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

[mandy.maree]

bbm The location of the picture and where he was found are not the same.

Blount County Sheriff James Berrong announced that a body was found in George’s Creek. That is a tributary that drains into Fort Loudoun Lake, about a quarter of a mile from the construction site where Smith’s vehicle was found.

http://www.trussvilletribune.com/20...for-trussville-man-missing-in-knoxville-tenn/

Probably this that confused me.

It does all seem very suspicious. I hope his family has answers very soon

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[Elainera]

Blount County Sheriff James Berrong announced that a body was found in George’s Creek. That is a tributary that drains into Fort Loudoun Lake, about a quarter of a mile from the construction site where Smith’s vehicle was found.

http://www.trussvilletribune.com/20...for-trussville-man-missing-in-knoxville-tenn/

Probably this that confused me.

It does all seem very suspicious. I hope his family has answers very soon

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I was confused too. Someone upthread said they are two different bodies of water.

 

[katydid23]

This reminds me so much of that confusing, tragic case, of the woman who everyone thought was abducted, on her way to work. I think in Seattle area?

And she was eventually found in a ravine with a plastic bag over her head, determined by LE to be suicide---even though it did not appear to be so at first...

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

This reminds me so much of that confusing, tragic case, of the woman who everyone thought was abducted, on her way to work. I think in Seattle area?

And she was eventually found in a ravine with a plastic bag over her head, determined by LE to be suicide---even though it did not appear to be so at first...

Cheryl DeBoer - I’m still not sure what I think about that sad case. But then again, I immediately thought that Blake was carjacked when I came upon this thread, while it seems that everyone else is leaning toward suicide. I guess my sleuthing skills need some work because suicide never entered my mind.

 

[BlkMtnGirl]

Cheryl DeBoer - I’m still not sure what I think about that sad case. But then again, I immediately thought that Blake was carjacked when I came upon this thread, while it seems that everyone else is leaning toward suicide. I guess my sleuthing skills need some work because suicide never entered my mind.

Im really on the fence with this one. Although I don’t see much of a motive, I’m leaning toward carjacking unless Blake had already visited the construction site before. Whoever left the car like that didn’t want to drown in that car. They just wanted it to disappear. The SAR dogs not finding a scent outside the car also makes me lean away from suicide, but they did find his stuff outside the car, so that doesn’t really make sense. It was mentioned somewhere that they scaled back volunteers because the dogs were getting confused. I think the autopsy will reveal a lot. If drugs (painkillers, etc.), then I’m going with self-harm. So sad regardless.

 

[GraceG]

The only problem with the suicide scenario and him doing the whole car thing is that it was said that search dogs didn't find Blake's scent outside of the car... and he would have had to been by the car to leave his phone/wallet in the car (on the seat, not thrown on impact) and his shoe & chain outside the car (didn't say beanie was his?)... *shrugs*

And as someone else mentioned, why wouldn't they have just had his parents immediately ID his body instead of waiting for the autopsy?

After even 2 days in the water, if it's not really cold decomp can alter features. The identification needs to be one that holds up in court, especially if foul play has not yet been ruled out, and an emotional parent, under severe stress, may ID incorrectly. It happened where I lived not long back where the parents ID'd the body of a girl killed in a car crash and she was NOT their daughter, only one of similar age, features and hair color, their daughter was still alive and in the hospital having survived the crash. Happy ending for them but brutal for the family of the other girl.

 

[hopekiser1219]

After even 2 days in the water, if it's not really cold decomp can alter features. The identification needs to be one that holds up in court, especially if foul play has not yet been ruled out, and an emotional parent, under severe stress, may ID incorrectly. It happened where I lived not long back where the parents ID'd the body of a girl killed in a car crash and she was NOT their daughter, only one of similar age, features and hair color, their daughter was still alive and in the hospital having survived the crash. Happy ending for them but brutal for the family of the other girl.

Oh I know what your talking about. I seen that on dateline or one of them shows


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[pirateboy]

I live in Knoxville, so I'm a little confused as to why he was out in Farragut at the time. Crown College is a 30 minute drive from Farragut. Crown College is on the Emory Rd exit north of Knoxville, and Farragut is west of Knoxville.

Now, his employer, Weed Man Lawn Care, is quite close to the park (9 miles) but knowing the area as well as I do, it's a bit out of the way.

Was he meeting a love interest? I doubt he'd be into the dating app stuff, but did something go wrong? I don't want to speculate beyond that because I literally have no idea. Just thinking out loud.

 

[pirateboy]

Also, Crown College is extremely conservative. The students have a dress code, and I think even 5-10 years ago still had uniforms.

 

[JaneEyre]

I live in Knoxville, so I'm a little confused as to why he was out in Farragut at the time. Crown College is a 30 minute drive from Farragut. Crown College is on the Emory Rd exit north of Knoxville, and Farragut is west of Knoxville.

