New Details Summary:
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/01/...ego-park-case-being-investigated-as-homicide/
The friend, who attended Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana with Bernstein, told detectives that he spoke with him on SnapChat that night. He agreed to pick up Bernstein and they drove to the parking lot of a Hobby Lobby in Lake Forest to hang out and catch up.
He said Bernstein then told him they were going to meet up with another friend from high school, and they arrived at the Borrego Park parking area shortly before midnight on Jan. 2, a Tuesday. He said Blaze exited the vehicle and walked by himself into the park.
The friend said he waited for about an hour and tried to contact him on SnapChat. He said he then left at around 1 a.m. and drove to his girlfriends house in Tustin and then returned to the park at about 3:40 a.m. after Bernstein still had not responded. During one interview, the affidavit says, he said he did not know her last name.
The friend said Bernstein complained about his grades in school and seemed depressed but never said anything about wanting to hurt himself.
On Jan, 4, two days after the teenager disappeared, detectives spoke with the friend again at Borrego Park and noticed that his hands had several small scratches and abrasions. The friend said the scratches and abrasions were from a fight club that he was involved in.
Investigators also noticed what appeared to be dirt under the fingernails on both of the friends hands. They asked him how his hands got so dirty and the friend said he fell into a dirt puddle during the sparring session.
Detectives noticed that the friend was nervous and was breathing heavy, talking fast and visibly shaking.
At one point, the friend opened the doors to his rental car and allowed two detectives to look inside. The detectives noticed hiking and camping equipment in the rear of the vehicle, a large empty plastic bin on the backseat, and a black belt on the passenger seat floorboard.
The friend agreed to be further interviewed at the sheriffs headquarters in Santa Ana, where his story stayed fairly consistent. But, the affidavit says, while he had told investigators that he went to his girlfriends home after he left Bernstein in the park, he said he could not remember her last name and did not know where she lived.
On their way out of Sheriffs Headquarters, (investigators) noticed every door (the friend) had to touch on the way out of the building he pulled his jacket over his hand to prevent his hand and fingers from touching any part of the doors he touched.
