Found Deceased JAPAN - Trevor Balint, 34, from Hubbard, Ohio, missing from Yokota Air Base, 1 Feb 2021

[Panhypopit]

I lived in Japan for a couple of years (mid 80’s so things may have changed of course!) and I also taught English in Japan.

They don’t say what school he worked for, but there are schools that only teach adults, only kids, and then there is “arubeito” where you are paid large amounts to teach private lessons. If he met someone during a private lesson, maybe a girl, he may have run away with her, as this is the time when literally no one would be on the street.

When I was there, there were police booths everywhere. Everyone pretty much knew everything that was going on, and there was a MAP with everyone’s name and location by the neighborhood (because house numbers are seriously messed up, 1 may be next to 500, next to 26). Most crime was stolen umbrellas and bicycles.

 

[PommyMommy]

I lived in Japan for a couple of years (mid 80’s so things may have changed of course!) and I also taught English in Japan.

They don’t say what school he worked for, but there are schools that only teach adults, only kids, and then there is “arubeito” where you are paid large amounts to teach private lessons. If he met someone during a private lesson, maybe a girl, he may have run away with her, as this is the time when literally no one would be on the street.

When I was there, there were police booths everywhere. Everyone pretty much knew everything that was going on, and there was a MAP with everyone’s name and location by the neighborhood (because house numbers are seriously messed up, 1 may be next to 500, next to 26). Most crime was stolen umbrellas and bicycles.

There is some information about his teaching here. I am not too familiar with this source but recently followed another case in which it was accurate.

Trevor Balint biography: 13 things about Hubbard, Ohio man – CONAN Daily

 

[whitelilac]

"4. Why was it 'again' starting to get dark/cold - not for the first time?"

I think this might refer to the fact that Trevor wasn't coming back after he went "looking for the cat" and didn't come back till 1:30 am, when they were planning to watch a movie. It was dark then too.

 

[MissMalowe]

When he came back the first evening at 130am it was noted by the wife he arrived home without his coat, yes? (First cold evening)

Then the following day, his other belongings were found on the porch of the garden apartment? (Keys, mask, shoes, sweatshirt........ and his phone which some lady already picked up and met with wife to return) So, again, it's cold and dark and now he (presumably) doesnt have a sweatshirt or shoes? Is that perhaps what the wife meant by "again?"

 

[Panhypopit]

TB was teaching High Schoolers, but I have not found out what, or where... there are a lot of schools there, some kinda meh and just want an English speaker, some very good and want actual teachers and have a curriculum.

TB had a lot of degrees. I can’t believe he would be happy teaching high school kids. IMHO.

Tokyo area was cold but not super bad... I only remember a dusting of snow.

 

[PommyMommy]

TB was teaching High Schoolers, but I have not found out what, or where... there are a lot of schools there, some kinda meh and just want an English speaker, some very good and want actual teachers and have a curriculum.

TB had a lot of degrees. I can’t believe he would be happy teaching high school kids. IMHO.

Tokyo area was cold but not super bad... I only remember a dusting of snow.

According to the link below:

Balint worked as a Department of Defense Education Activity substitute teacher until Nov. 18 ...

Balint taught high school chemistry and physics, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Mystery surrounds former DODEA substitute teacher’s disappearance from Yokota Air Base - Pacific - Stripes

There is only one high school (Yokota High School) listed on the DODEA website: Schools (dodea.edu) Select "Pacific" region and then "Yokota."

 

[Tortoise]

"4. Why was it 'again' starting to get dark/cold - not for the first time?"

I think this might refer to the fact that Trevor wasn't coming back after he went "looking for the cat" and didn't come back till 1:30 am, when they were planning to watch a movie. It was dark then too.

Suggesting, perhaps, a mild concern the evening before about it "again starting to get dark and cold" , also then? Maybe.

I am puzzled by a few things. BB noticed he came back without his jacket at 1:30 am, (saw him) but presumably doesn't have an explanation for that.

Watching the video it appears she doesn't know if he's presently wearing the same short sleeved shirt she saw him in. Unless he has more than one shirt at home like that.

 

[Panhypopit]

He was teaching the children of the military then... so then he was on base. Very weird he even had to leave. Nothing would have been open.

