CA CA - Matthew Weaver, 21, Santa Monica Mountains, 10 Aug 2018

[ScorpioRising]

He called, and then texted at 11:49am

Right, but the night before he was missing, when they got together...there is a question about his ETA at 2am. So this doesn't seem like they met up at midnight. Or am I misunderstanding this? (See earlier text messages on the screenshot)

 

[oakparkmall]

Right, but the night before he was missing, when they got together...there is a question about his ETA at 2am. So this doesn't seem like they met up at midnight. Or am I misunderstanding this? (See earlier text messages on the screenshot)

Per timeline released by family,
He picked up his friend at 9:28 pm
Took her home at 5:00 am

In that time period, we don't know what they did or where they went.

Based on the texts, it looks like she was waiting on him somewhere, around 2:00 am.
Maybe he left where they were to pickup food (or anything).

I would really like to know if they were hanging out around the overlook prior to him taking her home.

 

[ScorpioRising]

Per timeline released by family,
He picked up his friend at 9:28 pm
Took her home at 5:00 am

In that time period, we don't know what they did or where they went.

Based on the texts, it looks like she was waiting on him somewhere, around 2:00 am.
Maybe he left where they were to pickup food (or anything).

I would really like to know if they were hanging out around the overlook prior to him taking her home.

Yes, it says he is believed to have picked her up at 9.28pm. Since it is a very specific time I assume this is concluded from his phone pings probably around Chatsworth. If so then it would be crucially important to know what this earlier text conversation was about? They obviously parted ways sometime before 2am. The phone records should give more information about this but I understand if this is something they don't want to reveal currently. Where did MW go in the middle of their 'partying'?

 

[Steph9676]

This finally shows his last Snapchat

Family Members Announce $50K Reward Amid Search for Man Last Seen in Topanga Area in August

 

[Steph9676]

This finally shows his last Snapchat

Family Members Announce $50K Reward Amid Search for Man Last Seen in Topanga Area in August

Am I allowed to show a screenshot of the last Snapchat since it was on The news?

His last Snapchat does not indicate trouble or a depressed person to me. To me it seems like yay!!!! It’s Friday.

 

[finao]

As someone who consults on, among other things, surveillance (technical, etc) - I can tell you the "CCTV" footage is critical, but also likely very limited. It's unlikely that it was being real-time monitored and was likely static, intended to just track big movements, not faces, etc. But the real question is this:

1) MW's vehicle drives to the edge, but not necessarily MW unless for certain his text/call is him and the cellular carrier can be certain the handset sent it from Rosas Overlook and not Stunt Rd. (They can provide clarification on this for sure.)
2) People (how many?) walk past the surv camera(s), but did they go all the way to the end where they could see the car? Believe the camera(s) would be closer to the trail entrance and/or construction chokepoint (to record when equipment is stolen).
3) People (how many?) walked back out past the camera(s) again (did one additional person (MW) emerge on foot?)
4) What cellular carrier did MW have? Has someone tried using a handset on this network in the area and hiking down (towards Red Rock)? Does service drop below the overlook (but worked at the overlook)? (This is possible and therefore he could have hiked down, lost coverage, and then had issues with the terrain...but it's also not likely if the nearest tower was actually to the N/NW - he would be walking towards reception.)
5) The presumption should be that MW's car had a phone charger (most cars do and a tire over the edge won't drain the battery): so did his handset continue to 'ping' as active on the tower from 1148am onwards from Rosas (assuming that's where the texts came from)? How does this timeline correlate with the morning hikers passing the surv cams? After 1148am, did the handset signal the tower that it was being powered off? Or did it just never 'touch' a cell tower ever again (indicating the battery drained (odd), the signal was forever lost (odd), or the phone was smashed/battery removed)? These latter questions may be answered by re-reviewing the cellular data and CCTV footage. (As I previously mentioned elsewhere, the cellular carrier records a LatLong and, when a handset is powered down, an "IMSI detach" code.)

