FEB 8, 2021
Mystery surrounds DODEA substitute teacher’s disappearance from US air base in Tokyo - Pacific - Stripes
The wife of a substitute teacher who vanished a week ago from the home of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo is appealing to the military community for help with the search.
- Trevor Balint was reported missing Feb. 1.
- He is 6 feet tall, 170 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.
- He sometimes teaches high school chemistry and physics for Department of Defense Education Activity, according to his LinkedIn profile.
- Investigators searched parts of the base last week.
- On Saturday, BB, posted a plea for help on the Yokota Spouses & Families Facebook group.
- BB said she’s posted dozens of fliers with her missing husband’s photograph and appealed, in her Facebook post, for help hanging more.
- Air Force investigators have removed Trevor’s possessions, including his laptops, from the couple’s home, which they share with two cats and a corgi.
- BB has visited some of the locations that Trevor is thought to have gone in the hours leading up to his disappearance.
- On Jan. 31, the couple drank wine in their on-base tower apt and played a card game called Escape Room with a friend in the U.S. over a video link. Trevor was in good spirits, making plans to watch a movie and play more games.
- That evening, Trevor told BB he was going out at around 8 p.m. to search for a neighbor’s lost cat, which he’d earlier spotted near the base movie theater.
- Gate guards report Trevor coming on base through its east gate at 9:09 p.m. while carrying a bag from a convenience store and talking on his cellphone.
- “We have been unable to track who he was talking to – it is nobody in our joint network, which really is the only network that I knew he had,” she said.
- BB said she last saw Trevor when he returned home at 1:30 a.m. Feb. 1 without his jacket.
- The couple slept in separate bedrooms and BB went to work the next morning without realizing Trevor was missing until she finished work and saw a message that someone had found his wallet near a vacant townhome on base.
- “All the messages I’d sent to Trevor were still marked unread at this point,” she said. “I returned home to find the front door unlocked, but Trevor was not home.”
- When BB went to the vacant home near where the wallet was found, she discovered his jacket, shoes, mask, cellphone, keys and some empty cans of Chuhai – a Japanese alcoholic drink, she said.
- Somebody appeared to have reset Trevor’s phone, BB said.
- “At this point, it was Monday evening and it was again starting to get dark and cold. I had no idea where he could possibly be, especially without any of his belongings. I called Security Forces to get assistance,” she said.
- BB said she made a report to the Japanese police on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
- A Japanese police spokesman in Fussa city, which borders Yokota’s western side, said local officers brought a dog to search inside the base Feb. 3.
- Japanese police have no info on where Trevor might have gone, or that he left the base, so they haven’t checked security cameras in the city, he said.
- The couple has been together since high school, married in 2012, and lived in England while BB worked at RAF Menwith Hill from October 2016 until June 2019, when they moved to Japan.
- Trevor’s mother, KB said she last spoke to her son around Christmas and has contacted the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo seeking help.
- “The embassy told me that because they reside on the [Air Force base] that there is not much/anything they can do, it's a military matter,” she said.
- Britni’s mother said she is seeking an emergency visa to come to Japan.
- Trevor holds a Ph.D. in physics from George Washington University as well as a bachelor's in mathematics from Youngstown State University and worked as a data scientist after graduation, BB said.
- “I do not believe he would just jet off to get away or anything of the sort,” she said. “He is a very smart person and would know that others are looking for him and are worried.”
View attachment 283249
Trevor and his Corgi, Mr. Waffles
I'm quite curious about a few points (questions underneath)-
14. The couple slept in separate bedrooms and BB
went to work the next morning without realizing Trevor was missing until she finished work and saw a message that
someone had found his wallet near a vacant townhome on base.
15. “All the messages I’d sent to Trevor were
still marked unread at this point,” she said.
16. When
BB went to the vacant home near where the wallet was found, she discovered his jacket, shoes, mask, cellphone, keys and some empty cans of Chuhai – a Japanese alcoholic drink, she said.
18. “At this point, it was Monday evening and
it was again starting to get dark and cold. I had no idea where he could possibly be, especially without any of his belongings. I called Security Forces to get assistance,” she said.
---
1. Was he missing in the morning when BB went to work?
2. Did BB notice all the messages were marked unread before she finished work (use of word 'still')?
3. I'm not sure how close the wallet was to the vacant home, but if it looked like it had been dropped (my assumption), why were the other items not also seen by the finder?
4. Why was it 'again' starting to get dark/cold - not for the first time?