MISSING BARTENDER MAY BE IN CANAL: Sarah Majoras a victim of mistaken identity?

UPDATE 3/12/13: Majoras drowning "accidental" due to "very
high blood/alcohol levels at her time of death - case closed"
(This discussion is ongoing and has been bumped up for ease of posting)
UPDATED 2/17/13 - POLL QUESTION: Was Sarah Murdered?
*Scroll side panel to vote, and comment section for all updates:
BREAKING NEWS posted 2/1/13: Body ID'd as Sarah Majoras

 

With her customary cap, camouflage coat, leather boots, unisex eyewear and blue jeans, this short-haired bartender might've easily passed for a drunken youth, if you glimpsed her trudging home, hunched in the gripping cold of late January, at around three in the morning. She's been missing ever since then. 

 

Divers resumed searching the canal near the Delaware River community of Lambertville, New Jersey today. Evidently convinced this is where they'll find the body of Sarah Majoras, 39, who disappeared shortly after leaving John & Peter's Bar where she'd bartended for 15 years.

 

Majoras was off duty for the evening; drinking with her friends and enjoying live music, which the pub is locally famous for.

Afterward, at around two o'clock in the morning, she walked home and is said to have been just a few blocks shy of her residence when, in a 'Smiley Face Killer' scenario usually reserved only for intoxicated young males, she vanished without a trace.

 

If authorities are correct in their suspicions and Majoras did end up in the canal, then she would be the second hospitality industry worker from this particular region to mysteriously drown in cold waters in as many weeks.

 

On January 7th the corpse of Manuel Antonio Guevara, 26, was fished out of neighboring Watchung Lake. Tactical divers found him beneath a layer of ice near the lake-bottom. His shoes and wallet were recovered just a short walking distance from the lakeside restaurant where he was employed as a waiter.

 

Guevara's family had reported him missing the last week in December. So far there's been no ruling on the cause and manner of the young man's death, as police are still investigating.

 

More coincidences

 

If she drowned in the frigid morning hours without any witnesses, Sarah Majoras would also be the second resident of the virtually crime-free community of Lambertville to meet such an icy and bizarre fate.

 

In 2000, David Anderson, 31 years of age, was also walking alone in the wee small hours of the morning when he vanished and was later found dead in one of the nearby spillways.

 

Anderson's death was ruled an accident, but his friends, of which he had many, never believed it. They insisted his body could neither have entered nor drifted to the place it was found floating in.

 

They also said that the victim was super-cautious around the canal and river, whether sober or drinking, because he was deathly afraid of water and didn't know how to swim.

 

David Anderson was a very popular musician in this New Jersey/Pennsylvania border town, and he and his band played most of the local venues there because they cranked out great tunes and could really pack a place with customers.

 

One of his most frequent gigs was at...yep, you guessed it, John & Peter's.

 

That's were Anderson departed from--at three in the morning--when he was last seen alive.

 

Even more coincidences

 

Interestingly enough, both of John & Peter's pub-favorites, Sarah Majoras and David Anderson, took the same path on their journey homeward. And they also had the same destination in mind when each of them mysteriously disappeared: They were going to the house they shared with a guy named Adam Baker.

 

Baker was buddies with Anderson and reportedly the two roomed together, and he is also Majoras' live-in boyfriend of several years.

 

That ought to send up red flags for the authorities and strongly suggest to them that both victims did in fact make it back home and thereafter went missing. But police claim these two cases "aren't related" and that Baker, who is currently not thought to be a suspect, is fully cooperating with investigators.

 

Sarah Majoras is described as five-foot-four and 140 pounds, with blue eyes, blonde hair, and a fair complexion. She disappeared in the early hours of January 26th, 2013 and was last sighted by surveillance cameras on foot at the intersection of Bridge Street and Lambert Lane in Lambertville. 

 

Anyone with any information as to what happened to her after that, and/or her current whereabouts, is urged to call the Lambertville police at 609-397-3132, or the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office at 908-788-1129, and ask for Detective Lacey.  

 

(Any breaking news/updates in all 3 of the above cases will be posted below.)

 

UPDATE 1/30/13, morning: Parents of missing/drowned Lambertville resident, David Anderson, 31, who in 2000 went to the same person's home as Sarah Majoras was heading when he also disappeared, have spoken up about her case.

 

"It’s unbelievable. It’s really eerie what’s happening. It does seem strange she [too] crossed the bridge and no one knows what happened,” said Elizabeth Anderson. "This is the same pattern," her husband Carl Anderson added.

 

The 'Find Sarah" Facebook-group administrators are, however, aggressively discouraging any active theorizing on that page. They are trying to keep everyone's attention and dialog focused on "finding Sarah alive" they repeatedly state, despite that officials from the local DA's office as well as police divers being active on the scene shows that this is by now considered a "recovery operation" with indications of foul play. (DA's don't usually get involved on the ground without suspecting abduction or murder.)

