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

[adot0902]

It is weird. I would say since the phone was left behind it should be fair game for analysis. I would assume they’d swab for fingerprints and/or DNA and then access the phone and clone it immediately, so if anything happens to the phone,they’ve got a copy to work from. Obtaining cloud records takes a subpoena, I believe, and they did say in the press release that is something they’re waiting on. For example, he could have deleted data and apps from his phone but they still may be in the cloud somewhere. But I’ve also read Apple won’t easily release phone data so I’m not sure what will happen here if his phone was IOS.

Shoot holes in my logic, but if the cop was able to call Sarah from David’s phone, the phone has to be unlocked/no passcode, or how else could the cop call. Sarah said she saw the name on her phone calling so it wasn’t her calling him it was definitely his phone calling her.

 

[BOBON]

Shoot holes in my logic, but if the cop was able to call Sarah from David’s phone, the phone has to be unlocked/no passcode, or how else could the cop call. Sarah said she saw the name on her phone calling so it wasn’t her calling him it was definitely his phone calling her.

If it is an iphone for example, you can say hi siri call mom or last number and it will call even though it's locked

 

[Hdengland81]

Shoot holes in my logic, but if the cop was able to call Sarah from David’s phone, the phone has to be unlocked/no passcode, or how else could the cop call. Sarah said she saw the name on her phone calling so it wasn’t her calling him it was definitely his phone calling her.

If he has an iPhone with her listed as his emergency Contact the phone doesn’t need to be unlocked in order to call. I have a passcode lock on my phone but someone can still call my emergency contacts without unlocking it.

 

[janelspoon]

The details provided by David's phone don't tell when David became seperated from it.

No but it did show the truck has been there since 12:40 a m that's something at least .

 

[janelspoon]

I don’t think he left on his own but whomever did this has created a scene where it almost seems that way.

I’m trying to recall how Jake got involved. I seem to recall LE searched for three days and gave up, as if they felt he walked away. Then Jake got called in about a week after he disappeared and then DCI got involved? If Jake never got involved would this all have been written off as a willing disappearance?

Jake Rowley searched far longer than a few days . They went everyday for several days . They covered 100,000 acres . I don't think David's family would allow it to be written off as voluntary. A lot of the community feels the same way she does ,he wouldn't just walk away.

 

[janelspoon]

I'd like to see a list of people who knew where DS was loading and unloading that night. If he was targeted, for a personal reason, someone had to be privy to his route on short notice, especially if this was a previously unplanned delivery.

I'm assuming most everyone in the area knew . It's a dedicated route for many of them.

 

[Valiant]

David's truck is pretty distinctive, I always wondered why the friend didn't call her to see if David was ok. But it looks like sunrise is 7:30 AM around there. Maybe the friend didn't get a good look or doesn't even know what he drives.
(Snipped)

As I understand it, she came from behind the truck. So she’d see the trailer. Unless she looked at it as she passed or in the rear view mirror, she wouldn’t notice the cab portion. Just the trailer portion which would look like so many other trailers.

 

[Emerald1328]

I’m sorry, I’m behind so if someone has already brought this up, I apologize. If David had stopped his truck and turned it off, if he left the headlights on and maybe any interior lights, does anyone know how long it would take to drain the battery? I’m wondering if he could have actually put the flashers on, but other electrical items were on so it was drained by the time the friend saw it at 5:30. Though we’ve heard no mention of the semi being out of commission, but I don’t think I we’ve heard for sure that it was operational when it was discovered either.

 

[momof2wats]

Ok, I had originally thought something happened at the loading location then I found out his truck was closer to the unloading location so I felt like something may have happened there. BUT, now that LE is indicating they believe David was driving the truck after loading I now believe something happened at the intersection where he turned right instead of left. And my mind keeps saying something illegal was happening due to the talk of drugs in the area. I wonder if DS agreed to deliver an (illegal) package to someone at that intersection location and things went bad. Maybe the intended receiver was supposed to give him $$ in exchange for said package but they wanted to keep their $$ and the contents of the package so they did what they had to do to accomplish that. This could explain the brief stop at the truck stop, just wasting a few minutes in order to arrive at that intersection at the proper meeting time. I hate to even suggest that this man (that I don't even know and who appears to be a hard working family man) might be involved in something like this. But times are tough these days and maybe he was just needing a little extra cash for the holidays so he could provide a nice Christmas for his family. By no means am I saying that I think he was doing drugs or manufacturing drugs of any kind. I just think that he might have just been the middle man and was making a few $$ on the side for being the carrier.

 

[momof2wats]

I also wonder if they had drug dogs sniff out the inside/around the truck which could confirm or deny my thoughts about drug involvement.

 

[OldCop]

If David walked away from his life or was intent on committing self harm , why didn’t he drop the pigs off first?
He is described as very responsible. His wife said he would never leave a live load unattended. It has been theorized here on WS that he left them where they would easily found. However, we now know that area of the road was lightly traveled and as a result those pigs sat on his truck in the middle of the road for over 13 hours, plus the time spent on the road before the truck was abandoned.
It would have been a simple matter to unload the pigs, then drive right up to where the truck was found. His wife was not expecting him at any certain time. Do we know where or when his next load was scheduled?

