MN MN - Joshua Guimond, 20, Collegeville, 9 Nov 2002 - #2

[ThePhantom]

Thank you, DarkJodo. It's very discouraging. It's good to see Josh's case is still being discussed. But I feel many answers are either so deeply hidden or gone from our reach. The podcasts and other forms of publicity are good, but why does it seem Josh's case seems to stay in the background. Certainly it's not only his case, but -- it just seems people have resigned themselves that his case won't be solved.

 

[ThePhantom]

I still wonder who it was that called Grandpa Bob and asked him how much money it would take for him to stop looking into things...

 

[dotr]

Check out this thread, man missing for a number of years has just been located (in his car) in a pond that was previously searched. FWIW..
IA - IA - Ethan Kazmerzak, 22, Hampton, 15 Sept 2013 *vehicle found*

 

[DarkJodo]

Correct. Evidence of the fake ID software was recovered early on. I hesitate calling it a “ring” because the only fake IDs that we’re made were literally only made for Josh’s friends and people known on campus. The only ID not traced to a known person is an ID for “Quincy Jones”, which very well could have been the default template used by the ID photo editing software.

These files were recovered easily early in the investigation, therefore, was NOT likely included in the Internet Washer data dump. Anything that the Internet Washer deleted would be incredibly hard to recover, even with today’s technology.

When encountered by Brian Guimond and a private investigator, a friend of Josh’s, (not roommate) Alex Jude stated “We deleted all of that” when questioned about the fake IDs.

In my opinion, the fake IDs have always been an interesting twist in Josh’s story, but I believe that it has nothing to do with his disappearance. If Josh’s computer did ever hold any evidence of his whereabouts, it would have probably been included in that Internet Washer data dump, because someone knew what they were doing when they used a program like that, and very little has been recovered from that portion.

I'm listening to the recent podcasts that came out about Josh's disappearance, and I'm realizing some of the podcasters are using websleuths as a source of information, so I thought I'd clear up a few statements that I made nearly 2 years ago, as I've learned a bit more since then.

These files were recovered easily early in the investigation, therefore, was NOT likely included in the Internet Washer data dump. Anything that the Internet Washer deleted would be incredibly hard to recover, even with today’s technology.

The fake ID's were never recovered, because they were never deleted. They were created on Josh's computer in 2001, and remained there since. The ID's were of Josh's roommates. There was no fake ID of Josh himself.

I stand by the other statements I made in the post above.

 

[ThePhantom]

Today marks 18 years since Joshua disappeared from the campus of St. John's University. He had such big plans for his future, and I have no doubt he would have achieved them all. His family was so proud of him. It is sad that his grandfather passed away before he was able to find the answers. The Guimond family was left shattered, never to be the same again. St. John's banned Josh's Dad from being on the campus. A thorough investigation of alibis for the monks was never done. And the abbot is not required to divulge any potentially incriminating or helpful information due to the special laws of the Catholic church, which apparently can supercede the laws the rest of us must follow. Just ask Patrick J. Wall.
The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a duty of the living to do so for them. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

 

[jessefli]

Hello everyone. I'm a current student of CSBSJU. The Joshua Guimond case has always fascinated me and I intend to do some searching in the area sometime soon. The case could have easily been an accidental drowning or case of hypothermia. However, I'm quick to remember the stories about this place that gives me pause. Growing up around about 5 min from Saint Johns, the locals will tell you never to walk in the woods alone. There are countless stories about sexual assault, vicious attacks, and what can only be viewed as attempted assault involving the monks and staff members of the prep school that occur in those woods. You will never hear about any of this in the news as the Abbey has always been quick to cover it up. Currently, there are multiple monks in "hiding" or as the church would say "under supervision" that are accused of these vicious assaults. One of which is a Stearns county suspect of the murder of two girls in the seventies. Check out the website Behind the Pine Curtain if you're new to learning about the violent history of the school. One thing's for certain, they stopped talking about it and are certainly not interested in searching further.

 

[jessefli]

Adding to this as well, the lakes that are immediately close to where he disappeared were searched with sonar technology in 2003 coming up with no relevant evidence of him. If we can trust the service, there are no other lakes close enough for his body to be located in. He would have to have walked quite a while to find another lake which seems out of the way. This makes me a bit skeptical for accidental drowning. As for him getting lost in the woods, recently we had an incident at SJU where an armed fugitive running from the police ran into the woods at sju. It took the national guard hours to find him in a pretty easy spot close to the prep school where he'd hidden for hours. The woods are thick here and hard to get through at times. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't find Joshua during their initial searches.

