CA CA - Lesner Noe Velasquez Cardenas, 21, Redding, 29 May 2025

[GraceG]

Grace, are you able to run his name in that ICE database, pls? Just in case? Thanks

I did so yesterday, he's not in there.

 

[Rixey]

According to the article linked above, the friend was using an app to locate Lesner at 2:06. What time was the crash? Why was he looking for Lesner's location at 2:06? Was Lesner reported missing by that time? Had Hunter heard about the accident and was trying to locate Lesner to make sure he was okay?

It's slightly unclear wording. He wasn't looking for the location at 2:06 -- he was looking at the phone information and that was the last known time & location. So the official timeline has him being dropped off at the trailhead 16 minutes AFTER the phone is indicating it was at Mt Shasta.

Assuming the phone data is correct, then either his phone arrived at Mt Shasta with someone else, or the time he was reportedly dropped off is incorrect.

It is also possible the phone data is incorrect, or someone misread it. I don't have an iPhone so I am not sure if misreading it is truly plausible.

Hopefully those in charge have noted the inconsistency and either have an explanation or are actively looking for one.

 

[Rixey]

Wait - what the what?!! His wallet and cash was found at Kyncy’s home? How does that even compute? This story just keeps getting weirder.

I found that part really odd. The only thing I could think of is maybe he'd been staying at the Kyncy house, didn't feel he'd need his wallet and was planning on returning until the accident. Or maybe he forgot it?

There are a lot of details left out of the story that make an already odd situation more so. For instance, where was he driving to/from when he had the accident? What was he supposed to be doing that day?

 

[haggis]

I did so yesterday, he's not in there.

@GraceG Cool - thanks!

 

[Cakesandpuppies]

Given that he was picked up near a bank- Has CCTV near that area been reviewed? To confirm that it was him?

Also, what evidence is there that he did in fact return to his apartment?

 

[GraceG]

Given that he was picked up near a bank- Has CCTV near that area been reviewed? To confirm that it was him?

Also, what evidence is there that he did in fact return to his apartment?

It was the taxi driver who picked him up at the bank. I'm pretty sure LE would have confirmed the identity of his passenger. As to the apartment - LE did confirm he briefly returned to his apartment before vanishing. Man Survives Car Crash, Then Decided to Head on a Hike. Now He's Missing

 

[dulcinea]

Given that he was picked up near a bank- Has CCTV near that area been reviewed? To confirm that it was him?

Also, what evidence is there that he did in fact return to his apartment?

In one of the articles, the one with a picture of him standing in the road after his accident, the roommate (I believe) said that the clothing his is wearing in the picture was found at the apartment. There might have been something else that I am not recalling, but I do remember the mention of the clothing.

 

[sunflowermomma]

I wonder if the hike was a purposeful red herring. What if he went home, changed, took the rideshare to the hike location so his phone pinged, and then was picked up elsewhere or otherwise fled? JMO

 

[dulcinea]

The SFGate article mentions a pair of girl's earrings in the pants he "discarded." Whether that means the pants from that morning or another pair he left behind I don't know, but the way it was worded it sounded like the pants he had on that day. None of his roommates or other known female friends claim to know who they belong to.

So what I gather from the article is that he was driving on a remote road with an unknown female's earrings in his pants pocket, supposedly swerved to avoid hitting a deer, rolled his car, called in the accident, was picked up by a passerby who knew him and left before LE arrived, changed and left his clothes at his apartment (with the earrings still in the pocket), went to the bank and caught an expensive cab to Mount Shasta.

If no one knows who the earrings belong to is there a person Lesner was associating with that his friend group/roommates didn't know about?

I'm thrown by his money allegedly being found at his friend's house. No matter how you disappear or where you go, you need cash.

 

[Rixey]

Given that he was picked up near a bank- Has CCTV near that area been reviewed? To confirm that it was him?

Also, what evidence is there that he did in fact return to his apartment?

One of the news reports mentioned that LE was getting security video from local businesses. They didn't mention specific businesses or say anything about asking people to review home/dashcam footage.

 

[Rixey]

I wonder if the hike was a purposeful red herring. What if he went home, changed, took the rideshare to the hike location so his phone pinged, and then was picked up elsewhere or otherwise fled? JMO

I keep going back to the how he was characterized by the best friend's father in the SFGate article.

