Found Deceased TX - Caleb Harris, 21, Texas A&M University student, Corpus Christi, 4 Mar 2024 #4

[Muddy K]

I don’t see the video. Is it just me?

No, me too. @Janitor101 could you please try to link it again? TIA.

 

[Janitor101]

Sorry for poor linkage.

You tube....type in.... How it works - Lift stations

I'm old..cut me some slack.

 

[dalsglen]

Sorry for poor linkage.

You tube....type in.... How it works - Lift stations

I'm old..cut me some slack.

here ya go

 

[Janitor101]

here ya go

That was so nice. Thanks @dalsglen !

 

[Bigditch]

here ya go

Now that we know how it works, what does it tell us?

 

[slowpoke]

here ya go

I notice how it says: (taken from the transcript)

from 1:47
“because the wet well environment is so dangerous access hatches are locked and monitored to prevent unauthorized entry”

This video was of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, but you’d think it’d be the same anywhere, that access hatches would be kept “locked and monitored”.

So, the question still remains—how in the heck did a body get in there if not from the access hatch of the lift station? Could it really have traveled through the pipes TO the lift station’s wet well?

Through DNA, the University of Texas’s Center for Human Identification will hopefully determine if this is Caleb or not, but will they be able to come to a conclusion on likely cause or manner of death? I wonder.

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

Would you know if the hatch to the 'wet well' is under lock and key? I was surprised to see that the well itself is located outside the little building.

Regardless, it would be an act of God trying to stuff a body under the fence even if you find a depression in the dirt if to work with. It had to be getting close to daylight and the not knowing when or if an employee was going to drop by had to have been a real stressor.

Seems like it had to have been an accident if this is Caleb we are talking about - that or a mental health crisis?

Interesting questions and thoughts Janitor101…… and for some reason reading and reflecting sadly reminds me of the documentary “Crime Scene - The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel”. A circa 2021 series on the apparent vanishing of a young college student and tourist in Los Angeles in early 2013. MOO

ETA…. way behind myself….. as it shows….. and I just see that MassGuy and SMK777 have already made reference to that incident with the Cecil Hotel and Elisa Lam. (And that is why I always sat in the back of the class….. unless the teacher put me on the front row. Which did happen. lol)

 

[Vail]

Interesting questions and thoughts Janitor101…… and for some reason reading and reflecting sadly reminds me of the documentary “Crime Scene - The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel”. A circa 2021 series on the apparent vanishing of a young college student and tourist in Los Angeles in early 2013. MOO

ETA…. way behind myself….. as it shows….. and I just see that MassGuy and SMK777 have already made reference to that incident with the Cecil Hotel and Elisa Lam. (And that is why I always sat in the back of the class….. unless the teacher put me on the front row. Which did happen. lol)

There are really no similarities between Caleb and Elisa Lam, IMO other than both of them potentially crawling into an open water tank and not being able to get out again.

But there is a striking similarity between Caleb and Noah DeWitt, who's thread is now MIA here on WS for some reason. He went missing in 2015 in the middle of the night, reported by his roomates, not wearing shoes, found in a wet well of a sewage pump station, also in college, known to enjoy urban exploration. 'We're obviously devastated,' Noah DeWitt's mom says
While LE investigated it as a crime like they are doing here, it would seem the case was quietly closed and the assumption seemed to be that Noah put himself there to intentionally end his life. Someone kindly linked this towards the beginning of the thread but here it is again How did a human body end up in the sewer?

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

There are really no similarities between Caleb and Elisa Lam, IMO other than both of them potentially crawling into an open water tank and not being able to get out again.

But there is a striking similarity between Caleb and Noah DeWitt, who's thread is now MIA here on WS for some reason. He went missing in 2015 in the middle of the night, reported by his roomates, not wearing shoes, found in a wet well of a sewage pump station, also in college, known to enjoy urban exploration. 'We're obviously devastated,' Noah DeWitt's mom says
While LE investigated it as a crime like they are doing here, it would seem the case was quietly closed and the assumption seemed to be that Noah put himself there to intentionally end his life. Someone kindly linked this towards the beginning of the thread but here it is again How did a human body end up in the sewer?

With all due respect, my opinion only was that this latest sad and unfortunate case reminded me of the other. I don’t believe any indication of similarities was given.

Having that clarification, the fact that two relatively young individuals were missing for an extended time, the fact that each was not readily located, that each was found in a somewhat sealed system, and that IIRC some malfunction or indicator of a fouling in the system led to their eventual location and retrieval - were what jogged my mind and recollection. MOO

 

[SMK777]

With all due respect, my opinion only was that this latest sad and unfortunate case reminded me of the other. I don’t believe any indication of similarities was given.

Having that clarification, the fact that two relatively young individuals were missing for an extended time, the fact that each was not readily located, that each was found in a somewhat sealed system, and that IIRC some malfunction or indicator of a fouling in the system led to their eventual location and retrieval - were what jogged my mind and recollection. MOO

Agreed. And the similarity with the Lam case was initially postulated by the talk on GHI of possible mushroom use ( being outside of one’s rational mind and entering a water tank) and that still holds as a possibility.

