CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #17

[zwiebel]

Even Mr Z has been looking up the McStay case now. Of course, he doesn't see any great mystery at all, but that's easy in retrospect!

Lots of attention will be focused on San Bernardino now. Maybe people will have high expectations they'll be able to help resolve some other high profile cases too. I'm sure they can. There are some good people up there and the DA is very, very keen on justice for victims.

 

[zwiebel]

What do you think of the map location where the family went missing and where they were found, sres? It seems really surprising to me.

 

[Grainne Dhu]

Even Mr Z has been looking up the McStay case now. Of course, he doesn't see any great mystery at all, but that's easy in retrospect!

Lots of attention will be focused on San Bernardino now. Maybe people will have high expectations they'll be able to help resolve some other high profile cases too. I'm sure they can. There are some good people up there and the DA is very, very keen on justice for victims.

I have to agree with Mr Z on that one in that it was always totally obvious to me that they were not in Mexico. The best video image I ever saw was so grainy and indistinct that it could have been any couple with two small children. Plus, why would they leave so much money behind if they wanted to walk out of their lives? If a family sticks to the non-tourist areas of Mexico, they could live very well for years on that money.

You do realise, I hope, that San Bernardino County is south of Orange County...? I'd guess that it's 70 miles (110 km) from Placentia to Fallbrook.

 

[zwiebel]

I did not realise it was south, of course. It goes uphill, therefore it is north of OC. According to my logic anyhow. Please don't be surprised as my foolishness with directions and maps knows no bounds.

I even have a stack of plans of my own house lying disused in a drawer, despite what it cost to get them drawn up. Using them, I failed to recognise a single room in my own home and came within an inch of getting an electrician to install the bathroom wiring in the kitchen. I just follow my dog, most of the time, though that system doesn't work too well in the car...

 

[zwiebel]

I have to agree with Mr Z on that one in that it was always totally obvious to me that they were not in Mexico. The best video image I ever saw was so grainy and indistinct that it could have been any couple with two small children. Plus, why would they leave so much money behind if they wanted to walk out of their lives? If a family sticks to the non-tourist areas of Mexico, they could live very well for years on that money.

You do realise, I hope, that San Bernardino County is south of Orange County...? I'd guess that it's 70 miles (110 km) from Placentia to Fallbrook.

Does it seem as obvious too, that Bob didn't go off and leave his wife and his fortune? It always has to me, and I can't understand why some of his family members seemed to think differently.

 

[sreshowtime]

well.... there is easy off & on the 15 at exit 157 (or 154)
34.596101, -117.255881

http://www.startribune.com/nation/231850701.html
you can see that exit sign in this photo

and sorta looks like this is the area in question where remains found
34.596541, -117.256142
because in the bottom right of that photo appears to be a dirt road edge thing

there are 3 motels just south at exit 154 and frankly it would not surprise me if persons were held there prior to taking the persons/bodies to that location where found...I don't know that you just trot around with 4 dead bodies in a vehicle for a great length of time.
If this is the Mcstays, I theorize they had some, hmm , unsavory dealings some how, that led to this.

From this aream It is only 2.50 hours straight down to the mexican border at San Ysidro , where their vehicle was found
and less than 2 hours north of Fallbrook

if it is indeed the Mcstays, this was no spur of the moment act, imho

and 15 goes to Vegas to...that is one place that gives me the creeps

yep that is the area, this is the road LE had closed 34.595001, -117.258621
see video http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-victorville-bodies-20131114,0,3942534.story#axzz2kjNi8YnX

 

[sreshowtime]

fwiw I seriously doubt a total stranger took Mr H or that it was some kind of mob hit or anything connected to any kind of business dealings. IMHO his disappearance is related to greed and jealousy and selfishness...pure & simple, or so it appears.

 

[Grainne Dhu]

I did not realise it was south, of course. It goes uphill, therefore it is north of OC. According to my logic anyhow. Please don't be surprised as my foolishness with directions and maps knows no bounds.

I even have a stack of plans of my own house lying disused in a drawer, despite what it cost to get them drawn up. Using them, I failed to recognise a single room in my own home and came within an inch of getting an electrician to install the bathroom wiring in the kitchen. I just follow my dog, most of the time, though that system doesn't work too well in the car...

I used to follow my beloved service dog out of restaurants. When I was still able to work, we ate out in restaurants a lot when I was presenting and he quickly figured out that Mama was hopeless at finding her way out when we were in the sort of restaurant that is a connected series of smaller rooms. So he very quickly started leading me out the way we'd come.

When he got nervous about parking lots after seeing me bumped by car in one, he also figured out how to find the closest sidewalk or perimeter area and he was most insistent that he wanted me to either go to the nearest sidewalk or the edge of the parking lot. Didn't matter if it was shorter to cut across the parking lot, he knew they were dangerous and he wasn't going to have any of that nonsense from me.

I miss him terribly.

 

[Grainne Dhu]

Does it seem as obvious too, that Bob didn't go off and leave his wife and his fortune? It always has to me, and I can't understand why some of his family members seemed to think differently.

More than obvious. Bob was really in love with Fontelle, just talking to her on the phone lit him up.

Of course, there's really only three categories of missing persons: voluntary, mentally incompetent and involuntary. They sure tried to push Bob's case into the first two categories.

