Found Deceased CA - Blaze Bernstein, 19, Lake Forest, 2 Jan 2018 #5 *Arrest*

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Let me take out the part with the parenthesis since it seems to be confusing some. This is how my sentence should read in response to someone stating that Blaze looks like his father in the penn appétit photos:


I agree. In other photos I have seen he was the most handsome/gorgeous combination of both his father and mother.

The parenthesis portion of what I wrote was basically stating that I hate to type the word "was" in regards to Blaze since he is not with us any longer.

Hope that cleared up an confusion in my post.

Thank you for clarifying! I couldn’t imagine what the reference could be.
 
Thank you for clarifying! I couldn’t imagine what the reference could be.

I included the quote of the comment I was responding to so I don't understand the confusion but I am glad I could clarify

so we are all on the same page:
I posted a photo of Blaze
Someone said he looked like his dad in the photo
I agreed and said in other photos he looked like a mixture of both of his parents
 
I disagree. Not for a murder case. If he pled guilty he would do so in court with a confession and details of the crime. JMO.

No. Remember the case of Aramazd Andressian Jr? The father accepted a plea agreement and did not have to testify or provide details as to how he ended his life. He confessed to the murder, but didn't have to provide details.
 
No. Remember the case of Aramazd Andressian Jr? The father accepted a plea agreement and did not have to testify or provide details as to how he ended his life. He confessed to the murder, but didn't have to provide details.

But details on what occurred were released to the public after his confession, more than likely details LE knew before hand and were going to use against him in the trial.
 
I was not able to check into here for two days and see now that finally someone was arrested. That's good!

Has he confessed?

Has cause of death been released in the meantime?
 
I was not able to check into here for two days and see now that finally someone was arrested. That's good!

Has he confessed?

Has cause of death been released in the meantime?

No to both.

But the fact that LE said they would not release details on the condition of the body suggests something more gruesome than strangulation. Unless that damage was done by animals after death.


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No to both.

But the fact that LE said they would not release details on the condition of the body suggests something more gruesome than strangulation. Unless that damage was done by animals after death.


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Thank you Milenalee!

Oh I hope it was not gruesome! Poor boy!
 
Searching through the sheriff blotter I found something I brought up before on this forum, but it was before it became a homicide investigation. But it's curious that right in the Hobby Lobby shopping area there was a "Disturbance" listed in the early hours of 1/3/18.

http://www.ocsd.org/gov/sheriff/howdoi/eservices/blotter.asp
553293403b3f6350608d36e04b053e67.jpg


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Wow! Does the time given mean that's when the call came or that's when the police checked it out?

That could either be them and that's why no scent at the park for the dogs - he carried Blaze once they got there. Or the person (s) causing the disturbance caused them to move their "catching up" to the park.

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I find it interesting that there was no 'follow up' reports listed. I presume that means LE did not interact with whomever caused the disturbance.

Also, it would be interesting if say, LE (or the media) went and had a little chat with whomever called in those two disturbance calls, since there were two calls: 1st@2:03am and 2nd@2:10am
....Makes me go...Humm[emoji848]
 
No to both.

But the fact that LE said they would not release details on the condition of the body suggests something more gruesome than strangulation. Unless that damage was done by animals after death.


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I am not familiar with this stuff, but when does the family get the body remains for his funeral services or whatever method they use to remember the dead person. In a homicide, does the corpse not get released for a long time?
 
yurena said:
Niner, the same happens to me -currently working in Bulgaria- I get either the message "Page can't be displayed" or "Not available for your country"- but I do not know the reason why I can only watch Youtube videos, SM but very few official documents if posted on a US site.

Thanks for that info! And yes, I've seen that message "Not available for your country" also!!

:gaah: unfair!! :)

So - Sam is actually 19 - correct? Born July of 1997.
 
Thanks for that info! And yes, I've seen that message "Not available for your country" also!!

:gaah: unfair!! :)

So - Sam is actually 19 - correct? Born July of 1997.

He would be 20 with that birth month and year.
 
I am not familiar with this stuff, but when does the family get the body remains for his funeral services or whatever method they use to remember the dead person. In a homicide, does the corpse not get released for a long time?

Generally, bodies are released after autopsy as they obtain extra tissue samples, etc for any further testing later on. There have been some cases where it has been months, but that seems very rare. Jmo
 
About Blaze..


