IA IA - David Schultz, 53, Wall Lake, 21 November 2023

[Joe Friday]

I wonder if David (might have) had an accident (recently??) with his blue truck??? Not saying it was his fault at all, just wondering if that's part of the reason for the upgrade to the new truck he hasn't even driven yet??

Looking at the age of the twins in the photo of the blue truck, I would say that picture was taken likely four or five years ago.

I'm assuming David purchased the red truck and either sold the blue truck or traded the blue truck in on the red truck. I don't think David still owns the blue truck. If he did we likely would have heard something about a driver working for David.

David may have bought the yellow truck with some mechanical issue, is having that fixed and plans on either upgrading the red truck or hiring on a driver and owning and operating two trucks or just reselling the truck to make some money. Overhauling an engine on a truck is very expensive. Many truck owners can't afford the repairs or don't want to stick the amount of money the repairs cost into an older truck. So,there are many trucks for sale that need work and can be bought very reasonably.

JMO

JMO

 

[Joe Friday]

This is the time that Sarah Schultz gave when talking about how long David’s truck had been parked in the middle of the road.

From this article: Wall Lake trucker's wife makes plea for help after his disappearance

My husband would never do that," she said. "It had been parked there, I'm guessing, for about 12 hours from 3:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. People drove around it all day -- a big red truck -- and didn't turn it in."

Sarah did say she was "guessing" but I don't see how she would have came up with this time unless someone told her that was the last time someone had spoken with or seen David.

If the 3:30 AM time was shortly after David was at Sparky's, Sarah wouldn't have known that at the time she gave that statement. I believe she made that statement the day of or day after the truck was found. No way she would have known if David was at Sparky's then if he was just seen on video getting coffee and I doubt LE would have known he was there at that time either.

There might be bank records (credit card receipt) for a fuel purchase at Sparky's she could have looked up, which give her a date but no time unless calling the bank to look at the actual receipt, but I doubt she would have gotten to looking at them that soon when she made the statement saying the 3:30 AM time.

Really strange to guess that time.

JMO

 

[mst]

I'm still ten pages back, but had a thought.

Is there anything that could have happened that would cause a driver to enter the trailer once en route?

Like some kind of ruckus among the piggies?

(Or something mechanical, but in the interior of the trailer?)

If he needed to stop the truck to check out what was happening inside the trailer, he wouldn't have felt the need to bring his wallet and phone with him, but he might have stopped outside the truck to put on his dirty loading jumpsuit before entering the trailer, to keep his driving clothes clean.

Then -- what? The pigs probably couldn't consume him with no evidence left in just a few hours. But what if the ruckus was something like a human stowaway? who then harmed/kidnapped DS?

MOO

But why the middle of the road?

 

[LC2]

But why the middle of the road?

I almost feel like someone was in the truck with him, demanding him take a wrong turn. When he was coming to that intersection where they found his truck, DS may have used that opportunity to try and escape?? Altercation happened. Lost his jacket. The person then panicking and called someone to help get him out of there….I’m not familiar with the pork industry, but obviously there’s money in it. Confinements are going up everywhere. Feud between corporations??Maybe DS was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?? Grasping at straws. Just another theory.

 

[OldCop]

Sarah did say she was "guessing" but I don't see how she would have came up with this time unless someone told her that was the last time someone had spoken with or seen David.

If the 3:30 AM time was shortly after David was at Sparky's, Sarah wouldn't have known that at the time she gave that statement. I believe she made that statement the day of or day after the truck was found. No way she would have known if David was at Sparky's then if he was just seen on video getting coffee and I doubt LE would have known he was there at that time either.

There might be bank records (credit card receipt) for a fuel purchase at Sparky's she could have looked up, which give her a date but no time unless calling the bank to look at the actual receipt, but I doubt she would have gotten to looking at them that soon when she made the statement saying the 3:30 AM time.

Really strange to guess that time.

JMO

I totally agree. Plus, I think ”guessing” 3:30 am is peculiar because in trying to plot out David’s timeline that night, there seems to be a couple of hours missing:
7:30 pm - left home to drive to Eagle Grove - 1 1/2 hours
9:00 pm - pigs are loaded - let’s give him 2 hours, could be less
11:00 pm - drive to Sparky’s , about 1 hour
12:00 am - gas and/or coffee 30 minutes
12:30 am - drive to Sac City, 30 minutes
1:00 am - arrive at Sac City or location where truck was left.

