Found Deceased TX - Leanne Bearden, 33, Garden Ridge, 17 Jan 2014 #11

Ransom said:

NOT to me. Why the heck would it (obit) be public? My mom's death was never, ever public to let the vultures pick over her death.

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I don't know a single person personally whose obit wasn't made public and sadly I know a lot of people who have died. I have attended funerals for a 3 month old to a 100 year old and from everything to suicide, murder, children's death, old age, etc

Leomoon80 said:

I don't think it's necessarily that unusual especially since she's been fodder in the news for awhile. Perhaps they have not received the body back from the Medical Examiner yet? Was the autopsy completed? They may have preferred cremation. Many do.

This is all that remains as a reminder of my daughter.....you'll see a slight resemblance to Leanne:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmcid=47663881&GRid=81209467&

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I'm so sorry for your loss. (((Hugs)))
Your daughter was very beautiful.

Elainera said:

I thought obituaries are always public. Seems I was mistaken.

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I am confused on the terminology, but it is not important on the name. The point being, I, like you have always found them for everyone I have ever looked for.

When is Leanne's? Do we know? Typically the details aren't given about the services but other info about the person is included. For example this week I had two friend die, both in their 30's. One had a beautiful and long detailed description with full details, a picture, etc. the other just had name, family, and said the memorial was already held.

Leomoon80 said:

I don't think it's necessarily that unusual especially since she's been fodder in the news for awhile. Perhaps they have not received the body back from the Medical Examiner yet? Was the autopsy completed? They may have preferred cremation. Many do.

This is all that remains as a reminder of my daughter.....you'll see a slight resemblance to Leanne:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmcid=47663881&GRid=81209467&

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So sorry for your loss, Leomoon80. Thank you for sharing your daughter's lovely page with us.

hockeymom4 said:

I am confused on the terminology, but it is not important on the name. The point being, I, like you have always found them for everyone I have ever looked for.

When is Leanne's? Do we know? Typically the details aren't given about the services but other info about the person is included. For example this week I had two friend die, both in their 30's. One had a beautiful and long detailed description with full details, a picture, etc. the other just had name, family, and said the memorial was already held.

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A death notice is simply a name, age and date of death. Everyone who dies in a particular county or city is listed there.

An obit is "our beloved daughter...leaves behind...". These are paid for and are public.

I think the point is that if they choose to not publish an obituary, that part will never be seen and the funeral/service or celebration of life will be private.

However, being an obit searcher, I find them often printed many weeks later, after the services are complete to then celebrate publicly the deceased person's life. I also find, particularly for my WS searching, many, many folks who never get an obit.

There will be a memorial service for Leanne in Garden Ridge on the 22nd: http://covenantbaptist.org/news/leanne-bearden-memorial-feb-22

Leanne Bearden’s Memorial Service
Saturday, February 22 at 2pm
Located at Northeast Bible Church
(directly across the street from Covenant)

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CatFancier said:

A death notice is simply a name, age and date of death. Everyone who dies in a particular county or city is listed there.

An obit is "our beloved daughter...leaves behind...". These are paid for and are public.

I think the point is that if they choose to not publish an obituary, that part will never be seen and the funeral/service or celebration of life will be private.

However, being an obit searcher, I find them often printed many weeks later, after the services are complete to then celebrate publicly the deceased person's life. I also find, particularly for my WS searching, many, many folks who never get an obit.

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Thanks for clarifying. That is all that was needed here....

I don't see either. I would think it would take time. At this point we don't know if we will ever see the obituary.

Ransom said:

NOT to me. Why the heck would it (obit) be public? My mom's death was never, ever public to let the vultures pick over her death.

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An obit, by definition, is public because it is a published notice of the death of someone, along with whatever details someone (typically the family) opts to share. Obits are optional. I wouldn't assume they are published for free, either, but they might be. I don't know the stats, but I'd guess they appear for far less than half those who die.

SteveS said:

An obit, by definition, is public because it is a published notice of the death of someone, along with whatever details someone (typically the family) opts to share. Obits are optional. I wouldn't assume they are published for free, either, but they might be. I don't know the stats, but I'd guess they appear for far less than half those who die.

