MN MN - Bryce Borca, 23, college student, seen at 2AM, search focused near Minnesota River, Eagan, 30 Oct 2022

[lassy]

I had to report someone missing once when I lived in St. Paul. The way the police treated it was alarming. There is no motivation for them to help look for missing young people and I'm sure they see it as a waste of time and resources.

I see someone else in this thread say the police have searched extensively with drones and dogs - as someone who lives in the neighborhood, I personally haven't seen any of this. On the other hand, if they are searching, the PD should be publicizing that and keeping the case in the news. Something does not add up here... Bryce deserves to be found.

I'm also suspicious of the friends he was with that night. They all took a rideshare together, why didn't they get home together? They just let him out on Highway 13 and Yankee Doodle and all went their separate ways? Makes no sense. Even when I've been drinking heavily, I have never let my friends wander alone into the woods in the opposite direction of where they live. I'm sure they feel very badly about it in hindsight, but I am also suspicious.

The police said they were canvassing. Canvassing who? The businesses on 13? He isn't just hanging out at some random business, so why would canvassing help? Makes zero sense to me.

I'm certain Bryce is in the woods off of Highway 13 and after 11 days missing, the results are obviously not good. Someone needs to find him.

Police statements have been very vague for sure.
He and 2 friends took a rideshare/Lyft to one kids house. Bryce said he was walking home after they were dropped off. I have heard he had done that dozens of time before from their house, so friends probably didn’t think anything of it. Hard to blame them when they were also probably drunk. I still want to know how drunk he was after walking for 1/2 hour all over, FaceTiming them for 12 minutes, sharing his location, etc. Does not seem that bad to do all that, IMO.

 

[GMS]

I had to report someone missing once when I lived in St. Paul. The way the police treated it was alarming. There is no motivation for them to help look for missing young people and I'm sure they see it as a waste of time and resources.

I see someone else in this thread say the police have searched extensively with drones and dogs - as someone who lives in the neighborhood, I personally haven't seen any of this. On the other hand, if they are searching, the PD should be publicizing that and keeping the case in the news. Something does not add up here... Bryce deserves to be found.

I'm also suspicious of the friends he was with that night. They all took a rideshare together, why didn't they get home together? They just let him out on Highway 13 and Yankee Doodle and all went their separate ways? Makes no sense. Even when I've been drinking heavily, I have never let my friends wander alone into the woods in the opposite direction of where they live. I'm sure they feel very badly about it in hindsight, but I am also suspicious.

The police said they were canvassing. Canvassing who? The businesses on 13? He isn't just hanging out at some random business, so why would canvassing help? Makes zero sense to me.

I'm certain Bryce is in the woods off of Highway 13 and after 11 days missing, the results are obviously not good. Someone needs to find him.

In reference to Bryce's friends and the drop-off location, it was covered in the Kare 11 article that was posted / discussed upthread - posting again for reference. Bryce was not dropped off by himself, the Lyft dropped all 3 friends off together at the one friend's house. Bryce subsequently told his friends he was going to walk home from there.

"Borca had spent the evening drinking with friends on a party bus, according to the affidavit, and was dropped off by a Lyft ride near 3256 Hill Ridge Dr. in Eagan at about 2:08 a.m. along with two friends."

New details in Eagan missing person investigation revealed in search warrant

Bryce Borca disappeared early Oct. 30 and has not been found. Searchers found his tie, according to a search warrant.

www.kare11.com

 

[InternetGhost91]

Police statements have been very vague for sure.
He and 2 friends took a rideshare/Lyft to one kids house. Bryce said he was walking home after they were dropped off. I have heard he had done that dozens of time before from their house, so friends probably didn’t think anything of it. Hard to blame them when they were also probably drunk. I still want to know how drunk he was after walking for 1/2 hour all over, FaceTiming them for 12 minutes, sharing his location, etc. Does not seem that bad to do all that, IMO.

The walk from Yankee Doodle and Highway 13 to his apartment would have been relatively well-lit with sidewalks, on a residential street, so that makes more sense.

 

[lassy]

In this case it seems that Eagan PD doesn't think he is still alive and therefore low priority to them. Is there a way to put public pressure on them other than posting about it online? To me, calling off the volunteer search is unacceptable.

Doesn’t seem low priority. LE was still searching in ponds yesterday and still had searchers out with dogs in various areas.

