GUILTY CA - Gavin Smith, 57, Oak Park, 1 May 2012

[katydid23]

That is interesting about the cell pings in Sylmar.

I was coming here with a different theory, but those pings would nullify my idea. I live very near the Oak Park and Calabasas area. One of the only main roads out of Oak Park is called Kanen Road. I had wondered if maybe he decided to go for a drive to clear his head. My son does that when he gets upset at his gf, he just goes for a drive and usually ends up going to the beach, which is 10 miles east on Kanen Road.

There have been a couple of instances where missing people were found months or yrs later, dead in the canyon off Kanen road. It is very steep and deep. So I wondered if he had maybe driven off the road that night.

But if his cell pinged in Sylmar, that makes no sense. I really have no idea what he might be doing in Sylmar at that time of night though. And what was he doing until 4:30? It sounds more likely that his phone was lost or stolen, imo.

 

[katydid23]

The 4 inch scar on his right wrist kind of throws up a flag to a past attempt. But of course it could have been surgery as well. It would seem that he left in a hurry as he didn't say bye or collect his things. I wonder if they have looked at his phone calls...maybe he was having an argument with someone and went to talk to them in person....

But those could be surgery scars as well. He played basketball in college and may have had knee and wrist surgery because of the injuries and stress.

 

[shana]

According to a nearby neighbor who posted on the family website, the Smith residence is located in West Hills near Daryn Drive.

 

[Traceyrita]

Perhaps the Sister was mistaken, although that is pretty specific info that she must have heard from someone. I scoured the web for any mention of this in the media, and can only find "pinging the cell phone has not worked, and it is presumed that the device is turned off", nothing about Sylmar or 430 am anywhere. I agree with the above posts that that info is somewhat of a game changer theory-wise.

I would like to know more about the "friends" he was staying with and the reason he was staying with them.

ETA: Interesting article from E!: http://www.eonline.com/news/hollywoods_missing_studio_exec/314964

Apr. 14, 2012: Gavin's 21-year-old son, Evan, takes to Twitter to express his frustration over a family situation. "Thoughts and prayers out to my amazing Mom and bros plz," the USC student and basketball player writes. "My dad decided to leave the family last nite. Real family sticks together." (Gavin later clarifies to E! News about the tweet: "They were not separated. They were just going through normal stuff couples go through.")

 

[shana]

Unfortunately there are errors/inconsistencies in the information released by the media as well as at the family website:

http://findgavinsmith.com/

For example, the following differs from the Sheriff's Dept missing information:

The missing person, Gavin Smith, was last seen at his residence on the 500 block of Callwood Court, in Oak Park between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 1st, 2012. He left in the above listed vehicle and has not been heard from since.

The Sheriff's notification says this:

The missing person, Gavin Smith, was last seen at his friend's residence in the Oak Park area...

Source URLs:

http://findgavinsmith.com/about/
https://local.nixle.com/alert/4822499/?sub_id=80899

In addition, posters at the family site have noted that there is no Callwood Court in Oak Park and that it should be Kellwood.

It would be most helpful if the family would provide a checklist of factual info, even if limited (as in not disclosing the personal reasons he was staying at the home of a friend instead of at his own home after he returned from a weeklong trip to Las Vegas).

~jmo~

ETA: The updated description of his automobile at the Sheriff's site appears to be accurate:

* (VEHICLE Model number Info Updated: Sat, May 5, 2012: 1:30pm)

2000 Mercedes E500 (the model number on the back of the car was changed to E500 although the car is actually a 420E), black, has padded storage racks on roof, tinted windows, California license plate #6EKT044

 

[marie-chantal]

Sylmar is right off the 5. Could he have been headed north while trying to get out of LA entirely? Does he have any NorCal connections?

Of course, it's also possible that he was robbed and/or carjacked. This could also explain why the phone pinged in Sylmar.

 

[shana]

I don't have the link for his sister's fb but I wonder if the GPS signal was from his car rather than from his cell phone.

 

[shana]

There are many offers of help throughout the family website (blogs on several different pages) which I find heartwarming. All in all, they indicate that Gavin Smith is a highly respected individual and almost adored by friends old & new, acquaintances, and neighbors. Many speak to his strength of character and such.

There are also several suggestions offered by posters. It troubles me that so many days have passed even since he was reported missing (never mind how long he has actually been missing) and that searches were not conducted far sooner (by helicopter, for example).

~jmo~

 

[SeaEclipse]

Two more articles:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/missing-ho...-friends-night/story?id=16301889#.T6sBYJ9YvfZ

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20594298,00.html

The People article, in particular, will reach a ton of people... Hopefully if anyone knows/has seen anything, they'll come forward now.

Piecing everything together: He had moved out of the family home a few weeks ago -- seemingly of his own (rather than his wife's) volition; see his son's tweet -- but he and his wife were not officially separated and they were definitely still co-parenting (see his wife's statement about picking up his son from school). He was staying with a friend (I would guess on a semi-permanent basis) and, after the friend went up to bed, he drove away wearing clothing that suggests he was running a casual errand and without having mentioned it/saying anything to the friend (purple sweats; see the ABC news article).

