Found Deceased TN - Blake Smith, 20, Knoxville, 3 Feb 2018

[Gardener1850]

Very interesting comments from DLL* https://www.facebook.com/5853009148...300914895354/1620618854696883/?type=3&theater

*reminder we can't directly discuss comments here.

I wonder if this might have been a robbery after all? Has anyone seen mention of what kind of phone Blake had? It may have been left behind if it was an older model or not very valuable. JMO.

 

[JaneEyre]

But there IS new info actually. Apparently when Blake left work, he was NOT at the Weedman office as I think most assumed:



And he apparently just started working outside the office, at HIS request, right after Christmas. Was there more to his reasoning?



She sounded very attached... that? More "freedom & independence"? Wanted to feel more like "one of the guys"?

This request makes sense to me based on what we know about his personality. He loved the outdoors, and he liked interacting with people and speaking to them. That last part matches up with his desire to be a preacher.

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[VanillaRose]

It does, but I find the timing very ironic...

This request makes sense to me based on what we know about his personality. He loved the outdoors, and he liked interacting with people and speaking to them. That last part matches up with his desire to be a preacher.

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[inmyhumbleopinion]

Despite my initial belief that Blake's death was due to suicide, I am now leaning towards homicide.

LE has been tight-lipped, IMO:

"Investigators found Smith's cell phone and some other personal belongings near his vehicle that had crashed into the deck of the home that is under construction."
https://www.facebook.com/5853009148...300914895354/1618790018213100/?type=3&theater

As to what has been shared by his family (e.g., that Blake's cell phone -along with his wallet- were found inside the car), they have neither confirmed nor denied it.

When they posted on Feb. 5 that a body had been found, they didn't provide information on how to contact them with tips. It was the same when they announced the following day that the body belonged to Blake.

Yet, in the post on Feb. 7 where they started back-peddling on the COD/MOD, they finally provide information on how to contact them with tips:
"If anyone has any information about Blake Smith and his whereabouts between Saturday afternoon at around 2 p.m. and early Monday afternoon, please call the Sheriff’s Office Investigations Unit during normal business hours at (865) 273-5001. You may also call the 24 hour anonymous Crime Hotline at (865)273-5200, or leave a tip on the Text-a-Tip link at www.bcso.com."
https://www.facebook.com/5853009148...914895354/1620618854696883/?type=3&permPage=1

As mentioned by a couple of posters mentioned upthread, I do wonder if this is a case of LE putting inaccurate information out there for investigative purposes - i.e., in order to not tip the perp(s) off.

I also have a feeling that they already have a suspect(s) they already have interviewed or are at least keeping an eye on, thus the back-peddling on the ME's findings, and the asking for tips in the Feb. 7 post.

All MOO

 

[gypsysoul]

I haven't jumped in on this case yet, but have been following from the beginning. Tonight I was trying to get to the Blount County Sheriff's Office FB page and ended up on a Blount County, AL page... and found this interesting...

http://www.wbrc.com/story/37101206/...ocate-body-of-missing-teen-on-christmas-night

(Christian Boyle, age 18 went missing in Blount County, AL. Found 12 days later deceased outside his car.)

Blount County, AL is the neighboring county to BS hometown of Trussville, AL. This teen went missing before Christmas and was found deceased outside of his car.

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...-Christian-Boyle-18-Blount-County-12-Dec-2017

I don't know now of any connections b/w these two cases but there were enough similarities to catch my attention.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Thank you so much, cjk0301 and CCgrad#2, for your informative and insightful posts, and for sharing your invaluable insights.

There are a couple of things in particular I never even thought about until I read your posts:

1.

So... it strikes me as very strange that no one at the college was looking for Blake before his father called his roommates on Sunday morning. Based on my experience there, it seems his parents would have been notified by the school on Saturday night. At the very least, the resident assistant should have notified security/the administration that Blake never came back and did not have permission to be away.

