Greetings,
I just got off the phone with Kathy. She said the picture posted is definately not Joe, and she wanted me to thank all of you for keeping his name out there.
The editor of people's magazine is not sure what's going on with Joe's article, but believes it may have something to do with the holidays and being backed up. This family has been looking so forward to the article being published, so you can just imagine the stress they are going through with each passing edition.
Some other time I will take the time to post a letter explaining how I met Kathy, and why I'm here posting, but for now I am going to share an email I received from her a few hours ago. She has no problem with me relaying messages to this board. Kathy cannot get caught up with posting, and defending her family. She is suffering terribly, and really appreciates all of you!!
Here's the letter.
Peace~Stay Safe
Deb
AHHHHHHHHHHGH! This is CRAP! This is the drama stuff that makes it SO much harder on families of missing. : (
The post below is from websleuths. These kind of people are the ones that make me crazy, and not give strangers case information. Drama is SO not needed.
Posters are not allowed at the Ferry terminal. Someone wrote somewhere that we (Joe's family) did not care enough to spend the money to make posters and put them up at the terminal. That person also said that they had some printed and put posters at the ferry themselves..... A LIE!!!
(Shawna even contacted the person who said they put posters up, the person then recanted what they had written, and denied writing it.)
We put them up all over town. We still put them up until we were told we couldnt put them up anymore. LE said it was against the law and that we could put them up until someone complained. "SOMEONE" complained, and now we aren't allowed.
As for Joe getting on the ferry at 4:30, that did not happen. Joe did not willingly walk away from his life or his family. All I can say about that is that hopefully someone someday will actually force LE to work this case and actually investigate what happened, and where Joe is.
LE has told us that there is a warrant for Joe for an unpaid fine. (They advised us not to pay the fine so the warrant will stay active) They said that if Joe were to be arrested or "found" alive, that they would tell us. They also said that if Joe "did" run away, that there would not tell us where he was...... just that he was alive.
I dont know why people won't listen when I say he did NOT run away. There's NO way! I'm sure in many cases that does happen, but it did not happen in this one..... I'm Joe's mom and I know him and what he's capable of more than anyone.
Ohhhh this is stressing me out bad. : (
I'm off to go clean the house......
Big hugs to you
Love,
Kathy
THIS IS THE POST KATHY IS REFERRING TO
(WEBSLEUTHS)
What I found significant about the article was what the Detective stated and how it differs from some of the accounts we have been given by the family. There may just be a basic misunderstanding here, but in March 2006, BPD did not consider the case a suicide. It is stated boldly.
I used to post with a crew at Topix regarding this case and it fell by the way side for a number of reasons-one of the issues that was presented and discussed vigorously was the lack of posters around Bremerton regarding Joe. Specifically down at the docks where the ferry runs to Seattle, IIRC. There were ferry's that ran from 430am+ the morning that he disappeared; although he did not apparently board one using his own name, this was a possible point of exit from Bremerton. I found it intriguing that the docks had not been plastered with posters of Joe and would think even now it may be a good idea simply because any commuters or dock workers from the day of his disappearance might recognize him. Clearly, placing posters is not a task for LE, and perhaps some of the local sleuthers might be willing to print some and put some up there in order to jar some memories.
I am actually wondering now if Joe has contacted Bremerton PD and requested not to have his family contacted-I have not spoken with Bremerton in a while, and I do not know if they still consider the case to be open. Since Joe is an adult now, he can walk away from his life and he will not have broken any laws. I participated on one other case where this was what the missing person did, and the hands of the police were somewhat tied, although the detective did tell me why he closed the case.