Let’s give him another 1/2 hour at the loading location and another half hour at Sparky’s, and it would still only be about 2:00 am.

Wish we knew what time he was at Sparky’s because it should have taken less than a half hour to get from there to Sac City.

 

[HolographicOne]

I totally agree. Plus, I think ”guessing” 3:30 am is peculiar because in trying to plot out David’s timeline that night, there seems to be a couple of hours missing:
7:30 pm - left home to drive to Eagle Grove - 1 1/2 hours
9:00 pm - pigs are loaded - let’s give him 2 hours, could be less
11:00 pm - drive to Sparky’s , about 1 hour
12:00 am - gas and/or coffee 30 minutes
12:30 am - drive to Sac City, 30 minutes
1:00 am - arrive at Sac City or location where truck was left.

Let’s give him another 1/2 hour at the loading location and another half hour at Sparky’s, and it would still only be about 2:00 am.

Wish we knew what time he was at Sparky’s because it should have taken less than a half hour to get from there to Sac City.

Unfortunately all the information that is being obfuscated by the wife and withheld by LE only leaves us with very liberal speculation. I appreciate your view of the timing because I've also been drilling and crunching the times with so much discrepancy.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

Sarah did say she was "guessing" but I don't see how she would have came up with this time unless someone told her that was the last time someone had spoken with or seen David.

If the 3:30 AM time was shortly after David was at Sparky's, Sarah wouldn't have known that at the time she gave that statement. I believe she made that statement the day of or day after the truck was found. No way she would have known if David was at Sparky's then if he was just seen on video getting coffee and I doubt LE would have known he was there at that time either.

There might be bank records (credit card receipt) for a fuel purchase at Sparky's she could have looked up, which give her a date but no time unless calling the bank to look at the actual receipt, but I doubt she would have gotten to looking at them that soon when she made the statement saying the 3:30 AM time.

Really strange to guess that time.

JMO

I wonder if her mention of the 3:30am time came from her conversation with the guy who went to their home looking for David. Maybe he said he last spoke to him at x-time, and assumed he'd be at the destination around y-time, and never showed up, and y-time could have perhaps been around 3:30am. Just a thought.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

This may be why he no longer has the blue truck:

 

[stickb0y7]

I sure hope LE is reviewing footage from this camera along with the camera located east of Fort Dodge.

A day or two ago, I requested video archives from the 2 camera sites along 20 that he may have passed from their website. It says that they only keep footage for 7 days, however if someone had previously requested it then it may be available. This is the reply I got back:

The video you’ve requested is too old for our cameras, our system holds video for seven days. We do not have any saved video from the area you are looking on that day. I apologize for the inconvenience.

This kind of tells me that nobody requested those videos, including LE, and they're lost now. Unless they have a memo to specifically not release them if they're under investigation?

 

[charminglane]

L

A day or two ago, I requested video archives from the 2 camera sites along 20 that he may have passed from their website. It says that they only keep footage for 7 days, however if someone had previously requested it then it may be available. This is the reply I got back:

The video you’ve requested is too old for our cameras, our system holds video for seven days. We do not have any saved video from the area you are looking on that day. I apologize for the inconvenience.

This kind of tells me that nobody requested those videos, including LE, and they're lost now. Unless they have a memo to specifically not release them if they're under investigation?

Thank you for taking one for the team!

 

[annpats]

I totally agree. Plus, I think ”guessing” 3:30 am is peculiar because in trying to plot out David’s timeline that night, there seems to be a couple of hours missing:
7:30 pm - left home to drive to Eagle Grove - 1 1/2 hours
9:00 pm - pigs are loaded - let’s give him 2 hours, could be less
11:00 pm - drive to Sparky’s , about 1 hour
12:00 am - gas and/or coffee 30 minutes
12:30 am - drive to Sac City, 30 minutes
1:00 am - arrive at Sac City or location where truck was left.

Let’s give him another 1/2 hour at the loading location and another half hour at Sparky’s, and it would still only be about 2:00 am.

Wish we knew what time he was at Sparky’s because it should have taken less than a half hour to get from there to Sac City.

Yes, and that timeline is being quite generous too.

