MT MT - Paul Batson, 45, Stillwater Co, 29 Apr 2018
- Thread starter doodles1211
- Start date
One more thing
Verified insider - Paul Batson case
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2019
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 92
Interesting thoughts, which always make me curious about being spotted at the library. I always thought about how easily illegal immigrants come and get a job with a stolen s.s. # without speaking 1 word of English.
Steelslady
Justice for Kelsey
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2013
- Messages
- 7,189
- Reaction score
- 62,708
Still thinking of you, Paul.
A good summary of when Paul went missing, which to me, is still very suspicious:
Paul Philip Batson – The Charley Project
It makes no sense that he was in the area that he told his girlfriend and family that he was going to be for his interview. I still can't believe that he just somehow disappeared without a trace. He didn't have access to another car, to my knowledge, no buses run through there. I am sure LE checked to see if he took an Uber or Lyft out of the area, but we would know that by now, right?
A good summary of when Paul went missing, which to me, is still very suspicious:
Paul Philip Batson – The Charley Project
It makes no sense that he was in the area that he told his girlfriend and family that he was going to be for his interview. I still can't believe that he just somehow disappeared without a trace. He didn't have access to another car, to my knowledge, no buses run through there. I am sure LE checked to see if he took an Uber or Lyft out of the area, but we would know that by now, right?
mickey2942
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2016
- Messages
- 14,181
- Reaction score
- 135,457
I think that it could be likely that he was eating lunch somewhere, and someone asked him for a ride to the next town. There is literally no public transportation in Montana. Maybe Paul thought it was okay, and gave this guy a ride. And ended up getting killed. Just a thought.
Seajay
Never pass up an opportunity to pee.
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2012
- Messages
- 6,198
- Reaction score
- 10,364
I have no clue what happened to Paul. I just want to say that I remember Paul and think of him. I certainly hope he shed his old life and started a new one. It beats the alternative that he got murdered and is laying around somewhere, rotting.
All his steps seem so innocent on the surface unless you think how perfect it would be if he wanted to be “dead” and start a new life. IMO
All his steps seem so innocent on the surface unless you think how perfect it would be if he wanted to be “dead” and start a new life. IMO
AzPistonsGirl
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 22, 2012
- Messages
- 6,602
- Reaction score
- 21,826
yes, I agree. The 2 Pauls, I call them in my head. Both cases quite haunting and sad even without any salacious details.
Earlier this year I stopped in Reedpoint, MT where Paul’s car was found. From there I drove a relatively short distance, less than a mile, to the Yellowstone River. The gravel road is relatively wide and well maintained. As I recall the adjacent fields are fenced. If Paul intended to drown himself it makes no sense to park his car and walk to the
river. The ground immediately adjacent to Reedpoint is relatively flat unless he walked across 1-90 and disappeared in the hills. Very sad for everyone involved.
river. The ground immediately adjacent to Reedpoint is relatively flat unless he walked across 1-90 and disappeared in the hills. Very sad for everyone involved.
Blondie in Spokane
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2009
- Messages
- 10,992
- Reaction score
- 13,635
I wonder if we’ll ever find out what happened to Paul.....sure wish we could get answers.
Steelslady
Justice for Kelsey
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2013
- Messages
- 7,189
- Reaction score
- 62,708
Agree. Even if we just knew that he was safe somewhere, I'd be happy. No questions asked.
My gut feeling is that the car was abandoned by the person or persons who last saw Paul alive (I hate writing that.) The keys were dropped on the ground beside the car and his phone and wallet were missing. I sure wish we knew where and when Paul was officially last seen alive. There must be cameras in the library. There must also be traffic cameras and business cameras. So many questions and few answers. Where did his phone last ping? His girlfriend said he was at the library when she last spoke with him, but he could have been anywhere. I remember that the camera at the gas station or store across from where his car was found was not working. Had it been broken for a long time or was it recently tampered with? Like all of you, I think of both Pauls often.
Steelslady
Justice for Kelsey
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2013
- Messages
- 7,189
- Reaction score
- 62,708
If I remember correctly, the camera at the gas station blanked out when the car first pulled up, so they never saw who was driving it. Convenient time for a glitch, I'd say.
