Found Deceased OH - Joey LaBute, 26, Columbus, 4 March 2016 #2

[Limecat]

Although I appreciate this info, you may want to tread lightly. I don't want you getting into any trouble. Or, is this pretty well known?

When I was a 20something in the mid to late 80's, we had a similar place in Los Angeles for all manner of debauchery and non-mainstream proclivities. Straight, gay, you name it. I saw VERY famous male rock stars and actors happily engaging with other males. Not to mention the drugs. It was quite VIP and private, but I was young and worked in the music industry, and had no problem taking in such (at the time) exciting activities. As another WS member said, "there but for the grace of God, go I".. To think of all the stupid things I did. Glad I'm still alive.

I'm glad we're both still here anon!!!

 

[ohiobuckeyegirl]

I have wondered about that text from day one. First story was Joey had dated that guy a few times..Second story was he went on a date with guy for the first time the night he disappeared. Joey, the guy and cousins had gone out earlier in the evening and then the guy left. Later the guy sends the "Good night, cutie" text to Joey . The lying text is sent by Joey to the guy the same night before he disappears. Joey disappears. Around 1:30 am Joey sends jumbled text to that guys phone. The guy does not respond back until SATURDAY NIGHT around 11:30 pm saying "you there"?.... I find it all so very strange....

 

[Sleuthster50]

I have an iPhone 6s and when I typed in the gibberish text I got Justin. Which is odd because people have posted in that first thread (that is now closed) that Justin is Joeys roommates name and that roommate also works at Union Cafe. Was Justin working at Union that night Joey went missing? And just for clarification, I don't know any Justin's, so that name isn't common for my phone to automatically auto-correct it for me.

Ive been wondering if he was working that night. Here's a link to an article that describes him as a long-time friend (doesn't mention roommate) and employee of the Union.
http://nbc4i.com/2016/03/10/family-desperate-for-news-about-missing-man-as-search-enters-sixth-day/

 

[Starry Night]

This is a terrible outcome for this young man-and seems so senseless. I hope his family finds some comfort in the very good reputation he seemed to have-a nice guy.

 

[MerryB]

I have wondered about that text from day one. First story was Joey had dated that guy a few times..Second story was he went on a date with guy for the first time the night he disappeared. Joey, the guy and cousins had gone out earlier in the evening and then the guy left. Later the guy sends the "Good night, cutie" text to Joey . The lying text is sent by Joey to the guy the same night before he disappears. Joey disappears. Around 1:30 am Joey sends jumbled text to that guys phone. The guy does not respond back until SATURDAY NIGHT around 11:30 pm saying "you there"?.... I find it all so very strange....

If you go back through the thread, you will see several links I've posted to local news stories and interviews with the receipients of the texts you've mentioned. The guy he was on a date with, who is not named in the interview, had been on several dates with Joey prior to the night in question. He is the one who texted "goodnight cutie" and got the "byeeee" response the night of Joey's disappearance. He then sent several additional texts after not hearing back from Joey asking about his welfare (they are shown in the news story).
Link to interview with date: http://bit.ly/1R4o0iL

There is also an interview with a guy named Matt, who was a friend of Joey's and was at the Union that night with his partner. Matt is the person who got the "you're lying" text from Joey and then got the jumbled/possible pocket text from Joey at 1:22 AM. He states in the interview that he thought it was just an accidental text and didn't think anything of it until he heard Joey was missing the next day. He then texted asking about Joey's welfare. They are 2 different people.
Link to interview with Matt: http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2016/03/09/columbus-ohio-search-for-missing-columbus-man-continues-into-fifth-day.html?fb_comment_id=979166608786495_979674422069047#f2c4934b18

 

[Hatfield]

LE should be able to pull all incoming and outgoing texts from his phone service even if they don't have his phone.

That should hopefully provide some clues.

Combine that with any video evidence and maybe it will be enough to identify who he walked out the door with.

Also if LE can find out where they suspect he entered the water then LE can pull all video evidence from any nearby stores and locations to see if they can identify the vehicle.

Here is one method that LE may be able to use to identify the vehicle. If there is a video camera near the bar he left then they can isolate all cars that left around the time he left the place. Then find a store that has a video camera close to where they suspect he entered the water. Then any vehicles that match up in both places would be suspect vehicles.

Then even if the videos don't have enough detail for a license plate they can then find out all the known people he knew and find out what vehicle they drove and see if any of those match the vehicle identified from the other matching method.

LE may get lucky and spot a vehicle that matches all 3 and that would be someone they would want to talk to.
It may be tough to get videos with enough clarity to identify the make and model but color alone and size and shape will help narrow down things.

Just hope there is this kind of video evidence available.

 

[Starry Night]

I feel that local LE and outside resources did everything they could. Not saying 'when' however.
The facts speak-not theories.

 

[OccamsRazor]

I want to know more about the Scioto River, including the parks that border it and the access points, from where he was found up to the Union. What I'm particularly interested is why the police were searching it for missing persons and had a hunch they might find one there. What's the scoop? Or is it simply that it runs through the city and people who are drunk or on something go there?

 

[bighairdontcare]

I want to know more about the Scioto River, including the parks that border it and the access points, from where he was found up to the Union. What I'm particularly interested is why the police were searching it for missing persons and had a hunch they might find one there. What's the scoop? Or is it simply that it runs through the city and people who are drunk or on something go there?

