TX TX - Jason Landry, 21, en route from TSU to home, car found crashed at Luling, 14 Dec 2020

[slt66]

Those details we all want so badly are actually part of a police investigation and we're not entitled to know until they decide to tell us.
Do we actually know that no local parties are not out searching?
I saw an interview with his mother and I saw one with his father. I'm pretty sure they're devastated.
What more can they actually do, bearing in mind we have no idea what they're doing only that they're not doing it for publicity.
He must be somewhere near the crash site... and I think that will only involve local search parties at this stage or while that belief is maintained.

Several years ago, during another missing person's case in the Houston area, EquuSearch and other agencies called in and coordinated volunteer searchers after they turned up nothing. I was part of that search team. I just compare that ongoing coordination/search/press coverage to this case and worry that attention has trailed off.

 

[Seattle1]

The intersection of East Austin and 183, where Jason needed to turn right to continues on 183 to I-10 has an express lube and Baptist church, which were most like dark to rather dark at that time of night.

not a busy commercial intersection to catch one’s eye. And if his navigation app didn’t speak, or was lagging, off he went, straight across and up Salt Flat.

He may have not realized he was on the wrong route immediately, and that’s how get got as far as he did. Or he thought that was the right road and kept going.

Not sure where pavement becomes gravel on that road, does anyone know?? Surely when it became gravel he realized he was lost.

^^RSBM

I have to disagree that the intersection at East Austin & Magnolia Ave (i.e., Hwy 183 or turning southbound -- Hwy 80 & Interstate-10 interchange) is not a busy intersection to catch one's eye. I think there are several clues here that would catch your eye as you approach this intersection:

First, if you are traveling the San Marcos Highway (i.e., Hwy 80) to Luling, that intersection at East Austin and 183 is probably only the third or fourth traffic light in 23 miles after leaving the city limits of San Marcos (passing through Martindale, and Prairie Lea before arriving at Luling).

Second, the speed limit decreases significantly approaching this intersection beginning first with an approaching school, followed by the traffic light where the posted speed limit here is only 30 MPH.

Third, the traffic light is also very well-appointed with signage directing traffic to either 183 and/or alerting motorists to turn right for the I-10 interchange or to continue on with Hwy 80.
It further appears that the traffic signal may also have a mounted traffic camera.

If anything, I think passing the intersection -- especially without noticing the directional roadway signage would seem more like you're taking a detour when East Austin narrows as you cross the road, and it's evident you've entered a truck route, and definitely not continuing on the San Marcos Highway. Within a few blocks, the road forks and East Austin becomes Spruce Ave, and Spruce Ave eventually becomes Salt Flat Road.

It also doesn't follow that you'd even need a navigational app if your journey home requires travel on only two roadways: TX 80 and I-10.

MOO

Google Maps

 

[happyday]

Yes, his father said "We know he got out of the car OK and was walking back, this way, and that's the last we know for sure." I'm assuming he meant walking back from the direction he came from, towards the main road.

Maybe the dogs tracked his scent or they saw his prints along the road.

The dogs tracked his scent 1/4 mile back toward town then lost it.

“Jason‘s family was told that his car was found around 12:30 Monday morning by a volunteer firefighter who was returning from a call. The family was also told that about an hour earlier an oil field worker drove by the same spot and did not see a thing. Dogs tracked a scent indicating Jason was walking back toward Luling. After about a quarter of a mile, the trail disappeared.”

 

[happyday]

Well now that’s strange. In literally EVERY other article I’ve read, if the reason for him being on the road was talked about the parents said they thought it was because he missed the proper turn or was misguided by a navigation app. That would indicate he doesn’t normally use that road. Wonder if this was a misprint or if something said was misinterpreted (if so, I’d like to know what)

ETA a link to an article mentioning the navigation app. I take Daily Mail with a grain of salt, but this is one of many sources citing it and was easiest to find. Texas college student, 21, vanishes while driving home for Christmas

I think they just meant the route was typical for him, not Salt Flat Rd.

 

[MsBetsy]

The dogs tracked his scent 1/4 mile back toward town then lost it.

