OH OH - Harley Dilly, 14, walking to Port Clinton High School, 20 Dec 2019 #2

[rosesfromangels]

I've been reading everything I can find about Harley's case from MSM to gossipy sites. I've been peeling away the noise and trying to piece together the beacons of info we believe are factual.

I keep coming back to one point that stands out for me.

The day it is believed Harley disappeared (Dec 20), he reportedly stepped in to his Mother's darkened bedroom and said he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go to school. Without turning on the lights or investigating this lament further, the mother instructed Harley to go to school anyway. The mother's dismissive action *suggests* that this was a common lament of Harley's. (Speculation only).

However, given Harley's missing status, I am going to accept his claim of "not feeling well" as being real. When a child claims not feeling well, this could mean:
a) They are physically ill (fever, stomach ache, etc.)
b) They have a project or test at school they aren't ready for
c) They have anxiety because of a situation like bullying, or having to speak in front of the class, undressing in a locker room, or a million other possibilities
d) They know there is an impending event such as a fight that they have to face
e) They have done something wrong and can't face the consequences

That's not an exhaustive list, but it does cover a lot of categories. If forced to choose one of the above as my prime speculation, I am torn between d and e, but will choose d. I think Harley had someone after him, he knew, and either they caught him, or he took off to avoid them.

Your thoughts?

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[Diddian]

This was such a necessary step, for both parents and the Chief to step forward in person rather than on social media, showing themselves and making their direct appeals to Harley with the promise that he is wanted, loved, not in trouble, and there is a pathway back if he can and will take it.

Whatever direction this disappearance case takes in the future, there is no denying that a major interruption to this family and this community occurred when Harley disappeared and it has left a huge hole. If he is able, I hope this call to Harley motivates his return, so people can begin to repair the wounds his disappearance has created.

 

[Moonracer]

I wish LE would contact one of the more famous YouTubers that Harley and young teens so admire, and ask them to make a quick video asking Harley to make contact. If he's alive and free, I think that would reach him better than any family pleas IMOO.

If he is abducted, maybe it could give him hope.

Just an out-the-box idea.

 

[RSpecht]

IIRC, the Chief mentioned in one of the pressers that school had been cancelled on the Tuesday of that week d/t the weather.

He also mentioned it was 18 degrees outside the morning that HD went missing.
That was in response to a reporter's question re: why LE had changed his status to "endangered missing."

JMO.

18 degrees outside! HD was definitely meeting someone in a car or going over to someone's house. doubt HD was walking to wood hideout or walking to let off some steam without more clothing. maybe he was going to talk to someone he confides in about the recent confiscation of his cell phone. A school teacher, counselor, coach, or internet friend, or parent of one of his friends, etc.? his phone was gone, so HD only had xbox , school, and possibly social media/email to communicate. if he was meeting someone, there has to be record of it somewhere.

 

[Sonic7273]

I wish LE would contact one of the more famous YouTubers that Harley and young teens so admire, and ask them to make a quick video asking Harley to make contact. If he's alive and free, I think that would reach him better than any family pleas IMOO.

If he is abducted, maybe it could give him hope.

Just an out-the-box idea.

Agreed. Also what about all the NFL players he admired during his madden videos. That would be huge.

 

[rosesfromangels]

I wish LE would contact one of the more famous YouTubers that Harley and young teens so admire, and ask them to make a quick video asking Harley to make contact. If he's alive and free, I think that would reach him better than any family pleas IMOO.

If he is abducted, maybe it could give him hope.

Just an out-the-box idea.

This is a GREAT idea. They have large fan bases and can get the word out

 

[Diddian]

I've been reading everything I can find about Harley's case from MSM to gossipy sites. I've been peeling away the noise and trying to piece together the beacons of info we believe are factual.

I keep coming back to one point that stands out for me.

The day it is believed Harley disappeared (Dec 20), he reportedly stepped in to his Mother's darkened bedroom and said he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go to school. Without turning on the lights or investigating this lament further, the mother instructed Harley to go to school anyway. The mother's dismissive action *suggests* that this was a common lament of Harley's. (Speculation only).

However, given Harley's missing status, I am going to accept his claim of "not feeling well" as being real. When a child claims not feeling well, this could mean:
a) They are physically ill (fever, stomach ache, etc.)
b) They have a project or test at school they aren't ready for
c) They have anxiety because of a situation like bullying, or having to speak in front of the class, undressing in a locker room, or a million other possibilities
d) They know there is an impending event such as a fight that they have to face
e) They have done something wrong and can't face the consequences

That's not an exhaustive list, but it does cover a lot of categories. If forced to choose one of the above as my prime speculation, I am torn between d and e, but will choose d. I think Harley had someone after him, he knew, and either they caught him, or he took off to avoid them.