Clearly mixing in "new friends" (a term used at today's news conference), drugs (not mentioned), and a long-night of driving/partying adds a hundred other questions, too.

@joeconejo Good meeting you at the NEWS CONFERENCE.

Did MW's phone die/lose coverage or did someone power it down? Simple question, easy to determine, and not sure why this can't be divulged.

 

[joeconejo]

Did MW's phone die/lose coverage or did someone power it down? Simple question, easy to determine, and not sure why this can't be divulged.

Agreed, and still unknown at this point. We're not sure LE ever obtained any of that info, or if they even felt it was necessary. If they know , they haven't told us.
Hopefully PI will help get us some answers.

 

[Rguycali]

Interesting Snapchat. So, after destroying his car and getting it stuck, he's supposedly still in a good mood and hikes the rest of the way to the platform. Makes no sense to me.

 

[oakparkmall]

Interesting Snapchat. So, after destroying his car and getting it stuck, he's supposedly still in a good mood and hikes the rest of the way to the platform. Makes no sense to me.

Timeline says:
6:24 - 6:57 am - Picture posted on Matthew's Snapchat from the Stunt Rd and Saddle Peak Rd Parking Lot

This would have been before he drove up the trail (Topanga tower motorway)

 

[Rguycali]

Timeline says:
6:24 - 6:57 am - Picture posted on Matthew's Snapchat from the Stunt Rd and Saddle Peak Rd Parking Lot

This would have been before he drove up the trail (Topanga tower motorway)

I guess I was confused because it looks like the platform to me.

 

[oakparkmall]

I guess I was confused because it looks like the platform to me.

I thought it was too, but it's a beautiful view from just the parking lot.

 

[finao]

Agreed, and still unknown at this point. We're not sure LE ever obtained any of that info, or if they even felt it was necessary. If they know , they haven't told us.
Hopefully PI will help get us some answers.

Agree. I know we've discussed these things before. But sometimes good to shine the light on the key points and shy away from conspiracies, theories or even too much focus on the 911 call, etc.

Second question to answer, then, would be this. What's the correlative points between MW's car passing the surveillance camera(s) and the time and number of people walking up/down the same road? Meaning, obviously, did a total of 8 people walk to the Rosas Overlook, but 9 came back? Other less obvious details might likewise be examined.

 

[ScorpioRising]

@joeconejo Was MW current on his rent?

 

[hardeeboy]

He called, and then texted at 11:49am

Matthew seems to recognize he is an "iffy", possibly volatile, situation. Yet, he texts & even tries to *call* this woman (vs...911). Then, instead of cutting to the chase when his galpal responds - he is cryptic and overgeneral.

Any thought on what situations/circumstances might lead Matthew to question his safety...but then not call for help if they had the chance still?

 

[Jowelle14]

Matthew seems to recognize he is an "iffy", possibly volatile, situation. Yet, he texts & even tries to *call* this woman (vs...911). Then, instead of cutting to the chase when his galpal responds - he is cryptic and overgeneral.

Any thought on what situations/circumstances might lead Matthew to question his safety...but then not call for help if they had the chance still?

I feel like it's not that weird he reached out to her rather than 911. I'm the same age as Matthew and I have texted my best friend in times of danger, thinking that I'd get out of the situation of course, but I feel like it's common to just shoot a text to a friend saying like "hey this place is sketchy". Now that I think back on all the times I've done that, I've never considered calling my parents or 911 cause I evaluated the situation as minor, maybe Matthew was in the same boat. I've also tried calling my best friend in situations where I feel unsafe, like walking back to my car at night, just to be on the phone with someone and look like I'm having a conversation on the other end with a witness listening. It's unfortunate that Matthew didn't call 911, but I don't think it's suspicious or odd that he contacted his friend to let her know what was going on, maybe he just wanted to look like he was busy on the phone when he might have encountered walking past a sketchy looking situation or individual.

 

[Razz]

Agree. I know we've discussed these things before. But sometimes good to shine the light on the key points and shy away from conspiracies, theories or even too much focus on the 911 call, etc.