 

[dotr]

Adding to this as well, the lakes that are immediately close to where he disappeared were searched with sonar technology in 2003 coming up with no relevant evidence of him. If we can trust the service, there are no other lakes close enough for his body to be located in. He would have to have walked quite a while to find another lake which seems out of the way. This makes me a bit skeptical for accidental drowning. As for him getting lost in the woods, recently we had an incident at SJU where an armed fugitive running from the police ran into the woods at sju. It took the national guard hours to find him in a pretty easy spot close to the prep school where he'd hidden for hours. The woods are thick here and hard to get through at times. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't find Joshua during their initial searches.

Welcome to Ws jessefli, thanks for the interesting information!

 

[Shay]

Adding to this as well, the lakes that are immediately close to where he disappeared were searched with sonar technology in 2003 coming up with no relevant evidence of him. If we can trust the service, there are no other lakes close enough for his body to be located in. He would have to have walked quite a while to find another lake which seems out of the way. This makes me a bit skeptical for accidental drowning. As for him getting lost in the woods, recently we had an incident at SJU where an armed fugitive running from the police ran into the woods at sju. It took the national guard hours to find him in a pretty easy spot close to the prep school where he'd hidden for hours. The woods are thick here and hard to get through at times. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't find Joshua during their initial searches.

Welcome to Websleuths! I don't believe that National Guard was called in for this, I was listening to the scanner at the time. Wasn't the fugitive found under some stairs near a building? I drive thru campus often and also think the woods may hold the answer, or at least a clue.

It's always nice to have a fresh set of eyes and ears on this case

 

[ThePhantom]

Wondering if anyone has continued doing searches in those woods? It's like finding a needle in a haystack. I know that dogs can't always pick up scents -- even when a body is nearby. If no one goes into those woods except people who are up to no good, we're never going to get the answers, because they're never going to tell the truth.

 

[ThePhantom]

It's nice to see some new attention paid to Josh's case. Just curious -- if you could change how this investigation was handled, what would you have done differently? How well was it handled, in your opinion? Anyone know if the local community ever talk about Josh's disappearance or is what happened to him on the campus of St. John's University just a thing that happened long ago?

 

[jessefli]

It's nice to see some new attention paid to Josh's case. Just curious -- if you could change how this investigation was handled, what would you have done differently? How well was it handled, in your opinion? Anyone know if the local community ever talk about Josh's disappearance or if what happened to him on the campus of St. John's University just a thing that happened long ago?

Growing up in the local community, about 5 min from St. John's, I heard absolutely nothing about this case until I discovered the information through the Behind the Pine Curtain website. When I discuss it with my classmates over the 3.5 years I've attended school here not a single person knew about it and they were all shocked to find out a student went missing from campus. What's the oddest thing to me is that the school doesn't talk about Joshua. No more marches or searches. Not even a statement after the recent 15th anniversary. or support for the family all these years later. The lack of transparency here is astounding. As for what could have been done better, I'm not a police officer nor do I have much life experience but I can say allowing the same people who handled the Jacob Wetterling case to handle this one is asking for screw-ups. As for the college, the monks' alibies should have been taken as well as transparent cooperation by the church to search all areas.

 

[jessefli]

Wondering if anyone has continued doing searches in those woods? It's like finding a needle in a haystack. I know that dogs can't always pick up scents -- even when a body is nearby. If no one goes into those woods except people who are up to no good, we're never going to get the answers, because they're never going to tell the truth.

True. A lot of students hike in the woods or go running, most of the time not alone. I've gone back around the trails near where Joshua went missing and the trails back there I would say are the least used. Especially since the entrances to the trails back there are harder to find.

 

[jessefli]

I have some additional thoughts to add quick. Expanding beyond the monks, could there be a possibility that somehow students or other residents were the ones involved in his disappearance? There is the Collegeville institute about a 5 min walk from Metten court where he left the card party from. I attended a party before covid down fruit farm road, about an 8ish min walk from Metten, in a house that housed students but doesn't appear on the campus map. That whole area is populated with students and parties on the weekend. Not to mention that down that road there is the locally used Parish center and Prayer house. Though I doubt anyone would be using either of those in the middle of the night stranger things have happened.