 

[zwiebel]

It is such a strange world because the McStay family disappearance seemed to get pushed into those first kind of categories too, and now it is firmly in the third, and they've ended up in San Bernardino County.

And Bob's case seems to have progressed to that last category too, and he's ended up....

..somewhere.

 

[zwiebel]

A lot of my favorite sites are taking ages to load today - I think there are a lot of people following the discovery of the McStays.

I have always doubted if Bob could have been buried. I always imagine that not a lot of time was spent in disappearing all traces of him. Maybe it's because so much of the soil in the nature areas outside Placentia looks so rocky. That would be just terrible to dig. I think it would have taken a half hour at least, but probably longer, to dig a hole the size of the one we are seeing coming out of San B now.

 

[True Crime Gal]

Hi all--have just been reading through this thread and trying to familiarize myself with everyone involved... just heartbreaking. I feel for Mrs Harrod very deeply, to have been deprived of the happiness with Bob.

Snippng ahead...

I cannot fathom why, but this keeps cropping up in England -people found in their homes and gardens after they have been missing for years.

I have to admit, when I heard about the activity in the bathroom, I thought immediately of the case of Julie Hogg, whose body was actually hidden behind a panel in the bathroom. (I watched the case on a Real Crime channel on YouTube... hope that's ok to link. There's a little bit more about the story in this article. Interesting about the changing of double jeopardy in England as a result.)

I think someone asked about whether photos and birth dates appear on CA licenses. I don't recall seeing it answered, so: When I lived there, yes. I don't know of a state in the US that does not have photo ID driver license.

There was another post about the possibility of narcotics etc remaining in the home after Georgia's death. When my dad passed away last month at home after receiving about a week's worth of home hospice care, the hospice worker (might have been a nurse? I didn't meet her) very diligently collected all of the remaining narcotics from around the house to dispose of them. Don't know the exact situation in Georgia's case, and that was NY, not CA... but. FWIW.

And oh, the news about the McStays... I remember seeing their case on "Disappeared", I think. What a terrible fate.

One last thing, speaking of "Disappeared": This might have come up before but season 5 recently became available for streaming on Netflix in the US. I left off watching episode 6--and I see Bob's episode is #13. I may just have to jump ahead.

tcg

 

[sreshowtime]

yeah doubt he was buried ...unless it was on private property

 

[sreshowtime]

welcome True Crime Gal...it's a doozy- dear Mr. H

interesting on that narcotics in the home thing- I just recalled when my mama passed the during the night she came home for the hospital...and hospice was supposed to start the next day...well when the 911 responders came in very early that morning, I do recall the officer asking to see what meds she had available...but they didn't take any...( in Ga., 1997)
hmm

 

[zwiebel]

Welcome, True Crime Gal! And thank you for all the information too.

I hope you get to watch the Disappeared episode - it doesn't cover every aspect of Bob's case, but it certainly revealed a few gems to us. I think for viewers totally unfamiliar with his case, there were certain omissions that left them puzzled. If you have read through some threads though I don't think that will be a problem for you.

I'd love to hear what you think when you've seen it.

 

[zwiebel]

By the way sres, I think there were an awful lot of people searching for that same really useful map info for Victorville you posted uptop. Trouble is, they were all in another thread!

 

[zwiebel]

I'm torn. There is so much attention focused on missing people in CA now, and bodies in the desert and natural terrain. It is all focused on the poor McStay family of course, as it should be.

But I hope the interest doesn't die away completely after their case is solved ( as I am certain it will be). I hope people don't get the feeling that now they have been found, they can breathe a sigh of relief and turn their eyes away from the sad desert lands of California. I believe there are probably so many more missing out there, and Bob may be one of them.

I also hope the motorcyclist is given the reward that has been offered for the family's location, without any problem. That will be an encouragement for others to keep their eyes open too. I also hope the tiniest shred of speculation about the biker's discovering the remains is nipped in the bud immediately. That sort of stuff is a terrible disincentive for people in the future to report any remains they come across, I think.

Would anyone transporting the McStays from Fallbrook to San B have passed anywhere near that landfill sres, or is that in the wrong place altogether? I can't look at maps at the moment - I still have a headache from doing that last night. If they did, but did not put them in it, it gives me more hope that Bob is not there either somehow.

 

[sreshowtime]

Zwie, assuming someone in the Mcstays case came north on the 15, by my calculations, the closest they would have come to the Olinda landfill would be app. 20 miles as the crow flies. I venture to guess whomever had a fairly good idea of the general vicinity of their destination.

 

[sreshowtime]

zwie you can share that Victorville location stuff if you want...I think some think the spot the remains were found is a little further than it actually is from the interstate....I may be wrong with my eyeballing it though.

 

[zwiebel]

Yes, I think you are right. Whoever put the McStays there always had that approximate destination in mind. Heaven knows, they might even have used it before.

It is very different with Bob. I do tend to favor the theory that his disappearance had some element of planning. I think it was very shaky and general planning though, and elements of it fell apart.

Not the actual disappearing of him though. That went according to plan I think. What the plan was though, I don't know. If we did, we'd probably know where Bob was. Have to put ourselves inside the head of someone capable of disappearing an eighty-one year old man. That's pretty hard.