TX TX - Thomas Brown, 18, Hemphill County, 23 Nov 2016 #4

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Hemphill County searching for missing teen
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According Brown's mother, Penny Brown, he was last seen around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23. after spending the evening with friends, and has not been seen or heard from since.

According to the Canadian Record, searchers found Brown's SUV around 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 24 at the municipal wastewater treatment facility parked under some trees with no signs of foul play.​


https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2021/Press/Cold Case Missing Person Unit Press Packet - NEW (10.25.21).pdf


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ADMIN INSTRUCTIONS FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS THREAD:

The Office of the Attorney General of Texas has officially stated that they cannot at this time determine if Thomas Brown’s death was a result of an accident, a homicide, or a suicide. Thus there is no official indication that a crime has been committed. This case began as a missing person case, now it is a located case. ALL TERMS OF SERVICE ARE IN EFFECT FOR THIS THREAD. These are the rules that every one of us agreed to when we joined. It is disheartening that so many ignored those rules in countless posts in previous threads.

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https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2021/Press/Cold Case Missing Person Unit Press Packet - NEW (10.25.21).pdf

From the OAG statement, p 2-3:

RELEVANT TIMELINE INFORMATION OF THE DISAPPEARANCE
(VERIFIED THROUGH MULTIPLE SOURCES OF FORENSIC DATA)
 Wednesday, November 23, 2016, 6:04 PM -Thomas Brown leaves his house.
 9:11 PM - Internet search for a suicide hotline on THOMAS BROWN’S phone.
 11:26 PM - THOMAS BROWN’S Dodge Durango observed headed towards town.
 11:28 PM to 11:36 PM - Last known credit card transaction by THOMAS BROWN at Fronk’s Oil and Gas pumping gas.
 Thursday, November 24, 2016, 12:23 AM - THOMAS BROWN’S iPhone loses power (the phone dies, it is not shut off).
 1:10 AM - Dodge Durango seen headed in the direction of THOMAS BROWN’S house.
 1:11 AM - Dodge Durango seen headed back in the direction of town (away from THOMAS BROWN’S house).

 5:28 AM - Dodge Durango seen headed in the direction of THOMAS BROWN’S house.
 5:30 AM - Dodge Durango seen headed into town (away from THOMAS BROWN’S house).
 5:56 AM - Dodge Durango presumably seen driving into the water treatment
facility (never seen coming back out).
 8:30 AM - Dodge Durango located at the water treatment facility.
 
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https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2021/Press/Cold Case Missing Person Unit Press Packet - NEW (10.25.21).pdf

Also from the OAG statement, p 3:

ITEMS OF EVIDENTIARY INTEREST
 11/24/16 - Dodge Durango belonging to THOMAS BROWN found
 Soil sample taken from apparent wet spot near driver’s side of
vehicle
 Testing by the University of North Texas yielded no results
 .25 caliber casing found on floorboard of front passenger side.
 Casing did not provide any forensic evidence. No latent prints could be identified on the casing and casing could not be tested further for DNA per DPS lab.
 01/27/17 - Backpack belonging to THOMAS BROWN found containing his school-issued laptop.
 Nothing of forensic value found on laptop.
 10/14/17 - iPhone belonging to THOMAS BROWN found on (see additional information on iPhone below).
 10/14/17 Gun case found.
 Forensic testing by DPS-no profile could be obtained from hair
samples found on the case
 Records produced from Apple, Inc. indicate that THOMAS
BROWN’S iCloud account did not contain data that is commonly backed up such as iMessages and photographs. It is of interest because IP logs and data access logs were blank.
 Records from Facebook indicate THOMAS BROWN’S Facebook page had been removed. Per a representative from Facebook, removing a Facebook account can only be done with the account owner’s password.
 January to February 2019 - Skeletal remains positively identified as THOMAS BROWN located in.
 Partial skeletal remains were discovered on January 9, 2019, by
PYNE GREGORY, former Hemphill County Deputy, at
approximately 9:45 a.m. while he was on duty.
 Other remains, though not all remains, discovered in OAG
search on February 12, 2019.
 