 

[MassGuy]

Agreed. And the similarity with the Lam case was initially postulated by the talk on GHI of possible mushroom use ( being outside of one’s rational mind and entering a water tank) and that still holds as a possibility.

Yes. The point was mental state and how it could lead to unintended consequences.

The comparison wasn’t that he ended up in a similar location to someone else.

 

[slowpoke]

There are really no similarities between Caleb and Elisa Lam, IMO other than both of them potentially crawling into an open water tank and not being able to get out again.

But there is a striking similarity between Caleb and Noah DeWitt, who's thread is now MIA here on WS for some reason. He went missing in 2015 in the middle of the night, reported by his roomates, not wearing shoes, found in a wet well of a sewage pump station, also in college, known to enjoy urban exploration. 'We're obviously devastated,' Noah DeWitt's mom says
While LE investigated it as a crime like they are doing here, it would seem the case was quietly closed and the assumption seemed to be that Noah put himself there to intentionally end his life. Someone kindly linked this towards the beginning of the thread but here it is again How did a human body end up in the sewer?

Striking similarity, all right.

So, in Noah’s case—-was an open manhole ever located that was surmised may be where he entered, in order to end up in the wet well? Were any autopsy results ever disclosed in any news reports?

 

[JackieBrown]

Wow, Vail. So much of Caleb’s disappearance has seemed unlikely/improbable and yet- here’s another! wow

Slowpoke, I googled for more coverage of Noah Dewitt and found this article with a partial comment on your question above.

“City officials said there are only two ways for a person to enter the well: through a manhole or through internalized access — which officials say is unlikely because the building is gated and locked.”

Some dates for comparison:
Noah DeWitt was reported missing Feb 14.
His remains were recovered May 27th
He was ID’d on May 31st.

 

[txsleuth70]

All his roommates have airclad albis?
What about any bullies or enemies locally?
Anyone harrassing him online?
I'd look into those closest to him first and expand.

Yes, and what about any previous hook up acquaintances? They would be very difficult to identify. The odds they exist are good, though. I seriously doubt this was his first time for a meet up. MOO

 

[txsleuth70]

Wow, Vail. So much of Caleb’s disappearance has seemed unlikely/improbable and yet- here’s another! wow

Slowpoke, I googled for more coverage of Noah Dewitt and found this article with a partial comment on your question above.

“City officials said there are only two ways for a person to enter the well: through a manhole or through internalized access — which officials say is unlikely because the building is gated and locked.”

Some dates for comparison:
Noah DeWitt was reported missing Feb 14.
His remains were recovered May 27th
He was ID’d on May 31st.

ID'd in 4 days. There goes the notion of waiting 6 weeks for DNA identification.

If Caleb's clothes were found near the remains then LE should have identified him. Sure, go ahead and run DNA but disclose the info about the clothing.

I feel for the family and respect their right to privacy, but they should not keeping LE on strings about the info.

 

[SMK777]

ID'd in 4 days. There goes the notion of waiting 6 weeks for DNA identification.

If Caleb's clothes were found near the remains then LE should have identified him. Sure, go ahead and run DNA but disclose the info about the clothing.

I feel for the family and respect their right to privacy, but they should not keeping LE on strings about the info.

What do you think is causing such an extensive delay with the identification, whether to rule out or confirm Caleb?

 

[UncaStoley]

What do you think is causing such an extensive delay with the identification, whether to rule out or confirm Caleb?

The delays by LE in this case are both frustrating and I believe unnecessary. The family and public have a right to know. As pointed out in a previous post, surely they would have found articles of clothing along with the remains in that wet well. We know what Caleb was wearing that night. If they found clothes that appeared to match what Caleb was wearing they should say so. If no clothes were recovered then mention that as well.

There has been no clarification by LE regarding a body being able to flow through a 15” pipe into the lift station. Is that possible? LE should make a statement as such. If that is highly unlikely, then the body being placed in the well or Caleb falling into it somehow would be the only way for the body to get where it was found. If it is possible to fall or deliberately enter into a manhole and the body end up in the lift station then say so. One more thing, they need to reveal if there was an open manhole in that area the night Caleb disappeared. These are questions that should have been addressed by now.

As we wait and speculate as to the identification of the remains, we can only hope that some answers to this mystery are forthcoming.

 

[Diavola]

What do you think is causing such an extensive delay with the identification, whether to rule out or confirm Caleb?

Dentals shouldn't take long, but if they are not possible then they have to compare DNA. If that's what they're waiting for then maybe the labs are crowded and they don't give priority to anyone.

 

[Bahshudc]

Are there any users with knowledge in this field able to suggest a reason for this? It really is taking a while… I am praying for a release of info very, very soon. Moo.

 

[TwoBlueJays]

I speculated upthread that Caleb was assaulted by someone with access to the lift station. Whether utility workers or contractors have been interviewed, I don't know. But once the DNA confirms it is Caleb, I would think LE will turn their attention to that group. Because the incoming pipe diameter rules out even a torso being pushed into the lift station well. Moo