“Jason‘s family was told that his car was found around 12:30 Monday morning by a volunteer firefighter who was returning from a call. The family was also told that about an hour earlier an oil field worker drove by the same spot and did not see a thing. Dogs tracked a scent indicating Jason was walking back toward Luling. After about a quarter of a mile, the trail disappeared.”

Do we know if there are any homes on that road? Ten miles is a long way to walk back to town. I wonder if someone picked him up.

 

[Rosiebones]

The dogs tracked his scent 1/4 mile back toward town then lost it.

“Jason‘s family was told that his car was found around 12:30 Monday morning by a volunteer firefighter who was returning from a call. The family was also told that about an hour earlier an oil field worker drove by the same spot and did not see a thing. Dogs tracked a scent indicating Jason was walking back toward Luling. After about a quarter of a mile, the trail disappeared.”

Where did they get the article of clothing that was offered to the tracking dogs as a scent? Did they just assume the clothing on the ground was his and offer that? It might not have been his. Did LE have enough time to go to his home up in San Marco and pick something up? If they did, who gave it to them or did LE just assume that the clothing they picked up was his.

I still question why the dogs were so confused around the scene. If the scent tracked down the road for a quarter of a mile just stopped, it indicates someone may have been picked up. If it was Jason, how did he contact the ride, his phone was in the car under the seat. The timing was right for someone else to have been driving and to have called and been picked up. MOO MOO MOO

 

[Lschmanske]

^^RSBM

I have to disagree that the intersection at East Austin & Magnolia Ave (i.e., Hwy 183 or turning southbound -- Hwy 80 & Interstate-10 interchange) is not a busy intersection to catch one's eye. I think there are several clues here that would catch your eye as you approach this intersection:

First, if you are traveling the San Marcos Highway (i.e., Hwy 80) to Luling, that intersection at East Austin and 183 is probably only the third or fourth traffic light in 23 miles after leaving the city limits of San Marcos (passing through Martindale, and Prairie Lea before arriving at Luling).

Second, the speed limit decreases significantly approaching this intersection beginning first with an approaching school, followed by the traffic light where the posted speed limit here is only 30 MPH.

Third, the traffic light is also very well-appointed with signage directing traffic to either 183 and/or alerting motorists to turn right for the I-10 interchange or to continue on with Hwy 80.
It further appears that the traffic signal may also have a mounted traffic camera.

If anything, I think passing the intersection -- especially without noticing the directional roadway signage would seem more like you're taking a detour when East Austin narrows as you cross the road, and it's evident you've entered a truck route, and definitely not continuing on the San Marcos Highway. Within a few blocks, the road forks and East Austin becomes Spruce Ave, and Spruce Ave eventually becomes Salt Flat Road.

It also doesn't follow that you'd even need a navigational app if your journey home requires travel on only two roadways: TX 80 and I-10.

MOO

Google Maps

Exactly

 

[MntnHiker]

A former co-worker was paralyzed when her car slid on some gravel on a road and she got into a bad wreck. I definitely believe if he was driving a tad too fast or what not that the gravel alone may have caused this accident for him.

I have seen articles say the blood was both IN and NEAR the vehicle. I am curious which one it was. Of course, I'm assuming it's Jason's, but we haven't been told that definitively.

If the car was located in a ditch, then is it possible it was there when the oil field worker drove by and he just didn't notice it? If it is incredibly dark out there and gravelly so one must concentrate and drive carefully, perhaps he was solely focused on that, and his headlights didn't reach out to where the car was in the ditch? If that is the case, then our timeline may not be accurate and he crashed earlier. MOO

 

[Kittybunny]

I'm in the camp that I don't think anything nefarious or that a mental breakdown happened here, and he is within or not far outside the search area, just in very difficult place to see. I do think the possibility exists that he was picked up, even if small. But wouldn't someone come forward now?