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...-Knoxville-3-Feb-2018&p=13919113#post13919113

To clarify my previous paragraph, and as I think cjk mentioned elsewhere, Crown students are required to stay in the dorm every night. Unless something has changed this is a pretty strict rule; you aren't allowed to go stay with your buddy across town or anything like that. If I recall correctly the only exception was if your family was visiting town and you got written permission then you could stay with them during that time. It was also very, very difficult (almost impossible) to get any kind of permission to spend a weekend out of town, even to go back to your own home/church. Except for breaks (only Christmas and Thanksgiving, not even Easter) and "ministry weekends" (which occurred once per semester) or some kind of organized school ministry trip, you stayed in the dorms every weekend, no exceptions.

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...-Knoxville-3-Feb-2018&p=13920085#post13920085

RBBM

So I am wondering what lead Blake's dad to this conclusion:

"'At first, I thought he was at some activity from the church or the school, but then I woke up at 2 in the morning and he was still there,' he [Blake's dad] said."
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news...-student-family-suspects-foul-play/306318002/

Could Blake have been telling his parents he often went to off-campus church-/school-organized events, when in fact he was somewhere else?

As for his roommates, room-leader RA, and campus security, could they have been looking for Blake overnight without notifying his parents? Perhaps they were going to wait for Blake a bit longer, confront him when he returned, and then have him call his parents?

2.

This does seem like a possibility to me but just to be clear, if he was gay it would not have been openly so.

[RSBM]

The way this college/church looks at this they might take the approach of "you can remain a student and we'll work with you as you overcome this, but if you act on it even once you'll sit out X number of semesters until we feel you're completely rehabilitated." And then that student would be watched like a hawk. This place doesn't play too fast and loose with their moral ideology; hetero couples getting caught even kissing would get in serious trouble, and I knew couples who got expelled for "more serious physical conduct." If they did let a student known to have gay inclinations stay enrolled, he would have to always be around enough people to ensure he didn't have a chance to act on anything. I know that sounds extreme and probably cult-like, but when I was there (don't know if this still the case, as even at the time it seemed really backward to me) girls were not allowed to leave the campus in groups of fewer than 3 unless they were driving to or from work and had written permission to do so. "Accountability" is a huge buzz word in these circles.

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...-Knoxville-3-Feb-2018&p=13920085#post13920085

RBBM

Could this be why Blake did not drive himself to work that day? Or were he and his friend simply carpooling? Under what other circumstances would a student be under constant supervision?

 

[VanillaRose]

Eerie, indeed!

I haven't jumped in on this case yet, but have been following from the beginning. Tonight I was trying to get to the Blount County Sheriff's Office FB page and ended up on a Blount County, AL page... and found this interesting...

http://www.wbrc.com/story/37101206/...ocate-body-of-missing-teen-on-christmas-night

(Christian Boyle, age 18 went missing in Blount County, AL. Found 12 days later deceased outside his car.)

Blount County, AL is the neighboring county to BS hometown of Trussville, AL. This teen went missing before Christmas and was found deceased outside of his car.

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...-Christian-Boyle-18-Blount-County-12-Dec-2017

I don't know now of any connections b/w these two cases but there were enough similarities to catch my attention.

 

[renegawlt]

I'm wondering the same thing -- IIRC Blaze Bernstein's parents used a similar app with him being in college at U of Penn.

It's not a big deal -- we have all our spread-out-all-over-the-US family on Life 360. It makes you feel in touch, and really gives no information the kids don't want to share, themselves. "Oh, wow -- Noah's still at work?" "I wonder who/what they're seeing at that venue?"

I have a couple of friends on it, too. It's just comforting to be able to see where people I love are. Even when I know absolutely nothing about the city they are in.

 

[Steelslady]

It's not a big deal -- we have all our spread-out-all-over-the-US family on Life 360. It makes you feel in touch, and really gives no information the kids don't want to share, themselves. "Oh, wow -- Noah's still at work?" "I wonder who/what they're seeing at that venue?"