Now, his employer, Weed Man Lawn Care, is quite close to the park (9 miles) but knowing the area as well as I do, it's a bit out of the way.

Was he meeting a love interest? I doubt he'd be into the dating app stuff, but did something go wrong? I don't want to speculate beyond that because I literally have no idea. Just thinking out loud.

His father said he liked to hike and suspected that's what he may have been there for. I have no idea if that surrounding area would be a good place for this, although hikers tend to just enjoy being in nature as well.

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[inmyhumbleopinion]

If the body found is indeed Blake and if this was suicide, is it possible he jumped from the bridge that carries Topside RD over George Creek?

The body was apparently found about a quarter mile from where his car was found; perhaps that’s how far it is “as the crow flies”?

As to the significance of George’s Creek being a tributary that drains into Fort Loudoun Lake:

“Family members said the last interaction they can find was an Instagram photo posted about the time he went missing. The photo is of a lake at Admiral Farragut Park where the search is planned.”
http://www.trussvilletribune.com/20...for-trussville-man-missing-in-knoxville-tenn/

Fort Loudoun Lake is located at Admiral Farragut Park:

https://www.knoxcounty.org/parks/images/park_maps/admiral_discgolf.jpg

He had to know people would start looking for him, IMO. Maybe he was afraid if he were to be found near the bridge, suicide would be suspected, so he posted the picture of the lake that the creek drains into, hoping that searchers would focus there (which they did initially), where he would eventually be found, while making suicide look less likely.

Perhaps Blake staged the scene at the construction site, so as to make it look as though foul play had taken place.

As far as canine unit not detecting his scent, the information came from his aunt, rather than LE:
“‘Police think the car was stolen,’ said Smith's aunt, Jill Basher Williams, when she spoke to AL.com Sunday afternoon. ‘The canine unit did not detect his scent outside of the car.’”
https://articles.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/02/young_alabama_college_student_1.amp

One thing I’m stuck on: If Blake drove his car to the construction site himself, why that particular location?

MOO
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[raja]

IMO it seems someone was trying to stage the car going into the lake with items belonging to Blake scattered about. That person screwed up and put the car in reverse. I hope they look for DNA on the damaged door. Blake was killed elsewhere before the staged car accident. Blake putting a block on the peddle of his own car is ridiculous, imho.

 

[eucalyptuz]

Yes, there are lots of puzzling details.

-When he first went missing, I thought it was possible he had not event gone to the park where the photo was taken...perhaps just his phone had. I still would like to know if there is a witness to that. The park does not seem to be particularly prominent as a hook-up location although I did find it listed on a registry of LGBT places to go.

-I wish we had a photo of the car wreck at the house construction site to get a better picture of what went down. Was it intended for the car to enter the lake?with/without a driver? Or just smash into a wall at high velocity? Was the phone plugged in? I know the “find my phone” feature on smart phones indicates whether the phone is charging...A charging phone is one way to assuage parents that may be monitoring activity.

-SM: I can only find a Facebook for BS. Has anybody had success with any others?

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Yes, there are lots of puzzling details.

-When he first went missing, I thought it was possible he had not event gone to the park where the photo was taken...perhaps just his phone had. I still would like to know if there is a witness to that. The park does not seem to be particularly prominent as a hook-up location although I did find it listed on a registry of LGBT places to go.

-I wish we had a photo of the car wreck at the house construction site to get a better picture of what went down. Was it intended for the car to enter the lake?with/without a driver? Or just smash into a wall at high velocity? Was the phone plugged in? I know the “find my phone” feature on smart phones indicates whether the phone is charging...A charging phone is one way to assuage parents that may be monitoring activity.

-SM: I can only find a Facebook for BS. Has anybody had success with any others?

RBBM: Yes, if someone saw Blake at the park that afternoon, I hope the person comes forward. The location being listed on a list of LGBT places to go is indeed interesting, IMO.

I also wonder if there was anyone who noticed any unusual activity or saw someone at the construction site between 2pm-ish the day Blake was last heard from and 7am-ish the next day. It seems sounds like there was extensive damage to the car, and whoever that brought it there would have spent quite bit of time there, IMO.

 

[JaneEyre]

My thoughts on this case have been, from the beginning, how much the initial discussion resembles the initial discussion in the Blaze Bernstein case. Initially, many posts were about what could have led this young man to run off and commit suicide, discussing the pressures of college, or the pressures of being LGBT. I see the same thing happening here. Our minds automatically think the most obvious reason for a young college-age man to go missing is due to pressures and potential suicide. (Our minds often go in the opposite direction when a young woman goes missing.)