 

[ThePhantom]

Hello Jessefli and welcome!! Responding to your thoughts about the possibility of others being involved in Josh's disappearance -- my feeling -- yes -- I think they may be (bad) people who knew some of the monks and may have possibly acted on one of these monk's behalf.

 

[jessefli]

Hello Jessefli and welcome!! Responding to your thoughts about the possibility of others being involved in Josh's disappearance -- my feeling -- yes -- I think they may be (bad) people who knew some of the monks and may have possibly acted on one of these monk's behalf.

I feel like he's gotta still be on campus. I don't think he got very far without help, where the possibility of others acting alone or in assistance to the monks might come in. Now it comes down to who might those people be.

 

[ThePhantom]

After reading the description of the woods in the vicinity of the campus, it does have me wondering if he isn't there somewhere. Heartbreaking.

 

[dotr]

• Joshua Cheney Guimond – The Charley Project
  
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''Guimond, circa 2002; Age-progression to age 30 (circa 2012)

• Missing Since 11/09/2002
• Missing From Collegeville, Minnesota
• • White
  • Date of Birth 06/18/1982 (38)
  • Age 20 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'10 - 6'0, 170 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry Description A gray Gap or St. John University's hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, and a wristwatch.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Blond hair, blue eyes. Guimond He has a vertical scar on his shoulder about four inches long and half an inch wide. He is supposed to wear eyeglasses or contact lenses, but did not have either with him at the time of his disappearance. His nickname is Josh.''
  • Guimond was last seen between approximately 11:00 p.m. and midnight on November 9, 2002, leaving Metten Court, a dormitory on the north end of the St. John's University campus in Collegeville, Minnesota. He was a junior at the university at the time he disappeared, majoring in political science.
    
    Guimond left a party at Matten Court to go to the bathroom and when he did not return within fifteen minutes, his friends assumed he had walked back to his on-campus apartment at St. Maur House in the middle of campus. He apparently never arrived there, however. His friends called his apartment shortly after they last saw him, and assumed he was asleep when they got no answer.
    
    Guimond's car was later found undisturbed on the campus. His friends reported him missing the next evening when they could not find him and he failed to appear a school function. His eyeglasses, contact lenses and credit cards were left behind and no personal belongings were missing from his apartment. At the time he vanished, he was not wearing clothing appropriate for the weather.
    
    In the hours after Guimond disappeared, and on subsequent days, someone erased items from his computer hard drive. It isn't clear who did this or whether the erasure is connected to his disappearance. Some of the information that was erased, and later recovered, was about making fake identification cards.
    
    One theory is that Guimond was struck by a vehicle on the night of his disappearance and killed. Some of the monks who at St. John's Abbey, attached to the university, had a history of alcohol abuse, and idea is that one of them hit him, and decided to cover up the crime to avoid a scandal. There isn't any evidence to support this, however; it remains a matter of speculation.
    
    
    Authorities, however, think it more likely that Guimond was slightly intoxicated when he left the party, and that he stumbled into a body of water and drowned. They have searched several nearby lakes, but failed to come up with any evidence to support their theory.''
    
    

 

[Sasquatch321]

John Sanners reign destroyed this cases chances. Every monk on the campus should have been lined up and questioned. An outside search party with superior knowledge and technology should have been asked to help search the complex stumpf lake in the first week.

 

[Sasquatch321]

I have some additional thoughts to add quick. Expanding beyond the monks, could there be a possibility that somehow students or other residents were the ones involved in his disappearance? There is the Collegeville institute about a 5 min walk from Metten court where he left the card party from. I attended a party before covid down fruit farm road, about an 8ish min walk from Metten, in a house that housed students but doesn't appear on the campus map. That whole area is populated with students and parties on the weekend. Not to mention that down that road there is the locally used Parish center and Prayer house. Though I doubt anyone would be using either of those in the middle of the night stranger things have happened.

This is probably the best information I've seen shared since I've been in this thread. We don't know for sure that Josh left the drinking party to return to his room, we only know he suddenly left alone. Maybe he was going to the next party, or for a walk, or to go to the bathroom. Has all the area in between these places been exhausted by searches?