I Speculated on the Heartbreaking Disappearance of Michael Negrete

here.

I'm Still Wondering about the Indiana Dunes Mystery

Well, it's not the only mystery centered in the Indiana Dunes, but the disappearance of three young women from the beach when thousands of people were present remains one of the most enduring and perplexing cases.

What happened to Patrica Blough, Renee Bruhl and Ann Miller on July 2, 1966?

Unless I'm mistaken, there's never been a book dedicated solely to this case (a few compendia have included brief rundowns of the case). I'm discounting one book predicated on what I consider a completely outlandish theory not based in any real evidence.

I'm still wondering what happened. Silas Jayne? Certainly evil enough to have been behind it. Richard Speck? Ditto and nearby that day. An innocent accident in a park known for dangerous waters and dangerous terrain as well? Something else?

This isn't the only disappearance of three women in one fell swoop. Those other cases of multiple disappearances are equally disturbing. For example, the Springfield Three or the Fort Worth Missing Trio.

I'm surprised no one has made a movie about the Indian Dunes mystery. It would require a director with subtlety, someone attuned to the unanswerable side of things. Probably someone like Sofia Coppola. 

The Woman in the Snowstorm

I just noticed this post on Reddit about my theory that serial killer Steven Brian Pennell might have been responsible for the horrific murder of Sheree Magaro.

Sheree lived in my area, only about a thirty minute drive from my home at the time. I never knew her or any of her relations, although I did go to school with someone sharing her surname. It’s probably a fairly common name. I had missed the story of her disappearance in the news cycles at the time it occurred. I learned of it only recently and accidentally while researching another unexplained local disappearance.
She must have been a brave woman (she clearly fought her attacker) and I'm sure she is still missed by many.

Unsolved gruesome murders like that nightmarish one really stay with one. One hopes for answers and justice, even when one knows the likelihood of that is diminishing year by year.

Oh Puhleez

I was looking at a list of people who have gone missing under mysterious circumstances.

I was particularly taken with the ridiculously quick "resolution" achieved in the disappearance of Guma Leandro Aguiar.

The family got him declared dead after less than three years when the usual legal requirement is seven?

That boat driven up onto the beach totally looks like a set-up. His body would almost certainly have been found if he went overboard that close to shore.

This article has the GPS info (see the embedded video) showing he almost certainly jumped from one boat to another.

Note the reassembly of Aguiar's "team" in the Netherlands.

This man is almost certainly alive.

I'm sure he was declared dead so soon because the rich generally get their way in court.

It sounds as though Aguiar was having a really hard time of it with bipolar disorder. Maybe he needed a way to exit a marriage that wasn't working for him and find a space to clear his head.

It would have been so easy for him to secret away funds in any number of overseas accounts or to have had friends hold money for him. It's also possible that he is acting in collusion with certain members of his own family. I suppose it could all come down to fiduciary and other financial forensics. That's probably where the answer lies.

P.S. Guma, call me. I avoid people a lot too, know what it's like to be bipolar, and I would love to have a bowling partner I could hit up for the occasional ten thousand dollars "until next Friday." I know you're not swimming with the mermaids.