Found Deceased JAPAN - Trevor Balint, 34, from Hubbard, Ohio, missing from Yokota Air Base, 1 Feb 2021

[mrazda71]

It's midnight here, I'm really tired but I just wanted to mark my spot on the thread and say that I finally got around to watching the video of his girlfriend... It was a bit odd IMO. I found it so strange she had the music playing in the background and it almost seemed like she was trying to force emotion. I found it a little bit creepy tbh. I'm so sorry if this sounds offensive, just offering my late night loopy thoughts!

I'm wondering if the music was intentional ... he's American and the music is Star Spangled banner, the American national anthem not just random music so ... possibly intended to be a push from American personnel to help.

 

[Lusitana]

I keep trying to remember but wasn’t there another case just like this? Someone went missing and their phone was found reseted or something like that? Does anyone know who it was?

 

[MissUnderstood]

Can you reset the phone without erasing contacts? How did the person who found the phone contact anyone if it was reset! It’s definitely a strange set of events for an evening. Saying you are going to look for a cat but you go and buy alcohol to drink in a vacant apartment seems a little odd, moo

 

[Lusitana]

Can you reset the phone without erasing contacts? How did the person who found the phone contact anyone if it was reset! It’s definitely a strange set of events for an evening. Saying you are going to look for a cat but you go and buy alcohol to drink in a vacant apartment seems a little odd, moo

The person found the wallet and probably contacted his wife on social media. It was his wife who found his phone, shoes, mask, etc.

 

[Globalgabby]

Why did he and his wife sleep separately?

His wife may have had weird working hours. It isn’t uncommon for commands to work around the clock. She is a civilian, but she could be attached to a command that requires very early/late shifts. When I first met my now husband, he was active duty and had to be at work at 3:00 AM.

 

[Globalgabby]

He also went missing on a huge holiday time, as January 1-3 are the main holiday days there, and mostly everything is closed down. You may find a 7-11 or other small store, but you may not. People are home eating.

Feb. 1, not Jan. 1.

 

[Globalgabby]

I lived in Japan for a couple of years (mid 80’s so things may have changed of course!) and I also taught English in Japan.

They don’t say what school he worked for, but there are schools that only teach adults, only kids, and then there is “arubeito” where you are paid large amounts to teach private lessons. If he met someone during a private lesson, maybe a girl, he may have run away with her, as this is the time when literally no one would be on the street.

When I was there, there were police booths everywhere. Everyone pretty much knew everything that was going on, and there was a MAP with everyone’s name and location by the neighborhood (because house numbers are seriously messed up, 1 may be next to 500, next to 26). Most crime was stolen umbrellas and bicycles.

He worked at Yokota High School, on base, as a sub. We are always desperate for subs, and he was certainly an overqualified one. He also lived on base. Base is an American bubble. The schools are American schools - 2 elementary, one middle, one high school. Students generally are American and Japanese-American dependents of military and civilian personnel. It is nothing like a Japanese school.

 

[Globalgabby]

The 7Eleven would have been open, and he returned with a convenience store bag.

The base does have shops, a cinema, restaurants etc, but I’m not sure whether the shop there would have been open at that time of night.

Plus, this prefecture is still under an official state of emergency. Government has asked all businesses to shut down by 8:00 PM. Convenience stores are about the only thing open. I’m on a nearby base. By 8 pm, we either have to be in our off base quarters (if we live off base) or be on base. I don’t know if that is true at Yokota, the be on base by 8 pm thing, but it is a big deal here. Walking onto base at 9:00 pm with a bag of chu hais would be a very ballsy move on my base.

 

[Globalgabby]

I may be way off base with this guess (no pun intended), but I know that it is very, very common for folks to remove their shoes immediately before or just upon entering a home in Japan. Wonder if this habit had become second nature to TB after living in the country for a year, and perhaps he left his shoes outside the door before entering the vacant apartment (this would assume that he DID enter the vacant apartment near which his shoes and other personal items were later found, which is just my conjecture)? Or maybe his shoes were just dirty from normal wear around the base and he didn’t want to leave any footprints in the vacant unit (again, assuming he even entered it)? For TB to have left behind his shoes at some point after he was last seen would suggest to me that he either left hastily under his own power and didn’t dare stop to grab them, or someone else physically removed him from the area around the vacant unit or from the unit itself.

All MOO!

A thought has occurred to me. In some Japanese movies and tv, and sometimes in real life Japanese people remove their shoes before they commit suicide. Google it. It’s a thing. However, he has only lived in Japan a year, I don’t know that he would know that.

 

[Arkark]

Thanks for your insight, @Globalgabby !

 

[mrazda71]

Is there no CCTV on the camp? Around the camp?

Phone records accessed?

Tracker dogs used?

 

[Seni]

A thought has occurred to me. In some Japanese movies and tv, and sometimes in real life Japanese people remove their shoes before they commit suicide. Google it. It’s a thing. However, he has only lived in Japan a year, I don’t know that he would know that.

