Found Deceased MT - Cameron Collin, 37, Billings, 4 October 2018

[siliconrod]

I am confused about the location of Cameron's phone, was it tracked into the center of Billings city limits or was it tracked halfway between the residence that Cameron was visiting and Billings.

 

[zecats]

I am confused about the location of Cameron's phone, was it tracked into the center of Billings city limits or was it tracked halfway between the residence that Cameron was visiting and Billings.

I took it as halfway to Billings. It is a bit confusing the way it’s stated. Wonder can timing be checked as well? As in how fast the phone was moving - walking speed vs auto for example.

 

[rainynights]

Family hires private investigator to search for Airdrie man missing in Montana

[....]

Julia Collin, Cameron’s sister, said a private investigator hired by the family will be helping to co-ordinate further search efforts with the sheriff’s office.

“They’re meeting today to discuss doing more searches around the property and the surrounding areas,” she said. “I think they’re planning to fly all of the areas again and they’re also planning now to go further south along Pryor Road. I think we’ve kind of exhausted Highway 87 so now we’re taking it in the other direction.”

Collin family members have also set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for their expenses while in Montana. It had raised about $11,000 as of Tuesday.

They had previously been offering a $5,000 reward for anyone with information that can help lead them to Collin.

“Now we can up our reward, so we are now offering a $10,000 reward and I’m just really hoping that that’s a significant amount of money; it’s going to get somebody talking and I’m hoping we will find my brother soon,” Julia said.

“Every little bit helps, even if I can just give gas money to some volunteer who’s willing to go out.”

The Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office said last week there is no evidence of foul play.

 

[MistyWaters]

I took it as halfway to Billings. It is a bit confusing the way it’s stated. Wonder can timing be checked as well? As in how fast the phone was moving - walking speed vs auto for example.

Excellent question. The media report specifically mentioned
“Google Tracking mapping information” indicated the cellphone was halfway into town, when at 10:22pm the tracking ended.

Google mapping operates by a satellite connection so I’d think there’s a very strong likelihood that not only the route but the corresponding times also are known.

Just my opinion, I get the impression small pieces of important information are now getting released in the hope at least one person will do the right thing by voluntarily stepping forward to LE to tell the whole story. Loyalty to a group of people usually begins to shred once the gravity of a serious situation is understood. Maybe at first it was assumed Cam from Canada would just go missing and nobody would make a big deal of it because his family lived so far away.

I’m willing to bet every big brother would hope for a little sister as tenacious as Cam’s, in the event of their mysterious disappearance.

 

[LayzeeDayzee]

1. So he was there in MT for the wedding of a female friend from college; there at the "bachelor party." Was he also friends with the groom? Did the other guys at the bachelor party know him? Mutual friends? Were some of them old college friends, too?....or was he essentially a stranger to the guys at the bachelor party?

2. Have LE confirmed that this group did in fact make it into town and visit the strip club?

3. Seems very odd and hard to believe, to me, that this group of guys (I'm assuming all guys, due to it being a bachelor party) who were no doubt all drinking like Cam was, would make a 20 minute drive into Billings - only to stay at at a strip club for a mere 30 minutes - then make the 20 minute drive back. IMO, this sounds nothing more than "a fake alibi" and I hope LE has verified this either way.

4. The fact that his last phone activity was half-way between the party at the rural property and Billings; essentially in the middle of nowhere, is a red flag to me. Speculating only, I believe people at this party know exactly what happened to him and they are covering it up. IMO they either did something to him or something happened to him at the party and they either panicked or wanted to cover it it up.....so the story about leaving behind on the couch to sleep it off. IMO if they did make the 40 minute round-trip into Billings to the strip club and only stayed for 30 minutes, it was merely to create an alibi. It doesn't seem the least bit believable to me that a group of guys at a bachelor party are going to stay at a strip club for ONLY 30 minutes. I can't help but feel they dumped Cam off somewhere off the highway around the time of his last phone activity and then carried on into Billings to create an alibi for: a) them claiming they left him back at the rural property feeling unwell and very intoxicated and allegedly not telling him they were leaving...... b) to cover up the drive into Billings, in the event that anyone saw them leaving the property/driving on the highway.

5. Was Cam perhaps an old love interest of the bride? Did the groom have any issues with Cam attending/being invited to the wedding?

6. If Cam was really very intoxicated, how easy would it have been for him to find his way off the rural property and to the highway on his own?

7 if it's true that his last call was to the hotel, clearly (IMO) he wasn't that intoxicated, or as intoxicated as his "friends" at the party have lead others to believe.

All just my opinion.

