Found Deceased CA - Fang Jin, 47, flew to LA from China, train to Palm Springs, Morongo Basin, 21 Jul 2023, w/ John Root Fitzpatrick, 55, (fnd dec.), 30 Jul ‘23 #2

[ch_13]

From Belgium, at least, acces is denied to the hereabove : video, article and CBS8 (news channel).
Could you please find a way so that @mark1969 can acces to this documents. Thank you very much.

@mark1969, can you access this YouTube link?

Edit: The warrant should be available at this link:

fitzpatrick_search_warrant.pdf

View and download fitzpatrick_search_warrant.pdf on DocDroid

www.docdroid.net

 

[sfinkz]

Many thanks to David Gotfredson at CBS 8 News for finally providing answers.

It’s obvious the reporter (from a TV news dep’t, nonetheless) has been investigating this case (since before last week’s bombshell of JRF found deceased).
Obtained copy of search warrant #1 (Aug 1 search, warrant #2 (Aug 3) under seal. Spoke with hiker(s) discovering remains and received email replies from sheriff offices of the two jurisdictions (where case originated, where remains discovered).
The detailed reply from San Diego appears to be after remains discovered (Sept 17) and before identified.
The typically-terse response from San Bernardino had to be before the discovery, ‘no further updates’. The ‘wrecked’ truck (hastily driven into the canyon wash with no intention of driving out?) was discovered before the remains, perhaps same day, and immediately ID’d.
It’s obvious SBCSO has investigated this case from start, springing into action after 7/30 mpr of JRF. There are valid reasons, I suppose, for being tight-lipped to the point of evasiveness.
I can not understand, however, the silence of the local media. Not one update from the newspaper, TV, radio stations in the immediate area since reporting missing 12 weeks ago. Has the local media been muzzled by the sheriff?
(The bot-written local aggregates usually mention, “..in a case that has gripped…”. Ha!)
I wonder because the original ‘SD-Union’ article a week ago, announcing the ID of remains, looks like it fell into their lap. (Perhaps by DH, a very valuable source, reporting his friend,JRF,missing and meeting FJ in the trailer (7/17?)).
Did DH try to shop his story locally and was rebuffed, sending it to San Diego, casting a wider net and examined more vigorously?
I emailed the ‘SD-U’ reporter (also doing follow-up as the reporter has contacted wildlands photog in receipt of remain pics) without response, attempting to discern how the story originated. A reporter has to protect their sources.
Interestingly, the source for the CBS-8 report is not named. We know DH is not afraid of reaching out; contacting FJ search efforts early, filing mpr, contacting media.
At any rate, looks like this story has finally gained traction, may be only a matter of time before the graphic international tabloids and TV trucks show up.
(Recalling case of Lauren Cho, discovered two years ago, several miles and same side of highway as JRF’s trailer, on same trajectory as GabyP. SBCSO criticized for abandoning search early in wake of intense nationwide GabyP search. Search resumed two months later (searches in desert in summer are problematic), LC found shortly thereafter)

 

[L'Eau_d'Hiver]

@mark1969, can you access this YouTube link?

I'm in France and this link works for me, so I guess @mark1969 can access the video too...

 

[Centaurus]

@mark1969 If you cannot access the .PDF, private message me with your email address and I can forward it to you.

 

[mark1969]

From a volunteer Search & Recue member , we got a message that Jin's backpack would have been found nearby the rd 78 (washed down by the Canyon rains ?) 2 or 3 miles from trailhead- Harper Canyon , his truck was on the other end of Harper Canyon, nearby Pinion Wash.... please all ... focus helping search in that location area for finding Jin Fang

 

[mark1969]

@mark1969, can you access this YouTube link?

yes the youtube works fine , the pdf not

 

[Centaurus]

From a volunteer Search & Recue member , we got a message that Jin's backpack would have been found nearby the rd 78 (washed down by the Canyon rains ?) 2 or 3 miles from trailhead- Harper Canyon , his truck was on the other end of Harper Canyon, nearby Pinion Wash.... please all ... focus helping search in that location area for finding Jin Fang

Just to confirm, Jin's backpack WAS found?

 

[ch_13]

yes the youtube works fine , the pdf not

Try this:

fitzpatrick_search_warrant.pdf

View and download fitzpatrick_search_warrant.pdf on DocDroid

www.docdroid.net

 

[espirtu pampa]

@mark1969, can you access this YouTube link?

