Found Safe NY - Austin Taylor, 26, East Village, NYC, 2 Nov 2015

[cvaldez1975]

please do share.

Coinky dinky???

This is very strange. I can't even post what I'm thinking. It's insane.

 

[cvaldez1975]

this is reminding me of Ronald Shumway.

 

[ClaireNC]

this is reminding me of Ronald Shumway.

I just had that same thought.

 

[Dockins]

Once in Paris, if it is him, he could go anywhere via rail. I know France closed borders after the attack, but prior to, he could be anywhere. My kid went all over Europe via train, and hardly ever had to show his passport. A passport is required to rent a car, in my experience anyway, but crossing into another country is like interstate travel here in the US, if he is with someone else anyway in a car. I would think he would call and say 'I'm safe' after last week.
I'm off to find out who Ronald Shumway is, thanks.

 

[ClaireNC]

I can't get it out of my head that this is somehow tied to the terrorist attacks. It's probably not rational, but I'm stuck on that. With the mess in Paris right now, I doubt if anybody would take the time to look through surveillance video to see if it was him that was using his passport - unless maybe if one of the family members went in person and demanded it. Also, do we know if anybody has contacted the FBI?

 

[bettiepageturner]

http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/family-searching-austin-taylor-n464451

Austin was also reportedly on Whatsapp, an Internet instant messaging phone application, on Nov. 5, eight days before the attacks.

Could be off base but I'm just about his age and similar demographic etc and I don't know a single person who uses Whatsapp. Anecdotally. With actual sources: It's used more heavily in.. other regions. http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/study-northwestern-qatar-whatsapp-middle-east/618962 http://www.experian.com/blogs/marke...pp-and-why-are-they-so-important-to-facebook/ Average user is not from the US, lower income, etc.

Just MOO and not implying anything in particular, regardless of the timing of other events. The fact that he was active on that and not Facebook or just his phone stuck out to me.

Edit to clarify: If this was reported about a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend of mine I would find it strange (and if it were regarding an actual friend of mine, who hadn't spent a lot of time abroad recently, I would straight up assume their phone was stolen) but I very much allow for the possibility that Austin and his friends developed different SM habits than my cohorts in the southeast and NYC.

 

[ClaireNC]

Could be off base but I'm just about his age and similar demographic etc and I don't know a single person who uses Whatsapp. Anecdotally. With actual sources: It's used more heavily in.. other regions. http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/study-northwestern-qatar-whatsapp-middle-east/618962 http://www.experian.com/blogs/marke...pp-and-why-are-they-so-important-to-facebook/ Average user is not from the US, lower income, etc.

Just MOO and not implying anything in particular, regardless of the timing of other events. The fact that he was active on that and not Facebook or just his phone stuck out to me.

Oh that is a very interesting insight, bettie.

 

[Dockins]

I'm finding that myself, and more of my older friends are no longer using Facebook. My oldest and his friends use other apps, so we need to find a way to sleuth these newer apps.

 

[ms_x_to_the_m]

I can't get it out of my head that this is somehow tied to the terrorist attacks. It's probably not rational, but I'm stuck on that. With the mess in Paris right now, I doubt if anybody would take the time to look through surveillance video to see if it was him that was using his passport - unless maybe if one of the family members went in person and demanded it. Also, do we know if anybody has contacted the FBI?

I'm getting that vibe too. Maybe my brain is over reacting.
I hope not.

 

[bettiepageturner]

I'm getting that vibe too. Maybe my brain is over reacting.
I hope not.

I can't shake the connection either. It really, really doesn't mean he was ever in Paris. Lots of people who spend extended amounts of time abroad end up depleting their funds earlier than anticipated, and "lose" their passport and just re-order one. I know we joked about it when we were studying abroad in Central America (where allegedly a legit US passport could fetch thousands).

If there's no flight record for him, seems more likely he "lost" it or it was taken from him and mailed overseas. However, if it ended up being used in the Paris attack, I think the news would be even more hush hush about him since they would've had to extensively research his possible involvement..

 

[bettiepageturner]

I'm finding that myself, and more of my older friends are no longer using Facebook. My oldest and his friends use other apps, so we need to find a way to sleuth these newer apps.

Good point. In my experience, when people (myself included) fall out of the Facebook routine, it tends to apply more or less equally to other platforms. Sorry for the light hearted OT but maybe.. http://www.theonion.com/video/teens-migrating-from-facebook-to-comments-section--35583

 

[Momoffourboys]

Could be off base but I'm just about his age and similar demographic etc and I don't know a single person who uses Whatsapp. Anecdotally. With actual sources: It's used more heavily in.. other regions. http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/study-northwestern-qatar-whatsapp-middle-east/618962 http://www.experian.com/blogs/marke...pp-and-why-are-they-so-important-to-facebook/ Average user is not from the US, lower income, etc.