 

[abstr]

I'm quite curious about a few points (questions underneath)-

14. The couple slept in separate bedrooms and BB went to work the next morning without realizing Trevor was missing until she finished work and saw a message that someone had found his wallet near a vacant townhome on base.

15. “All the messages I’d sent to Trevor were still marked unread at this point,” she said.

16. When BB went to the vacant home near where the wallet was found, she discovered his jacket, shoes, mask, cellphone, keys and some empty cans of Chuhai – a Japanese alcoholic drink, she said.

18. “At this point, it was Monday evening and it was again starting to get dark and cold. I had no idea where he could possibly be, especially without any of his belongings. I called Security Forces to get assistance,” she said.

---

1. Was he missing in the morning when BB went to work? WE DON'T KNOW

2. Did BB notice all the messages were marked unread before she finished work (use of word 'still')? WE DON'T KNOW THAT EITHER

3. I'm not sure how close the wallet was to the vacant home, but if it looked like it had been dropped (my assumption), why were the other items not also seen by the finder?

4. Why was it 'again' starting to get dark/cold - not for the first time?

IT WAS COLD WHEN HE WENT TO LOOK FOR THE CAT??
Sorry my response looks wonky & I promise I wasn't shouting

 

[CoverMeCagney]

He was teaching the children of the military then... so then he was on base. Very weird he even had to leave. Nothing would have been open.

The 7Eleven would have been open, and he returned with a convenience store bag.

The base does have shops, a cinema, restaurants etc, but I’m not sure whether the shop there would have been open at that time of night.

 

[Panhypopit]

I looked on a historical weather site, the weather was 39.2 at 6 am and 59 at 12am. The sun rose at 8:49am, set at 8:59pm. No rain.

SMH. I got confused on the dates... there is no holiday in February. But stores do close early. Even ATMs closed.

 

[cindizzle]

TB was teaching High Schoolers, but I have not found out what, or where... there are a lot of schools there, some kinda meh and just want an English speaker, some very good and want actual teachers and have a curriculum.

TB had a lot of degrees. I can’t believe he would be happy teaching high school kids. IMHO.

Tokyo area was cold but not super bad... I only remember a dusting of snow.

If he was employed as a substitute teacher through DODEA, he was teaching on base, and if I remember correctly DODDEA employees are government contractors. The DODEA is essentially the Office of Education for overseas schools on military installations.

https://www.dodea.edu/aboutdodea/index.cfm
Did you know?
DoDEA operates 160 schools in 8 Districts located in 11 countries, 7 states, and 2 territories across 10 time zones.

There are 996,069 military connected children of all ages worldwide, of which more than 69,000 (6.9%) are enrolled in DoDEA schools and served by approximately 8,700 educators.

All schools within DoDEA are fully accredited by U.S. accreditation agencies.

 

[cindizzle]

That chiming you hear may be my Hinky Meter:

View attachment 283393
image from goodreads.com

As cited upthread:

Underemployed, could indeed be for many reasons including the marriage
Geographically isolated from family
Ongoing pandemic stress

Very interesting!

There is a thread her about a wife missing from a US Air Force installation in Japan:

Japan - Kelli Cribbs Abad, 27, Okinawa, 26 Oct 2011, American wife of airman in USAF

This is Kadena AFB.

Most recent article apparently:

U.S. Air Force wife Kelli Cribbs Abad still missing seven years after disappearing in Japan

jmho ymmv lrr

Kelli Abad went missing from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, Japan’s southernmost island. I lived in Okinawa when she went missing. If I recall correctly, both the military police and Japanese police concluded her death was likely a suicide. Her vehicle was located in the parking lot of a popular cliff and a brief note was found inside.

 

[bancam]

...I am puzzled by a few things. BB noticed he came back without his jacket at 1:30 am, (saw him) but presumably doesn't have an explanation for that...

Interesting she says she “saw” him - I guess this doesn’t totally preclude the possibility they spoke, but if they didn’t that would also seem odd. My first thought was that he slipped into her room where she was already sleeping to say goodnight (or without her realizing it at the time “goodbye”).

The 7Eleven would have been open, and he returned with a convenience store bag.

The base does have shops, a cinema, restaurants etc, but I’m not sure whether the shop there would have been open at that time of night.