Your thoughts?

Amateur opinion and speculation

Given the report that Harley’s broken and handed over phone roughly coincides with his disappearance and given that his SM activity on that phone was such a huge part of who Harley is, I imagine that Harley felt incredibly wounded with the loss. So, I don’t think there had to be any illness, anxiety, or fear beyond that loss. And we still do not know what motivated the forced surrender of the device.

The forced surrender of the device and Harley’s disappearance seem to me inextricably linked. As a stranger with what little I know about Harley, I can see that. Yet, in all the appeals for Harley to return, acknowledgment of and remorse for the pain of that loss to him has not been even mentioned.

 

[FindTheirTruth]

Thinking out loud... There are woods nearby, any locals know if there are any hangout spots around there? I remember growing up there was a small patch of woods in our subdivision and it was a place us kids would meet up in and hang out. Just a thought. MOO

Thinking along those lines, any local urban legends? For instance, my city has a “haunted bridge” that is on an old, no longer used and now private property, road surrounded by trees. It wasn’t uncommon for teens to dare each other to “call out” the ghosts or something along those lines. The last time I went, the bridge had been damaged during a storm and dropped off a few yards in but it was so dark you couldn’t tell until you were on it.

Videos of people or kids testing their own safety are really popular right now (dark web unboxing, I visited a haunted building, I spent 24 hours in a haunted___)

If Harley got his hands on some type of streaming device, and considered this as possible content (based only on the video on a rock pile) something could have gone wrong like getting injured on rough terrain.

TOTAL SPECULATION!!! But something to think about.

 

[RSpecht]

Another thought: there is an account that HD parent's stated he had run away before? Has this been verified? and if so, where did he go

 

[Cubby]

Whoa, whoa, wait a sec. The chief stated Harley was headed toward school and his regular route was down an alley. A short walk to school, down an alley, at an extra ordinarily early time.

Walking down an alley approximate an hour and twenty minutes before school starts. My first thought is accident! Someone backing out of their garage. BLIND SPOTS FOLKS. I doubt many people would be thinking about students walking to school that early. My top theory is someone hit him, didn't want to get caught, and disposed of him.

I am livid at the chief right now. Perhaps disclosing that he was walking in an alley could have avoided all kinds of social media speculation and rumor.

I need a self imposed time out. Because the chief just showed himself to be at the top of the list of incompetence at its finest.

 

[bellyup]

Another thought: there is an account that HD parent's stated he had run away before? Has this been verified? and if so, where did he go

Chief said Harley had never run away before. He would get mad and go to a friends but only once over night.

 

[RSpecht]

“We need this for attendance reasons and accountability...”

Port Clinton Police Department

Maybe this was posted because there were other kids reported absent from school that day and LE may have wondered if one of them were with HD

 

[Diddian]

Whoa, whoa, wait a sec. The chief stated Harley was headed toward school and his regular route was down an alley. A short walk to school, down an alley, at an extra ordinarily early time.

Walking down an alley approximate an hour and twenty minutes before school starts. My first thought is accident! Someone backing out of their garage. BLIND SPOTS FOLKS. I doubt many people would be thinking about students walking to school that early. My top theory is someone hit him, didn't want to get caught, and disposed of him.

I am livid at the chief right now. Perhaps disclosing that he was walking in an alley could have avoided all kinds of social media speculation and rumor.

I need a self imposed time out. Because the chief just showed himself to be at the top of the list of incompetence at its finest.

The Chief first reported that Harley headed south from his home to the alley in the televised Dec 26 press conference and said that was his normal route to school.

 

[bellyup]

Mother of missing Port Clinton teen: ‘Harley, we love you. Please come home’

*Video of Chief Hickman making a statement to the volunteers this morning at link.

I believe HD's dad is the person standing next to him in the video.

Chief Hickman reiterated that LE believes that image taken that Friday morning at 6:08 am is of HD.

Chief Hickman also states that HD's path of travel on Friday was "southbound down the alley, toward Magruder Hospital, which is believed to be his normal path of travel when he goes to school from reviewing the video footage that week."

That would have HD walking in a southwesterly direction, not southeast, that morning.
That's a definite change from what the Chief said in an earlier presser.

This would mean that the overwhelming likelihood that HD WAS in fact heading toward school that day when he disappeared.

JMO.

That is Heathers dad in the video (check candle vigil reports for confirmation).