Just MOO and not implying anything in particular, regardless of the timing of other events. The fact that he was active on that and not Facebook or just his phone stuck out to me.

Edit to clarify: If this was reported about a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend of mine I would find it strange (and if it were regarding an actual friend of mine, who hadn't spent a lot of time abroad recently, I would straight up assume their phone was stolen) but I very much allow for the possibility that Austin and his friends developed different SM habits than my cohorts in the southeast and NYC.

I find that frequent travelers use the app quite often. Many people I know, students and professionals, prefer to use it. It's free and service is fairly reliable. JMO

 

[Dockins]

Good point. In my experience, when people (myself included) fall out of the Facebook routine, it tends to apply more or less equally to other platforms. Sorry for the light hearted OT but maybe.. http://www.theonion.com/video/teens-migrating-from-facebook-to-comments-section--35583

Sorry for the O/T, but I posted a few years ago on fb, that if I wasn't posting in a day or two, send the police because I was missing.
But, on topic, when I was in Turkey this September, I left my passport on the ship because we were warned that was the number one thing that tourists were robbed of while in port. Supposedly, a US passport was worth more than what a typical tourist would carry in cash. it was the first time of many European vacations that we didn't have our passports n our persons.

 

[Momoffourboys]

Sorry for the O/T, but I posted a few years ago on fb, that if I wasn't posting in a day or two, send the police because I was missing.
But, on topic, when I was in Turkey this September, I left my passport on the ship because we were warned that was the number one thing that tourists were robbed of while in port. Supposedly, a US passport was worth more than what a typical tourist would carry in cash. it was the first time of many European vacations that we didn't have our passports n our persons.

This is true. I've heard that a US Passport can get $10,000.

 

[cvaldez1975]

its a very hinky and interesting story.

Once in Paris, if it is him, he could go anywhere via rail. I know France closed borders after the attack, but prior to, he could be anywhere. My kid went all over Europe via train, and hardly ever had to show his passport. A passport is required to rent a car, in my experience anyway, but crossing into another country is like interstate travel here in the US, if he is with someone else anyway in a car. I would think he would call and say 'I'm safe' after last week.
I'm off to find out who Ronald Shumway is, thanks.

 

[ClaireNC]

I can't shake the connection either. It really, really doesn't mean he was ever in Paris. Lots of people who spend extended amounts of time abroad end up depleting their funds earlier than anticipated, and "lose" their passport and just re-order one. I know we joked about it when we were studying abroad in Central America (where allegedly a legit US passport could fetch thousands).

If there's no flight record for him, seems more likely he "lost" it or it was taken from him and mailed overseas. However, if it ended up being used in the Paris attack, I think the news would be even more hush hush about him since they would've had to extensively research his possible involvement..

My first reaction was that somebody was using his passport, either it was stolen or "lost" it on an earlier trip. However, the fact that they canceled the search efforts in New York seems to indicate that they really do think he is in Europe.

 

[PeregrineFaulkner]

I find that frequent travelers use the app quite often. Many people I know, students and professionals, prefer to use it. It's free and service is fairly reliable. JMO

Yeah, it's very popular with people who travel internationally or have family overseas, because it allows you to text them without incurring international data charges. It's very popular here in Northern California.

 

[JourneyRain]

I find that frequent travelers use the app quite often. Many people I know, students and professionals, prefer to use it. It's free and service is fairly reliable. JMO

Yes that's exactly why I use that app. It's free out of the country and you can also tell if they read your reply which is nice.

 

[TeaTime]

So he quit his job, texted his mom to access his account to pay some bills and just dropped off the face of the Earth after landing in Paris? No banking, no cell phone usage, no credit card usage? What kinds of retreats are we talking about? Who could be so rude as to just walk off and not let anyone know where they are - if that happened?

He is entirely too handsome to be involved in any muslim suicide mission. I mean seriously, how hard can life be when you are so handsome that you would go jihadi? It didn't happen.

 

[cluciano63]

I feel like he just took off and passed through Paris prior to the attacks. Maybe after the attacks, he decided to take advantage of the situation and just go "missing" for good. I could be totally wrong, obviously, but it sounds like he did plan to leave since he left his job, apparently. Feels like it would be a huge coincidence if he took off like that and then ended up being one of the few unnamed victims. But...not impossible. Anyway...jmo.