I have no idea what happened, but because of Blaze's case being so fresh in my mind, I am suspecting foul play. Although the weird situation with the car, the cinder block, the single shoe, hat, and chain being left behind all add to my suspicions.

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[JaneEyre]

I'm also going to say this. I would like to know more about these roommates in the dorm and when they realized he had not come home (at some point that night - or not until morning?)

Having attended a southern Christian university that was not a Bible College, but was under the arm of the TBC at the time, here's what I would have expected to have happened in this situation when I lived in the dorms in the 90s. Had my own roommate, who was on the wild side, not come home, I might have done nothing for up to a day before calling her parents to see if she was staying with them in the suburbs near there. However, if one of my super Christian friends (particularly one studying to be a preacher) had not come home, I would have probably gone to our RA in the morning to voice my concern if her family was out of state.

This may seem overreactive or not what a young person would do, but even though I wasn't at a Bible College per se, we considered our RAs to be sort of like a dorm parent, and we looked out for one another. Since nobody would get in trouble for not returning to the dorm for one night, it would not be like ratting them out. But it would be normal to notice and to be concerned about a particularly socially conservative roommate.

It was not the sort of place where someone could successfully disappear or commit suicide without being found in time. I would think that an even smaller, and more seriously Christian college, would have an even more small community-minded dorm atmosphere. This is precisely why they are set up this way - for safety and care to be taken of each other, or at least it was where I went, which is why nothing truly terrible ever seemed to happen there.

I was not one of the "good Christian" students, but I did take seriously my responsibilities to those who chose to live and study in that community, particularly to the ones who came from conservative and sheltered backgrounds.

Just my thoughts based on my experience. I have no idea what this college community was like for sure, or what the expectations were like.

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[Hippononymous]

Even though these details all seem strange and confusing, I believe that there are enough details for LE to figure out exactly what happened...precisely because there are so many details.

 

[GraceG]

IMO it seems someone was trying to stage the car going into the lake with items belonging to Blake scattered about. That person screwed up and put the car in reverse. I hope they look for DNA on the damaged door. Blake was killed elsewhere before the staged car accident. Blake putting a block on the peddle of his own car is ridiculous, imho.

Perhaps it's an error in reporting but media said the lake was over 7 miles from where the car was found. Link here: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news...-student-family-suspects-foul-play/306318002/

 

[JaneEyre]

Just a cursory look at their student handbook shows this place would be a nightmare for an impressionable kid. Some hightlights from the dating section:

- There will be no physical contact between members of the opposite sex. (this includes hand holding)

- Young men may call their dates 30 min before Sunday School.

- Dating couples may not walk alone at night on campus without the presence of a 3rd person.

- Ladies are not permitted to be in a car with a male without prior written authorization of the Administration.

- Couples are not permitted to be together on Saturday's before lunch or on Sundays after lunch.

- Dating couples are not permitted to be alone together without the presence of a 3rd party.

- Dorm students may not date a person who lives off-campus or is not a Crown College student.

and my personal "favorite":

Interracial dating is NOT permitted without the written and verbal authorization of parents of both students.

I would link the website to the handbook but not sure if that is permitted.

ETA: Another "favorite": students of Crown College may only date students at Trinity Baptist Academy (a high school) who have reached their junior or senior year.

Holy bananas! That's one thousand times more intense than the rules I lived with, which essentially were that convocation on Wednesdays was required to graduate, and that men were only allowed in women's dorms (and vice versa) a few hours a week, and that our doors would all have to be open and all feet on the floor during those few hours if the opposite sex was visiting. And of course, no alcohol on campus.

So this bit of (insane) information you have provided makes me really wonder if either of the roommates did not bring his absence to the attention of an RA, unless because of these tight controls it would have felt more like tattling than concern. (In my case, telling an RA would not result in any kind of write-up, so would be solely out of concern. In this case, I wonder if it was required to get permission to not sleep in the dorm.)

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[Gardener1850]

Found a video interview with his parents: https://www.knoxnews.com/videos/new...ents-missing-crown-college-student/110120836/

According to that his parents tracked him with an app called "Life 360". They noticed he was at an unusual place Saturday night late at night when he was supposed to be at the dorm. When he still wasn't back at the dorm at 2 AM his dad was concerned. Dad called his roommates at 7 AM and found out he never made it back there. Then they contacted college security and police. Dad said no blood in car so they are hoping for the best. A friend had dropped him off at the dorm after work around 2 PM, then he had texted his dad his W2's so his dad could help do taxes. His dad thinks he got in his car and drove to the park right after that because the picture was posted to instagram not long after the text. He likes to hike so his dad thinks he went to the park to hike.

Bumping this interview with his parents. Just want to clarify when I said above "They contacted campus security and police" I meant his parents. His parents reported him missing, not his dorm mates.