Hang on! It is customary to remove shoes upon entering any house in Japan. at any time.

 

[Globalgabby]

Hang on! It is customary to remove shoes upon entering any house in Japan. at any time.

Yes, yes, true. But we don’t leave them outside. And we don’t take off our watch, wallet, keys, etc... Is it his wife who said she found those outside? I’ll have to go back and look. Anyway, yes, it is common to take off shoes in the genkan of the house. I was just thinking about how odd it was to be without shoes when it is this cold, and I thought about suicides.

 

[MaxRx]

Here's a map of the area. Trevor is said to have come in from the east entrance, looks to me like there's a 7Eleven about 50 metres away, and a couple of other convenience store options nearby. Also, not a huge amount of space or buildings to search on base - he has to be inside the perimeter if he wasn't seen leaving again (unless by vehicle).

Google Maps

I think you’ve got the wrong side of the base; my limited understanding is that he was in the East side of Yokota AB so if he left to buy items off-base, he’d have likely used the East Gate. ( here’s a link to a map of Yokota AB https://yokotafss.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/yokota-ab-map.pdf )

This Google Maps link would show the 3 minute walk if he had exited East Gate at McGuire, turned left to the 7-Eleven.
خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

While he could have also gone to the Family Mart ( turn to his right ) , it’s way longer - 900 m. 7-eleven is only about 200m from the Gate.

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

It looks like his wife was previously posted at RAF Menwith Hill, so likely working as a SIGINT analyst; that’s the same signals intelligence operation that was exposed / leaked by Snowden FYI.

Anyways, w/r side discussions on why separate bedrooms etc., irregular work hours might explain it even better than some sort of martial issues.

And, as for “Chu Hai” drinks, the usual alcohol content used to be similar to beer - between 3 to 5.5% but these days, the bestsellers are in the 9 to 12% range; the best known brand being Suntory’s Strong Zero ( it’s kind of become a meme , at least with expats in Japan).

The whole bang per buck ( or yen) kinda makes it like a fruity malt liquor ... you can get often get a 500mL tallboy for less than $1.50.

Even doing the math and calculating the total amount of alcohol, drinking 3-4 of these for some reason can kind of kick your *advertiser censored**. Or, at least you feel it the next morning - way more if you had simply drunk 6-8 beers instead.

Although none of the articles didn’t indicate the state of his clothing and shoes when they were allegedly found by his wife, if this was the case, and they had initially been discarded ( rather than neatly folded or arranged ), I can think of at least one uncomfortable reason for someone taking off their clothes. If he took MDMA or a synthetic, one side effect is overheating , combined with psychosis - but if that were the case, and given they searched with dogs, you’d expect a body in the vicinity.

Haven’t posted here for about 3 years or so... good to see this site is alive and well.

 

[MaxRx]

Plus, this prefecture is still under an official state of emergency. Government has asked all businesses to shut down by 8:00 PM. Convenience stores are about the only thing open. I’m on a nearby base. By 8 pm, we either have to be in our off base quarters (if we live off base) or be on base. I don’t know if that is true at Yokota, the be on base by 8 pm thing, but it is a big deal here. Walking onto base at 9:00 pm with a bag of chu hais would be a very ballsy move on my base.

If Trevor did exit East Gate to buy a bunch of alcoholic drinks, and then drink them from midnight to 0500, as a civilian contractor and/or dependent of someone who is active duty or defense contractor, he may have broken a few of the rules under USFJ.

Most people don’t realize when they have those ( utterly meaningless & ineffective ) lockdowns and/or no alcohol prohibitions ( often after some dumbass does something stupid or worse ), it’s not just active duty to whom it applies to. Often DoD contractors and also dependents are ‘strongly encouraged’. And that means if you live off base, it’s strictly from work to home - and even if you could easily get away with it, that means not even drinking in the privacy of your own home. Basically a massive self-sacrificed that goes unnoticed, unrecognized and unappreciated.

But yeah, if he breached rules currently in place w/r COVID-19 , alcohol purchases and consumption etc., not just ballsy - to me, it suggests recklessness or someone who has a problem with alcohol.

 

[MaxRx]

And, although it is admittedly crappy, this Google map link should be able to show the layout and distances:

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

• Eastside Towers ( there’s a group of them in the black circle)
• Joan K Mendel Elementary School
• Yokota Movie Theater
• Down McGuire to East Gate
• East Gate to the 7-Eleven
• And, near the elementary school, ‘c’ marks one of the many garden houses / townhouses ( one of which was apparently vacant and had Trevor’s belonging outside on the porch)
• https://i.imgur.com/JxOz0C4_d.webp?maxwidth=800

I tried to indicate the fenced perimeter of Yokota AB with the green highlighter. The farmers’ fields on the other side of both the school and many of the garden homes are Japanese land. If you use something more detailed like Google Earth, you’ll see that even though the fence is likely electrified and rigged with both detectors & surveillance, it is possible that someone not in their right mind, could make it over to the fields. In some areas, it looks like there is vegetation that grows over the fence as well as some trees that look climbable.

