POSSIBLE LEAD #1: 'Jason' from Champaign, Illinois.
Origin of lead: Contact was made by three males who lived with a 'Jason' who matched the description of GD, after one had seen an Imgur post about The Grateful Doe.
The Facts:
From contact #1: This contact has a strong belief Jason is our GD.
Photo: http://imgur.com/R9WnPYu
- Was known to the contact in late 1994 to early 1995.
- He was living with the three informants
- He began living with the three informants in fall of 1994
- He was living with them in a house off the campus of the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
- He was younger than all three of the males living in the house, and was estimated between 17 - 18 years of age.
- He was described as a 'laid back surfer dude' from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
- This is where one of the informants, G, met Jason.
- G and Jason shared one bedroom.
- Jason was NOT a student at UofI
- He was a 'major Dead Head' and would discuss The Grateful Dead frequently with a fellow housemate
- He discussed topics such as Atheism, hallucinogens, and believed he could talk to trees.
- He worked at a McDonalds near the house. It is possible it's address was; 1605 South Neil Street, Champaign, IL 61820.
- Was romantically involved with a 30 - 40 year old female manager at this location
- He 'disappeared' in mid to late winter of February 1995.
- Would frequently call 1900-RUN-DEAD (A line for fans of GD to call and be provided with information about setlists of concerts)
- He had a slight build, hair looked sun-bleached like he had 'spent plenty of time at the beach'. His hair was described to look like 'Kurt Cobain'
- His eyes were always slightly closed, and was possibly 'baked alot', it is possible he also took mushrooms.
- The newer computer image doesn't 'look like Jason, they made him look too conventional/mainstream/awake'
- He talked like a soft-spoken surfer dude, although he could get quite animated.
- There is no recollection of Jason speaking about family
- Jason's friend (contact #2), remembers the shoes identified in the GD's belongings. He states "His feet were a little bigger than mine, he only had a pair of sandals when we came back from SC. He tried to borrow some of my shoes, but most were uncomfortably small on him. I'm a 10 1/2, the info on GD says he was an 11 1/2".
From contact #2:
- 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
- Jason lived with contact #2's parents place for a month or two when they came from Myrtle Beach.
What needs to be done with this lead?
- We need follow ups done with areas in South Carolina surrounding, and including, Myrtle Beach. This includes enquiries for high schools, primary schools, colleges, workplaces. This can be done in person, or over the internet through Reddit, Facebook, Imgur and Craiglist.
- We need follow ups done with McDonalds in the Champaign area. This can be done online, or in person. I have had a few seperate people contact me about this. I will be chasing up with them tonight, and update as soon as I know (one via WS, one via Reddit).
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INVOLVING THE MEDIA. How do we go about doing this?
I have been posting these updates on Reddit and Imgur aswell, below are a combined list of suggestions made by users from Reddit, Imgur and WebSleuths. Having a list of them, will make them easier to cross off. If you do any of these suggestions, please mail me so I know to cross them off as done. Huge thank you to EVERYONE who proposed suggestions!
THE SUGGESTIONS:
- "If he was a music fan beyond the Grateful Dead, you could try the facebook group called Fans of Mabels. Mabels was a (now closed) music venue in Champaign (and there used to be a McDonalds a few doors down from there-not sure if it's the same one)"
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- "hey hows it going, i might be able to show this picture to some people. but im a little confused about what information your looking for?" COMPLETED: Messaged this user asking for assistance in showing the photo around Charleston. GM.
- "You might want to look into contacting GD radio programs and see if they'll run an announcement or put it on their Facebook pages, America's Most Wanted-style. Looks like there are a couple of shows originating from VA and MD as well."
- "I wonder if it's possible for to get employment records from local McDonalds locations so that you could at least get full names of any Jasons employed in the area at the time. That may be something that only law enforcement officials could do (they might need to be subpoenaed) and it might not be worth their time to do it. But if you could get that info it would really help to narrow things down and give you much more concrete information to work with."
- "It should be possible to come up with records of the business that was there, if you want to put in the research effort. McDonald's stores are often franchises, so there should be a corporate registration with information on who owned/managed the store. The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District is also quite meticulous, and may still have or be able to recover records of that store that could lead to supervisors or other staff there. On your own, voter registration records are public information, including what elections were voted in. So, if GD was over 18 and registered, people named Jason registered in Champaign County with no votes cast after the date of death should be a pretty narrow set. If you can get a little bit of interest from law enforcement personnel who can make official inquiries, that residence and employment lead could be enough to narrow down tax filings and driver's license records to candidate identities - including a lack of subsequent activity in that name following the date of death."
- "Important tip: All of the local McDonald's in C-U with the exception of the one located on Philo Road in Urbana were owned and operated by McDonald's itself (McOpCo) until the late 80s-early 90s, when they were sold to the current franchisee."
- "Some leads that could be followed: News-Gazette missing persons article? High school yearbooks at Champaign Public Library Local police"
- "You can see if the UIUC area has any groups (at bars/clubs) that were into the band back then. I'm sure he would've attended/known people from."