The on-base East Side Express “shopette” was where he shopped at 8:30am on the Sunday morning. According to their published hours, it is open 8am to 8pm on Sundays. Presumably, seeing as he entered the East Side Gate at 9:09pm he went to the 24hr 7Eleven just off base and across the road. In any event, the base investigators will by now know the store and (probably) what he purchased. I’m still interested in what he was up to in the 1.5 hours after he was seen at East Side Express in the morning and why it’s a critical time of interest whereas the afternoon gaps in his time are not. I think this suggests they’re exploring the possibility he was planning something or meeting someone in the morning, perhaps the “cat” he later went looking for.

I looked on a historical weather site, the weather was 39.2 at 6 am and 59 at 12am. The sun rose at 8:49am, set at 8:59pm. No rain.

Yep, hardly temperatures to be getting around without shoes!

 

[bancam]

1. Full map of the base:


Note: East Gate apparently closes at 1am.

2. My annotations of the areas of interest - note, based on satellite imagery I’ve made assumptions regarding both the east side accommodation towers (ringed in blue) where they reportedly live, and also the Garden units (which are all low-rise):

 

[Tortoise]

My understanding:

1. Was he missing in the morning when BB went to work?

It is unknown when he disappeared, but sometime after he returned home at 1:30 a.m. Feb. 1.

MOO

rsbm

I'm not sure why it was relevant to mention the separate bedrooms without a strong suspicion that he wasn't there in the morning.


“I returned home to find the front door unlocked"

"the couple slept in separate bedrooms and BB went to work the next morning without realizing Trevor was missing until she finished work and saw a message..."


That's what makes me question this -

At this point, it was Monday evening and it was again starting to get dark and cold.

 

[mrazda71]

Sleeping in separate rooms for a night might not necessarily mean they argued or BB was mad at him.

My daughter lives with her partner, he rarely drinks alcohol but, when he does he gets to sleep in the spare room too because he farts and snores like a warthog!

There was a missing person on a UK RAF/Army base a few years ago (Not Corrie McKegue) - can't for the life of me remember details but, he was reported missing from camp ... I think, he'd left his post while on duty ... and it was days before his body was found. I believe he'd died by suicide. (ETA - I've been googling but search results are full of Corrie & then I fell in rabbit hole of missing person posts )

This case is an odd one ... potentially an affair or a mental health crisis?

 

[GuyfromCanada]

HUBBARD, Ohio (WKBN) – Valley Congressman Tim Ryan, D-13th District, talked with the base commander in Japan where a local man was reported missing.

Rep. Tim Ryan talks to Japan base commander about missing Hubbard man | WKBN.com

 

[realanastasia]

Yep, hardly temperatures to be getting around without shoes!

I may be way off base with this guess (no pun intended), but I know that it is very, very common for folks to remove their shoes immediately before or just upon entering a home in Japan. Wonder if this habit had become second nature to TB after living in the country for a year, and perhaps he left his shoes outside the door before entering the vacant apartment (this would assume that he DID enter the vacant apartment near which his shoes and other personal items were later found, which is just my conjecture)? Or maybe his shoes were just dirty from normal wear around the base and he didn’t want to leave any footprints in the vacant unit (again, assuming he even entered it)? For TB to have left behind his shoes at some point after he was last seen would suggest to me that he either left hastily under his own power and didn’t dare stop to grab them, or someone else physically removed him from the area around the vacant unit or from the unit itself.

All MOO!

 

[MinnyPin]

I know this is far reaching, but the case that immediately came to my mind when it was listed the items found was that of Kevin Bacon. Just not ruling out any possibilities since he and his wife slept in separate bedrooms.

When Kevin disappeared:

“Kevin’s parents found his car in a parking lot in Swartz Creek. They said the clothes he was wearing when he left were left inside the car as well as his shoes, cell phone, credit cards and cash.”

Found Deceased - MI - Kevin Bacon, 25, met someone online, Swartz Creek, 24 Dec 2019 *Arrest* #2

When someone leaves their shoes... they aren’t going to be walking far. So strange.

ETA: Also, why did he go looking for a cat that late at night, especially if it wasn’t his? To me, that sounded like he was creating a reason to leave. IMO