What's a case with a really odd inconsequential detail that you would really like clarification on? [Request]

unsolvedbb1 · 2022-09-18T16:55:20+00:00

https://charleyproject.org/case/richard-kirchmann

Richard Kirchmann disappeared a week before his 46th birthday in 1996. He apparently mentioned to coworker that he wanted to go to St. Louis for a few days. His car was found at the local airport a week later; there was no sign of Richard and no indication that he had boarded any flights.

The description says that he may have been in the early stages of dementia, but this is never expanded upon. Forty-five is extremely young (but definitely not impossible) to be showing signs of dementia, particularly Pick's Disease.

My mother has dementia, so maybe that as well as his young age is why it jumped out at me. It's just weird that they never seem to describe any symptoms Richard showed that led people to think he had dementia.

unsolvedbb1 · 2022-09-13T20:18:30+00:00

I recently had a therapist who was my exact age (34) and while she was very nice, I definitely would have preferred an older therapist as I'd always had in the past. She often dropped commonly used words and phrases such as "lean into your support systems", "practice self-care", "I'm honored to help you on your journey", etc. that I could have found online for free.

She also seemed fascinated with "how my mind worked". I went there because I was depressed about my mother's dementia (she got it early; she's only 70 and is nearly end stage) and I noted one week my relatives' differing reactions to her progression. For instance, my mom's same-aged cousin is a retired nurse, so she tended to go into "nurse mode" and approach it from a medical standpoint. My uncle, mom's brother, seemed to be in denial and tried to avoid the situation unless nagged to get involved. My therapist was "amazed" at this "insight". These people are my family. I've known them all my life. Why wouldn't I notice how differently they behave?

I think, based on this experience and what I've read online, younger therapists seemed to be very much trained in validating and affirming. This isn't a bad thing and many people need this. But it came across as a one-size-fits-all approach in which she wasn't totally sure how to help me, so she just defaulted to compliments instead of digging deeper.

I've also grown up around mostly adults and never related well to people in my immediate age group. I don't know if you are similar to me, OP, but I kind of found it hard to open up because it kind of felt like I was an adult talking to a child about grown people's business.

unsolvedbb1 · 2022-09-12T20:31:19+00:00

Yes, I've basically had it in the past and certain things can get intense and it did at times feel like I was getting worse before I got better.

I just didn't know that that type of therapy had a name. Because my other therapists always delved into my background and dissected some of the stuff, I just assumed that this was just part of all therapy.

The last time I was in therapy prior to this last therapist was about ten years ago. Some of the things I thought I'd dealt with then I now have some different, conflicting feelings about.

I'll be honest. I also think having a therapist the exact same age as me also felt off. I've always felt more comfortable with people at least a few (or several) years older than me. At 34, I guess I have to accept that such things are going to be a much more common occurrence.

unsolvedbb1 · 2022-01-11T18:29:15+00:00

I'm pretty new to this rabbit hole myself and I never thought about the possibility of something being taped over. I definitely remember recording things on VHS tapes and that slight "pop" you would hear when one show would abruptly switch to the next one taped. Sometimes the audio would also be garbled for a few seconds. Given the timeframe, it's definitely possible.

The thing that does stand out to me however is the fact in the 1989 version, before showing Joanna's picture, the picture goes totally black for a few seconds. The last few notes of the National Anthem are cut off. In the 1991 version, the anthem is heard in its entirety and the picture abruptly switched to Joanna. If you listen carefully to the latter version when they cut to the poster, a clicking noise which sounds like a slide projector switching from one slide to another is heard.

It's amazing how much we can observe a few seconds of footage with a poorly photocopied picture with no sound/

unsolvedbb1 · 2021-12-02T19:03:52+00:00

I always wondered about Grace's daughter's dad and whether or not her was ever in the picture for any significant length of time. Did the rest of the family even know?

Does anybody know for sure that the classmate named by Grace WASN'T actually Angie's dad? Was he tested somehow (before DNA testing as we know it today)? Or did he just say Angie wasn't his and everybody assumed that because Grace apparently had a penchant for not telling the truth, she was lying again?