It seems like there are four likely possibilities: he was carjacked on his way to run a routine errand (explains the GPS ping in a random location); he had an accident (possible, but unlikely given that no one has come forward to say that they were meeting him/they saw him that evening -- so it would be a mystery where he was going that his car ended up so far out of the way); he is voluntarily missing (seems unlikely given his job/family/the ease with which he could get a divorce if he wanted one); or he committed suicide (given his recent separation from his wife, this is probably next most likely to to carjacking). I guess there's also a possibility that he was a victim of non-random foul play, but it doesn't seem terribly likely under the circumstances.

 

[SeaEclipse]

I don't have the link for his sister's fb but I wonder if the GPS signal was from his car rather than from his cell phone.

That would be my guess. I know our GPS can report the location of our car when it's on even when we're not using its GPS function; I found that out when we had car trouble once and our car helpline people could tell exactly where we were.

 

[Traceyrita]

Hopefully, cell phone records will reflect what calls/texts he received in the days leading up to this if in fact, he went to meet someone and met with foul play. I think locating the vehicle will also be a big step in the right direction, but I wish we knew more about the friends/what activities led up to the night in question.

 

[bharp]

you'd think that if they could locate his phone/car position at 4:30am, they'd be able to see his movement from 10pm till then. Something doesn't add up

cell phone records would be pretty helpful...

 

[Traceyrita]

A few more details plus video at this LINK...

"My biggest concern is that he did not pick up his son, which he was supposed to pick up on Wednesday morning to take him to school, and that is a concern for me," said Tara Addeo, Smith's sister. She also says he is a responsible parent who would not abandon his family.

Smith's wife reported him missing on Wednesday. The L.A. County Sherriff's Department says they do not suspect foul play at this point.

Btw this is the name that I fb'd that had the GPS post, from last week.

 

[shana]

Another possibility is that he took a drive to clear his head, or a variation thereof, prior to bed that night.

If he chose a route over mountain roads (more likely for such a drive), he could have missed a turn and plunged over the side.

There is a lot of acreage in the area where he could have gone over the edge, and then his car might be secreted in the natural vegetation or not be seen from the road at all.

Visitor posts at the family website talk a lot about this possibility.

Searches needed to be conducted immediately. It's been over 8 days now.:-(

~jmo~

 

[shana]

you'd think that if they could locate his phone/car position at 4:30am, they'd be able to see his movement from 10pm till then. Something doesn't add up

cell phone records would be pretty helpful...

Absolutely, bharp...and btw, Welcome to Websleuths! It's good to have you posting with us on this mysterious case.

 

[Kat]

Just saw this on our local news here. It was reported that he also had played on the UH basketball team. He still holds a record here that hasn't been broken.

Going back to read the thread.

 

[Kat]

http://www.sanfernandosun.com/sanfernsun/news/8031-missing-executive

Thursday, 10 May 2012 01:12

Smith had just returned from a motion picture industry trade show in Las Vegas before he went missing.

"He was over at ShoWest for Fox," Evan Smith told Fox11. All the execs went over there. He had a good time. He came back. He was completely fine.

I read the thread and didn't see this noted. Just in case we create a timeline for him in the future.

Welcome to websleuths bharp!

 

[shana]

Also to note, and I believe it was on the family website, I read that Gavin's wife has been devoted to helping her mother who is suffering from cancer.

Just another thought to put in the hopper...whatever it may mean.

Speaking from personal experience, I am aware that issues w/ parents (elderly, sick, etc) can wreak havoc on a union that may already be shaky.

Apart from that, the biggest issue to me in this case so far is that the vehicle has not been located. fwiw

~jmo~

 

[Kaliste]

That is interesting about the cell pings in Sylmar.

I was coming here with a different theory, but those pings would nullify my idea. I live very near the Oak Park and Calabasas area. One of the only main roads out of Oak Park is called Kanen Road. I had wondered if maybe he decided to go for a drive to clear his head. My son does that when he gets upset at his gf, he just goes for a drive and usually ends up going to the beach, which is 10 miles east on Kanen Road.

There have been a couple of instances where missing people were found months or yrs later, dead in the canyon off Kanen road. It is very steep and deep. So I wondered if he had maybe driven off the road that night.

But if his cell pinged in Sylmar, that makes no sense. I really have no idea what he might be doing in Sylmar at that time of night though. And what was he doing until 4:30? It sounds more likely that his phone was lost or stolen, imo.

I thought of that exact scenario (Kanan toward Malibu to clear his head and suffering a bad accident) as I've made that drive countless time to clear my own head. Or just because it's a gorgeous SoCal night! Also agree that Sylmar seems like an odd place to end up in. Hoping he turns up safe soon. It's hard not to feel connected to cases nearby.

 

[katydid23]

I thought of that exact scenario (Kanan toward Malibu to clear his head and suffering a bad accident) as I've made that drive countless time to clear my own head. Or just because it's a gorgeous SoCal night! Also agree that Sylmar seems like an odd place to end up in. Hoping he turns up safe soon. It's hard not to feel connected to cases nearby.

He couldn't have stayed in Oak Park or Agoura until 4 am because nothing is open in this area after 11 pm. There is an all night donut shop and a 24 hour CVS on Kanan and Thousand Oaks, other than that, the entire town is closed down.

He would have had to go South to the valley if he wanted to get some food or to do any errands. And he may have been car jacked there, but he seems like such an unlikely target, being so tall and fit. Surely there are easier people to take on than someone 6 ft 6.

I keep coming back to Kanan Road or Malibu Canyon road, as a possible place he ran off the road. But that doesn't explain the pings in Sylmar.