Also this is yet another big contradiction by the chief. So now he’s saying he was walking the direction of school on his normal route.

I don’t understand all these contradictions and at this point I think the only actual fact we have is “Harley is missing.”

 

[dkryder]

both the chief and HD's mom were mostly speaking directly to harley it seemed to me. also got the feeling they both think harley is in control in that if he wanted to he could just come home and not in a captive situation and at the same time there is a search. in the press conference of 12/26/19 that was posted the chief seemed to think harley was a runaway at that time. hopefully LE has some information to substantiate the runaway idea and can not share it. perhaps harley has made contact with someone. i have hard time balancing the need for search with idea he is somewhere just needs to be talked into coming home. if harley is alive and captive but the captor allows him to watch these news clips that's got to be terrible for harley. i want to pass along that during some searches last night i ran across an excellent documentary on a boy in IL that ran away.
it seems to be a new crime series and Robert Bee [the child] is the first case. the Bee series itself has been done in the past 2 months and is ongoing. if interested search for
Ashes to Ash TV on youtube.

 

[Diddian]

Whoa, whoa, wait a sec. The chief stated Harley was headed toward school and his regular route was down an alley. A short walk to school, down an alley, at an extra ordinarily early time.

Walking down an alley approximate an hour and twenty minutes before school starts. My first thought is accident! Someone backing out of their garage. BLIND SPOTS FOLKS. I doubt many people would be thinking about students walking to school that early. My top theory is someone hit him, didn't want to get caught, and disposed of him.

I am livid at the chief right now. Perhaps disclosing that he was walking in an alley could have avoided all kinds of social media speculation and rumor.

I need a self imposed time out. Because the chief just showed himself to be at the top of the list of incompetence at its finest.

The Chief first reported that Harley headed south toward the alley in the Dec 26 press conference. He said then that was Harley's normal route to school.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Given the report that Harley’s broken and handed over phone roughly coincides with his disappearance and given that his SM activity on that phone was such a huge part of who Harley is, I imagine that Harley felt incredibly wounded with the loss. So, I don’t think there had to be any illness, anxiety, or fear beyond that loss. And we still do not know what motivated the forced surrender of the device.

The forced surrender of the device and Harley’s disappearance seem to me inextricably linked. As a stranger with what little I know about Harley, I can see that. Yet, in all the appeals for Harley to return, acknowledgment of and remorse for the pain of that loss to him has not been even mentioned.

This is very interesting, and I had not thought of this. It meant everything to him, didn’t it? Despite his diminutive stature, Harley could be “a big deal” online, and was working hard to grow his fan base.

You are 100% right. Taking away his connection to the world he had created was likely a horrific blow to this child.

amateur opinion and speculation

 

[Cubby]

Distracted driving is more of a problem than online predators and human trafficking. The chief just made Harleys mother look like a rocket sceintist. I now have a high BP headache.

 

[Uninformant]

When a child claims not feeling well, this could mean:
a) They are physically ill (fever, stomach ache, etc.)
b) They have a project or test at school they aren't ready for
c) They have anxiety because of a situation like bullying, or having to speak in front of the class, undressing in a locker room, or a million other possibilities
d) They know there is an impending event such as a fight that they have to face
e) They have done something wrong and can't face the consequences

f) There’s something else they’d rather be doing

For any normal teenager, there are a lot of things they’d rather be doing. Parents handle this in different ways. Some will happily negotiate letting a kids stay home. Some kids feel they have to lie and say they are sick. Sometimes it depends on what the kid wants to do and how motivated they are to try and make it happen.

I have a son around that age who’s very connected online, follows a lot of gaming streamers and streams his play. Game companies often have events, launch collabs and brand experiences during school hours. For example, there was a Fortnite Star Wars event around that time. My son has asked to skip school for Pokemon Go events.

I also know kids this age are imagining their future success. Pro eSports, social media influencer, content creator (youtube, tiktok, instagram) and similar are as attractive to them as pro athlete and rock star used to be when I was a teen. It’s easier to connect with your celebrity idols now, and I imagine a lot of kids believe they can easily become one. This probably makes them vulnerable.

Separately, it’s an emotional age for kids and it’s a society where boys are discouraged from expressing emotion. A few of my son’s friends have ‘run away’ to our house because they feel their parents or siblings are being mean. I once discovered one of them sleeping on our porch in the night. There are a lot of potential scenarios in this case. I’m sad for this kiddo.

 

[RSpecht]

Just a thought: does anyone know if within the area of HD's house and direction he was walking, there are any bus stops? Probable he was walking so early to catch a bus?