 

[Emerald1328]

If David walked away from his life or was intent on committing self harm , why didn’t he drop the pigs off first?
He is described as very responsible. His wife said he would never leave a live load unattended. It has been theorized here on WS that he left them where they would easily found. However, we now know that area of the road was lightly traveled and as a result those pigs sat on his truck in the middle of the road for over 13 hours, plus the time spent on the road before the truck was abandoned.
It would have been a simple matter to unload the pigs, then drive right up to where the truck was found. His wife was not expecting him at any certain time. Do we know where or when his next load was scheduled?

I don’t know that I believe it was self-harm, but I could easily see how, if it was, he wouldn’t care what happened to the pigs or figured they would be ok. If someone intent on committing self-harm is thinking clearly enough that they need to get the pigs dropped off so they are ok, I would think they would be thinking clearly enough that suicide would irreversibly harm those that they love. All that to say, rational actions aren’t usually found in the immediate time preceding self-harm.

 

[OldCop]

I don’t know that I believe it was self-harm, but I could easily see how, if it was, he wouldn’t care what happened to the pigs or figured they would be ok. If someone intent on committing self-harm is thinking clearly enough that they need to get the pigs dropped off so they are ok, I would think they would be thinking clearly enough that suicide would irreversibly harm those that they love. All that to say, rational actions aren’t usually found in the immediate time preceding self-harm.

I agree, @Emerald1328 . My only thought was, then why pick up the load at all? Was he stressed already and then chastised when he showed up late for the pickup. Was he driving back fuming, thinking to himself, “That’s it. I’m done.”. Was the stop at Marker 126, contemplative?

 

[Emerald1328]

I agree, @Emerald1328 . My only thought was, then why pick up the load at all? Was he stressed already and then chastised when he showed up late for the pickup. Was he driving back fuming, thinking to himself, “That’s it. I’m done.”. Was the stop at Marker 126, contemplative?

True. And actually, it’s just as likely that irrational thinking by someone intent on self-harm would in fact drop off the livestock first. One could think that their family could be self-sufficient without them, but animals wouldn’t be.

I still really wonder if someone lured him to the spot via CB communication for nefarious purposes under the guise of needing help as I mentioned awhile ago. Can CB communications be just between two people, or do they go out to everyone on a specific channel?

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

such interesting insights and thoughts here. My heart goes out to those who really love and care about David. I'm sitting my my hands, confident LE knows more, waiting for results from the SW to be made known.

 

[stickb0y7]

Can CB communications be just between two people, or do they go out to everyone on a specific channel?

CB is broadcast on a channel - anyone can hear it with a radio tuned to the same channel. You would have to know what channel David was on, but the "normal" trucker channel is 19.

19 used to be very very full of transmissions though, and at night radio propagates much further, so it could have been heard for a long distance depending on the power. (Edit: I mean to say 19 was so busy it was avoided, because you would get overlapped by people yelling and running amplifiers that boosted their signal for dozens or even hundreds of miles. I don't know what it's like any more, I haven't monitored a CB in decades)

CB channel 9 is "emergency" and if someone was luring someone, they might broadcast there - although I'm not sure if CBs have a "dual watch" feature like amateur radios where you could monitor 2 at once.

 

[TL4S]

I still really wonder if someone lured him to the spot via CB communication for nefarious purposes under the guise of needing help as I mentioned awhile ago. Can CB communications be just between two people, or do they go out to everyone on a specific channel?

RSBM. I have wondered this and would also be curious about private radio communication.

 

[stickb0y7]

I was curious about where the truck was stopped and used Strava to plot the elevation from the stop sign. (elevation exaggerated below, the total climb is about 10 or 12 feet)



I think we guessed that he stopped about 0.2 miles up the road, so from the stop sign, the truck went up a slight hill and then where it leveled off is where it was found. If there was something in the road, I would almost guess you wouldn't see it until you crested that hill and the distance from the crest to where it was stopped is probably about how far a truck would travel to stop.

Or, if the idea was to just get it off the main road, it makes sense to drive up the hill and then stop, instead of stopping on the incline.

 

[Emerald1328]

CB is broadcast on a channel - anyone can hear it with a radio tuned to the same channel. You would have to know what channel David was on, but the "normal" trucker channel is 19.

19 used to be very very full of transmissions though, and at night radio propagates much further, so it could have been heard for a long distance depending on the power. (Edit: I mean to say 19 was so busy it was avoided, because you would get overlapped by people yelling and running amplifiers that boosted their signal for dozens or even hundreds of miles. I don't know what it's like any more, I haven't monitored a CB in decades)

CB channel 9 is "emergency" and if someone was luring someone, they might broadcast there - although I'm not sure if CBs have a "dual watch" feature like amateur radios where you could monitor 2 at once.

Thank you, this is so helpful! Can two people prearrange to communicate on a specific channel so they would (likely) be the only ones on it?

 

[TL4S]

I talked to a friend who deals with delivery drivers as they pass through a gate, and he said they often have to turn off their trucks so they can hear each other speak. I don't know if DS's window was down, but that made me wonder. Someone waving him down, a cop pulling him over, or something like that?

Still doesn't explain why he was going the wrong way, though.