I'm happy to see this case here. I was Googling for unidentified persons to match to him and came across this during my searches.
Ben was a friend of mine. Honestly, after years of not wanting to think it, I think he was likely the victim of a drug deal gone bad at the park on Raven Road in Tijeras or he overdosed somewhere in the woods. Joline's son- who he was close with- had overdosed on heroin in the house a few years prior and she was housing several other known drug users during the time Ben was living with her. Ben had previous drug issues and being around the influence constantly might have led to him redeveloping a habit.
There were no cameras for businesses in the area- it is a remote neighborhood. I know cops questioned some neighbors- and one did say he saw him walking around 4pm on the west side of the park. There was a maybe sighting on him at in Zuzax at a gas station (about 20 minutes away), but video from there showed it was not him. They also found a skull in late 2018 that got some of us hopeful they maybe found him, but it was determined to be ancient (not uncommon for this area).
We spent days combing that entire neighborhood. We did find a pair of khaki pants that may have been his, but nothing ever came of that. We even got a drone to get to places we couldn't access due to gates or terrain. The cops used dogs a few times, but nothing ever came of that either. We never found a trace of him. He literally disappeared without leaving a shred of evidence behind. No cards in his wallet were used after July 4th, 2017. People accessed his social media and texts and nothing had any red flags, so if he planned anything, he didn't leave a trace of that either. To my knowledge, the police checked to see if his prescriptions had been refilled and they had not.
A group of us also spent days in downtown Albuquerque, posting flyers in the neighborhoods he liked to hang out in and the cafes he liked. We also interviewed homeless people around different areas in case maybe he had run off (he'd been homeless, so he'd know how to survive if he had meds). No one anywhere had seen him since before the 4th of July.
A lot of people thought Joline may have had something to do with it because of how she reacted- lots about psychics and weird theories that he went to Oregon without any money or his life saving medication, but I feel like that was probably just desperation and a trauma response.
I would like to be able to put him to rest someday. At this point, I am sure that he just isn't here anymore and if he is out in those woods somewhere, I do worry that its too late to get real answers. He was a great guy- incredibly kind, hilarious, sweet, and delightfully awkward. I never heard him ever say a bad word about anyone or even get upset. He deserved better than whatever he got.
