GUILTY CA - Gavin Smith, 57, Oak Park, 1 May 2012

[Seek&Find]

My apologies for not being precise ... my point was that since May 7 (at least) LE had clear and convincing evidence that Gavin went missing in Sylmar, yet they did not release that info to the public for 2 months.

If LE had acknowledged the Sylmar info in a timely fashion back in May (instead of July), the public would have been concentrating on the Sylmar area. Of course I understand LE has no obligation to divulge the facts to us.

My personal opinion is that a valuable opportunity was lost to follow FRESH leads in Sylmar. Now we are left with the CURRENT situation which is that Sylmar residents are being asked to recall events that are 2 months old.

I personally don't remember ANY specific vehicles I saw in my neighbourhood 2 months ago ... and I extrapolated that other people wouldn't either. Even if someone might recall seeing a black Mercedes 2 months ago, the likelihood that they would be able to provide an exact date (before or after Gavin went missing) is very slim.



THAT is your personal opinion! My personal opinion is that LE has NOT made a definitive statement about the Taco signting ... in the same manner that they did not make a definitive statement about Gavin's last location.



The fact that he was sighted on May 7 does not preclude harm having come to him after that date. He has a job of 18 years that he has failed to report to. He has a family that does not understand why he has not been in contact with them. Something dramatic happened in Gavin's life BUT nobody knows what that was.

Recently in their marriage, the wife had:
- no income of her own
- an ailing mother battling cancer
- mortgage payments in arrears.

In order for the Smith family to move forward (with either a divorce or a death benefit claim) the wife needs PROOF of what happened to Gavin. Right now (July 2012) she is in limbo, with no proof of his whereabouts OR proof of his death. She has NO grounds to take any legal action. With Gavin's disappearance, the wife has lost her only souce of income (her husband's paycheck) which supported the entire family ... BUT the mortgage payment is still due every month & will NOT wait. The mortgage lender will only accept immediate cash. If Gavin had insurance, the wife needs a death certificate before they will give her any money. Institutions are not known for being understanding about monies due them ... or waiting indefinitely till Gavin's status is resolved. The wife is undergoing an extremely difficult time right now.

We do not know that LE has clear & convincing evidence that Gavin went missing in Sylmar. We do not know where he went missing and LE hasn't stated he went missing there. (Further down in your post, you acknowledge that LE "did not make a definitive statement about Gavin's last location.") In fact, thus far, all LE has acknowledged re: last known location was leaving the friend's house the night of May 1.

His sister said Sylmar's the location of the last ping from his phone, unconfirmed by LE to the media. That does not mean that's where he "went missing". Could mean that was the last place his phone pinged before a murderer tossed it into a reservoir, for example, potentially miles from wherever Gavin was/is.

Yes, if LE needed info from the public re: seeing Gavin or his car in Sylmar, releasing that info earlier would've been better (unless they have reason to hold that info back). Although, if someone saw something they thought was odd at that time, they may have inadvertently encoded it, and seeing the poster/hearing about the canvass may jog their memory.

No, what LE has stated about Morro is not my opinion. Their quotes about it are available and have been linked.

Now, one can choose to believe LE is lying in these statements (can't see any reason for them to lie and say it wasn't Gavin if it was, and continue investigating), or that they didn't investigate them thoroughly enough (can't imagine why they'd put so much effort into the Creech angle, yet not thoroughly investigate a supposed sighting), but it's inaccurate to say they've made no statement about it.

It is not a fact he was sighted 5/7.

Nor is it a fact that nobody knows what happened to Gavin. Gavin does, anyone else involved does, and LE may know or have a pretty good idea.

Do you have a link stating the mortgage lender will only accept immediate cash? Links thus far indicate the home is for sale as a distressed property/short sale, ie that the lender may be trying to work with the family, even prior to Gavin's disappearance. Really not sure where this line of reasoning was intending to go. :waitasec: Is the theory here that Gavin is alive, LE & Lisa know it, buy they're in cohoots to find him so divorce papers can be served?? I'm not big on grand conspiracies. We've seen other cases where someone goes voluntarily missing, LE finds them or evidence they're alive, and closes the case.