Blaze Bernstein was named for his grandfathers and for the 17th century French polymath Blaise Pascal. Blaze’s communities — both in California and at the University of Pennsylvania — knew him as a polymath in his own right.

After attending one of the best high schools for the arts in the United States, Bernstein went to Penn, where he threw himself into biochemistry, psychology, poetry and food writing.

“He was one of these kids that absorbed every experience and did something with it,” said Rabbi Arnie Rachlis, leader of the University Synagogue in Irvine. Rachlis watched Bernstein grow up and presided over his bar mitzvah as well as the bar and bat mitzvahs of Bernstein’s younger brother and sister. “He was not somebody who just went through life, he took experiences as a gift and saw them as part of the whole.”

While in high school, Bernstein worked Saturdays at synagogue as a madrich, or classroom aide — a job to which Bernstein had a “profound connection,” Rachlis said.

<modsnip>

&#8220;While we are devastated by the news of his death and the mysterious circumstances surrounding this investigation, we are striving to remember the warm, funny and kind person Blaze was,&#8221; Chris Huntley, a friend of Bernstein&#8217;s from high school, wrote in an email. &#8220;He was quick to help when I asked, and would always leave me with some sort of smile or chuckle.&#8221;

&#8220;I am incredibly sad that the rest of the world he was going to meet over the years won&#8217;t get the chance to know him.&#8221;

Read more: https://forward.com/news/national/3...teins-sweet-smile-as-death-is-ruled-homicide/
 
I am not familiar with this stuff, but when does the family get the body remains for his funeral services or whatever method they use to remember the dead person. In a homicide, does the corpse not get released for a long time?


Blaze Bernstein&#8217;s funeral is scheduled for Monday, January 15. His family has set up a memorial fund for donations to the Jewish Community Foundation of Orange County.

Read more: https://forward.com/news/national/3...teins-sweet-smile-as-death-is-ruled-homicide/
 
Hi I'm fairly new around here though I've posted a couple of time on other stories - but please forgive me if I don't quite follow the rules. I'm probably repeating much of what others have already said as I've read most of these threads. But this is what happened from my point of view.

My own initial thoughts were that it was either a drugs deal or hook up gone bad. I now suspect having read other non MSM sources that they did indeed know each other at HS and perhaps had a fling or relationship, though probably something fleeting and insubstantial. But maybe no contact but they'd definitely noticed each other and had some attraction.

I think that SW was wrestling with issues with regard to his identity, sexuality, not fitting in and was maybe bullied in early years (just 'a bit off' as many have said), who therefore used his politics and opinions to establish a rationale for why he didn't fit with a majoritively liberal culture at the arts based high school. It suggests to me that he has a struggle too with his sexuality which caused some internal and external conflict with how he saw himself and other homosexuals.

Blaze on the other hand looks like a confident and happy gay young man. On the path to success at a good school (in contrast to SW?). However good his relationship with his parents I suspect they would not have known about all his activities (possible membership of gay hook up sites and even use of drugs).

So I think after a lovely homely evening with parents and grandparents BB and SW got chatting on snapchat (maybe after seeing each other on a hook-up site or another social media site) and decided to meet - maybe just for a catch up or more. Both young men were attractive in an interestingly different way and I could understand that there was still a lingering attraction whatever the nature of their previous involvement. Potentially BB fancied a a brief hook up or he just went to talk, maybe he hadn't quite made up his mind but the hook up was certainly a possibility. For a quick hook up he didn't need money or ID for that, didn't take his glasses for vanity reasons, and certainly wasnt going to tell his parents that was what he was potentially popping out to do. (I think thats normal however liberal your parents!)

I think they probably ended up at the park for that hook up and either BB changed his mind, made SW feel inadequate or small in some unintended way, or SW simply couldn't deal with seeing himself in this compromised position and lashed out. SW was a beefier, taller, stronger guy and could easily overwhelm poor BB who put up a fight and potentially had SW's DNA under his fingernails as he desperately tried to claw him off him (leaving the scratch marks as testament). There may also of course, be other DNA traces elsewhere. SW disposed of the body and texted the friend on BB's 'loan' phone - as an attempt to divert suspicion towards BB getting himself into an alternative situation with a third person...

But SW was panicking and not thinking clearly about how to cover his tracks, explain away BB's disappearance and his own alibi. Later, at 4am he may have returned to check he had concealed the body well - having been in a panic earlier. He suspected this would be found out via CCTV or phone tracking so had to say he returned to the park looking for Blaze later.