 

[rainynights]

1. So he was there in MT for the wedding of a female friend from college; there at the "bachelor party." Was he also friends with the groom? Did the other guys at the bachelor party know him? Mutual friends? Were some of them old college friends, too?....or was he essentially a stranger to the guys at the bachelor party?

2. Have LE confirmed that this group did in fact make it into town and visit the strip club?

3. Seems very odd and hard to believe, to me, that this group of guys (I'm assuming all guys, due to it being a bachelor party) who were no doubt all drinking like Cam was, would make a 20 minute drive into Billings - only to stay at at a strip club for a mere 30 minutes - then make the 20 minute drive back. IMO, this sounds nothing more than "a fake alibi" and I hope LE has verified this either way.

4. The fact that his last phone activity was half-way between the party at the rural property and Billings; essentially in the middle of nowhere, is a red flag to me. Speculating only, I believe people at this party know exactly what happened to him and they are covering it up. IMO they either did something to him or something happened to him at the party and they either panicked or wanted to cover it it up.....so the story about leaving behind on the couch to sleep it off. IMO if they did make the 40 minute round-trip into Billings to the strip club and only stayed for 30 minutes, it was merely to create an alibi. It doesn't seem the least bit believable to me that a group of guys at a bachelor party are going to stay at a strip club for ONLY 30 minutes. I can't help but feel they dumped Cam off somewhere off the highway around the time of his last phone activity and then carried on into Billings to create an alibi for: a) them claiming they left him back at the rural property feeling unwell and very intoxicated and allegedly not telling him they were leaving...... b) to cover up the drive into Billings, in the event that anyone saw them leaving the property/driving on the highway.

5. Was Cam perhaps an old love interest of the bride? Did the groom have any issues with Cam attending/being invited to the wedding?

6. If Cam was really very intoxicated, how easy would it have been for him to find his way off the rural property and to the highway on his own?

7 if it's true that his last call was to the hotel, clearly (IMO) he wasn't that intoxicated, or as intoxicated as his "friends" at the party have lead others to believe.

All just my opinion.

Yup. All really great questions. Adding to that, I have some thoughts:

"He was last seen in the shed of this bachelor party," Julia Collin told the Calgary Eyeopener on Tuesday. "They said he was quite drunk so they didn't really want to bring him into town, so they left him in a chair and that was the last time anybody saw him."

The facts the family has are that Cameron Collin's phone activity stopped at 10:22 p.m., shortly before the group said they left for the bar. Google Tracking mapping information showed the phone travelled halfway into town before the tracking ended, possibly because the phone died.

Julia Collin said the group left for the bar in Billings around 10:30 p.m., but didn't stay long. [....]

If they left for the bar around 10:30pm, and CC's phone activity stopped at 10:22pm (shortly before they left for the bar) with tracking showing he should have been halfway into town (or at least his phone was) at that point, how could CC have been last seen at the residence "left in a chair"? If they left at 10:30pm that would indicate to me that CC (or at least his phone) would have not been in the house at the time they left, judging by the phone activity, IMO.

Cameron Collin had reserved a hotel room in Billings for the wedding and did call the hotel that day inquiring about a late check-in and asking them to hold his room.

[....] They were back around midnight and assumed their friend had gone to bed they set up for him on a trailer.

I find it odd that a bed would have been set up for him, considering CC had been inquiring about a late check in earlier that day. A call to a hotel would indicate to me that CC would have been planning to get back to the hotel and check-in to his room at some point later that night, rather than staying overnight at the residence, IMO.

There has been no activity on his phone or credit cards and his belongings, including his jacket, were left behind at the property.

Yellowstone Country Sheriff's department said they do not suspect foul play in Cameron Collin's disappearance. They believe he may have walked away from the property in an attempt to walk to Billings.

But LE doesn't suspect foul play. Considering CC left all his belongings behind, I find it unusual, but perhaps LE has other evidence that hasn't been shared yet. Jmo

Family of missing Airdrie man doubles reward in hopes someone will come forward | CBC News

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

A little more info. I really feel for Cameron’s sister. I wish I could give her a big hug and also help with the search.

“‘We’re just hoping someone will come forward with some information,’ said Julia Collin, younger sister of Cameron Collin, an Airdrie resident who disappeared from Billings, Mont., Oct. 4. ‘We don’t even really know what happened. We’ve been getting mixed stories from the people there.’

Cam Collin is 37 years old, 6’5” and works as a petroleum engineer, often travelling to various locations throughout the United States. He was booked into the Baymont Hotel in Billings but never showed up to claim his reservation, according to his sister.

[SBM]

Cam has not been seen since attending a bachelor party at a private property outside of Billings, according to Collin. The bride and groom own the property, and the wedding went ahead Oct. 6, without Cam.