That plus how vehicle found, keys on the ground always bothered me. These cases where person is missing no apparent reason. No crime scene, vehicle found in odd or out of the way place and the person vanished. Makes me very uneasy . We have many of them right here. Someone knows something,but if it's something heinous we will never know ...;( Still praying for Paul and family .MOO
I'm confident saying this is not what happened.
Paul would have had to have been the unluckiest person ever to pull off the Interstate in Reed Point, get out of his vehicle, and get attacked by a predatory animal. Bears are not common in that area, and even if they were, they wouldn't choose a tall man next to his car when there are plenty of sheep and spring calves ripe for the taking in the area.
I'm a fourth-generation Montanan who grew up in Billings and spent the better part of my adult life in Bozeman. As such, I've driven the stretch of I-90 between Billings and Bozeman hundreds of times.
I've read the bulk of the posts on this thread and could perhaps offer some unique perspective.
Reed Point
First off, Reed Point is a very unlikely place for someone to consider a destination. I've been off the highway there maybe a total of three times in my life that didn't involve a drift boat. Reed Point is very small, and for all intents and purposes offers no "services" - gas, restaurant, or hotel for a traveler of I-90. If one needed gas, they'd be more likely to stop in Big Timber to the west that has 24/7 gas stations. Reed Point is more of an "access" to the interstate than an actual exit in the sense that there's no commerce, lighted signs, etc.
I also wouldn't read too much into the vehicle being at the post office. There really isn't a whole lot in Reed Point, and parking anywhere along its main street (Division) would be near the post office.
There are plenty of other places between Bozeman and Reed Point to get a better view of the Yellowstone, including Livingston (where A River Runs Through It was filmed) and Big Timber that are more likely to stop for such an activity. I-90 basically follows the Yellowstone from Livingston, but is further from the interstate at Reed Point than in other places.
One would not go to Reed Point to hit up a bar, restaurant, etc. A couple of the better places in Bozeman to eat and have a drink is literally right across the street from the library. Downtown Bozeman is lively and has many options for entertainment.
Direction
I hadn't seen this commented on, but I found it interesting that he was looking into jobs in Bozeman and Butte, which is to the west of Bozeman. If he was going to explore areas he might be living in, I'd expect him to have gone west on the interstate, not east.
The Yellowstone
There is one very common reason that people in that area stop and leave keys in their vehicle, and that is "shuttling." This is when a vehicle is left while a group is floating the river. However those vehicles are left at boat launches, not in the middle of town quite a walk from the river. From where he was parked, it would require crossing the frontage road and the railroad tracks to get to the river. And with as much water that was flowing at the time, it wouldn't have been conducive to a recreational or fishing float. (And obviously he didn't have a boat.)
"Stolen Car / Joy Ride"
I think this is not very likely.
If someone had taken his car from Bozeman, it seems very odd they'd leave it in Reed Point. If you were trying to "ditch" a car so you could get away after taking it, you'd be better off somewhere besides tiny Reed Point. A vehicle left there is sure to be noticed. In a parking lot with many other cars going in and out is far more likely, and that would be in Bozeman, Livingston, or Big Timber.
Thumbing a ride from Reed Point would also be quite difficult compared to other options, too.
Also, parking in front of the only two places likely to have cameras in the entire town (the gas station and Post Office) would be an odd choice.
RV Park
This is the reason for the asterisk above. The RV park is literally right across the street from the post office. This is the one place that someone would be able to get a ride out of Reed Point after leaving a vehicle in the post office parking lot.
I could envision Paul meeting someone in the library, striking up a conversation, learning they were camping in Reed Point, and offering a ride back to their RV. (Obviously, they would have had to have had a ride *to* Bozeman first.) Or perhaps he met someone and drove to Reed Point to where they were camping to hang out. Though, again, there'd have been plenty of places to sit and "shoot the sh.." (as we say in Montana) in Bozeman.
The RV Park is the most intriguing element of the entire thing to me. More than the post office (which I think is coincidental to Paul's occupation.) It's the one single destination on a Sunday evening for a traveler in Reed Point.
Interstate 90
Plenty of people traveling to Yellowstone and other places up and down I-90 who could have been there and seen something. They may not even know of Paul's disappearance as they were only vacationing, passing through, and not paying close attention to the news at the time.
That's all I can think of for the moment. If anyone has any questions about the area, I'd be happy to answer them if I can.
I've read the bulk of the posts on this thread and could perhaps offer some unique perspective.