 

It's not unusual for a citizen's group to micro-manage a missing person's case on the mistaken belief that simply "talking positive" will bring about positive results. Unfortunately that rarely occurs, and cutting off public debate about a case can often result in thwarting the public's interest in it as well. Something which can make the crime trail grow cold in a hurry.

 

Discussion concerning foul play here is warranted since there is obviously a number of glaring similarities and connections in Anderson's and Majora's disappearances that are impossible to ignore and which will justifiably cause speculation in all quarters, including on the part of police.

 

On that note, people familiar with the Lambertville terrain are expressing themselves elsewhere on the web. The following individual observations are of interest to those actively sleuthing this case. Both comments concern the appearance of a parked vehicle at the intersection where Sarah Majoras was last seen which appears to suddenly turn its parking beams on, as if engaging its engine:

 

“When I saw the still and that SUV sitting there immediately I thought of course thats a cop car! Thats where they always sat during my college days! It really does look like a cop car. Its black in front and has the white towards the back and there appears to be something on top of the vehicle.”

“When these bars let out at 2am, there is always a heavy police presence on the New Hope side as petty arguements break out among the 20 somethings however Ive never seen any real violence or fights, just drunken arguements. There is also a heavy police presence on the Lambertville side as the police often sit directly over that bridge and try to catch drunks coming over from New Hope. Its quite common to see people pulled over in this short area between the bridge and rt. 179 at this time of night.”

BREAKING NEWS - January 30th 2013, afternoon: Investigators reported that Sarah Majoras' leather boot has been recovered today from the ice on the Delaware River canal, near where she was last sighted on camera, and sources say a body has also just been retrieved matching Majora's description. No official confirmation as yet, but the vicitim is believed to be the missing bartender. The FBI is now fully involved in the Lambertville investigation.

NOTE: at this time I am flagging the Find Sarah facebook site on new evidence: Visitors to that page should be aware that one or more of its administrators has a vested interest in the outcome of this missing persons inquest, bringing doubt on the integrity and impartiality of their entire online "search" effort there. One or more Find Sarah admins also appear to be not only deleting "speculative" comments from the facebook page in question, but also "dropping in" on similar online discussions actively taking place elsewhere. This attempt to thwart critical dialog and info-sharing is strange in a missing-person's case and, IMHO, the individual or individuals engaging in it are not acting in good faith. Please keep in mind that boyfriends and husbands are always the prime suspects in missing women scenarios, since, statistically speaking, abductions and/or murders are rarely ever perpetrated by strangers. This would now be especially true for Majoras' boyfriend, Adam Baker, who has had at least one other "dear friend" go missing and then die in the same manner. (That deceased friend and Majoras are also said to have been friends, by the way. Yet another evidentiary fact that has caused the Federal Bureau of Investigations to "speculate" apparently.)

UPDATE JANUARY 31st 2013: The body retrieved yesterday from the canal in Lambertville has been formally identified as missing bartender Sarah Majoras. Her family was notified and autopsy and toxicology reports are still pending. Majoras was found in the same area of the canal as her friend David Anderson was 13 years ago. Both were coming from the same bar and going to see the same person when they disappeared and drowned. The FBI is still investigating  Majoras' case, but local law enforcement agencies are already announcing her death a "tragic accident" even though full test results have yet to come in. Anderson's drowning in 2000 was ruled "inconclusive" in part because he had facial lacerations and other perimortem injuries not typical for water fatalities, yet for some unknown reason the authorities did not pursue an explanation as to his manner of death. The Bureau is currently reviewing that identical drowning now as well.

UPDATE February 1st 2012: In a "tragic" rush to judgment, local law enforcement agencies are trying to push through a ruling of accidental drowning in order to swiftly close the Majoras death inquiry. Namely because they say they didn't note any significant injuries to the body. David Anderson's identical death 13 years prior is "not related" they still insist, and Adam Baker, a troubling link in both drownings, "has been ruled out as a suspect." However, the  same bar, the same hour, the same trek, the same canal area, the same destination, the same friend, the same kind of accident...the statistical improbability of all this presents the strongest hint of foul play. So detectives probing this matter are reminded that in all theorizing, "everything should be kept as simple as possible, but no simpler." (Albert Einstein) Operating on a theory of Majoras' disappearance and drowning being merely an *accidental* coincidence with Anderson's in 2000 is obviously too simplistic.

UPDATE February 5th 2013: Formal rulings on cause and manner of death as well as toxicology reports are still pending, but the police investigation into Sarah Majoras' disappearance and drowning is said to be ongoing. The Lambertville canal with suspected pathway Majoras took is shown in the image below. (Note that locals are emphasizing that there was significantly less snow and ice covering the water on the night that she vanished, and the canal area she's alleged to have "fallen" in is only about three feet deep.)