‘My brother is actually closer friends with the bride, but he was hanging out with the boys that evening,’ Collin said. ‘He went to Montana Tech and she was his college roommate. He was quite excited to go down to Billings for this wedding.’

Collin said the other men at the party decided to head into Billings to go a bar at approximately 10 p.m., leaving Cam behind. Why he was purposefully left behind is a question Collin said she hasn’t received a straight answer to.

They’ve given us some vague information about what went on [at the party]– some say he passed out, some say he was just too intoxicated, others say he was not feeling well,” she said. “They say they went to the bar for just a few minutes – like, 30 minutes. Then, everyone came home and went to bed.”

Collin said she was told those attending the party assumed Cam had fallen asleep, taken a taxi into Billings or decided to make the approximately one-hour journey by foot.

[SBM]

What is very disturbing to Collin, she said, is the time it took for Cam’s disappearance to be reported to local law enforcement. He was last seen Oct. 4, but was not reported missing until Oct. 7.

‘I did get contacted Oct. 6 by one of the [bride’s] sisters, just saying they hadn’t been able to get a hold of him and were wondering if I’d heard from him,’ she said.

[SBM]” (BBM)
https://www.airdriecityview.com/article/airdrie-man-missing-in-montana-20181018/amp

1. So the time the men supposedly left for Billings is now “approximately 10 p.m.” First it was 10:45 per the original post), then it was 10:30, and now this.

2. Apparently, the men cannot agree on the reason why they decided to leave Cameron behind. I wonder how many of there are.

3. I have never understood this since the very beginning: Why would anyone think Cameron would decide to walk to Billings? And that is not an “approximately one-hour journey by foot.” From the party house (“5100 block of Pryor Road” from the original post) to Baymont Hotel is 22 miles, according to Google Maps.

4. So no one even made a phone call to Cameron’s family for two days. And according to the men, the last time they saw him, he wasn’t doing so well.

There are at the very least two people who know exactly where Cameron is, IMO, and likely more. So who is going to do the right thing and tell the truth?

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Lots of info about Cameron’s cell activity:

“‘We can track his phone activity — he’s on a plan with my parents,” Collin said.

‘You can see airtime, data usage and messaging. We can’t see who he messaged or anything like that … all activity on his phone stopped at 10:22 p.m.,’ she said.

Then we managed to use Google location tracking. A friend of a friend here in Alberta, she was able to track his phone and see the locations he went in Billings, where he went around and which way he went down to the property,’ she said. ‘It does look like he comes halfway back.’

But Collin said because her brother’s phone is a Canadian one, the Google location tracking function isn’t reliably accurate and makes it hard to determine where his path ended.

‘It’s pinging off of different towers,’ she said. ‘Where it ends, we feel like the phone just dies.’

That happened near a property on Pryor Road, which members of the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office have scoured, only to find ‘no sign of anybody trying to break in or anything like that,’ she said.

The other issue with the Google tracking function is that it’s vague and doesn’t give specific times; it just shows a range from 7 p.m. to 10:22 p.m., she said.

[SBM]

They’ve also hired local private investigator, Mike Toth with Elite Investigations, to help with the search.

Toth said he’s working with the local sheriff’s office to follow up on leads farther away from the property in question.

[SBM]

Collin’s original plan, after attending his college roommate’s wedding, was to fly out to Utah for his next work project as a petroleum engineer on Thanksgiving Monday (Oct. 8), his sister said. ‘Delta Air Lines were informed to let us know if he showed up for the flight, and he never showed up. All of his belongings were still at the property.’ (BBM)
Cellphone data and a doubled reward yield no leads in search for Airdrie man who vanished in Montana | The Star

 

[ilovematt]

Cameron, I’m sorry you had friends to party with. When my pals go to events you never leave alone with even a headache, much less BECAUSE you’re too drunk. Who needs enemies. I’m not victim blaming but c’mon! I hope he wandered off and fell in love and just hasn’t bothered filling his dim friends in bc they didn’t care much toward him..

 

[ElementalLaura]

If I were the bride & my college roommate went missing under these circumstances, you’d better believe my husband would be saying what he knows, or the landspeed record for a divorce filing might be broken.

 

[rainynights]

More info in this article from October 19, 2018

Family offers $10K reward in search for missing Canadian man south of Billings

On the day of Cameron Collin's disappearance, he had flown into Billings for the wedding of a pair of friends, one of whom he met years ago while studying at Montana Tech, Julia Collin said. She said her brother had lunch with other members of the wedding party earlier that day before participating in a bachelor party at the property where he was last seen. That night, the group decided to go to a bar in town, but her brother wasn't interested, Collin said.

He had booked a hotel in town and had called the hotel earlier in the day asking about a late check-in, she told the Canadian media outlet. He was last seen sitting next to a chair in the shed where the bachelor party took place.