I have a couple of friends on it, too. It's just comforting to be able to see where people I love are. Even when I know absolutely nothing about the city they are in.

Want to know something freaky? My daughter just broke up with her boyfriend She could not figure out how he knew she went into work today, as usually, it's her day off. If you can believe this- Snapchat has a damn GPS- it is really eerie! I was telling her and her best friend to check all their apps to see if there were any trackers on it- and when my daughter checked SnapChat- she saw her and her best friend in the living room of my house (it wasn't my living room per see, but it had the shape of my house and the location of where they were in my living room- you could see them move around! It also had our backyard and the lake behind it. I don't know how to explain it, it was like a little cartoon type of thing? It was FREAKY seeing two figures moving around in my living room on this map.

Please, folks, check your kids Twitters, Facebook, SnapChat and other social media sites as well as your own. They have different looking location finders on each, but they are there without your knowledge! My daughter and her friend had to "ghost" themselves on several sites, and those that they couldn't do that, they deleted their accounts.

Somehow the jerk is still trying to sync his phone with MINE. I don't know how he's doing it, but it looks like we have to watch our daughter and her friend closely now that he's stalking her. Twice in one week now.

Check your kids phones, tablets, and PC's PLEASE. If you don't believe me, check out the SnapChat yourself- it will freak the heck out of you. Oh, and my daughter and her friend noticed that several people were following them that weren't on their list before- scary.

I forgot to add on the SnapChat- they tested it out when they went to the store- it tracked them all the way to the store and back, and everyone on your friend's list can track you down. They clicked on a couple of their friends and couldn't believe their eyes. They've got everything private now.

 

[KeepTheLightOn]

No matter the source, the information that is "going around" about B's death, is presumed to be inaccurate. :thinking: I wonder what info is "going around"? His family is from Alabama, they couldn't have been there for each search. BS dorm mates went out and initially found the car and belongings. I am hoping no one touched that phone and LE got it, just as it was left.

How would his dorm mates know where to look for him? According to Blake's father, he called the dorm mates at 7:00 am. Why didn't they notify the RA or school officials before looking for him? On an earlier post, someone referred to Blake's Facebook page. He had posted a picture of himself and a friend asked him why he looked so sad. His reply was that he had to go back to TN that day. I agree with the quote above, I hope none of the students touched any of the evidence. Very sad situation.

 

[Gardener1850]

How would his dorm mates know where to look for him? According to Blake's father, he called the dorm mates at 7:00 am. Why didn't they notify the RA or school officials before looking for him? On an earlier post, someone referred to Blake's Facebook page. He had posted a picture of himself and a friend asked him why he looked so sad. His reply was that he had to go back to TN that day. I agree with the quote above, I hope none of the students touched any of the evidence. Very sad situation.

His dorm mates found the car based on his parent's directions from where the "Life360" app showed Blake's phone to be located. The campus security and police were called right after the dorm mates said he never came back the previous night. In one of the video interviews previously linked here his dad said the car was found while his mom and dad were driving on the way from AL to TN. The driving time from his hometown is only about 3.5 hours. In other words, his parents most likely left to go to TN immediately after reporting Blake missing. His parents would have been there for all the searches for him after his car was found.

 

[DAnthrplgst]

I'm probably just misreading the cues but with all the information about his dorm mates and how they reacted to BS disappearance, the lack of contacting an RA the night he didn't show up or contacting campus security, I'm wondering if his roomies knew something about Blake's private life and being good friends they were trying to cover for his absence. I wonder if Blake ever spent the night off campus before with his roomie's covering for him.