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Where I live it has long been the custom to put the obit in the local paper (free) and any other papers in surrounding cities. Up to 3 are free I think. The funeral home takes care of that. It serves as a notice to people you may not know how to get in touch with etc. Some of the larger news papers charge and they are very expensive. As much as 2000.00 dollars. I think they charge by the word. Just from my experience.

CHERIE.T said:

B b m
I wondered if LE had a reason to suspect suicide early on.
Praying for the families.

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Shoot. I suspected suicide the moment I heard about the circumstances and that the family- not just LE - determined she disappeared voluntarily. It's horrible. It's sad and yes, shocking that a young, healthy person with a partner they love and their life ahead of them, would do this.

But I was not shocked to hear this lady had been found and how she had died.

I do have questions about the case- how did they afford a two year trip? What were their plans for transitioning back? Did they have debt upon the return? Why didn't she seek help? How is her poor husband handling this?

But I see no reason not to immediately accept the findings.

mck16 said:

Where I live it has long been the custom to put the obit in the local paper (free) and any other papers in surrounding cities. Up to 3 are free I think. The funeral home takes care of that. It serves as a notice to people you may not know how to get in touch with etc. Some of the larger news papers charge and they are very expensive. As much as 2000.00 dollars. I think they charge by the word. Just from my experience.

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I agree. I have personally had funeral homes put them on their website for free...obituaries, not death notices. To keep them longer than the time period allowed online, they would need to be paid for.

I would think it would be surprising to do a formal obituary before the final toxicology report, but perhaps I am mistaken.

hockeymom4 said:

I don't know a single person personally whose obit wasn't made public and sadly I know a lot of people who have died. I have attended funerals for a 3 month old to a 100 year old and from everything to suicide, murder, children's death, old age, etc

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gitana1 said:

Shoot. I suspected suicide the moment I heard about the circumstances and hat the family- not just LE - determined she disappeared voluntarily. It's horrible. It's sad and yes, shocking that a young, healthy person with a partner they love and their life ahead of them, would do this.

But I was not shocked to hear this lady had been found and how she had died.

I do have questions about the case- how did they afford a two year trip? What were their plans for transitioning back? Did they have debt upon the return? Why didn't she seek help? How is her poor husband handling this?

But I see no reason not to immediately accept the findings.

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You saw what most of us missed. Most of us were blindsided because she seemed so happy and alive in her travel blog and videos. The family was proceeding as if she had left voluntarily because of the stress about coming back, but putting out pleas to her to let them know she was OK. So tragic and sad.

They saved for two years to take this trip and were extremely frugal as they traveled. They were both looking for jobs and Leanne had a phone interview scheduled an hour after she left for her walk. I read on another website that they were debt free when they left, according to a friend. The renters in their Denver home would be moving out in May. We don't know where they would stay when they were scheduled to return shortly after Leanne disappeared.

Many of us speculated that re-entry into the normal routine of life was too much for her to deal with. Other travelers say that it is very difficult. But we don't know why she didn't seek help. Lots of theories based on her personality, but no real knowledge.

I can only imagine that Josh is devastated, but he hasn't commented since she was found. His comments on the FB page showed a man desparately trying to find his wife, but willing to let her go if she had run away and needed space.

gitana1 said:

Shoot. I suspected suicide the moment I heard about the circumstances and hat the family- not just LE - determined she disappeared voluntarily. It's horrible. It's sad and yes, shocking that a young, healthy person with a partner they love and their life ahead of them, would do this.

But I was not shocked to hear this lady had been found and how she had died.

I do have questions about the case- how did they afford a two year trip? What were their plans for transitioning back? Did they have debt upon the return? Why didn't she seek help? How is her poor husband handling this?

But I see no reason not to immediately accept the findings.

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gitana1,
I have some of the same questions you do. I'm nosey and would love to know how they afforded a 2 year trip around the world...even on a budget it had to be expensive.

I watched a video last night of Leanne and Josh in Venezuela (iirc) and they even rented an apartment fully equipped with furniture, appliances, etc.
It is beyond cool they were able to take their trip at such a young age. As someone here said before trips around the world are generally done later in life, even after retirement.

I can't imagine the loss and pain her loved ones are feeling.

RSC said:

I would think it would be surprising to do a formal obituary before the final toxicology report, but perhaps I am mistaken.

