VA - Grateful Dead Fan - Social Media Push

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greymetal

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Hi all :)

Brand new member, first time poster! Please let me know if I do something wrong, or if the information I am provided may be suited to somewhere better on these forums. I have been crazy about this case for a long time. The first time I read about it, it stuck with me, and for some reason my interest has jumped like crazy lately. I have been reading through missing persons for all over the world (I will post a few that I know have not been excluded in the thread dedicated to that), but mainly, I have been working towards getting his photo and information out there on the internet as much as possible.

How did I do this? Reddit. When I searched Reddit, there were one to two posts about GD over the whole site. These two were on subs dedicated to The Grateful Dead, and Unsolved Mysteries. So I broadened where I posted. Below, I have supplied where I have posted information about GD, and links if you would like to read (EDIT: I have taken out the links, I was unaware that I was unable to post them! But if you go to these subs, you should be able to find them very easy :) ):

/r/music:

/r/grateful_dead:

/r/washingtondc (In this thread, I was able to speak to somebody who was at the concert. Unfortunately, he had no information)

/r/virginia:

/r/gratefuldead (Some very helpful people, and great discussions here):

I have also gone and started posting his photo and information to Imgur. The way I see it, the importance now is getting his information out there for people who may recognise him. No matter if he was homeless, or how isolated he may have been, maybe there is a teacher, a schoolfriend, a doctor, dentist, hairdresser or religious leader who is able to say.. "I know him! I haven't seen him in a long time!".

Now, another point of interest for me (and I am unsure whether or not he has been covered, but I have not read it here) is the Unidentified Male #2 (Grateful Dead Fan):

http://unsolvedgratefuldeadfans.homestead.com/UnidentifiedMale2.html

UID Male #2 was found by the side of the road on July 20th of 1995 in Atlanta, Georgia after a Grateful Dead concert. He had been hit by a car. He was hospitalised for a year, and died on the 24th of June, 1996.

Now, two UID males, around the same age, in the vicinity of GD concerts.. That may be coincidental. What doesn't seem coincidental to me are the tattoos of both of the males. GD's star, and UID male #2's 'Virgo' tattoo look to be about the same age, and done by an unqualified artist (I checked with a tattoo artist friend of mine). Is it possible, that these two males were hanging out together? It is impossible to say where UID male #2 was heading, as he was close to the venue of the concert.

But what if they were together? It was only a month between the accidents - What is UID male #2 did not even realise that GD was missing. Maybe, he just got lost. Maybe he thought he just wanted to go home. I think it is certainly something to think about. Has there been any research conducted into UID male #2? I'd be interested in reading it.
 
Thanks rainwater! Have really loved reading your posts with all of the information surrounding our doe. So informative and helpful! You are just wonderful.

Will go in and read a bit more about UID #2, when I saw the ages and the circumstances it was a theory I brewed in my head, so I'm glad that has all been cleared up!

Our doe's photo has been viewed 2,300 (EDIT: 2,800) times on Imgur within the past few hours. I was really hoping it would be upvoted enough to reach the front page but it hasn't just yet. I'm going to keep trying. As I said, my focus is now on looking for people who might recognise our doe.

I'm going to head back to Reddit tonight once I have my bearings (just had a huge road trip) and re-post all of the information in subreddits for North Carolina, South Caroline, as well as the cities/states where the concerts before, and after, the Washington GD concert was on that weekend. Maybe if our doe was hanging with a tribe, one of them might have settled in one of those two areas.

I'm going to look into getting this into a bit more of the news media. I have worked closely with LE where I live in my previous job, and am hoping I know the procedures well enough to get his photo where it needs to be.

Major fingers crossed!
 
I should also add (sorry about the multiple posts):

I made some enquires about GD's tattoo ('s, depending on how you see it). Now, I know nothing about tattoos. So the first thing I asked (a tattoo artist friend, as well as the broader community on /r/tattoos) was if there was a difference between home done and 'prison' tattoos. Apparently, there is no significant difference, but my artist friend seemed to believe that the work on GD was done by a home tattooer, using a 'guitar string' (I'll do a bit more research for that to make sense). I guess, if it was a prison tattoo, that would indicate he had been incarcerated at one point in his life, and as a result, have fingerprints in the national system!

As for the aging of the tattoos; it was hard to put an age on them. Artist friend seemed to believe that GD and UID #2's tattoos were done around the same time, but it was difficult to indicate when that may have been. The artwork was not special, he couldn't think of the top of his head if there was something in particular, rather, that it was a simple star (not a heart-a-gram as has been suggested in here).