Edit: The warrant should be available at this link:

fitzpatrick_search_warrant.pdf

View and download fitzpatrick_search_warrant.pdf on DocDroid

www.docdroid.net

Thank you this is perfect : video and warrant!

 

[wary]

Well, it certainly sounds like the investigation is ongoing and is being taken seriously by LE. For a while there, I think we all felt like LE was doing nothing.

That’s what we tend to feel, when LE is doing its job properly.

MOO

 

[Sarah McGregor]

The few times I’ve been out to that location, was to ride dirt bikes or quads. There’s nothing but desert and dunes. The summer months (July-August) are unbearably hot. He might have driven to that area to hide “evidence” , but drove himself into a tight spot. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me.

My mind jumped to another possible conclusions.

--His skull was found separated from the rest of the remains. We don't know how far away they were from each other but how does that happen? I don't think it could be from animals because IMO if that was the case, wouldn't the article mention the scattering of some of his other bones? In the pixelated picture of the headless skeleton featured in the news clip, even though you can't see a whole lot, the remains look pretty contained to a small area to me, not scattered about. Just my opinion.

--He was found miles away from his "banged up" truck. How did he end up that far away from it? He wouldn't have been able to walk that far in the heat, according to many locals who have posted here.

--He had so many teeth missing that they could not identify him using his dental records.

--As you and others have said, there is nothing anywhere near the areas where his truck and remains were found that a typical tourist would want to see. There are so many awesome things to see at the Anza-Barrego State Park, including things you can enjoy from your air-conditioned car, like the Galleta Meadows Sculptures. (The dragon is incredible!) I can't imagine JRF would willingly go to the places his truck and body were found, much less take a visiting friend to go see, IMO.

--If he drove there to "hide evidence," where is the evidence? Where is FJ?

People here have speculated about misadventure, murder-suicide, JRF taking FJ on a long hike without enough water . . . IMO there has to be another explanation, given some of the new information that has come out.

 

[tvscum]

https://interactive.cbs8.com/pdfs/military_redacted.pdf

 

[Red Clover]

yes the youtube works fine , the pdf not

I just sent you screenshots of the documents in a private message

 

[10ofRods]

SO frustrating for Fang's next of kin would be an understatement!

As mentioned by Mark, LE told them NOTHING. The family group literally paid out $$$ for a PI because they had been given no information. Then waited and waited (posted here by Mark) for PI to give them info - still they heard nothing until finally when it was made known JRF's remains had been found.

That's standard operating procedure in a criminal investigation.

Right now, no one knows who all is involved in this case, and LE want to both find Jin Fang *and* to bring someone to justice (or close the case) if it turns out to be that she was criminally harmed. Nothing remotely unusual about the family not being given updates.

Until now. And LE was ready to show that it had dotted its I's and crossed its T's (search warrant was ordered, that took time, and naturally, the timing of the release of the search warrant is interesting - because it happened right after the announcement that JRF's body was found).

Now that JRF is identified, there is no official concern about his whereabouts. He would have known that LE was interested in the situation, because LE actually showed up at his home and saw both him and JF there (and this is immediately after the family has reported her missing, as I read the documents - it's a bit confusing). At any rate, they did not want to spook JRF further or cause him to act impulsively as they attempted to close in on him and find out where Jin Fang is.

At the time, LE would not yet have known that JRF would not be found alive. After he's found dead, the nature of the case changes and LE is releasing to the general public what it thinks is helpful (not every interview or document, IMO).

It looks like the search warrant was filed *after* an officer went and found the mobile home's door standing open and the smell of decomp inside. They attached the homicide addendum because they were now treating it as a possible homicide. That information is not something the family needed to have until the investigation concluded something had happened to cause death in either of the two missing persons. Now that JRF can never be a helpful source of further information (and could himself be the victim of a homicide), LE is asking for the public's help in locating Fang, despite the fact that her last known location was far from JRF's body. A hiker has already made a big break in this case - they're hoping for another one, but there's no need to keep things as silent at this point in time.

IMO

 

[10ofRods]

The duct tape seems irrelevant based on the date. Duct tape is a pretty regular purchase.

Odor of decomposition is more concerning.

I'm taking some of the things in the article with a grain of salt, but it now sounds like the truck was found first, and his remains were found a few miles away which is new information if true.

Can you say which page number of the document that is on? I apparently missed it. Harper Flat is recorded as the place for the truck (and it shows up on Google maps, it's a stopping point on a dirt road, it looks to me, where one can take the trail toward Harper Canyon. Harper Canyon starts maybe 2000 feet away (the Flat is basically still in the downslope, debris field near Harper Canyon itself).