 

3/12/13: The drowning death of Sarah Majoras has now been

ruled an "accident" due to high concentrations of alcohol in her

blood at the time of death. Case is considered "closed" by LE.

 

Autumn, Winter, Missing, Dead

Without fail, The Case of the Drowning Men always involves a specific type of victim and their inexplicable disappearances. And, as can be seen from this particular kill season, these cases periodically spike every couple of years.

Below are a few I've been following since autumn of 2012 alone. These are only for the United States; there are now many more overseas and across the border with Canada as well which are not (yet) included here.

Note also that, although the first 'drowning' deaths--beginning in 1997 with 21-year-old New Yorker, Patrick McNeill--were centered mainly in America's northland, they have of late been occurring in more southerly districts of the USA, too.

 

This is an active, chronological post and will be frequently updated as more names are added to 2013's fast growing list, and/or whenever missing persons listed on it are finally located (dead or alive) and a ruling is made either by coroners or other state officials. Bookmarking is therefore recommended to those readers also tracking these disappearances and developments. (Use the search box feature and tag cloud on the side panel to the right to find the original posts concerning each case.)

 

Harsha Maddula, 19, vanished without a trace from Chicago Illinois this past autumn 2012. Indian-born Maddula was a hard-working and popular honors student at prestigious Northwestern University. A light drinker, he was downtown with his friends in late September and when they turned around he was simply "gone." He was found weeks later drowned in the harbor some miles away. The cause of death has since been ruled an "accidental drowning" but the manner remains undetermined so far.

 

Tyler Blalock, 19, was out drinking with some college buddies in North Carolina when he went missing on October first of 2012. His body was found in a shallow creek shortly thereafter with a prominent head wound. Blalock's drowning was ruled "accidental." 

 

Jonathan Dailey, 23, was an architectural grad student living and working in Boston Massachusetts. He disappeared on October 2nd of 2012 and was found drowned in the Charles River about two weeks later. Although his legs had been bound with heavy chains and cinderblocks to keep his body weighted to the river bottom, police still theorized he may have "committed suicide." The cause and manner of Dailey's death has yet to be announced.

 

Walton 'Matt' Ward, 23, disappeared from Indianapolis Indiana on October 12th 2012. Seconds before Ward vanished he was in an altercation with a bouncer from a downtown pub named Landsharks during which he placed an emergency 911 call. His body was found in the White River on October 23rd by construction workers. Police say he "accidentally drowned" and his call for help was merely a "misdial." They never interviewed the bouncer and have informed Ward's parents that the individual has since "left town."

 

Joshua Swalls, 22, also disappeared from downtown Indianapolis where he was visiting a friend in early November 2012. Tactical divers promptly searched a retention pond near to that apartment complex a few days later when one of Swalls' shoes was discovered on its bank, but they found nothing in the small body of water. Weeks later, the young man's corpse was spotted in that same pond, however. Police say there is "no sign of foul play" in either his disappearance or death and have ceased investigating it.

 

David Gerken Jr., 26, was attending a Bills/Dolphin game at the Bills' stadium complex in New York mid-November 2012 when he was evicted at halftime while en route to the mens' room. He then arranged by cellphone to rondezvous with his brother and a friend at Tailgaters bar close by, but never made it. He was found by his father the next morning drowned in a creek at the bottom of steep ravine without a mark on his body. This case is quietly being investigated by the Bills' team and those findings have not yet been publicized.

 

Jack Culolias, 19, was out with his ASU college mates on the last night of November when he too vanished without a trace. Minutes before then, Culolias was observed being physically removed by bouncers from the Cadillac Ranch bar-and-grill in Tempe Marketplace Arizona, allegedly because he'd urinated from a balcony. His drowned corpse was finally retrieved weeks later from the Salt River basin, a waterway that had already been extensively scoured by members of his family, the community, and tactical divers armed with state-of-the-art sonar and other high-tech search capabilities. He "accidentally drowned" authorities claim.

Dan G. Thomas, 29, hasn't been seen or heard from since December 18th 2012 after departing from his family's home in Butte Montana for his own residence in Portland Oregon. It is not yet clear as to whether he was traveling by car, train or plane to get there, but the young man was last sighted in Missoula which is less than a hundred miles from Butte via Interstate-90. Dan Thomas is described as a Caucasian male, six-foot-two and 170 pounds, with brown hair. He was wearing a green Carhartt jacket and dark jeans when he disappeared. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is urged to call police detective Rhonda Staton at (406) 497-1151, or to email her at rstaton@bsb.mt.gov.