Yes, Lisa and the whole Smith family are bravely facing terrible difficulties and circumstances right now, as many of us have said.

 

[JodyMT]

Just now:

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-missing-fox-executive,0,7642854.story

There is no update on any searches on the FindGavinSmith.com website. It is mostly just posters leaving comments, and even those are old.

I wish the police would come out with something new. Anything…like who Gavin spoke to last.

I wonder why the police have not mentioned the name of the family friend Gavin was staying with. I don't have a link, but I thought I read somewhere that she was colleague of his, and her name was mentioned, but I can't remember where I read it.

 

[2rose]

There is no update on any searches on the FindGavinSmith.com website. It is mostly just posters leaving comments, and even those are old

If you look at the bottom of the page you will see that adding comments was CLOSED ... I do not know what date that occurred as none of the comments are dated.

 

[deca]

I'm going to jump in here with a Sylmar old/ new info possibility.

The 5 freeway runs right through Sylmar and is a highly traveled LARGE freeway that most people use to head from the Valley to the city or to the north. Anyway, perhaps since his cell phone pinged from that tower, LE thought it was pointless to search in Sylmar* because he could have just been traveling through the area, but not stopping.
Maybe the new info was that he or his car were actually IN Sylmar, or that Creech had some connections there and that is the "new info" that caused the search.

*To randomly search a larger area like Sylmar without any way to narrow it down would be kinda hard. I think the "town" with the surrounding nearby areas are about 100,000 people? Then you have all that open space.

 

[JodyMT]

To lose someone is hard enough to deal with, but to have a loved one disappear into thin air seemingly has to be excruciating to deal with. I am an overprotective parent because I just don't want to be sorry for the rest of my life for that one moment I wasn't paying attention.

Of course when the person is an adult, there just isn't much that can be done to protect that person any longer.

 

[Seek&Find]

I'm going to jump in here with a Sylmar old/ new info possibility.

The 5 freeway runs right through Sylmar and is a highly traveled LARGE freeway that most people use to head from the Valley to the city or to the north. Anyway, perhaps since his cell phone pinged from that tower, LE thought it was pointless to search in Sylmar* because he could have just been traveling through the area, but not stopping.
Maybe the new info was that he or his car were actually IN Sylmar, or that Creech had some connections there and that is the "new info" that caused the search.

*To randomly search a larger area like Sylmar without any way to narrow it down would be kinda hard. I think the "town" with the surrounding nearby areas are about 100,000 people? Then you have all that open space.

Thanks for the local info! Very helpful, and possibilities, IMO.

 

[Seek&Find]

<snipped>

I wonder why the police have not mentioned the name of the family friend Gavin was staying with. I don't have a link, but I thought I read somewhere that she was colleague of his, and her name was mentioned, but I can't remember where I read it.

SBM

Idk, but could be she's been cleared and they don't want to subject her to a media onslaught.

 

[2rose]

The 5 freeway runs right through Sylmar and is a highly traveled LARGE freeway that most people use to head from the Valley to the city or to the north. Anyway, perhaps since his cell phone pinged from that tower, LE thought it was pointless to search in Sylmar* because he could have just been traveling through the area, but not stopping

Well a previously posted article here said that LE followed his pinging trail of that night through the San Fernando Valley. LE would be the ones who would know exactly how long the cell phone pinged in that area ... whether it was one ping alone or several pings over an extended period of time.

Contrary to some quickly made, yet erroneous, assumptions made in this forum, I have great respect for law enforcement. So I think we are left to assume that of all the areas Gavin had been on the night of May 1st, LE thought that the best area for the immediate family to canvas would be Sylmar.