If his remains were found up Harper Canyon more than 2000 feet from the truck, that is new information.

 

[10ofRods]

What is odd about that is it said July 3rd. Plenty of reasonable reasons to buy duct tape and this was more than 10 days before she was even in the US. I wonder if that part was included just to connect his truck to him or to connect him to the other male mentioned.

I wonder if it was a typo, since the investigation seems to have really gotten going (warrants and requests for surveillance) in that first week of August.

I'm very curious about the point of that, otherwise, as well. Was duct tape the only thing he bought? We probably have to wait quite a while to know the answer.

 

[charminglane]

3 iPhone cell phones found at mobile home.
No mention of JRF having a phone on his person or in his truck.

 

[tvscum]

Larger map downloadable from CBS 8 website. It's hard to view but has some labels.

Family notified ex Navy SEAL found dead in desert, female companion still missing

Bones found in the Harper Canyon area of Anza-Borrego on September 17.

www.cbs8.com

If you look at this google link to the Harper Flat area, there is fence across the main wash to prevent people from driving through there. So, there is off-road activity in that Harper Flat wash.

Google Maps

 

[10ofRods]

My mind jumped to another possible conclusions.

--His skull was found separated from the rest of the remains. We don't know how far away they were from each other but how does that happen? I don't think it could be from animals because IMO if that was the case, wouldn't the article mention the scattering of some of his other bones? In the pixelated picture of the headless skeleton featured in the news clip, even though you can't see a whole lot, the remains look pretty contained to a small area to me, not scattered about. Just my opinion.

--He was found miles away from his "banged up" truck. How did he end up that far away from it? He wouldn't have been able to walk that far in the heat, according to many locals who have posted here.

--He had so many teeth missing that they could not identify him using his dental records.

--As you and others have said, there is nothing anywhere near the areas where his truck and remains were found that a typical tourist would want to see. There are so many awesome things to see at the Anza-Barrego State Park, including things you can enjoy from your air-conditioned car, like the Galleta Meadows Sculptures. (The dragon is incredible!) I can't imagine JRF would willingly go to the places his truck and body were found, much less take a visiting friend to go see, IMO.

--If he drove there to "hide evidence," where is the evidence? Where is FJ?

People here have speculated about misadventure, murder-suicide, JRF taking FJ on a long hike without enough water . . . IMO there has to be another explanation, given some of the new information that has come out.

Of course he could make it part way up the canyon - as did the hiker who found the body. We don't even know time of day for jRF's final walk. The news about the "banged up" truck is very hard to make sense of. Did he wreck his truck on purpose? Did he wreck his truck before he ever got to Anza Borrego? "Banged up" does not mean "inoperable," but the truck surely looked pristine in the other pictures we've seen.

Perhaps JRF planned a one way hike up that canyon. And maybe it wasn't the hottest time of the day. We just don't know. It does appear he would have had to walk to the place where his body was found (the remains appear to be out in the open, not buried in any way - from the geology of the rocks in each of the skeletal pictures, the skull looks to be in the same general area as the other bones (which do not form an entire skeletal grouping, IMO - so some bones were likely carried away by scavengers).

One reason for the teeth to be missing could be decomp. Skull may be totally desicatted, in which case teeth can fall out. Of course, we don't know the condition of JRF's teeth before death.

I totally agree that this is one of the least likely places where someone would take a person who is looking for a vacation.

We would need to know how far away the non-skull bones were found to have any clue as to whether animal scavenging is involved. There are mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes and badgers living in that state park, all of whom can smell decomp at more distance than humans can.

IMO.

 

[10ofRods]

From a volunteer Search & Recue member , we got a message that Jin's backpack would have been found nearby the rd 78 (washed down by the Canyon rains ?) 2 or 3 miles from trailhead- Harper Canyon , his truck was on the other end of Harper Canyon, nearby Pinion Wash.... please all ... focus helping search in that location area for finding Jin Fang

I'm so sorry that it has come to this, Mark. I hope everyone is holding up as well as they can. At least you are finally getting some closure.

The Piñon Wash info is valuable. It is actually very near the archaeological site that's up there (on the flat above the next wash over). Piñon Wash looks hikeable by the experienced. Both the ancient village site and Piñon Wash are close to Harper Flat - maybe a couple of miles away?

It's possible a gully washer moved Jin Fang's backpack. I wonder how close it was to the road, though.

I know you must also be frustrated, trying to understand what has happened.