LA LA - John Blake, 48, New Orleans, 24 Feb 2018

JerseyGirl

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John Blake, 48, was reported missing after attending the Dead and Company concert at the Smoothie King Center on Saturday night. Blake was last seen by his friends leaving his seat at the show between 9 and 10 p.m. Saturday. Blake's friends were unable to find him and told police Blake did not return to his car, which was found still parked in the 1000 block of Loyola Avenue. Blake did not appear in a search of the Smoothie Center's aid stations. Blake does not suffer from mental illness but he was "heavily intoxicated" when he was last seen.

john-blakejpg-2ceb2c41cd39a431.jpg


http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2018/02/man_missing_from_dead_co_conce.html
 
JerseyGirl, ADKGemini, TatianaBarbie, I am a resident of Metairie, just outside of New Orleans, and I just discovered this website! I actually attended this show, and I was left with a nagging eerie feeling to the present time from when I discovered this story the next day. It is something almost more unsettling than a kidnapping.

As disturbing as it is to consider, and keeping in mind the overwhelming rarity of such incidents, we all know that it is at least physically realistic that some ghoulish adult pedophile could spring from a dark alleyway, grab a helpless child, and spirit away into a waiting minivan, then due to the heinousness of the crime arrive at some solution to silence the child to conceal his evil deeds from society at large.

For a 48 year old man to simply disappear in one of the most totally developed portions of the city, not be seen on any cameras at the Smoothie King Center (which though I can't recall it in exact detail, I would bet is blanketed with security cameras both inside and out), never to be seen again becomes more bizarre the more deeply I consider it. And there is only the single story without even a follow up. How maddening!! Was the man a New Orleans resident? Did he have any family members at all? What about the friends who reported him missing? As hard as it is to believe, after diligent research (I think....and almost 100% composed of Google searching), it appears as if not a single person in the entire world even went to the trouble of setting up a account, Facebook group, Twitter post....zilch! Most of all I suppose I feel sad for the man that, at least at first internet glance, he had not a single soul in the world disturbed enough by his disappearance to reach out to a local newspaper or police department in even the most feeble attempt after the initial one. Perhaps I am being unfair and it is not my intention to guilt trip anyone who may be reading, the whole idea just shakes me to my core.

Forgive me for going on and on, I will get to my main point here. I was a police/crime journalist for 1.5 years in southern New Jersey, my home state (hey Jersey Girl!!), however due to brutal economic realities I was unable to continue in that $85/day line of work and find myself near New Orleans partially due to an unrelated career move. I suppose what I am trying to say is that I am a bit rusty, and if any of you could offer any tips/suggestions as to what the next move would be, I am open to all ideas. I would like to figure out precisely what happened to this man if for no other reason than to tell St. Peter "Well forget all the other misbehavior! I am the proof that at least 1 person gave enough of a hoot to poke into Mr. Blake here's vanishing into the ether!" St. P.:"That's fine, sir. Please continue moving forward. Welcome to purgatory." "D'oh!"

In the interest of full disclosure there is a prospective true crime writing job for which I am applying and, seeing as I research missing persons and essentially anything else in my spare time for $0/hour, I figured that I am not causing any harm by making $15/hour to do the same thing. I was thinking of proposing this as the first story I could pursue, and hope that does not violate any ethical bounds of the forum.

My experience in southern NJ is that police play things very close to the chest, and unless they are releasing criminal charges are reluctant to say, ya know, anything. My instinct is telling me just to give NOPD a ring and see what I can find out. Have any of you researched missing persons in Louisiana and have any recommendations on how to operate, or just general advice for any of the 50 states? Another thing is that John Blake is such a commonish name that without a hometown or even state, I am at a loss as to where to begin looking.

I have a few theories of my own but have already taken up enough blank, heretofore nonexistent, webspace and am eager to hear from any and all of you! Just sort of close your eyes and imagine me as your investigatory magic carpet which can shuttle you to any place at all in the metro New Orleans area in pursuit of this shimmering mirage of the knowledge of John Blake's current whereabouts, now....open! What would you do?

Thank you very much!
 
@scoobamang, I'm sorry it took me so long to respond--I been trying to recover from the flu.

First thing I would do is to contact the police to see if John has been found. According to the following article, this is the appropriate station:

"Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of John Blake is asked to contact the NOPD Eight District station at (504) 658-6080 or call Crimestoppers at (504) 821-1111."

NOPD: 48-year-old man missing after concert


Many times, when we at WS are astounded by the lack of information about a missing person, the person has actually returned home, and no notice of their return was released. So, the first thing I would do is to confirm his missing status. If he is still missing, try to find out his middle name to help with searches. Getting his birthdate would also really help. Find out where his residence is.

Here is the Louisiana Clearinghouse for missing adults, where I don't see an entry for him:

Missing Persons Cases in Louisiana - LA Repository for Unidentified & Missing People (page 3 of the alphabetical list)

With many clearinghouses, they need permission from the family for information about the missing to be included. Therefore, most state clearinghouses are not 100% of the missing, but this might also be another sign that John Blake is no longer missing. John might also have been already found, but he was deceased.

This case has a great clue--his vehicle was left. If he is still missing, someone took possession of it (John/John's family/law enforcement).

Good luck in your research, and I hope you are able to find John safe and healthy!
 

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