As for GD's second 'tattoo' on his right arm; Tattoo artist believes, up and down, that it is simply just a sharpie marking. No tattoo at all, the lines are way too thick. We sat there, poured over the image for ages, and we saw the same thing...

Bambi.

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120715045147/disney/images/1/12/Bambi2012.jpg

We both agreed it looks like he had drawn it on himself. Could his nickname be Bambi? Could the nickname of one of the 'Caroline's' or someone he was spending time with the night of the concert be Bambi? So many possibilities, and while they are far-reaching, important to consider!

Also, as I'm fairly new, I'm still getting used to everything; It says I can't post new threads, and I was wondering where I should post people that may need to be looked into? I have one from the UK and one from Alaska that seem interesting!
 
Just me again! I just have so many thoughts and I need to word vomit them somewhere otherwise, I might go crazy!

Firstly, I have made contact with someone very important to the case! Will keep updated once I know the outcome of information.

Now, I have an email account with an address dedicated to finding our Grateful Doe. I will use it to make contact with the people I am considering now:

Secondly, has anyone ever made contact with universities and high schools in Virginia, South and North Carolina? Wondering if that would be a good start. I know that it would be a very lengthy process, but perhaps even a quick email to each of them asking if they have had any students go 'missing' between the years of say 1989 - 1995.

Another thought I have had is making contact with relevant media agencies in VA. We are coming up to the 20th anniversary, it is the PERFECT time to email every single news, radio and print channel in VA and ask if they could PLEASE print or show some sort of story relating to our doe to see if we can get ANY new information. Once again, I am happy to sit down and send through these emails. Just thought I would see where we are at with any thing like this.

Also, considering making up a Twitter account. Does one exist? Have a Twitter going with the a constant trending tag and see what happens. Our doe's photo and information has been viewed 5k times now on Imgur. A lot of people who messaged me on Reddit and Imgur have never even heard of the case! Seems like it is bringing some good attention!
 
I would suggest contacting media outlets in other parts of the country as well. Grateful Doe has been publicized in VA over the years. At one point, it was believed that Grateful was not from Virginia, because no one in VA seemed to recognize him. Just MOO, but I think an article in Rolling Stone magazine or other types of music magazines,(Guitar Player?)would be wonderful, if anyone has any contacts at any of these types of magazines.
 
Excellent suggestion, something that I had not considered. Will look into that tomorrow, but may be best left to, as you said, somebody who has contacts in these areas.
 
This may sound absurd, but if we could get someone famous who has a Twitter to talk about Grateful Doe we could spread the word about him quite faster. Some people have tens of millions of followers, but even if someone who has "only" 100,000 followers agreed to tweet about him it would be a good progress.
 
Is there any way we can have a seperate thread set up for this information? I don't want to get too excited yet, but it could lead us somewhere. What do you think?

I shared GD's image again on Imgur. This time, it was seen 337,449 times (and counting), was liked by 5,553 people (and counting), and 600+ comments (some of which, are negative, but most are positive. I have had so many people ask questions, or show interest in the plight of GD).

I monitored every single comment to see what was being said. My heart jumped into my throat when I saw someone posting that the sketches look familiar to a guy he knew. Here is our conversation (which I had permission to post) I have edited names to protect privacy. Any notes I make are initialed with GM:

"Hi. Yes, I think I knew him. The sketches look like a kid I lived with for a few months back in 1994 into 1995.

It was Fall Semester 1994 at University Of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. It was the beginning of my senior year and I was planning to live with two other guys in a two bedroom house just off campus. M & G. M was a couple years older than me and I knew him from a poetry class we had shared the year before. G was a younger guy who M knew from his church group. Anyway, when I arrived in town to move in to the house, it turned out that G had invited an even younger kid he'd met that summer to live with us. It was already going to be tight fit with the three of us in that tiny house. But M & I agreed to let him stay. His name was Jason and he was a laid back surfer dude from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I think that's where G met him. G & Jason lived in one bedroom. I was in the second bedroom and Mark lived in the unfinished basement.

M and I were both attending classes at U of I and G may have been enrolled at a community college. I can't remember. Jason just hung out really. Even though the kid was probably only 17 or 18, he was a major Dead Head. I loved 60s music in a big way but had no interest in the Dead. M on the other hand was a big fan of the Dead and had plenty of conversations with Jason about their shared love of the band. I remember having long discussions with Jason about Atheism and about experiences with hallucinogens. Jason believed he could talk to trees. Not that all that unusual really. Jason did get a job at some point. He was working at a McDonalds near our house. I believe it was the one at *edited out for privacy* (maybe I can PM this address to someone in this area; They can call and confirm if there has ever been as Jason employed there? If it still exists!). He ended up getting involved romantically with a female manager there who was in her 30s or 40s. I can't remember if I ever met her. Then he disappeared. I don't remember exactly when or what the circumstances were. It seems like it was in mid to late winter, so maybe Feb 1995. It could have been Spring. I can't remember.