 

[InternetGhost91]

Doesn’t seem low priority. LE was still searching in ponds yesterday and still had searchers out with dogs in various areas.

Why did they call off the volunteer search though? That's what I am not understanding.

 

[Trino]

Police statements have been very vague for sure.
He and 2 friends took a rideshare/Lyft to one kids house. Bryce said he was walking home after they were dropped off. I have heard he had done that dozens of time before from their house, so friends probably didn’t think anything of it. Hard to blame them when they were also probably drunk. I still want to know how drunk he was after walking for 1/2 hour all over, FaceTiming them for 12 minutes, sharing his location, etc. Does not seem that bad to do all that, IMO.

Lyft driver said he tried to open a door from moving Lyft and that he was heavily intoxicated. I wonder about how much he sobered up just walking a short distance. It was cold too. He must have stumbled a few times before entering the remote area. The other kids, I'm sure, are saying should have, could have, but if they were on the party bus, they were probably not sober. The only criticism is they should not have waited until 10:50a the next morning to call LE. Mostly likely, he was gone by then.

 

[lassy]

Lyft driver said he tried to open a door from moving Lyft and that he was heavily intoxicated. I wonder about how much he sobered up just walking a short distance. It was cold too. He must have stumbled a few times before entering the remote area. The other kids, I'm sure, are saying should have, could have, but if they were on the party bus, they were probably not sober. The only criticism is they should not have waited until 10:50a the next morning to call LE. Mostly likely, he was gone by then.

I have also heard a conflicting reports that his 2 friends called the police shortly after they went out on foot to look for him after the FaceTime call and couldn’t find him. No idea which it is, but assuming 10:50 am since that’s what was in the search warrant report.

 

[lassy]

Why did they call off the volunteer search though? That's what I am not understanding.

Sounded like early on LE thought he traveled way back towards the river. They have obviously changed their focus more recently to the ponds close behind the industrial area, RR tracks and other places they have been seen searching.

 

[Trino]

1. is the person likely still alive?
2. is there a danger to the public from someone or something that needs to be mitigated?
3. "star value" and public interest for whatever reason (involvement of children, odd last statements, puzzling social media, etc.)
all IMO

1. Not likely alive after missing 11 days.
2. No danger to public. Very doubtful.
3. No danger to children. Over 100 searchers originally came out as requested. Many who want to help have search backgrounds, i.e. firefighter, diver. Why is LE ignoring them?
The area being searched is public lands. Can't exactly call the entire area a crime scene - several miles. Can't close the RR tracks. There is an unpaved north/south trail before the river. I have biked it from Mendota to the Cedar Bridge and crossed. Not paved but used, and he would have noted that trail before the river. Obvious.

 

[InternetGhost91]

Sounded like early on LE thought he traveled way back towards the river. They have obviously changed their focus more recently to the ponds close behind the industrial area, RR tracks and other places they have been seen searching.

I really don't mean to harp on this, but in that case..... why not have volunteers search the new area by the ponds and railroad tracks? The latest news article specifically said they aren't looking for volunteers, and I haven't seen one convincing argument as to why.

More people searching = more chance of finding him. It doesn't seem like they're concerned about ruining evidence because they haven't indicated any foul play. So again.... can anyone answer why no volunteer search?

I keep thinking about how if it were my son missing, I would want as many people searching as possible. It actually makes me angry.

 

[InternetGhost91]

1. Not likely alive after missing 11 days.
2. No danger to public. Very doubtful.
3. No danger to children. Over 100 searchers originally came out as requested. Many who want to help have search backgrounds, i.e. firefighter, diver. Why is LE ignoring them?
The area being searched is public lands. Can't exactly call the entire area a crime scene - several miles. Can't close the RR tracks. There is an unpaved north/south trail before the river. I have biked it from Mendota to the Cedar Bridge and crossed. Not paved but used, and he would have noted that trail before the river. Obvious.

Thank you, this is what I keep asking. Why the lack of transparency and turning down volunteers from LE?

 

[Tippy Lynn]

This case reminds me of Brandon Swanson from Marshall MN. He went missing in 2008. After a night out he drove his car into a ditch. He called his parents and told them he was unsure of his exact location. They remained on the phone for 45 minutes until the phone went silent. Cell phone records later determined he was 25 miles from where he thought he was. He has not been seen or heard from since.