I think SW was definitely in a panic state - I do not believe the murder was pre-meditated, so his movements and explanations were a bit off. For my own part I suspect he might have been quite infatuated with Blaze - the confident, happy and popular kid he half wanted to be at HS and half loathed too.

I don't think he set out intending to kill BB. I think his messy attempts to cover his tracks and divert attention show that.

There are a few things I don't fully understand yet though:
- how the family or police tracked down SW straight after BB went missing - this suggests they had some contact on more than one app - maybe spotting each other on one social media forum and then switching to snapchat or Whatsapp to arrange to meet. If it was, as I believe, the family who made contact with him when they discovered BB missing they must have been able to access one of these apps as BB's phone was missing. It is this access to the app that immediately brought SW into the frame. If they had only communicated on snapchat he would not have been easy to track down - it might have taken longer to trace cars, phones or CCTV to lead police to him.
- dirt under the fingernails several days in - its been said - strange that he hadn't managed to get rid of it (a guy not used to gardening!) but it again points to his panic and confusion - as you'd expect in a young man now finding himself a murderer.
- what did the parents know or suspect? - son is closely involved in a disappearance, being questioned by police, followed by reporters hovering outside your house and sitting at your table with dirty fingernails. His mother must have asked him the direct question.
- Cars - I'm not clear about where his car is and the rental car details - I didnt entirely catch up on the sources for this info - presumably more will come out later about that.
- Flight - did police arrest him because he was about to make a run for it? They were keeping him under surveillance and then had got the DNA results back. How can SW have thought he'd manage to run away? Not sure that any change of appearance/haircut was convincing!

We probably wont ever have all the answers with the possibility of a plea bargain.

Finally and I'm sure I shall be unpopular for saying this - please take as read I am of course desperately sorry for BB and his family. But I am also sorry for SW. I've now seen a number of pictures of him and frankly I don't think you can say he looks evil, hostile. Maybe blank and disconnected but actually there's a range of looks and pictures - like any young person. He is a good looking young man.

But clearly if he's prosecuted and convicted something has very badly gone wrong in his psyche and experience to bring him to this dreadful place, a suspected murderer, someone who has (if proved) snuffed out someone else's life and ruined many others including the victim's familly's, his own and his family's lives. We may never know the conflict, turmoil, regret or confusion in his mind since it happened - or the plain stupid defiance from someone who never felt like he fitted in. Whatever, the real truth he simply wasn't clever or calculated enough to cover his tracks.

How sad. Both Blaze and Sam started life with lots of advantages and opportunities to have good and happy lives. And its come to this.
 
Because human/clerical error. It isn't uncommon, which is why it was checked and updated.

Long time reader of this and other missing persons stories... first time contributor.

Love all you Sleuths out there. It is amazing how much you can find out before the general public. I’m very saddened by the whole story. From my own (obsessive) research I find the SW birthday discrepancy a little curious. It was first listed as 4-27-98 on the ocsd website when he was in receiving, and was later updated to 7-28-97. I wonder why...

<modsnip>
 
I've been offline for a day or so and apologize if this has been mentioned in regards to SW's
Occupation as nerf gun whatever. I have a 7 yr old son who watches YouTube. There are dozens of young men (teens to late 20s) who make nerf gun videos. For a living (who knew). Most seemingly come from affluent homes where perhaps they don't necessarily have to seek out conventional jobs. Presumably they make money off endorsements and ads. It's just a thought that perhaps there are YouTube videos of him out there somewhere. You would be amazed to see how people actually make a living off of reviewing and talking about nerf guns.


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Thank you for re-posting that, Play! ... Wow. There easily could be two crime scenes, and could explain why SW "returned" to the park later. To move/bury BB's body away from the scene in the parking lot.

According to the affidavit: The friend, who attended Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana with Bernstein, told detectives that he spoke with him on SnapChat that night. He agreed to pick up Bernstein and they drove to the parking lot of a Hobby Lobby in Lake Forest to “hang out” and “catch up.”


Searching through the sheriff blotter I found something I brought up before on this forum, but it was before it became a homicide investigation. But it's curious that right in the Hobby Lobby shopping area there was a "Disturbance" listed in the early hours of 1/3/18.

http://www.ocsd.org/gov/sheriff/howdoi/eservices/blotter.asp
cache.php
 
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