The articles indicated that both the USAF side and Japanese police used tracker dogs <modsnip, bashing LE jurisdiction>.

 

[MaxRx]

...

Although none of the articles didn’t indicate the state of his clothing and shoes when they were allegedly found by his wife, if this was the case, and they had initially been discarded ( rather than neatly folded or arranged ), I can think of at least one uncomfortable reason for someone taking off their clothes. If he took MDMA or a synthetic, one side effect is overheating , combined with psychosis - but if that were the case, and given they searched with dogs, you’d expect a body in the vicinity.

....

Perhaps not the best example, but here’s a case from 2019 where a British man was found dead in a stream in the UK after MDMA had caused both overheating and paranoid delusions ... driving him to both shed his clothes and shoes and seek water...

Missing man was found dead in remote Devon village

“...
Dt Sgt Lefort said: “He travelled some miles from his car and there is no indication to me that he tried to harm himself. I concluded he died accidentally due to his use of MDMA.

“Obviously people who do use MDMA can overheat and try to find water sources. I am also aware Jesse was paranoid due to his use of drugs and would often feel like things were hidden in his shoes or clothing so his shoes may have been taken off due to paranoia.”
...”

It needn’t be an illegal substance like MDMA; there are other medications that can cause similar side effects. A poor example but the only one I can think of is TamiFlu with children. Or, combining it with alcohol can’t be helpful.

That being said, I hope the searchers have looked at all bodies of water - swimming or wading pools that might be covered up in backyards of the garden houses, the school , as well as any water tanks. And, any similar bodies of water or containers off-base in and around the farmers field especially. A body submerged in water probably won’t get detected by tracker dogs until much later.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I think you’ve got the wrong side of the base;

<snip>

Haven’t posted here for about 3 years or so... good to see this site is alive and well.

Oh my gawd... I have a total mental block with east and west. Obviously I did not apply the “never eat shredded wheat” rule!

Welcome back by the way!!

 

[Tortoise]

If Trevor did exit East Gate to buy a bunch of alcoholic drinks, and then drink them from midnight to 0500, as a civilian contractor and/or dependent of someone who is active duty or defense contractor, he may have broken a few of the rules under USFJ.

Most people don’t realize when they have those ( utterly meaningless & ineffective ) lockdowns and/or no alcohol prohibitions ( often after some dumbass does something stupid or worse ), it’s not just active duty to whom it applies to. Often DoD contractors and also dependents are ‘strongly encouraged’. And that means if you live off base, it’s strictly from work to home - and even if you could easily get away with it, that means not even drinking in the privacy of your own home. Basically a massive self-sacrificed that goes unnoticed, unrecognized and unappreciated.

But yeah, if he breached rules currently in place w/r COVID-19 , alcohol purchases and consumption etc., not just ballsy - to me, it suggests recklessness or someone who has a problem with alcohol.

I wonder if BB would have said they were drinking wine that day if it breached the rules -

"9. On Jan. 31, the couple drank wine in their on-base tower apt"

 

[Globalgabby]

If Trevor did exit East Gate to buy a bunch of alcoholic drinks, and then drink them from midnight to 0500, as a civilian contractor and/or dependent of someone who is active duty or defense contractor, he may have broken a few of the rules under USFJ.

Most people don’t realize when they have those ( utterly meaningless & ineffective ) lockdowns and/or no alcohol prohibitions ( often after some dumbass does something stupid or worse ), it’s not just active duty to whom it applies to. Often DoD contractors and also dependents are ‘strongly encouraged’. And that means if you live off base, it’s strictly from work to home - and even if you could easily get away with it, that means not even drinking in the privacy of your own home. Basically a massive self-sacrificed that goes unnoticed, unrecognized and unappreciated.

But yeah, if he breached rules currently in place w/r COVID-19 , alcohol purchases and consumption etc., not just ballsy - to me, it suggests recklessness or someone who has a problem with alcohol.

Sorry. To be clear, they were not on lockdown, and alcohol was not prohibited or monitored. We (military and anyone who lives/works on base) are supposed to be in off base quarters or on base by 8 pm in deference to the (suddenly now former Prime Minister) national “state of emergency,” which has been extended into March. Mind you, the 8 pm thing is not enforced by the Japanese government. They just ask people to follow it, and for the most part they dO. We, on my base, HAVE been through lockdown before, though - last spring. I’m not sure if Yokota was ever in “Shelter in Place” like we were on the nearby US Naval Base. Yokota is a lot closer to Tokyo than we are, but we have had much higher COVID case loads. Yokota’s COVID response has been much less restrictive than ours - still, the 8 pm rule stands, for now. Japanese businesses close up. Japan primarily did the 8 pm thing to stop the spread in bars and restaurants. The article I read said he came on base at 9 pmish. I just thought that was a bold move since we are supposed to be on base by 8 pm. The amount of alcohol he may have had on him would only be a problem if he was obviously wasted when coming through the gate. I do not think that was the case because he would have been snagged by MPs if he were that wasted.