Found Deceased TN - David Riemens, 60, Watertown, 8 Aug 2012

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I'm usually inclined to think the simplest explanation is the most likely explanation, which would mean a car accident where the car has gone some distance from the road. But in this case? The fact that no one knows who the "elderly" man is, or has reported him missing is quite a red flag.

I'm wondering if these older workmen were illegal immigrants. Laying brick or stone can be a fairly specialized and pricey task, and perhaps someone was trying to save a few bucks. It's virtually the only thing I can think of.
 
Hoping it's okay to post this! If you google David Riemens' name, there is a Topix thread (yeah, I know). It looks like it may have been started by a friend of David's. The first post lists a potential name for the "elderly man." As Topix threads go, it's actually quite civilized, until you get to the next to the last post. As always with Topix, who knows if it means anything.
 
So it looks like there are two first names listed on the Topix forum, but they are fairly common first names.

It is such a shame that this man is still missing. Has anyone seen ANY statements made by LE in this case?
 
cutter99 said:
So it looks like there are two first names listed on the Topix forum, but they are fairly common first names.

It is such a shame that this man is still missing. Has anyone seen ANY statements made by LE in this case?
Click to expand...

I went back and looked at all the articles I could find and, no, I don't see a single quote from LE at all. All I found was this very early article:

http://www.wsmv.com/story/19258970/artist-vanishes-police-seeking-leads

It says that "police have confirmed that he is missing, but don't believe foul play is involved." But this article was published four days after David went missing, so LE may have changed their minds. Other than that, there's only "call the Wilson County Sheriff's Office with information."

There's so little information out there! No media mentions on the first anniversary of his disappearance. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation apparently lists only missing children (at least I couldn't find anything about adults) so he's not there. The Watertown TN & Lebanon TN police department websites don't list missing people (again, that I could find).

David is listed in NamUs, which shows the investigating officer as Det. Robert Stafford of the Wilson County Sheriff's Office (615-289-4248). The WCSO doesn't seem to list missing people either (maybe I'm really bad at searching!).

It's just so sad. He seems to have a lot of friends who care about him. He's even listed on the prayer list for the First Baptist Church of Watertown. And I found this blog post from his nephew. It shows photos from a white water rafting trip they took in 2011 and mentions that his uncle is missing (there's a link to David is Missing FB). Great photos, looks like a family having fun.

http://riemenswhitewaterrafting.blogspot.com/

Wish we knew whether LE was taking this seriously at all.
 
G&AMom said:
I went back and looked at all the articles I could find and, no, I don't see a single quote from LE at all. All I found was this very early article:

http://www.wsmv.com/story/19258970/artist-vanishes-police-seeking-leads

It says that "police have confirmed that he is missing, but don't believe foul play is involved." But this article was published four days after David went missing, so LE may have changed their minds. Other than that, there's only "call the Wilson County Sheriff's Office with information."

There's so little information out there! No media mentions on the first anniversary of his disappearance. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation apparently lists only missing children (at least I couldn't find anything about adults) so he's not there. The Watertown TN & Lebanon TN police department websites don't list missing people (again, that I could find).

David is listed in NamUs, which shows the investigating officer as Det. Robert Stafford of the Wilson County Sheriff's Office (615-289-4248). The WCSO doesn't seem to list missing people either (maybe I'm really bad at searching!).

It's just so sad. He seems to have a lot of friends who care about him. He's even listed on the prayer list for the First Baptist Church of Watertown. And I found this blog post from his nephew. It shows photos from a white water rafting trip they took in 2011 and mentions that his uncle is missing (there's a link to David is Missing FB). Great photos, looks like a family having fun.

http://riemenswhitewaterrafting.blogspot.com/

Wish we knew whether LE was taking this seriously at all.
Click to expand...

I had a similarly hard time in searching for information in their database, it wouldn't let me get past page 1 of their missing adults--that only got to last names that began with C!

Perhaps we should write some emails to the investigating officer to see if there is any more he could tell us/if this is still being investigated/etc.
 
ohhieliz said:
It is my understanding that that's how he was described by Dave to his family members.

I think that's completely possible. They met three times, with the day he went missing being the last. That would be a heckuva ruse to pull on Dave....for what purpose??
Click to expand...

BBM

I have been folowing this thread for a while. I love treehouses and David Riemens seems a wonderful person by all other accounts as well.

What confuses me is this "elderly gentleman" or "old man".
David Riemens was 60 years of age when he disappeared. A person's idea of "old" changes when they get older themselves. I vaguely remember the times when everyone over 30 was old :)
Now, David may have been "elderly" in the eyes of younger persons, but most likely, he would not describe himself that way. If HE described the other man as "elderly" that would make that other man at least 70 and up to 80 (and the two builders as well?)

Octogenarians building a house. I found that very strange when I first read about it.
On the other hand, if these men looked older than they were, because the had long grey hair and unkept beards for instance, wouldn't David have mentioned that?

Very confusing.
 
G&AMom said:
I'm usually inclined to think the simplest explanation is the most likely explanation, which would mean a car accident where the car has gone some distance from the road. But in this case? The fact that no one knows who the "elderly" man is, or has reported him missing is quite a red flag.

I'm wondering if these older workmen were illegal immigrants. Laying brick or stone can be a fairly specialized and pricey task, and perhaps someone was trying to save a few bucks. It's virtually the only thing I can think of.
Click to expand...
An illegal immigrant, in my humble opinion, being almost one myself, would appear different, other, not from here. Us-not us.
 
Donamena said:
An illegal immigrant, in my humble opinion, being almost one myself, would appear different, other, not from here. Us-not us.
Click to expand...

Well, I think that there are many immigrants who at a glance wouldn't seem that different. For example, at my old job, they used a company that installed security and electrical systems that employed a lot of Russians. At a glance, they looked like everybody else. I find it's really hard to tell just by looking where somebody comes from.
 
It is coming up on two years of this man being missing and it is such a shame his family has no answers. I am now local to the area and have seen nothing mentioned about David.

If the police initially treated this as a walk away, why were his family and friends so convinced otherwise?
 
It will be two years tomorrow that David Riemens went missing. When I went back and looked through information here and on the Facebook page, I noticed a statement from David's brother stating they would not have been surprised if David were on a beach somewhere enjoying himself. What made him say this and did a statement like this cause the police to not take David's disappearance seriously?

I now live in this area and am in the process of remodeling a house. I asked our contractor if he knew David or anything about his disappearance. He had never heard about the case and he is local. His first reaction to hearing the story was that David came upon something or someone he shouldn't have. I did see a small ad in a local publication today, but it looked like it had not been updated since David first disappeared as it talked about an elderly man and the possibility of a wreck trapping them both.

So very, very sad that this man has been gone for two years and still no answers!
 
Thanks, Cutter, for the bump and reminder of the anniversary of his disappearance. Wish we would hear something, anything, that indicates LE has not forgotten David.
 
Does anyone know if there is still anyone looking for David? I live close to Watertown and there seemed to be nothing about this in the media or the Facebook page that had been started for David. I thought there would be something around the anniversary of his disappearance but other than flyers posted in some of the local business I've seen nothing.
 
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