The minimum time he would be in. Sac City for is 23.30h.
19.30 - leave home
21.00 - arrive Eagle Grove, load up pig, 1 hour?
22.00 - depart for Sac City
23.30h - arrive Sac City.

His wife reckons his truck was stopped in the road from about 03.30h onwards.

Well, that's 4 hours of slack time, potentially. Stopping for petrol/diesel and coffee doesn't take that long.

Does his truck have telemetry or a digital recording device as how long he had driven for? Trucks in Europe are required to have them, they're called 'tachographs'.

 

[OldCop]

This may be why he no longer has the blue truck:

View attachment 466370

Thanks for that, @JerseyWasHome2 . I’ve attached a couple of stills from the video.

 

[mst]

I almost feel like someone was in the truck with him, demanding him take a wrong turn. When he was coming to that intersection where they found his truck, DS may have used that opportunity to try and escape?? Altercation happened. Lost his jacket. The person then panicking and called someone to help get him out of there….I’m not familiar with the pork industry, but obviously there’s money in it. Confinements are going up everywhere. Feud between corporations??Maybe DS was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?? Grasping at straws. Just another theory.

Yeah I agree but I was responding to if he needed to go check pigs for some reason

 

[charminglane]

Is someone still holding DS accountable for those dead hogs?
I wonder.

 

[OldCop]

Yes, and that timeline is being quite generous too.

The minimum time he would be in. Sac City for is 23.30h.
19.30 - leave home
21.00 - arrive Eagle Grove, load up pig, 1 hour?
22.00 - depart for Sac City
23.30h - arrive Sac City.

His wife reckons his truck was stopped in the road from about 03.30h onwards.

Well, that's 4 hours of slack time, potentially. Stopping for petrol/diesel and coffee doesn't take that long.

Does his truck have telemetry or a digital recording device as how long he had driven for? Trucks in Europe are required to have them, they're called 'tachographs'.

Yes, I did try to be generous because I’ve been trying to learn a little about pig hauling, (who woulda thunk?), and it seems the drivers often have ”appointments” as to what time to pick up their haul and what time to drop off. I guess the docks can be pretty busy sometimes and the truckers wait in line. I imagine if you have a pick up time you can plan your arrival, but what if you have a longer layover before you can drop off? There’s not too many places you can hang out with a semi full of piggies, so maybe the Sparky’s stop was longer than we surmise?

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Yeah I agree but I was responding to if he needed to go check pigs for some reason

It would have had to be something DS perceived as an emergency -- a door come open, or something of that magnitude.

And even then he would have left the truck running and lights on.

So unless the truck idled itself out of gas (unlikely), this theory doesn't really hold up.

MOO

 

[stickb0y7]

L

Thank you for taking one for the team!

No worries. I followed-up and asked them if anyone had requested the videos since that might make them available. Got some more info:

I went back into our archives and found footage requested by law enforcement for this case. There are two issues that I see with it. First off, the only footage that I have 11:30pm 11/20 – 2am 11/21. Secondly, since law enforcement tagged this footage as potentially being fatal, I am unable to release it to you without their approval. I have reached out to them and will let you know if I hear anything else. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

Regards,

(name removed)
ITS Engineering CO-OP
Traffic Operations Bureau
Iowa Department of Transportation

 

[TL4S]

No worries. I followed-up and asked them if anyone had requested the videos since that might make them available. Got some more info:

I went back into our archives and found footage requested by law enforcement for this case. There are two issues that I see with it. First off, the only footage that I have 11:30pm 11/20 – 2am 11/21. Secondly, since law enforcement tagged this footage as potentially being fatal, I am unable to release it to you without their approval. I have reached out to them and will let you know if I hear anything else. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

Regards,

(name removed)
ITS Engineering CO-OP
Traffic Operations Bureau
Iowa Department of Transportation

What does this mean:

...law enforcement tagged this footage as potentially being fatal...

 

[azure]

Is someone still holding DS accountable for those dead hogs?
I wonder.

Hogs look pretty alive in those stills.

 

[stickb0y7]

What does this mean:

On the request form to get archive videos there's a checkbox for the video footage being "potentially fatal"

I imagine LE checked the box since there's a chance of a relation between the footage and if he turned up deceased. I think it's more to make sure they don't release footage of fatal accidents improperly, but since they checked it, it's adds this layer of verification.