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Regarding the nowhere-to-be-found photo at the gas station, did posters try inputting whatever URL they think they saw it at, into the WayBackMachine to see if an earlier, archived version of that URL photo's webpage was possibly saved there?

(I personally lean more towards the thought that the photo was taken by NL's vehicle cam, however...) OutWest, you sometimes travel through Canadian, isnt it possible that the Dollar General store has a non-exterior camera, a camera inside the store window pointed looking out the store window?
 
@buyerninety, the last time I was in the Dollar General an interior camera pointed toward the front door (eastward). It should be able to pick up traffic on 2nd Street .... but not at Fronk Oil to the south.
 
Thanks OutWest, so NL's vehicle (or possibly another police vehicle's) camera was where the video photo originated from, then.
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<modsnip>
 
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I 10000% remember the photo. I know I saw it and I even jotted down 'photo of Tom at gas station' and put a messing box around it in pen. (I take notes as I read). I dont know where the photo is now, but I know I saw it and I thought it was taken from a vehicle.
 
Is it the same ol stuff? Or is there anything new?
 
I quit listening after about 5 minutes. Samples is just regurgitating more ill will toward Klein......I can't listen any longer! :rolleyes:
 
In rereading the timeline, is it possible TB was headed home at @ 1:10 decided against it and turned around. So, if it was TB, where was he until 5:28 am when his truck was videotaped going toward his house...again and the truck was again videotaped going away from the house a minute later? Why would someone other than TB do this??

And then a half hour later, TB's truck is seen driving into the water treatment facility?

Why would someone other than TB be driving his truck? And near the vicinity of his home?

Someone please tell me how you link this to the murder of TB??

I think TB may have been vacillating between going home or hurting himself. Maybe he parked his truck in the water facility knowing that it would be awhile before anyone found it and give him time to walk to Lake Marvin (near where his grandfather had committed suicide).

I'm sorry but I can't visualize a murder. I haven't seen anything that convinces me
of that. Suicide, yes definitely. It appeared he was struggling with many things and holidays are often times when people commit suicide. This is all jmo....
 
In rereading the timeline, is it possible TB was headed home at @ 1:10 decided against it and turned around. So, if it was TB, where was he until 5:28 am when his truck was videotaped going toward his house...again and the truck was again videotaped going away from the house a minute later? Why would someone other than TB do this??

And then a half hour later, TB's truck is seen driving into the water treatment facility?

Why would someone other than TB be driving his truck? And near the vicinity of his home?

Someone please tell me how you link this to the murder of TB??

I think TB may have been vacillating between going home or hurting himself. Maybe he parked his truck in the water facility knowing that it would be awhile before anyone found it and give him time to walk to Lake Marvin (near where his grandfather had committed suicide).

I'm sorry but I can't visualize a murder. I haven't seen anything that convinces me
of that. Suicide, yes definitely. It appeared he was struggling with many things and holidays are often times when people commit suicide. This is all jmo....

Canadian is so small that just about anywhere is near his home.

I could see someone else driving his truck if something happened on a private property that they didn't want LE to know he was there. Say, I had a bunch of land just outside of town and a gun accidentally went off and Tom was killed. I would have a bunch of questions to answer and depending on if it truly was an accident or not, lots of legal problems. I can see where someone would put his vehicle in a place that would focus on another area vs. my property.
 
On the 29th of September 2017, in the Netherlands 25 year old Anne Faber was riding her bicycle in the city of Utrecht and went missing.

Days later her bike, jacket and bag were found separately and distanced from each other, Not unlike Tom Brown’s car, backpack and phone. As the items were found the Dutch police were more convinced it was foul play and not an accident or suicide. Indeed, this woman was later found to be a victim of homicide.

IMO, it strikes me as odd that these similar pieces of Tom’s case don’t strike the same cord making foul play the most likely narrative.
 