 

[SouthernSummer]

Want to know something freaky? My daughter just broke up with her boyfriend She could not figure out how he knew she went into work today, as usually, it's her day off. If you can believe this- Snapchat has a damn GPS- it is really eerie! I was telling her and her best friend to check all their apps to see if there were any trackers on it- and when my daughter checked SnapChat- she saw her and her best friend in the living room of my house (it wasn't my living room per see, but it had the shape of my house and the location of where they were in my living room- you could see them move around! It also had our backyard and the lake behind it. I don't know how to explain it, it was like a little cartoon type of thing? It was FREAKY seeing two figures moving around in my living room on this map.

Please, folks, check your kids Twitters, Facebook, SnapChat and other social media sites as well as your own. They have different looking location finders on each, but they are there without your knowledge! My daughter and her friend had to "ghost" themselves on several sites, and those that they couldn't do that, they deleted their accounts.

Somehow the jerk is still trying to sync his phone with MINE. I don't know how he's doing it, but it looks like we have to watch our daughter and her friend closely now that he's stalking her. Twice in one week now.

Check your kids phones, tablets, and PC's PLEASE. If you don't believe me, check out the SnapChat yourself- it will freak the heck out of you. Oh, and my daughter and her friend noticed that several people were following them that weren't on their list before- scary.

I forgot to add on the SnapChat- they tested it out when they went to the store- it tracked them all the way to the store and back, and everyone on your friend's list can track you down. They clicked on a couple of their friends and couldn't believe their eyes. They've got everything private now.

Your daughter and possibly you need to deactivate social media right now. Just deactivate it, don’t delete it. Then go in and follow these instructions for Snapchat:

IIf you opted into the maps feature and are now rethinking it, here’s how to turn it off.

Open Snap Map from the Snapchat home screen by pinching your fingers from the outside of the frame in toward the middle
Press the cog icon in the upper righthand corner (across from the “Search” bar)
Select “Ghost Mode” — Your location is not shared. If you want to turn location settings off entirely, go to the settings menu on your phone and change the permissions (Doing that though will affect other Snapchat features, like the beloved filters)


http://time.com/money/4876766/snapchat-snap-map-turn-off/

You may have already done this but just in case. I think you can also block people. I’ve had to block a stocker recently.

 

[DAnthrplgst]

Your daughter and possibly you need to deactivate social media right now. Just deactivate it, don’t delete it. Then go in and follow these instructions for Snapchat:

IIf you opted into the maps feature and are now rethinking it, here’s how to turn it off.

Open Snap Map from the Snapchat home screen by pinching your fingers from the outside of the frame in toward the middle
Press the cog icon in the upper righthand corner (across from the “Search” bar)
Select “Ghost Mode” — Your location is not shared. If you want to turn location settings off entirely, go to the settings menu on your phone and change the permissions (Doing that though will affect other Snapchat features, like the beloved filters)


http://time.com/money/4876766/snapchat-snap-map-turn-off/

You may have already done this but just in case. I think you can also block people. I’ve had to block a stocker recently.

What was he stocking? Sorry, couldn't let that pass.

 

[eucalyptuz]

Obituary:
http://www.trussvilletribune.com/2018/02/09/blake-ryan-smith/

 

[flute4peace]

Want to know something freaky? My daughter just broke up with her boyfriend She could not figure out how he knew she went into work today, as usually, it's her day off. If you can believe this- Snapchat has a damn GPS- it is really eerie! I was telling her and her best friend to check all their apps to see if there were any trackers on it- and when my daughter checked SnapChat- she saw her and her best friend in the living room of my house (it wasn't my living room per see, but it had the shape of my house and the location of where they were in my living room- you could see them move around! It also had our backyard and the lake behind it. I don't know how to explain it, it was like a little cartoon type of thing? It was FREAKY seeing two figures moving around in my living room on this map.

Please, folks, check your kids Twitters, Facebook, SnapChat and other social media sites as well as your own. They have different looking location finders on each, but they are there without your knowledge! My daughter and her friend had to "ghost" themselves on several sites, and those that they couldn't do that, they deleted their accounts.