 

[Seek&Find]

Police have not disclosed where Smith drove the night he disappeared, but &#8220;he stayed in the Valley,&#8221; Sgt. John O&#8217;Brien says. &#8220;He was bouncing around the Valley or, at least, his phone was. We are talking about after bars close.&#8221;

prev linked article

 

[JodyMT]

"bouncing around the valley"&#8230;it sounds like he was driving all over the place. After bars closed&#8230;. after 2 a.m.

What I would like to know is how the friend he was staying with knows he left the house between 9 and 10 if she had already gone up to bed? Maybe she came back downstairs around 10 and saw that he was gone. I don't know.

At first I thought maybe this was another woman that Gavin was seeing, but I can't imagine Lisa describing her as a family friend and being so casual about mentioning her. She didn't wound angry, like Gavin had taken up with this family friend or anything.

 

[2rose]

What I would like to know is how the friend he was staying with knows he left the house between 9 and 10 if she had already gone up to bed?

What I have read is that someone actually saw him leaving in his car. Here is one article that mentions that ...

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/05/gavin_smith_missing_fox_executive.php

quote: "Smith was last seen at a friend's house Ventura County's Oak Park area between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. on May 1, according to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. City News Service says he was actually seen driving away from the home in the 500 block of Callwood Court. Smith was driving a black, 2000 four-door Mercedes E Class (a 420 badged as a 500), deputies say. It has tinted windows, soft racks on the roof and California plate number 6EKT044. It's also missing."

 

[Seek&Find]

"bouncing around the valley"&#8230;it sounds like he was driving all over the place. After bars closed&#8230;. after 2 a.m.

What I would like to know is how the friend he was staying with knows he left the house between 9 and 10 if she had already gone up to bed? Maybe she came back downstairs around 10 and saw that he was gone. I don't know.

At first I thought maybe this was another woman that Gavin was seeing, but I can't imagine Lisa describing her as a family friend and being so casual about mentioning her. She didn't wound angry, like Gavin had taken up with this family friend or anything.

<snipped> For those who were wondering about the friend.

On the night of May 1, the friend went to bed and did not hear Smith leave the house. When she awoke and didn&#8217;t see him, she figured he was just going on about his day, O&#8217;Brien said.

link

So who was the eyewitness that saw him driving away, mentioned in one article?? Or was it captured on camera?

He was spotted driving away from the friend's home in Oak Park, north of Los Angeles at around 10pm in his black Mercedes sedan.

link

Yeah, no idea who/what spotted him driving away.

 

[JodyMT]

What I have read is that someone actually saw him leaving in his car. Here is one article that mentions that ...

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/05/gavin_smith_missing_fox_executive.php

quote: "Smith was last seen at a friend's house Ventura County's Oak Park area between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. on May 1, according to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. City News Service says he was actually seen driving away from the home in the 500 block of Callwood Court. Smith was driving a black, 2000 four-door Mercedes E Class (a 420 badged as a 500), deputies say. It has tinted windows, soft racks on the roof and California plate number 6EKT044. It's also missing."

Ok then, that explains it.

 

[deca]

Well a previously posted article here said that LE followed his pinging trail of that night through the San Fernando Valley. LE would be the ones who would know exactly how long the cell phone pinged in that area ... whether it was one ping alone or several pings over an extended period of time.

That could be. I really don't know how pings work, how often pings happen, etc. I know some phones ping only when checked and actively on and others are constantly pinging. So it would really be helpful if they had it pinging for a long time in one area.

"bouncing around the valley"&#8230;it sounds like he was driving all over the place. After bars closed&#8230;. after 2 a.m.


At first I thought maybe this was another woman that Gavin was seeing, but I can't imagine Lisa describing her as a family friend and being so casual about mentioning her. She didn't wound angry, like Gavin had taken up with this family friend or anything.

"Bouncing around" sounds bad to me. Like someone is driving around looking to hide a body?? People usually don't drive around aimlessly at that time of the night unless they are teenagers.