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Not really. The obituary is how the family wants them remembered and to tell of plans for memorial, burial or donations.
Most that I have seen involving divide still say who the person was, who they were loved by and then burial will be private.




Forgive the autocorrect. Tapatalk has a mind of its own.

Lilibet said:

You saw what most of us missed. Most of us were blindsided because she seemed so happy and alive in her travel blog and videos. The family was proceeding as if she had left voluntarily because of the stress about coming back, but putting out pleas to her to let them know she was OK. So tragic and sad.

They saved for two years to take this trip and were extremely frugal as they traveled. They were both looking for jobs and Leanne had a phone interview scheduled an hour after she left for her walk. I read on another website that they were debt free when they left, according to a friend. The renters in their Denver home would be moving out in May. We don't know where they would stay when they were scheduled to return shortly after Leanne disappeared.

Many of us speculated that re-entry into the normal routine of life was too much for her to deal with. Other travelers say that it is very difficult. But we don't know why she didn't seek help. Lots of theories based on her personality, but no real knowledge.

I can only imagine that Josh is devastated, but he hasn't commented since she was found. His comments on the FB page showed a man desparately trying to find his wife, but willing to let her go if she had run away and needed space.

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Maybe that's because I didn't see her videos or read her travel blog! But I also think it's harder in general to accept Sudden death at all or even imagine it, when it's someone you know and all of you who read her blogs and watched her videos got to know her quite a bit.

RSC said:

I would think it would be surprising to do a formal obituary before the final toxicology report, but perhaps I am mistaken.

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The obituary does not give the cause of death normally. Only gives date and survivors.

RSC said:

I would think it would be surprising to do a formal obituary before the final toxicology report, but perhaps I am mistaken.

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I wouldn't think that would figure at all into the release of an obituary.

I was thinking of sharing something here that I wrote to my sister when I got back from nearly a year backpacking in east africa. It was about how I felt like I was "now living the straight line that comes after the bell curve, life pegged at zero." Actually re-reading a lot of what I wrote, I can see I was way more depressed than I even remembered being. And that I was frustrated with people who were telling me to "find new dreams, you're so young, so much ahead of you still!" etc. as I was still so attached to my old dreams, which were now behind me.

Anyway, just now as I was reading through that email, my Pandora Imagine Dragons radio station started playing Awolnation's Sail. Whoa - weird. I'd never heard that song before, never heard the band before people were posting about Leanne & Josh going to see that concert in India.

But yes, the transition back to life in the US is surprisingly depressing. In their blog, they wrote that even before they did the 2 year travel tour they'd traveled outside their state at least once every month. I'm like that as well. I live with a tent and sleeping bag in the trunk of my car. Some people just have that itch - being "away" regularly is necessary as breathing.

The planning of their trip must have been nearly as exciting as being there (since in the planning stage you have stars in your eyes as you imagine the highlight reel where all you feel is happy awe, and you're not thinking of the stomach thing that will keep you in the squat toilet for hours, bedbugs, getting sick of your own smell, getting targeted for a sales pitch with each step you take, or other inevitable realities). The selling of their stuff, the hunt for a renter for their place, I think each thing they got rid of that took them closer to their trip must have been a new high.

A few times in their blog, someone - I don't know which of them, since they didn't say - would mention "Someone's clock is ticking!" with a picture of one or the other of them with a baby. I don't know whose clock was ticking, but I also read something Josh said about how their next adventure was coming back to Colorado and starting a family.

Reading back through the email I wrote my sister when I got back from my trip, I was nothing but frustrated and depressed when someone would tell me to focus on "my next dream" as if I could shuck the last year of my life like yesterday's socks and "just look forward". When you spend so much time focusing on a dream, the dream doesn't just go away when you've accomplished it. Your mind and heart haven't stopped their intimate attachment to it. It feels like they never will - and maybe they won't.

I just wonder if the new dream didn't feel like the absolute opposite of the one she was still invested in.

I know we'll never know, but still I think about it so much.

RSC said:

I would think it would be surprising to do a formal obituary before the final toxicology report, but perhaps I am mistaken.

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Oh, I agree with you completely. I was just commenting in response to someone saying why would anyone have an obit public. I feel like it is quite possible nothing has been prepared yet.