Brian Kyncy, whose son Hunter is Cardenas’ best friend, said he believes there was no criminal intent in that decision. Instead, he said it reflected Cardenas’ profoundly sheltered outlook. “A 14-year-old mind,” is how Kyncy described the 21-year-old, “extremely innocent” and “naive to the extreme.” He said Cardenas may have panicked, fearing consequences far out of proportion with reality, especially given that he had only recently earned his first driver’s license.

Not getting a driver's license until recently is not that unusual for this generation, but it does make sense that an inexperienced driver would not react to a crash in the same way as someone more seasoned.

But the rest of his statement makes me think he would be less likely to have staged any part of this as a red herring. Also, the fact that his mother has stage 4 cancer would make it an odd time to deliberately go off the grid.

I think a possible/likely head injury might explain some of his actions after the crash, but there are so many details missing it's hard to say.

 

[Knox]

I keep going back to the how he was characterized by the best friend's father in the SFGate article.

Brian Kyncy, whose son Hunter is Cardenas’ best friend, said he believes there was no criminal intent in that decision. Instead, he said it reflected Cardenas’ profoundly sheltered outlook. “A 14-year-old mind,” is how Kyncy described the 21-year-old, “extremely innocent” and “naive to the extreme.” He said Cardenas may have panicked, fearing consequences far out of proportion with reality, especially given that he had only recently earned his first driver’s license.

Not getting a driver's license until recently is not that unusual for this generation, but it does make sense that an inexperienced driver would not react to a crash in the same way as someone more seasoned.

But the rest of his statement makes me think he would be less likely to have staged any part of this as a red herring. Also, the fact that his mother has stage 4 cancer would make it an odd time to deliberately go off the grid.

I think a possible/likely head injury might explain some of his actions after the crash, but there are so many details missing it's hard to say.

Missing details is the key. Hard to decipher any of this without more information. As it stands nothing makes sense to me, other than he wanted to disappear.

 

[WildHoney]

Here is the article with the photo of Lesnor at the scene of the rolllover taken by the passerby who took it prior to someone he know coming to give him a ride home. The articles doesn't identify who gave him a ride, only it was a woman who knew him, who stated that he had no injuries and appeared coherent.

The article states he was a graduate of Shasta College where he was on the wrestling team.

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/mystery-behind-redding-mans-disappearance-leaves-family-and-friends-shocked.

I sure hope they find him, he has a sweet looking face. It seems to me like maybe he wanted to disappear though.

 

[Oiseaux]

It's slightly unclear wording. He wasn't looking for the location at 2:06 -- he was looking at the phone information and that was the last known time & location. So the official timeline has him being dropped off at the trailhead 16 minutes AFTER the phone is indicating it was at Mt Shasta.

Assuming the phone data is correct, then either his phone arrived at Mt Shasta with someone else, or the time he was reportedly dropped off is incorrect.

It is also possible the phone data is incorrect, or someone misread it. I don't have an iPhone so I am not sure if misreading it is truly plausible.

RSBM

Yes, if this location tracking is referring to the "Find My" location app on iPhones, it would be possible to misread, get the wrong information, or both. A few ways that could happen:

-Reception is poor and the app can't narrow a device's exact location down, so Find My says the person is within a certain general area (usually shown as a circle on the map);

-The phone was turned off or otherwise lost signal at a certain point, so Find My shows the last known location and the time (but I suppose someone could not read carefully and not realize that it isn't current). An example would be if someone gets on a two-hour flight at Dallas Love Field at 2:30pm, turns their phone off right away, and leaves their phone off or on Airplane Mode the whole flight (and doesn't use Wi-Fi on the plane), then Find My will show them at Love Field "X hours ago" (the time the phone was last "seen" on the network) until 4:30pm, or whenever the person lands at their destination and turns their phone back on. At that point the phone rejoins Wi-Fi or a cellular/data connection, and it updates its location.

-It is possible to intentionally make the app report an incorrect location. If someone has an iPhone and multiple Apple devices (like a watch or an iPad) connected via iCloud, they *could* go into Find My and tell the app to share their location from one of their other devices instead of the iPhone, then leave that device somewhere that they aren't. For example, I did this when I was taking a trip to surprise family: I set Find My to share my location from my iPad instead of my iPhone, then left my iPad at home. So if anyone looked on Find My, they would see my location listed as my house (where my iPad was), even though my phone and I were headed for another city. (It was a good surprise!)