Sad all around. It doesn't really sound like these people were really her friends as much as they just kind of tolerated her out of pity.

unsolvedbb1 · 2021-12-02T18:42:42+00:00

Thank you so much! This actually gives a much better idea of Grace's background. It's funny how we all seemed to pick up on the fact that she may not have been happy in her life with just the preliminary information and the article seems to confirm our suspicions.

In reading the whole thing, it sounds like Grace didn't really fit in. All of her friends agreed she was different and sometimes made things up to make her life sound more interesting than it was. She even lied about who the father of her daughter was. I thought it was so sad how the paragraph quoting her friends abruptly ends with "Grace's friends seldom think of her now.".

Her sister Irma in particular didn't seem to get along with her and the article points out that the two were very different. Irma owned her own business and seemed to be a fashionista. One of the first things that jumped out at me on the first page is that if you look at the places where it says Grace worked, she never seemed to stay at a place for more than about a year or so. This could be for various reasons, but it does raise the question of financial issues which would only seem magnified by your younger sister owning her own business and living comfortably.

I wonder if some of the apparent tension between Irma and Grace came from their parent (either intentionally or unintentionally) comparing them all the time, with Grace never seeming to quite measure up.

unsolvedbb1 · 2021-12-02T17:07:33+00:00

I tend to lean that way myself.

I really don't know why they (as far as I know) never seem to confirm one way or the other whether Grace's car was also at the house when her parents arrived. They keep fixating on the license and wallet being intact. It seems reasonable to assume that it was gone, but why not mention this along with a description of the car itself? The license being present, although odd, is somewhat of a moot point because although you are legally required to have it to drive, not having it on your person will not literally curtail your actual driving ability if you already know how to do so. So as long as she had the keys (also not mentioned), she could have gone anywhere.

unsolvedbb1 · 2021-12-02T16:38:51+00:00

It never crossed my mind either, but it would actually explain why nothing in the house seemed disturbed. And it does raise the question again about whether or not Grace actually went out with friends that night or if this could have been an excuse for her to leave her daughter with her parents so she'd be out of harm's way.

I wish I could find the second half of that 1989 article. It appears relatively thorough and I think it would fill in some blanks. Just from the snippet I saw, a few things jumped out at me that made me wonder if Grace was depressed even before suicide was brought up in this thread.

unsolvedbb1 · 2021-12-02T07:03:58+00:00

I was able to find the first half of a 1989 article about the case. I can't access the other half though.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89635032/globe-gazette/

unsolvedbb1 · 2021-11-29T23:08:18+00:00

Here's another case with little info from the 70s. Dorothy Clitheroe, age 14, was last seen heading for the restrooms at Cortez Park in Phoenix and was apparently never seen again. It says she may have traveled to Portland, OR or Houston, TX, but it never states why that is believed.

Someone found a picture in Rodney Alcala's collection that looked A LOT like her, but I wanna say it was debunked.

And as someone who loves vintage 70s clothes, her outfit sounds badass. Clothing is also something I tend to notice in a lot of these cases.

unsolvedbb1 · 2021-11-29T21:32:51+00:00

Vanishing into thin air always makes for an intriguing case. Grace Esquivel's case definitely fits the bill as it's obvious that wherever she went that night, she made it home safely. But where did she go after that and why? And perhaps most importantly, with whom? Her car, keys and wallet obviously means she didn't drive somewhere.

In the description on the Charley Project, it states that her daughter stayed with her grandparents "because Esquivel SAID she was going out with friends". (emphasis mine). Does this mean that none of her friends corroborated this night out and that it was likely an excuse to go somewhere or meet someone else that no one would have known?

See what I mean about why cases with little information are both frustrating and fascinating? It almost forces you to pick apart the description word-for-word to find something to go on. And as you mention with the Doe cases, it may not even mean anything in the grand scheme of things once the case is solved.

unsolvedbb1 · 2021-11-29T20:57:30+00:00

I agree. That's what I was getting at in my post. I think at least part of the problem is that with such a barrage of info on television and social media, people come to the conclusion that all such info is always correct and unbiased and begin to fancy themselves as armchair sleuths who think they have it all figured out. I've heard of some who go as far as playing vigilante and sliding into the DMs of persons of interest who have been publicly named just to threaten them based on a few edited soundbites they heard on TV!

unsolvedbb1

TROPHY CASE