What I do remember is that when the next phone bill arrived, the three of us were shocked to find Jason had racked up hundreds of dollars in charges to a 1-900 line for Dead Heads. It's funny now but we were pissed off at the time. Unfortunately I have no photos of Jason. G might though. I have my doubts. But G was the one who met him and brought him to live with us. They spent a lot of time together so he should be able to fill in more of the blanks. I friended him on FB but he hasn't responded yet to the message I sent. (GM: 1900 line would have been 1900-RUN-DEAD as per: https://archive.org/post/98595/anyone-remember-900-run-dead. A line for fans to call and be provided with information about setlists of concerts.)

Jason had a slight build and his hair looked sun bleached like he spent plenty of time at the beach. Reminded me of Jeff Spicoli from "Fast Times At Ridgemont High." His eyes were always slightly closed. He was baked a lot I think.

I got a brief message from G this AM. He remembers Jason. I asked him to tell me Jason's last name and see if he has any photos of him.

I can't promise our Jason is your GD, but I have a strong feeling from the sketches and the descriptions that it is.

He was a lost hippie kid. We took him under our wings. M & I were older and both had an affection for Jason. I can't say exactly what G's relationship was to Jason.

It didn't jump out at me at first. But then I remembered our Hippie kid was named Jason and I looked closer at those sketches... That nose, those eyes.

The newer computer image doesn't look like him. They made him look too conventional/mainstream/awake.

He talked like a soft-spoken surfer dude, although I think he could get quite animated.

My sister says he had hair like Kurt Cobain.

No recollection of Jason speaking about his family.

He worked at McDonalds. Probably for enough dough to make rent and get high.

I think he shroomed. (I asked if he was just a pot smoker)

It's hard to believe someone could die in a car accident and absolutely no one who knew him would know.

But, from what I remember of jason, it's not that hard to fathom.
He very well could have been hitching a ride.

While I'm waiting to hear from G for details, you might try searching Myrtle Beach area high school yearbooks from the early 90s. He may be in there."

There you have it folks. I will continue to update as soon as I get information (no sleep tonight for me!)
 
Gonna get Carl to read what you wrote; he has access to year books
 
He said Classmates has none of the 1990's yearbooks for any of the three high schools in Myrtle Beach (Coastal Academy, Myrtle Beach HS, or Socastee HS)
 
I'm going to post in a SC/Myrtle Beach subreddit on Reddit now asking for some help! Will keep you updated.
 
thank you, greymetal! this could be a real breakthrough! :great:
 
I really hope so!

Doing some more research into it all today :)
 
I have been checking in on this case every so often for years now. greymetal, the fact that you did all of this in such a short time is incredible. Really crossing my fingers that this could be be the answer.
 
Who would have known that the internet could be used for things OTHER than looking at funny pictures of cats :laughing:

That website is excellent! Keep me updated if you find anything more about that. The grad date of that Jason seems to line up pretty good into the estimated age of our doe. I'm not too sure about any of those type of websites, they aren't too popular where I live, and due to social networking, I never had to worry about 'alumni' websites for when I graduated high school or my college! So best I leave that research to you as it seems like you know how to search them! :)

I have posted in subreddits for South Carolina and Myrtle Beach asking for people who attended any MB high schools between 1990 and 1995 to check their yearbooks to see if there is ANYONE around that age who looks like him. But to also check if there is a Jason that looks like him (probably should run on the assumption that he MIGHT have given a fake name) :)

I'll be online for the next 12 odd hours. Holidays, and the weather is terrible here. So I'll be consistently checking back here! :)
 
Just some new information from our wonderful new friend. Will continue to update:

"Doesn't remember a lot. Apparently he wasn't in a very good space at that time of his life.
No pix...

I'm hoping to get him in touch with you if he is interested so he can share his insights directly with you.

The Jason I knew had wavy blond hair. The sketches make it look kind of curly or frizzy.

He was a cheerful guy and often in a good mood. He had happy eyes that looked like he was on the brink of sleep. Never as alert or sober as that computer generated pic.

That orange t-shirt computer pic looks nothing at all like the kid I knew.

Just my impression, that's all. If I had just gone by that center pic, I might not have given GD much more thought. It was the sketches that do it for me.
M agrees with me.

Jason was a talkative & personable kid. I think he worked at McDs long enough to have made an impression on coworkers there. And then there's that manager he was with.

Not sure how to target McDonalds employees from 20 years back though..."

Going to post now to subreddits for Illinois and U of I.
 
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