I think they've had a hunch this whole time . They've obviously known a lot more than what has been released . It seemed like nothing was being done or investigated but i think that they had a tip to search that area. The river runs through the city - there aren't any bars that directly outline the river . It's quite a walk from the bar Joey was at to the river . It's not a place that drunk people often are in danger of falling into.

 

[MelSto]

Hi! And thank you! It's an iPhone 5 Kingston came up twice when I was seeing what letters were near the ones he sent and testing what auto correct would say. Now it will autocorrect it to other words because when I don't correct it to what the phone suggest the first couple times it doesn't use that suggestion again.

 

[VTX88]

I have an iPhone 6s and when I typed in the gibberish text I got Justin. That is a name that was mentioned in the previous thread as a roommate of his and also an employee of Union Cafe. Was Joeys roommate working the night he went missing and could he have been texting his roommates name? And just for clarification, I don't know any one named Justin so it isn't a name that my phone would want to auto-correct for me.
Here is a link you can put into whatever search engine you use to watch the video where the news reporter interviewed him.

http://wdtn.com/2016/03/10/family-desperate-for-news-about-missing-man-as-search-enters-sixth-day/

 

[ohiobuckeyegirl]

If you go back through the thread, you will see several links I've posted to local news stories and interviews with the receipients of the texts you've mentioned. The guy he was on a date with, who is not named in the interview, had been on several dates with Joey prior to the night in question. He is the one who texted "goodnight cutie" and got the "byeeee" response the night of Joey's disappearance. He then sent several additional texts after not hearing back from Joey asking about his welfare (they are shown in the news story).
Link to interview with date: http://bit.ly/1R4o0iL

There is also an interview with a guy named Matt, who was a friend of Joey's and was at the Union that night with his partner. Matt is the person who got the "you're lying" text from Joey and then got the jumbled/possible pocket text from Joey at 1:22 AM. He states in the interview that he thought it was just an accidental text and didn't think anything of it until he heard Joey was missing the next day. He then texted asking about Joey's welfare. They are 2 different people.
Link to interview with Matt: http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2016/03/09/columbus-ohio-search-for-missing-columbus-man-continues-into-fifth-day.html?fb_comment_id=979166608786495_979674422069047#f2c4934b18

Thank you for clarifying!

 

[MerryB]

I think they've had a hunch this whole time . They've obviously known a lot more than what has been released . It seemed like nothing was being done or investigated but i think that they had a tip to search that area. The river runs through the city - there aren't any bars that directly outline the river . It's quite a walk from the bar Joey was at to the river . It's not a place that drunk people often are in danger of falling into.

Agreed. ^^ Here is a map of the city to help you see where the Short North is in relation to the Scioto River (circled in red) and where Audubon Park is in relation to the Short North (circled in yellow). The river varies in depth. There are parts near the city that are quite shallow. It appears to deepen as it flows south.

 

[jonnybgoode]

Agreed. ^^ Here is a map of the city to help you see where the Short North is in relation to the Scioto River (circled in red) and where Audubon Park is in relation to the Short North (circled in yellow).

I hope this puts to rest the idea that he just got drunk and fell into the river.

 

[bighairdontcare]

I hope this puts to rest the idea that he just got drunk and fell into the river.

Let me make this clear - I do not believe the speculation that he got drunk and fell into the river - I think someone is responsible for his death- However , his car was parked only 1/4 mile away from the olentangy river . The olentangy river runs into the scioto river - just want to make it clear that his car was semi-close to a body of water that connects to the scioto.

 

[MerryB]

I hope this puts to rest the idea that he just got drunk and fell into the river.

That and the fact that the coroner stated that he had died before he entered the water.

 

[lupinibean]

I didn't know that Matt and Chad were at Union that evening and that Joey said hi to them - was there some sort of exchange between the two at this time ? And at what time was this ? Something may have been said when Joey saw the couple which caused Matt and Joey to continue the convo via text ????

<modsnip> MerryB included a link to the interview with Matt in a recent post. It's right after the 1 minute mark. http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/...047#f2c4934b18

 

[osu]

I saw this missing person flyer posted under the Dateline NBC Facebook article about Joey.

David Walls - Missing from Cbus since November 16, 2015

 

[perfectingpink]

Yeah, I'm trying to understand it. One post that got deleted was me asking why my posts were getting deleted! and to please let me know what I'm doing wrong so I can correct it. I'm pretty new here, so I'm mystified as to what I may have said or done.

The posts had to do with texting, nothing that hadn't already been on a newscast, no rumors or speculation.

This may help you understand why things gets deleted. And, if you ever have a question, there is a triangle at the bottom left corner of each post. Hit that and you can ask a mod any questions you have. I hope this helps!

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?159-The-Rules

 

[Hatfield]

I'm not sure if this is relevant but it's something I found strange and even more strange after they reported where he was found.

I know everyone got different words that popped up in their auto correct when typing "Jnhstioj" into their phones.... Mine popped up "Kingston" which is a street not too far from where he was found. There is a club right by there "Club 104". It's a long shot but of all the words my phone would autocorrect that to happens to be a street right in the mix of all the relevant locations in this case.

Ive been looking at the maps and trying to maybe figure out if he was abbreviating his location if he was being taken somewhere against his will.

The best I could come up with is John H McConnell Blvd + Studio Movie Grill with the thought that maybe he was abbreviating John H + Studio ("Jnhstioj"). The location is close to where he was found. Ive got a link to the map of the area below if it works. Its just a short trip south of there to some parks that could get access to the River.


https://www.google.com/maps/place/S...e!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x0cd3a0b3e99e691e