CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #13

[zwiebel]

Talking about publicity; I've been summoning up courage for ages to ask a poster here who takes great photos, if they could take some for Bob. I finally asked today and the answer came back straight away; 'can do, will do'.

Dontcha just love WSers sometimes?

 

[zwiebel]

Press releases arent limited to LE-for example, Websleuths releases stories to the press. I know that Bob's story has the full support of the owners and I think we might see some press releases as we move closer to an airdate. There were some things in the works until the date of the show changed.

That's really nice to know. Thank you, WS owners.

 

[believe09]

I just want to take a moment of our time to give a shout out to our own gentle dreamweaver- Dream, you are mentioned in this story by the Boston Globe. :hug:

Boston Globe Link Here

 

[zwiebel]

What a great story. I want to read the book, too.

 

[zwiebel]

Mmmmmm. This thread has gone a bit quiet. I could say 'bump' here. Or I could cheat and just post a smiling face in a goldfish bowl, if my tablet would let me. I think I'll ask a question instead;

Does anyone here know what time Bob Harrod went missing?

If his son-in-law was the last reported person to see him, and was working in Bob's house the day bob disappeared, it must be easy-peasy. Any guests dropping in here will think we are slothers, not sleuthers, if we don't come come up with an answer soon.

I'm going with 10.30am, approx, myself (sorry, PB).

 

[believe09]

I will throw my hat in and say sometime around 10am.

 

[zwiebel]

We know for certain that LE has a 3.04pm Home Depot receipt for son-in-law.

And the housekeeper worked in the house for about three hours.

So if she arrived at Noon, she worked until approx 3pm. If she arrived at 3pm, she worked until 6pm.

We know she says Bob was missing when she arrived and when she left. So either way, at 3.04pm, Bob was already missing and the housekeeper can verify that. That means son-in-law's home Depot receipt is totally worthless as an alibi, imo.

 

[zwiebel]

So glad to get a time near mine, believe. I think Oriah might drop in with a time from the night before, but I've really got to go with LE and that morning call they seem so certain of, and the 'hairs on the back of the neck' feeling when the housekeeper arrived. I trust her. I think something had happened, and she just picked up on it straightaway.

 

[Cubby]

I'm also going with around 10:00 am.


And I am convinced that Jem and/or AH were disposing of Bob during the late morning hours prior to the housekeeper's arrival.

I also think the timeline info is a key piece to solving this case. I'm pretty certain some of the inconsistencies given to police with the intention to send them on a wild goose chase will eventually lead to arrests. Even though LE hasn't exactly said it, I am certain they are aware of who has deliberately misled the investigation.

LE knows far more than they have made public, and I think some of these questions we have on the obvious inconsistencies will be answered when this gets to trial.

 

[Opie]

I'm joining the posters above with the "somewhere around 10 a.m." time for Bob's disappearance. Also concur with Cubby's comments in the prior post.

Justice is coming, but it's certainly taking a long time.

 

[zwiebel]

I also hope anyone who has misled this investigation is arrested and charged. Anyone that has done so, has caused untold suffering to the people who love and care for Bob. Maybe there is a case for financial damages there too?

 

[Cubby]

I think it is possible some of the charges can include both time and fines. We'll see as arrests and charges occur, hopefully sooner rather than later.

 

[believe09]

I think it is a given that obstruction arrests will happen-as the price of this investigation continues to escalate, this cash strapped jurisdiction is going to look for relief. And it wont be Bob's money that pays for it. See, I would think that obstructing a criminal investigation has very little to do with pursuing and defending the interests of the trust. That appears to be the loophole that all of the attorneys fees are falling through. IMO.

 

[zwiebel]

I think it's only right for LE to recoup costs in any circumstances they can, when money is so tight they are having to do things like close the cold case unit. It's very sad, but these decisions have to be made, I suppose. I would have thought it wrong if they'd had no resources to investigate Bob's case when he went missing, but were spending cash on years-old cases instead.

By the way, does anyone know when a 'case' becomes a 'cold case'? Do any cases never really go cold at all?

 

[believe09]

I think it's only right for LE to recoup costs in any circumstances they can, when money is so tight they are having to do things like close the cold case unit. It's very sad, but these decisions have to be made, I suppose. I would have thought it wrong if they'd had no resources to investigate Bob's case when he went missing, but were spending cash on years-old cases instead.

By the way, does anyone know when a 'case' becomes a 'cold case'? Do any cases never really go cold at all?

From the National Institute of Justice:

The National Institute of Justice currently defines a cold case as any case whose probative investigative leads have been exhausted. In essence, this means a case that is only a few months old may be defined as being "cold."

According to the article, there is perhaps a confusion between a historical case and a cold case. A historical case isnt cold as long as there are active leads available, I think.

 

[Oriah]

I had this random thought the other day: going with the assumption that Mr. Harrod died inside the residence- we could narrow the timeline significantly by looking at when we estimate Mr. Harrod to have died vs. when we estimate him to have been moved from the residence. A much more narrow timeline. That might help pinpoint a route of travel due to time constraints and traffic patterns, CCTV's, satellite's, weather cams etc.

Also, does anyone think it odd that no one called 911? Or did they and we just don't have the call(s)?

Anyone have a media link that talks about a 911 call?

 

[zwiebel]

I've read all of the articles still available I think, at least a couple of times. I'm as sure as I can be that I've never seen a reference to anyone calling 911. In the police report from the night, there's only mention of Mrs Harrod's calls from MO, and the call she says JuM made to her.

I'm guessing Mrs Harrod didn't call 911 from MO, because that wouldn't have got her through to California.

There's a claim from a daughter that she rang for a welfare check, but that's not mentioned in the LE report and I don't know if that's something a person would call 911 for.

 

[Oriah]

I've read all of the articles still available I think, at least a couple of times. I'm as sure as I can be that I've never seen a reference to anyone calling 911. In the police report from the night, there's only mention of Mrs Harrod's calls from MO, and the call she says JuM made to her.

I'm guessing Mrs Harrod didn't call 911 from MO, because that wouldn't have got her through to California.

There's a claim from a daughter that she rang for a welfare check, but that's not mentioned in the LE report and I don't know if that's something a person would call 911 for.

*sigh*
I can't find anything either.

I'm totally perplexed by this though. By my count we have at least 8 people who were aware of Mr. Harrod's disappeance within a 12-24 hr time frame. Aware of his bad knees, his age, his usual habits, his vehicle remaining at his residence. And no one called 911 to report him missing?

I don't know about ya'll, but that's an instinct for me. I've even called 911 from other cities, knowing that dispatch will track down the county or city in their specific jurisdiction. But we have no mention anywhere of a 911 call re: Mr. Harrod?

 

[zwiebel]

When you put it like that, it does seem odd. Epecially as there was no shortage of calls flying around that night.

Okay, JeM says he thought Bob had gone to visit a neighbour, had an appointment and whatever, so he has an excuse. But when he told his wife and she was worried enough to call her sisters, possibly her son and then Mrs Harrod way out in MO as well.....it is strange she didn't think to call 911.

Perhaps they were just shy about talking to police. Some people are.

No, that can't be right. JeM was just hanging out with LE at Big Bear command centre, during the hunt for the ex-police gunman, according to his wife.

 

[zwiebel]

Wanted to add I think the housekeeper would have called 911 eventually. It was son-in-law turning up and being so nonchalant about Bob being gone that threw her.