He previously lived in Billings for about six months and has friends in the area, his sister said. At the time of his disappearance he was employed as a petroleum engineer, often splitting time between the United States and Canada. He brought his hard hat and coveralls with him to Billings and was planning on heading to a job in Utah afterward, his sister said.

Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue conducted an air and ground search Thursday but didn't find Cameron Collin. Searchers concentrated on Pryor Creek Highway 87 East and south of Pryor Road, according to an emailed press release from YSCO Sheriff Mike Linder.

Gary Blain from Billings Flying Service flew deputies over Pryor Creek for part of the search, according to Linder.

 

[MistyWaters]

I’ll admit, as the days pass by I’m becoming a little concerned about the direction this disappearance is heading and I sincerely wish I’m wrong. But if LE can find no evidence of possible criminal involvement and are unable to find a body, there’s a chance Cam’s disappearance will be written off as yet another missing persons case. Just the same as many other heartbroken families in the same situation who know better, they’ll be told “well maybe he just decided to go off somewhere, break ties with family and friends. He’s an adult and has every right to do that, you know”.

Really, who makes plans to attend a bachelor party and wedding, then just up and disappears in the middle of it? No vehicle, no credit cards, no apparent reason to escape his own identity.

I wonder about the bride and groom who own the ranch, his Montana wedding hosts, what they have to say about his sudden disappearance? Are they proactively involved in helping to solve Cam’s disappearance and if so, maybe I missed it but I don’t recall them urging anyone with any information to contact police.

 

[rainynights]

Link to public group support page (via Facebook):
Cam Collin Updates

 

[rainynights]

October 23, 2018
Search resumes for missing Canada man in Yellowstone County

Yellowstone County Deputies, search dogs, and man trackers are searching a property near 5100 Pryor Road for Cameron Collin.

Unsuccessful searches were conducted on October 9, 12, and 18th.

Neighbors along Pryor Road are being asked to search their properties and to mark gates or fence posts with a ribbon indicating the property has been searched.

If you have information that could help investigators, you are asked to contact the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office at 406-256-2929.

 

[rainynights]

‘I’m getting closer to him each day,’ sister of missing Canadian man holding onto hope during Billings search

The Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office brought in a new tactic to look for clues: a K-9 team and a boat to comb Pryor Creek on the property where Cam was last seen.

“We have no leads as to where Cameron might be but given the lack of sightings, or other activity, we are concentrating on the creek. That will likely be our focus again,” said Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder.

[....]

Julia said she’s given police Cam’s bank information and internet passwords. She’s lending any information she can to help aid in the investigation and search for him.

But as the physical search continues the details about the hours leading up to his disappearance are hard to pin down for Julia. That’s because at some point on Thursday, somewhere in between lunch with the wedding party and a bachelor party, Cam went missing.

“He was hanging out, but at some point, they decided they were going to go to the bars and they decided Cam was not feeling well or too intoxicated to go. So they left him alone at the shop,” she said.

Julia was told, that when the group returned from a night on the town, Cam was gone.

(*more at link)

 

[rainynights]

Officials have few leads after expanded search for Canadian man last seen south of Billings

On Tuesday, searchers continued combing the property for signs of Cameron Collin. A pair of detectives with Linder’s office accompanied U.S. Water Rescue divers as they floated cadaver-sniffing dogs on a raft down the section of Pryor Creek that winds lazily through the property.

Standing at the water’s edge, Linder said there still haven’t been any strong indications of where Cameron Collin went after apparently leaving the shed where the party had taken place. But he suggested he could have fallen into the creek, due to his disorientation and the lack of outdoor lighting on the property.

“My concern is if he emerged, walking out this door, saw the lights of town and walked out this way, he wouldn’t have seen the creek here,” Linder said.

Linder said there’s no reason to suspect foul play, but added he’s “not ruling anything out.”

(*more at link)

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

bumping! new ideas?

 

[zecats]

bumping! new ideas?

Another case where possibilities take us all over the place, with no credible leads or evidence. His sister is remarkable in her relentlessness.

 

[Vail]

If I were the bride & my college roommate went missing under these circumstances, you’d better believe my husband would be saying what he knows, or the landspeed record for a divorce filing might be broken.

Yet her sister was the one to call his family.

 

[rainynights]

November 1, 2018
Montana private investigator continues search for missing Airdrie man | CBC News

Montana private investigator Mike Toth has been hired by the Collin family to help with the search for Airdrie resident Cameron Collin, who went missing Oct. 4 at a bachelor party held on a ranch outside Billings.

(*transcription of interview at link)

Toth spoke to the Calgary Eyeopener on Thursday. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

(*audio of interview at link)