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Since suicide is a consideration, is anyone willing to use the timeline and build two hypothetical scenarios - one for suicide and one for assisted suicide and a potential cover up to get a clearer understanding of how those narratives could possibly fit this case? I can’t seem to wrap my head around those scenarios using the timeframes and information available.
 
If TB committed suicide, this is how I see it happening: He drives out to Lake Marvin Road, places his backpack and other items found down the road, drives back into town, parks his car at the water treatment plant at 6:30AM, walks 3-4 miles where his body is found, kills himself by an unknown means around 7:30AM? He has to cross the Canadian river and I don't have a clue as to the terrain he is crossing, all on a frigid night/morning with nothing but a light jacket on? I guess he could have died from hypothermia after going through the river.

I am not familiar with Canadian and the landscape of this scenario. Maybe someone who understands where he was actually found and how he could get there without his vehicle can see if this scenario would work.

I, myself just do not see the possibility. Why park your car 3-4 miles away and walk to where you commit suicide? And wouldn't the helicopter have been up while he was walking? I just can't wrap my head around it with what we know to be acts today.

And I am not even going to try to understand the timeline for an assisted suicide. IMO not going there!
 
If TB committed suicide, this is how I see it happening: He drives out to Lake Marvin Road, places his backpack and other items found down the road, drives back into town, parks his car at the water treatment plant at 6:30AM, walks 3-4 miles where his body is found, kills himself by an unknown means around 7:30AM? He has to cross the Canadian river and I don't have a clue as to the terrain he is crossing, all on a frigid night/morning with nothing but a light jacket on? I guess he could have died from hypothermia after going through the river.

I am not familiar with Canadian and the landscape of this scenario. Maybe someone who understands where he was actually found and how he could get there without his vehicle can see if this scenario would work.

I, myself just do not see the possibility. Why park your car 3-4 miles away and walk to where you commit suicide? And wouldn't the helicopter have been up while he was walking? I just can't wrap my head around it with what we know to be acts today.

And I am not even going to try to understand the timeline for an assisted suicide. IMO not going there!
Thank you for that.. from what I’ve learned from the unfound podcasts with the map it is 14-17 miles (depending on the path taken - 14 miles as the crow flies and about 17 using the roads) from the Durango to where his remains were found on Lake Marvin. Making it about a 4 hour walk from the truck to Lake Marvin.

The helicopter most definitely would have been up while he was walking according to the time of the drop off of the Durango and the walk to Lake Marvin.

The assisted suicide scenario is trickier, for sure!
 
In rereading the timeline, is it possible TB was headed home at @ 1:10 decided against it and turned around. So, if it was TB, where was he until 5:28 am when his truck was videotaped going toward his house...again and the truck was again videotaped going away from the house a minute later? Why would someone other than TB do this??

And then a half hour later, TB's truck is seen driving into the water treatment facility?

Why would someone other than TB be driving his truck? And near the vicinity of his home?

Someone please tell me how you link this to the murder of TB??

I think TB may have been vacillating between going home or hurting himself. Maybe he parked his truck in the water facility knowing that it would be awhile before anyone found it and give him time to walk to Lake Marvin (near where his grandfather had committed suicide).

I'm sorry but I can't visualize a murder. I haven't seen anything that convinces me
of that. Suicide, yes definitely. It appeared he was struggling with many things and holidays are often times when people commit suicide. This is all jmo....
The coming and going towards the house is odd - and I agree it could have been TB, perhaps it’s picking someone up and dropping someone off again?

If it was foul play, for example, it could be that Thomas was held at gun point while they pick someone up from the vicinity of his home making it three people in Toms car, then dropping Tom off at Lake Marvin, likely harmed and returning to toss his belongings on the side of the road and then drop the second person off and park at treatment plant.

For a suicide scenario, it could be he was coming and going thinking about it but that four hour walk with a backpack half the way just to drop it off and kill himself is odd - but odd behaviour is the norm in scenarios for people who commit suicide. He would have likely hid from Christian’s helicopter. It fits the timeframe to have been where the backpack was left behind by walking from the Durango to the site the backpack was found while the helicopter was searching for him.
 
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