Is it just me but I swear at the beginning of this, he was staying with an entire family? A wife, husband, etc.? I need to go look at earlier quotes. But that might explain why his wife wasn't concerned.

ETA: I guess I was remembering wrong. Early reports do say that he was staying with a woman. No mention of a husband. Anyways, I don't find that weird. I have certain friends that I would be okay with having my significant other stay over.

 

[JodyMT]

Have any of you ever seen that movie Deja vu with Densel Washington? Densel and company have the ability to go back and see the past. They can actually follow someone going about their lives everywhere they go.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to follow Gavin to see where he was going and what he did?

Looking over a google map of the drive Gavin would have likely taken from the friend's house to Slymar, that would have been a very purposeful drive. To drive that far at that time of night, there had to be a reason. He wasn't just on some drive to clear his head. He had to be looking for something or someone.

The only way I personally would drive that far at that time of night is if someone very close to me called me and said they needed my help. I personally can only think of one time that I have left my house that late to drive that far and that was when my daughter got sick at a friend's house.

I hope the cops have looked at the cell phone records because there is a very good chance Gavin got a phone call before he left that house.

 

[deca]

One thing that I would like to know is what area is the Sylmar tower responsible for. I know there were other towers he was bouncing off of, but of course the Sylmar tower is the one we are talking about the most. So does it cover JUST sylmar? Or does it cover that end of the Valley?
There are so many towers in the area I wonder if they can triangulate where he was? Did he make any other stops?

 

[2rose]

One thing that I would like to know is what area is the Sylmar tower responsible for. I know there were other towers he was bouncing off of, but of course the Sylmar tower is the one we are talking about the most. So does it cover JUST sylmar? Or does it cover that end of the Valley?
There are so many towers in the area I wonder if they can triangulate where he was? Did he make any other stops?

There are many more than one communications tower in Sylmar alone. For triangulation, the pings off the 3 closest towers and the intersection of those 3 ranges are considered ... thus it provides a fairly precise location (the general area but not the exact building). Unfortunately LE is NOT divulging the cell phone details, so we don't know ANY other places (other than the San Fernando Valley) the cell phone was in.

 

[JodyMT]

I also would like to know why Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the area canvassed had "no significance" to the investigation.

What does that mean? If that was where his cell phone was last pinged, why wouldn't that be significant? If it isn't important to the investigation, why tell the family that would be a good place to put up flyers?

He said he was giving the family general directions, but then says the area is of no significance. If I was Lisa, I would be having a very long chat with this guy.

 

[2rose]

I also would like to know why Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the area canvassed had "no significance" to the investigation.

What does that mean? If that was where his cell phone was last pinged, why wouldn't that be significant? If it isn't important to the investigation, why tell the family that would be a good place to put up flyers?

He said he was giving the family general directions, but then says the area is of no significance. If I was Lisa, I would be having a very long chat with this guy.

I too wondered about that! Maybe others have other ideas, but one explanation could be that an alleged murderer took the car there to a chop shop ... but that wouldn't identify where the body would have been put ... and the goal is to find Gavin himself or his body. I would still think it would be considered significant to the case though. Perhaps LE has already identified a suspect (maybe Creech?) ... but if he won't confess they are still searching for proof ... but in that case wouldn't surveillance cameras of the suspect driving Gavin's car be significant ?

 

[2rose]

I have been looking at a map of the Sylmar area again. The Smith family started their canvas immediately east of the #5 Golden Gate Freeway at Encinitas and Roxford. At that location directly across that highway (on the west) is a large body of water (unnamed on the map). It appears to have a man made boundary entirely around it. And then to the north west there is about 6 water segments that are labelled VanNorman Lake. Are there any locals on here that could clarify more about these water spots ? I am wondering if there would be access to dump a car there ??? That could explain the disappearance of Gavin's Mercedes and I wonder if LE has searched these areas ? When the cell phone hit the water, it would have stopped working ... thus explaining the last ping area.