Otherwise, I'm a bit rubbish at design, I think.

I'm certain I could find someone who isn't, for a reward poster, but that would still leave a problem. The very best place for them to be distributed would be in Orange County - or better still, Placentia. I would happily jump on a plane and deliver them myself, because I used to do things like that before I got the flipping dog. But I have got the flipping dog and I'm not leaving him and I'm not taking him on a plane either. He has barked like mad at anything in the air since a hanglider accidentally landed on his head one day. That was one of the strangest things that ever happened to me or my dog, because nothing in life prepares a person (or mutt) for the day a human being descends upon them suddenly from the sky, while wearing a bright red jumpsuit, goggles and wings and saying "Don't worry, I won't hit you - I've been caught by a current".

A new reward poster, somehow distributed in Placentia must be within the wit of man though. I've heard that anything's possible in America. I'm going to believe it until it's proved otherwise.

 

[cloudajo]

What would be really wonderful is if one kind person could design a new missing poster, and another could design a reward poster, both in time for Bob's missing anniversary.

I used to be able to design magazine pages, but I always had a basic design template to start with. And I only used one type of software and I don't have it now. Otherwise, I'm a bit rubbish at design, I think.

I'm certain I could find someone who isn't, for a reward poster, but that would still leave a problem. The very best place for them to be distributed would be in Orange County - or better still, Placentia. I would happily jump on a plane and deliver them myself, because I used to do things like that before I got the flipping dog. But I have got the flipping dog and I'm not leaving him and I'm not taking him on a plane either. He has barked like mad at anything in the air since a hanglider accidentally landed on his head one day. That was one of the strangest things that ever happened to me or my dog, because nothing in life prepares a person (or mutt) for the day a human being descends upon them suddenly from the sky, while wearing a bright red jumpsuit, goggles and wings and saying "Don't worry, I won't hit you - I've been caught by a current".

A new reward poster, somehow distributed in Placentia must be within the wit of man though. I've heard that anything's possible in America. I'm going to believe it until it's proved otherwise.

I put together the attached missing/reward flyer after the reward was announced. I can update it if necessary.

 

[believe09]

Is there a chance you would include that he was the subject of an episode of "Disappeared"? It might inspire folks to seek out a copy of the show so they can get a better idea of what went on before and after his disappearance.

 

[zwiebel]

I'm really annoyed with myself - how did I miss that?

That's fantastic because it has info about who can claim the reward, rather than who can't. I think it would be a good idea to update it though. Not because it doesn't contain all the vital information, but because then it could legitimately have an issue date on it that is current and therefore more eye-catching.

Does anyone think it might be a good idea to have a mention of 'Long Lost Love' on the poster? I'm thinking that would be a simple way of providing people with the means to get info about most of the circumstances surrounding Bob's disappearance.

 

[believe09]

I'm really annoyed with myself - how did I miss that?

That's fantastic because it has info about who can claim the reward, rather than who can't. I think it would be a good idea to update it though. Not because it doesn't contain all the vital information, but because then it could legitimately have an issue date on it that is current and therefore more eye-catching.

Does anyone think it might be a good idea to have a mention of 'Long Lost Love' on the poster? I'm thinking that would be a simple way of providing people with the means to get info about most of the circumstances surrounding Bob's disappearance.

:floorlaugh: Copy cat. I posted this first...:slapfight: Yes, I think it is a good idea fwiw.

 

[zwiebel]

That post wasn't there when I started writing my reply, I swear!

 

[zwiebel]

The PI/Bodyguard, right?

I was always fascinated in London when sometimes I'd pass someone I didn't recognise from TV or newspapers, getting into a car, obviously with a bodyguard in tow.

Were they so rich they thought they might be a kidnap target?

Had they said or done something controversial and feared retaliation?

Had they fled from a corrupt regime abroad, or were they part of a corrupt regime, now in exile?

Or where they in no danger at all? Just wanting people to think they were rich enough/important enough to have one?

Or just wanting people to think they were in need of protection, for unfathomable reasons of their own?

 

[zwiebel]

I suppose one or two might have mixed themselves up with serious criminals who'd committed murder or something, and were afraid they were going to get murdered too. I saw a well-known London gangster in a pub once, who wrote a book about that sort of thing.

I didn't ask for his autograph.

 

[zwiebel]

I didn't like the look of his hands.

 

[believe09]

Now, if I were feeling especially mean I would imply that hiring a PI/Bodyguard is a way of having a fit attractive man on your arm, but I am sure that this is not the case and I would never be that deliberately mean.

 

[zwiebel]

So would the Daily Mail say that's a bouger rather than a couger? Or a desperate protectorate rather than a desperate housewife?

Not that I ever, ever read that type of story in the Daily Mail.

 

[believe09]

I am not sure, zwie and I never ever read that kind of story either.

I feel for the PI-this case didnt really notch his belt any. It is tough to try and use 4 hours a month and a reward poster as indicative of your talents.

 

[believe09]

I will be curious to find out what his reports contain once this comes to trial.