Second question to answer, then, would be this. What's the correlative points between MW's car passing the surveillance camera(s) and the time and number of people walking up/down the same road? Meaning, obviously, did a total of 8 people walk to the Rosas Overlook, but 9 came back? Other less obvious details might likewise be examined.

I'm hesitant to lend credence to this surveillance footage. Has anyone seen it? Does it show MW's car on the footpath where it was left? Is that where the people were seen walking to?! Too many unanswered and unverified suppositions being made on something we haven't seen.

 

[finao]

I'm hesitant to lend credence to this surveillance footage. Has anyone seen it? Does it show MW's car on the footpath where it was left? Is that where the people were seen walking to?! Too many unanswered and unverified suppositions being made on something we haven't seen.

The surveillance footage should show MW's vehicle driving in (and disposition of car as it passed frame). It should likewise show the number of people who walked/biked past the same point - if one believes MW met up with others at Rosas, then they would have walked in and/or out at some point. Granted, the cam(s) won't capture alternative points of entry/egress, and it is unlikely to capture anything further down the path (toward Rosas, etc).

Cellular data is #2 in my estimate. The surveillance (cam) data #3. Things like the 911 call are distant on the priority list (people are partying up there, high as a kite screaming day and night, and there's limited correlation between the call and the time MW was last known to be at the overlook or his specific location). #1 is still the psychological disposition of MW and his relationship with himself, friends, lovers, new peers, family, etc. (His socials could have been 'tapped' in the hours after his disappearance for analysis, but by now that's probably OBE.)

 

[Razz]

The surveillance footage should show MW's vehicle driving in (and disposition of car as it passed frame). It should likewise show the number of people who walked/biked past the same point - if one believes MW met up with others at Rosas, then they would have walked in and/or out at some point. Granted, the cam(s) won't capture alternative points of entry/egress, and it is unlikely to capture anything further down the path (toward Rosas, etc).

Cellular data is #2 in my estimate. The surveillance (cam) data #3. Things like the 911 call are distant on the priority list (people are partying up there, high as a kite screaming day and night, and there's limited correlation between the call and the time MW was last known to be at the overlook or his specific location). #1 is still the psychological disposition of MW and his relationship with himself, friends, lovers, new peers, family, etc. (His socials could have been 'tapped' in the hours after his disappearance for analysis, but by now that's probably OBE.)

Not trying to be argumentative but
"it should show" vs "it does show" is huge imo.

And there is talk about a cell phone charger. We don't know he had one and if the car was dead, ( because he turned it off, or ran out of gas or because the undercarriage was so badly damaged) he couldn't have charged the phone anyway.

I'm still wondering about the presence of mine shafts and if there is any way he could have fallen into one amongst all the brush along the mountainside.

The 2 or 3 "bare" patches down the mountain side beneath MW's car are interesting. What caused that? Rain flow from the footpath? What would have stopped MW should he had fallen down one of those "paths?

 

[finao]

How can we conclude "does show" if no one on here knows? Isn't this the point of this board: a bunch of wild speculation? To dismiss the surveillance video without knowing, but then dissect a thousand other disparate "clues" is mixing up priorities. We can 'what about this' and 'what about that' until everyone drops off this thread; and/or we can make critical sense of the evidence that does exist - namely the still as yet undissected cellular and surveillance camera activity.

Hope this leads somewhere soon, but from what I saw at the news conference, there's little left to go on for new leads.

 

[Razz]

Has the PI given the surveillance video over to police? If not, why not?

I'm leery of a PI saying they have surveillance video and making conclusions about it when no one else has seen it. We can speculate on facts but not on things that may be or should be. Facts come from LE, and MSM. Verified insiders are allowed to
speak without linking what they say to a to a verified source. We can choose to believe or disbelieve what they say....
but only when verified.

I'd like to hear what LE says about the surveillance video. And what's the harm of LE then releasing it?! Could be there are credibility issues with the PI, or the video itself. At this point, who knows?!