There was an accident, he was injured, in shock and possibly confused. His phone under the seat was lodged and unreachable. I know I've dropped mine in between the seats, under the seat, and even in a completely lucid uninjured state, I have been unable to get it without a tool because it was caught in the metal rails of the seat underneath. Perhaps he did think his phone was in the pocket of some of the other clothes he had in the car and threw them out in frustration or searching. So he, not thinking too clearly, decides to start walking for help. He either succumbs to his injuries or perhaps settles down for warmth and doesn't wake up.

I think given how many of these cases we see where young men (perhaps they think they are tough and invincible) decide to walk off after a crash rather than wait for help with their vehicle, there needs to be an awareness campaign about this issue. Your car is much bigger and much easier to find - someone will more than likely see it. You, on the other hand, can easily get lost and once you leave the scene, will be nearly impossible to find. Even if phone is not working and you can't call 911, stay with the vehicle.

Oh and one thing on the phone - my iPhone uses facial recognition. If for some reason he did not setup a password and only facial recognition or touch ID, it will definitely take a long time to break into given Apple's high level security and refusal to provide password breaks even under LE subpoena/warrants.

 

[MimosaMornings]

^^RSBM

I have to disagree that the intersection at East Austin & Magnolia Ave (i.e., Hwy 183 or turning southbound -- Hwy 80 & Interstate-10 interchange) is not a busy intersection to catch one's eye. I think there are several clues here that would catch your eye as you approach this intersection:

First, if you are traveling the San Marcos Highway (i.e., Hwy 80) to Luling, that intersection at East Austin and 183 is probably only the third or fourth traffic light in 23 miles after leaving the city limits of San Marcos (passing through Martindale, and Prairie Lea before arriving at Luling).

Second, the speed limit decreases significantly approaching this intersection beginning first with an approaching school, followed by the traffic light where the posted speed limit here is only 30 MPH.

Third, the traffic light is also very well-appointed with signage directing traffic to either 183 and/or alerting motorists to turn right for the I-10 interchange or to continue on with Hwy 80.
It further appears that the traffic signal may also have a mounted traffic camera.

If anything, I think passing the intersection -- especially without noticing the directional roadway signage would seem more like you're taking a detour when East Austin narrows as you cross the road, and it's evident you've entered a truck route, and definitely not continuing on the San Marcos Highway. Within a few blocks, the road forks and East Austin becomes Spruce Ave, and Spruce Ave eventually becomes Salt Flat Road.

It also doesn't follow that you'd even need a navigational app if your journey home requires travel on only two roadways: TX 80 and I-10.

MOO

Google Maps

JMO
I think it was a choice not to turn right at that intersection.
It would have been quite evident quickly you had missed your right turn.
Perhaps everything was fine as he started his way home but something clicked in his mind and he made a decision to change his route at that point in time.

 

[JrTex]

Where did they get the article of clothing that was offered to the tracking dogs as a scent? Did they just assume the clothing on the ground was his and offer that? It might not have been his. Did LE have enough time to go to his home up in San Marco and pick something up? If they did, who gave it to them or did LE just assume that the clothing they picked up was his.

I still question why the dogs were so confused around the scene. If the scent tracked down the road for a quarter of a mile just stopped, it indicates someone may have been picked up. If it was Jason, how did he contact the ride, his phone was in the car under the seat. The timing was right for someone else to have been driving and to have called and been picked up. MOO MOO MOO

I totally agree with this. I would like to add that - in my view - we are putting too much faith in the dog's. They are incredible at picking up scents but its not like you can tell a dog which scent is to be followed and which one is not. That scent the dog is picking up on could be from any source, including 1st responders.

 

[ElementalLaura]

JMO
I think it was a choice not to turn right at that intersection.
It would have been quite evident quickly you had missed your right turn.
Perhaps everything was fine as he started his way home but something clicked in his mind and he made a decision to change his route at that point in time.

Thanks for this observation. This has been pointed out by several who have taken that route, along with the unlikelihood that a driver wouldn’t immediately realize s/he had missed the turn and correct course.

 

[ElementalLaura]

Bringing this forward for photos and discussion of pond.