Somehow the jerk is still trying to sync his phone with MINE. I don't know how he's doing it, but it looks like we have to watch our daughter and her friend closely now that he's stalking her. Twice in one week now.

Check your kids phones, tablets, and PC's PLEASE. If you don't believe me, check out the SnapChat yourself- it will freak the heck out of you. Oh, and my daughter and her friend noticed that several people were following them that weren't on their list before- scary.

I forgot to add on the SnapChat- they tested it out when they went to the store- it tracked them all the way to the store and back, and everyone on your friend's list can track you down. They clicked on a couple of their friends and couldn't believe their eyes. They've got everything private now.

Yikes this is frightening. Sending to my daughters right now.

Also, in my state it only takes 2 "incidents" to file for a PFS. What you have described would qualify. Couldn't hurt to check into as a possibility for your daughter.

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[flute4peace]

Thinking about the car - has airbag deployment been reported anywhere?

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[rsd1200]

How would his dorm mates know where to look for him? According to Blake's father, he called the dorm mates at 7:00 am. Why didn't they notify the RA or school officials before looking for him? On an earlier post, someone referred to Blake's Facebook page. He had posted a picture of himself and a friend asked him why he looked so sad. His reply was that he had to go back to TN that day. I agree with the quote above, I hope none of the students touched any of the evidence. Very sad situation.

This is just me, but Id have asked the students to contact someone in authority at the school, or probably called them myself, if Id had that app and this was so out of chsracter, and, outside of very strict school rules. Those students could have walked into anything. I'd think Dad had called B as well, and he had not answered, would also be highly concerning, considering what we know about the family and school rules.

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[rsd1200]

Thinking about the car - has airbag deployment been reported anywhere?

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Unless it hit head on, or near head on, the air bags would not deploy. Head on, it only takes about an 8-10 mph impact. My spouse looked as if he had a sunburn on his face, and it broke his breastbone or collarbone, dont remember which, and he's 6' tall. Shorter folks can get harder hits.

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[inmyhumbleopinion]

Want to know something freaky? My daughter just broke up with her boyfriend She could not figure out how he knew she went into work today, as usually, it's her day off. If you can believe this- Snapchat has a damn GPS- it is really eerie! I was telling her and her best friend to check all their apps to see if there were any trackers on it- and when my daughter checked SnapChat- she saw her and her best friend in the living room of my house (it wasn't my living room per see, but it had the shape of my house and the location of where they were in my living room- you could see them move around! It also had our backyard and the lake behind it. I don't know how to explain it, it was like a little cartoon type of thing? It was FREAKY seeing two figures moving around in my living room on this map.

Please, folks, check your kids Twitters, Facebook, SnapChat and other social media sites as well as your own. They have different looking location finders on each, but they are there without your knowledge! My daughter and her friend had to "ghost" themselves on several sites, and those that they couldn't do that, they deleted their accounts.

Somehow the jerk is still trying to sync his phone with MINE. I don't know how he's doing it, but it looks like we have to watch our daughter and her friend closely now that he's stalking her. Twice in one week now.

Check your kids phones, tablets, and PC's PLEASE. If you don't believe me, check out the SnapChat yourself- it will freak the heck out of you. Oh, and my daughter and her friend noticed that several people were following them that weren't on their list before- scary.

I forgot to add on the SnapChat- they tested it out when they went to the store- it tracked them all the way to the store and back, and everyone on your friend's list can track you down. They clicked on a couple of their friends and couldn't believe their eyes. They've got everything private now.

The same exact thing happened to my daughter when she and her boyfriend broke up a couple of months ago!

So very creepy and downright disturbing ....

She realized what was going on within an hour or two, and removed him from the list of people who can see her movements.

Snapchat is one of the worst apps as far as one’s privacy is concerned, IMO, but also appears to be the most popular one among teens -and “tweens” right now. SMH ....