That last one is an intriguing option, though I don't know if it's likely; it's more a creative use of settings than anything. I'd imagine that people have searched that area, and if they found an Apple Watch or something out there, it would probably raise suspicion that something fishy was going on.

MOO

 

[Ladyotm]

The car accident worries me. He rolled over and likely had injuries not visible to the naked eye. MOO



My questions are all over the place, so bear with me.



I saw that he was an EMT and firefighter. Did he work anywhere? If not, where did he get $?



Could he have left the cash behind to help cover the upcoming rent? And as cover that he'd be back?



I'd like to know more about the earrings. Were they expensive? Is it possible a female could have been with him in the car? Were the earrings on a card (as if just brought) or loose (could have been a sign of them being stolen or previously worn)? Could he have been planning to meet up with a female to give her the earrings?



As for ICE- we know they've disappeared people, IMO. Were there any known raids in the area?



Was he planning to go into the mountains previously? Is there an underground group of immigrants or other individuals now camping out there?

Wherever he's at, I hope he is safe!

 

[GraceG]

The car accident worries me. He rolled over and likely had injuries not visible to the naked eye. MOO



My questions are all over the place, so bear with me.



I saw that he was an EMT and firefighter. Did he work anywhere? If not, where did he get $?



Could he have left the cash behind to help cover the upcoming rent? And as cover that he'd be back?



I'd like to know more about the earrings. Were they expensive? Is it possible a female could have been with him in the car? Were the earrings on a card (as if just brought) or loose (could have been a sign of them being stolen or previously worn)? Could he have been planning to meet up with a female to give her the earrings?



As for ICE- we know they've disappeared people, IMO. Were there any known raids in the area?



Was he planning to go into the mountains previously? Is there an underground group of immigrants or other individuals now camping out there?

Wherever he's at, I hope he is safe!

He was was not working as an EMT or firefighter that we know of. He had received TRAINING as such Cal Fire academy graduate and EMT student at Shasta College and he it was stated in multiple articles that he "DREAMED of being a first responder". He is NOT certified by the State of California for any EMT role. Verification

It is unknown if he had employment outside of his academic program which his family may well have been providing for (including living expenses, if they were so able).

The info on the cash is limited. That one aspect of this still has me wondering if he took it to go away, but why not take his wallet?

The earrings, my thought, is he found them somewhere, school/home/car, assumed he knew who they belonged to and tucked them into his pocket to return them. Just my opinion. None of his friends have mentioned a girlfriend.

Despite what the media reports, ICE isn't just snatching tons of random people off the streets and those taken into detainment are entered into a database so if you know their country of birth you can easily see if they were apprehended, not necesesarily where they are AT now, but that they indeed were picked up. LE would't alert ICE just because of a traffic accident involving a single passenger/single vehicle accident not anywhere near the border. (i.e. suspected human smuggling). He is currently NOT in the ICE Database, I checked that first thing.

His friends said he wasn't known to hike or climb. Dispersed camping is illegal in national parks except in VERY remote areas, and then it's not conducive to groups due to limitations on access to food/water/supplies, etc. So I don't see a large group of immigrants living up in the high county that he would have known ahead of time were there to meet up with.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Dispersed camping is illegal in national parks except in VERY remote areas, and then it's not conducive to groups due to limitations on access to food/water/supplies, etc. So I don't see a large group of immigrants living up in the high county that he would have known ahead of time were there to meet up with.

The area around Mt. Shasta is not National Park but National Forest, with different rules about dispersed camping, I assume. However I agree with you that there is unlikely to be a large group of immigrants living on the mountain. Summer is short there, there is still plenty of snow, etc. MOO

 

[GraceG]

The area around Mt. Shasta is not National Park but National Forest, with different rules about dispersed camping, I assume. However I agree with you that there is unlikely to be a large group of immigrants living on the mountain. Summer is short there, there is still plenty of snow, etc. MOO

Thanks - I was getting it confused with Lassen which is East of Redding, not North of Redding. But yes, I don't see it being used as a good place to reside "below the radar" of others.

 

[dulcinea]

The articles say he is originally from Lake Elsinore, which is quite far south. I was hoping he'd turn up there, but I assume his family would state if he had, unless they have reason to not come forward. I really don't get the feeling he is in any kind of trouble (maybe we don't have all of the information), but his actions hint that he might think so.

 

[Knox]

Any updates?