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Hello. My name is Patty and I am a forensic science teacher. One of my projects during class is to have the students try to find a missing person starting with the DoeNetwork. One of my students chose to look for Mike. Normally we dont find anything worth noting but this student did find an UM that could be looked into for more information. What should we do with the information we have gathered?
...Michael was last accounted for around 4 a.m. Dec. 10, when he logged off a computer game he was playing with a friend down the hall. He was last seen wearing a blue plaid shirt and khaki shorts. He left behind his wallet and other personal belongings in his room...
... Early in the investigation, bloodhounds from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department traced his scent from the dormitory to a bus stop on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Bellagio Drive...
...detectives released a sketch in July of a man allegedly seen on Negrete’s floor the night he disappeared.The man, who was reportedly wearing a gray jacket with a turquoise design, is described as white, 35 years old, 5 feet 7 inches, with a heavy build and no facial hair...
...Negrete disappeared in the early morning hours of Dec. 10, 1999. A first-year student at the time, he spent several hours playing computer games after returning from a party that night.
He was last seen at 4 a.m. on the sixth floor of Dykstra Hall. Howell said there may be witnesses who saw a man matching his description walking out the front door around 4:35 a.m.
Howell said that from the beginning of the investigation, there was no indication Negrete was still alive. In the three years since his disappearance, there has been no activity on his credit cards, bank accounts, or Ralph’s club card. All of Negrete’s possessions were left in his dorm room.
“Usually, when someone wants to disappear, they take something they want,” Howell said. “Everything that meant anything to Michael was left in the room.”...
Chat logs can't usually be lifted, esp back in 1999 unless the user specified saving chats. In a dorm, likely running Win95 (or maybe win98, depending on how important it was that he have the latest OS), and not having the computer completely secured, he wouldn't specify chat logs be saved. He wouldn't want his room mates looking at his chat logs.
Computer may have been password protected too, but password protecting wasn't as huge an issue then as it is now.
Lured?
I don't understand how he was lured to the street corner or would even go there at that time. It would have been cold at that time of night--in the 50s, tops, and a damp cold because it's close to the Santa Monica beach and it's always chilly around there, and where the dogs detected his scent isn't where the action is. It's dark over there at night. You have to go the right direction to get to the action, and that's toward Wilshire (along Westwood).
If he left the campus, he'd have gone up Westwood toward Wilshire. To get coffee? To get something to eat or drink, real quick after the 1 on 1 game. They said it was an intranet game--so maybe Starcraft or something that's pretty competitive and fun to play with just one other person.
Chatroom?
Maybe someone in a chatroom wanted to meet up. But if he had just finished playing a video game 1 on 1 with a friend, then he'd go look to meet some afterward? Who's up looking for chats after 4am or in the very early morning? Doesn't make sense.
There's also the chance he fell somewhere. There are still parks and places for him to get lost or be left in, but not very many--there was a case where a student took a service door while trying to get back into his dorm, and in the dark got electrocuted. Is that even possible.
Big secret or something this kid had.
I forgot to mention, there is a Michael Negrete group on Facebook. The comments on there are a bit curious. It seems there is consensus that he disappeared voluntarily, but that is not believe to be the case with law enforcement etc.
I forgot to mention, there is a Michael Negrete group on Facebook. The comments on there are a bit curious. It seems there is consensus that he disappeared voluntarily, but that is not believe to be the case with law enforcement etc.