 

[lassy]

I really don't mean to harp on this, but in that case..... why not have volunteers search the new area by the ponds and railroad tracks? The latest news article specifically said they aren't looking for volunteers, and I haven't seen one convincing argument as to why.

More people searching = more chance of finding him. It doesn't seem like they're concerned about ruining evidence because they haven't indicated any foul play. So again.... can anyone answer why no volunteer search?

I keep thinking about how if it were my son missing, I would want as many people searching as possible. It actually makes me angry.

LE seemed to be focusing on the ponds behind the industrial area. They have been there 3 times since Sat. Likely don’t need public help in/around water.

 

[InternetGhost91]

This case reminds me of Brandon Swanson from Marshall MN. He went missing in 2008. After a night out he drove his car into a ditch. He called his parents and told them he was unsure of his exact location. They remained on the phone for 45 minutes until the phone went silent. Cell phone records later determined he was 25 miles from where he thought he was. He has not been seen or heard from since.

I thought of this case too. These situations drive me crazy because even if someone dies alone in the wilderness, it's not like they can hide their own body. So where are they?

 

[Tippy Lynn]

I thought of this case too. These situations drive me crazy because even if someone dies alone in the wilderness, it's not like they can hide their own body. So where are they?

I know it's hard to understand how this happens.

 

[InternetGhost91]

LE seemed to be focusing on the ponds behind the industrial area. They have been there 3 times since Sat. Likely don’t need public help in/around water.

I'm reading in this thread that some of the folks volunteering to search are professional divers. To me, it just doesn't seem like they're trying very hard. Very sad.

 

[Marysmith]

This case reminds me of Brandon Swanson from Marshall MN. He went missing in 2008. After a night out he drove his car into a ditch. He called his parents and told them he was unsure of his exact location. They remained on the phone for 45 minutes until the phone went silent. Cell phone records later determined he was 25 miles from where he thought he was. He has not been seen or heard from since.

How awful!!

 

[UltraViolet4545]

My sister and I met up again today to search privately. We did not see any searching going on out there.

All MOO and I don’t mean anything negative, but I don’t understand why there is silence from the family/friends. Perhaps it’s a case of the family being broken-hearted and just trusting in LE… but as everyone here on websleuths knows, LE often needs to be supplemented with private searches to get things done and find people. I haven’t seen anything public from the family and sometimes it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease in a situation like this.

It’s not THAT big an area, the key search area is between the river and hwy 13, then from the cedar Ave bridge to the 494 bridge. That area is roughly 3 miles long and 1 mile wide. Yes, the terrain is rough. But if a huge community search went out, that entire area could be covered in a couple hours.

Idk. I’m just a random person from the area, but this situation is really upsetting to me. It’s going to snow this week and once that happens, it will make finding him near impossible until spring.

 

[InternetGhost91]

My sister and I met up again today to search privately. We did not see any searching going on out there.

All MOO and I don’t mean anything negative, but I don’t understand why there is silence from the family/friends. Perhaps it’s a case of the family being broken-hearted and just trusting in LE… but as everyone here on websleuths knows, LE often needs to be supplemented with private searches to get things done and find people. I haven’t seen anything public from the family and sometimes it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease in a situation like this.

It’s not THAT big an area, the key search area is between the river and hwy 13, then from the cedar Ave bridge to the 494 bridge. That area is roughly 3 miles long and 1 mile wide. Yes, the terrain is rough. But if a huge community search went out, that entire area could be covered in a couple hours.

Idk. I’m just a random person from the area, but this situation is really upsetting to me. It’s going to snow this week and once that happens, it will make finding him near impossible until spring.

The situation is upsetting to me because I know deep down that if it were me who went missing, this is what the response would be <modsnip: disparaging comments about LE>

 

[UltraViolet4545]

From what I have seen, the police have not said don’t search, they just are not holding any more police sanctioned searches. Maybe they don’t have funding or manpower, maybe they think he’s in the water and searching is pointless… I don’t know.

If the family wants a large scale foot search, they need to reach out to Minnesota United and request assistance, or start speaking publicly and asking for help. If they stay quiet, nothing is going to change. Either the police will find him during a small targeted search they do in the water amongst themselves, or a member of the public will stumble across remains eventually.

All MOO