Reed Point
First off, Reed Point is a very unlikely place for someone to consider a destination. I've been off the highway there maybe a total of three times in my life that didn't involve a drift boat. Reed Point is very small, and for all intents and purposes offers no "services" - gas, restaurant, or hotel for a traveler of I-90. If one needed gas, they'd be more likely to stop in Big Timber to the west that has 24/7 gas stations. Reed Point is more of an "access" to the interstate than an actual exit in the sense that there's no commerce, lighted signs, etc.
I also wouldn't read too much into the vehicle being at the post office. There really isn't a whole lot in Reed Point, and parking anywhere along its main street (Division) would be near the post office.
There are plenty of other places between Bozeman and Reed Point to get a better view of the Yellowstone, including Livingston (where A River Runs Through It was filmed) and Big Timber that are more likely to stop for such an activity. I-90 basically follows the Yellowstone from Livingston, but is further from the interstate at Reed Point than in other places.
One would not go to Reed Point to hit up a bar, restaurant, etc. A couple of the better places in Bozeman to eat and have a drink is literally right across the street from the library. Downtown Bozeman is lively and has many options for entertainment.
Direction
I hadn't seen this commented on, but I found it interesting that he was looking into jobs in Bozeman and Butte, which is to the west of Bozeman. If he was going to explore areas he might be living in, I'd expect him to have gone west on the interstate, not east.
The Yellowstone
There is one very common reason that people in that area stop and leave keys in their vehicle, and that is "shuttling." This is when a vehicle is left while a group is floating the river. However those vehicles are left at boat launches, not in the middle of town quite a walk from the river. From where he was parked, it would require crossing the frontage road and the railroad tracks to get to the river. And with as much water that was flowing at the time, it wouldn't have been conducive to a recreational or fishing float. (And obviously he didn't have a boat.)
"Stolen Car / Joy Ride"
I think this is not very likely.
If someone had taken his car from Bozeman, it seems very odd they'd leave it in Reed Point. If you were trying to "ditch" a car so you could get away after taking it, you'd be better off somewhere besides tiny Reed Point. A vehicle left there is sure to be noticed. In a parking lot with many other cars going in and out is far more likely, and that would be in Bozeman, Livingston, or Big Timber.
Thumbing a ride from Reed Point would also be quite difficult compared to other options, too.
Also, parking in front of the only two places likely to have cameras in the entire town (the gas station and Post Office) would be an odd choice.
RV Park
This is the reason for the asterisk above. The RV park is literally right across the street from the post office. This is the one place that someone would be able to get a ride out of Reed Point after leaving a vehicle in the post office parking lot.
I could envision Paul meeting someone in the library, striking up a conversation, learning they were camping in Reed Point, and offering a ride back to their RV. (Obviously, they would have had to have had a ride *to* Bozeman first.) Or perhaps he met someone and drove to Reed Point to where they were camping to hang out. Though, again, there'd have been plenty of places to sit and "shoot the sh.." (as we say in Montana) in Bozeman.
The RV Park is the most intriguing element of the entire thing to me. More than the post office (which I think is coincidental to Paul's occupation.) It's the one single destination on a Sunday evening for a traveler in Reed Point.
Interstate 90
Plenty of people traveling to Yellowstone and other places up and down I-90 who could have been there and seen something. They may not even know of Paul's disappearance as they were only vacationing, passing through, and not paying close attention to the news at the time.
That's all I can think of for the moment. If anyone has any questions about the area, I'd be happy to answer them if I can.
Thank you for sharing all this with us.. have traveled 90 cross the plains over to west coast many times, always seemed odd to me that this was where he vanished. Beautiful through that area , just seemed odd to me, lots of more secluded places if someone was ditching his vehicle or if he parked it and walked away. Doesn't add up ...but there are always a thousand scenarios we couldn't fathom. Think of the Paul's often . Pray that families have some answers. Many Thanks, totally OT what's you favorite spot to fish the Yellowstone if you are a fisherman? TY MOO
Elliot_Alderson
Well-Known Idiot
Quick question for you .. just for clarification, Paul's vehicle parked AT the gas station and the camera in question that blanked out was located AT the post office, correct? I'm assuming LE could tell if the camera was purposefully disabled or footage deleted. If they can't, I'd be investigating everyone with access to it.