The search of a pond near Luling fails to provide any answers as to the location of missing Texas state university student #JasonLandry The search will continue with the investigation being taken over by the CaldwellCo sheriffs office.
View attachment 276100 View attachment 276101
https://twitter.com/koskionfox7/status/1340045779164127232?s=21

Thanks for posting this @MassGuy & for bringing it up, @mlhenn!

It’s a pond being drained, so it must be the pond that was drained. (Brilliant!) IMO, it may be representative of some the larger ponds in the area. A few thoughts:

• It’s deeper than I had thought — maybe 8 feet where the pole man is standing if it had been full? (I’m terrible at guesstimating height/depth).
• The pole man does seem to be standing in some muck - maybe 6-8 inches?
• The drop in depth at the shoreline looks steeper than I would have thought, especially if the water was a couple of feet below shore’s edge due to dry season.
• There’s mounds of fresh dirt in both photos showing the pond. Was it recently dug or dredged? It seems like more dirt than you’d need to move for draining it.
  
• Looks like the middle area of the pond that’s cut off in the photo with the pole man is basically a pile of muck and debris coated in muck. I can see why they weren’t definite in saying he wasn’t there because anything that was submerged in that would be difficult to find, and I’m not sure they could completely drain it due to deeper spots.
  
• In both pond photos, it looks like there’s some significant water moving - more than I’d expect from draining activities. I continue to wonder if there is a ditch connecting any of these ponds or anything else that could cause a current.
• It seems there was shrubby brush and trees lining the pond (which makes me think it isn’t newly dug), and someone walking at night would have to push their way through. I wouldn’t expect a clear-thinking person to do that, but all bets are off with someone who might be injured.
• I hate to think of him stumbling off one of those dirt mounds into the pond. It would be easy to be submerged and the shock of the cold water would knock your breath out. But again, maybe the fresh dirt wasn’t there?
• 
  I’ve had the ignominious experience of stumbling into a half-filled ditch at night after a minor bike accident, and it’s disorienting. Also surprising how quickly clothes get weighted by water. I slid down the slope feet first and wasn’t submerged, but it was difficult climbing back out with the slope and the slickness of the vegetation. I hope that wasn’t his fate, and I’m hoping he is found today.

 

[K9Enzo]

My strong recommendation is not even bother trying to speculate on the super small sliver of info (it might be true, might not be) about what the dogs did or did not track in this case. There are so many factors to consider, the discipline of the dog(s) used (trailing, air scent…), how the handler of those particular dogs read their dogs movements, body language, reliability, and so on. I know of handlers being very peeved when LE, often times, gives inaccurate or misleading (not intentional) info about the tracking dogs used to the media. It creates confusion with the public and sadly the families sometimes.

Perhaps a trailing dog was used, a scent article carefully (hopefully) collected from his car. These dogs are tracking a specific person. I have heard of a piece of a car seat being removed for the dog. I’m sure in those early hours of this investigation, they assumed the driver left the car on foot injured and wandered away. They would have had a good spot to cast the dog from.

Maybe an air scent dog was used, they are not looking for a specific person, but following the track of a human by picking up the freshest scent (some are great with aged tracks). This could be the subject they are looking for or someone else who was in the area looking already. I have seen a missing man line up – where searchers have already been in the area and the dog is brought in and runs the line smelling them – these guys you are not looking for. Don’t ask me the training behind how they do this. lol It’s impressive.

If it was Jason who was tracked to a pond, an abandoned home, down a road. Perhaps the dog could only track for so long (tracks can be broken and picked up again) before they were tapped out – they are animals, not machines. Maybe he got into another car, is laying dead close by and missed. Maybe it was never him, but another searcher. A non-field ready dog might chase ghost trails if the handler fails to train negatives….I could go on and on.

This is all my opinion only.

 

[j_in_c]

Where did they get the article of clothing that was offered to the tracking dogs as a scent? Did they just assume the clothing on the ground was his and offer that? It might not have been his. Did LE have enough time to go to his home up in San Marco and pick something up? If they did, who gave it to them or did LE just assume that the clothing they picked up was his.

I still question why the dogs were so confused around the scene. If the scent tracked down the road for a quarter of a mile just stopped, it indicates someone may have been picked up. If it was Jason, how did he contact the ride, his phone was in the car under the seat. The timing was right for someone else to have been driving and to have called and been picked up. MOO MOO MOO

We can ask @K9Enzo to chime in here, but there are different types of SAR dogs, some (typically bloodhounds) track a specific persons scent, others track *any* human scent. I would guess they had the latter on the scene initially, hence the possibility the dog picked up the responding officer's scent instead of Jason's. In a remote area, you may not be able to get the exact responder you need in the middle of the night and you work with the resources you have. I know others on this forum know more on this topic than myself!

Also, all searches eventuality conclude, sometimes with no conclusion. If this is private property with hazards like uncapped wells, the owner won't want an army of untrained volunteers roaming around.

I hope further searches are planned and able to bring answers, but it sounds like they need new potential areas to look at to warrant bringing in more teams. A good drone video capture might be the best and safest option here. It is not clear from what was released if the drones used were FLIR, which would be used looking for a live subject, versus taking high res video to be reviewed offline for anomolies.

 

[K9Enzo]

We can ask @K9Enzo to chime in here, but there are different types of SAR dogs, some (typically bloodhounds) track a specific persons scent, others track *any* human scent. I would guess they had the latter on the scene initially, hence the possibility the dog picked up the responding officer's scent instead of Jason's. In a remote area, you may not be able to get the exact responder you need in the middle of the night and you work with the resources you have. I know others on this forum know more on this topic than myself!

Also, all searches eventuality conclude, sometimes with no conclusion. If this is private property with hazards like uncapped wells, the owner won't want an army of untrained volunteers roaming around.

I hope further searches are planned and able to bring answers, but it sounds like they need new potential areas to look at to warrant bringing in more teams. A good drone video capture might be the best and safest option here. It is not clear from what was released if the drones used were FLIR, which would be used looking for a live subject, versus taking high res video to be reviewed offline for anomolies.

Excellent points. There really are so many variables to a search. You almost have to be present for the briefing or debriefing to fully understand. IMO

 

[Spartygirl]

Popping in to see if any updates.
I just can't imagine where Jason could be.
If he stumbled away from the accident with a head injury or internal injuries, my fear is he succumbed to these injuries and just hasn't been found yet and I hope there will be some more searches.
If he was picked up by someone I would think we would know something by now, especially if it was a good Samaritan act-the family would know, but if picked up by someone who did something nefarious, then they may never know.
Also, the comments about the BACK of the vehicle looking like it took the brunt of the accident, like someone ran him off the road may or may not be something.
stranger Road rage?? but sounds like this dirt road is pretty isolated so that is not in my top 5
Someone known to him who wanted to hurt him and run him off road?? I would think parents, LE may know or have an idea if this were the case.
My instinct is that he wandered off, away from his vehicle and was confused and injured and passed away .. just how far away from his vehicle is the problem and why he has not been found yet.
Jason, where are you????

 

[diggndeeperstill]

Regarding the bumper:
I’ll have to go back & look if there’s anything about the bumper being pulled off. But we do know the following:
•the back driver-side trunk, bumper and the side of the car took most of the impact

I agree that’s what I’ve read. But, we can’t say definitively that the images we’ve been shown of the car are the way it was found.

I did find where I had read about the bumper but it’s not quotable.

 

[HouDat]

Photo and LE description of bumper damage, along with LE theorizing that he spun (easy to do post-impact on a gravel road) seem to paint a fairly realistic picture of why the damages to his car appear as they do.

 

[wary]

I totally agree with this. I would like to add that - in my view - we are putting too much faith in the dog's. They are incredible at picking up scents but its not like you can tell a dog which scent is to be followed and which one is not. That scent the dog is picking up on could be from any source, including 1st responders.

I don’t put any faith in dogs at all. Sometimes they’re wonderful—those are the cases we usually don’t hear about, because they’re solved quickly and routinely.

But in the problem cases, like this one, there could be a multitude of reasons why the dogs don’t lead to the victim. (Or maybe do, and the humans don’t interpret things correctly.)