 

Prescott Wright, 23, and his friend Zachary Wells, 21, were last seen drinking beer together at Wells' apartment in Kennebunkport Maine on the evening of December 20th 2012. They've never been sighted again. Police say they found the young men's clothing strewn on a nearby island which is only a few miles away from the Bush compound on Walker's Point, but there's no clue as to how the articles might have gotten there. Both victims' families have already posted obituaries despite that they'd only been gone for two weeks. As a result, the case of these missing young men has now become one of Maine's biggest mysteries, at the moment second only to the question of whether Kennebunk prostitute/private-eye Alexis Wright, 29, will be convicted of the 100+ charges currently pending against her there. Wrights' list of arrested johns include many prominent male citizens and statesmen throughout the area, and even one client known only as "a cattle rancher", but, despite public disclosure laws, police are keeping most of those names confidential. It is not yet known whether Prescott Wright and Alexis Wright are related because no one will answer my inquiries.

 

Manuel "Antonio" Guevara, 26, was reported missing from Plainfield New Jersey a few days after Christmas. He was last seen alive around three in the afternoon on December 26th, 2012 at a Watchung lakeside establishment called Water & Wine where he was employed as a waiter. The young man's shoes and wallet were then discovered on Watchung Lake's shore on January 2nd 2013, so police drained the body of water to search for Guevara but found nothing in it they say. On January 5th, however, the young man's body was found frozen at the bottom, and an investigation immediately launched to determine if his death was a murder, suicide, or accident. Authorities are asking that anyone with information about this case call the Watchung Police Department at 908-756-3663, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Squad at 908-231-7100, or the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS.

 

Robert Steinbrecker, 24, went missing from the Milwaukee area on December 27th 2012 as he and his friends were walking home along Cedar Creek Road from a pub in Cedarburg at 2:00 AM. Those two friends say the young man ran up ahead of them and then completely vanished, but that about a half hour later they all made contact again via cellphone, whereupon a "confused" Steinbrecker admitted he was lost. At that point the three arranged to meet up again at Sheboygan Road, but Steinbrecker never made it there. Police are asking anyone with information to call 262-284-7172 or their own local law enforcement agency. Officially they have ended their search for him but, acting on a tip, renewed the effort on January 11th 2013 by sending a dive team in to explore the partially frozen waters of Cedar Creek. (Note: From the start there have been conflicting reports as to whether Steinbrecker walked onto the creek voluntarily which, if so, would indicate this is not a 'Smiley Face' scenario. Nevertheless, I advertised his disappearance on this weblog because it had very little coverage otherwise.) BREAKING NEWS January 11, 2013:  The body retrieved by tactical divers from Cedar Creek today is that of Robert Steinbrecker, police state. Allegedly a passerby spied the young man's gold and green cap in the water and recognized it from his missing-persons poster. An area newpaper has also reported that at approximately 3:45 in the afternoon one of their photographers "watched divers pull a body in a bag out of the creek." The corpse has been taken by authorities for formal identification and an autopsy. No official explanation has been provided for Steinbrecker's disappearance and drowning yet.

 

Nick Wilcox, 24, went missing from Milwaukee Wisconsin on New Year's day after being hauled out by bouncers from a downtown pub called the Irish Rec Room, a controversial pub already slated by December 2012 to lose its liquor license due to a sundry of neighborhood complaints and business failings. A massive search effort conducted by the missing young man's family and friends is still underway. Milwaukee police have recently announced that the body they fished out of the nearby Milwaukee River on January 10th "is not Nick Wilcox," but rather that of a middle-aged male. Any information concerning the Wilcox case should be phoned in to the MPD at 414-933-4444, or to their Sensitive Crimes Division at 414-935-7403.   

 

Ben Coffey, 27 and the son of Terry Coffey the CEO of Virginia Urology, is a Richmond Virgina resident. He too went missing on New Year's day and his van with his dog in it was discovered a few days later parked at the side of Tappahannock Highway in a well developed section of town that also contains a swamp. The vehicle was out of gas, police say, and Coffey had provided his pet with a supply of food and water before leaving it, but, oddly enough, he also left behind his cellphone and keys. Although the young man is said to live in that van from time to time, he is not believed to be a threat to himself or to others, and his lack of contact with friends and family is considered unusual. Ben Coffey is described as 5’6” and 150 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Anyone who has spoken with or seen him is urged to contact the Tappahannock Police Department at 804-443-3992.

Jeremy Walker, 29, from the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area, vanished without a trace on January 2nd 2013. An experienced hiker, Walker had informed his family he was going to trek the Ohiopyle state nature preserve on January first, a place he had frequented many times. The young man was last sighted walking in winter hiking clothes along one of the park's snowy trails, but on the following day when Walker was reported missing and his car located at the 'Train Station' rest-stop, park officials found that same hiking gear stashed in it and his cellphone...yet no clues as to where he went once he'd returned to the vehicle. Sniffer dogs traced Walker's scent on a footbridge over the Youghiogheny River a half-mile away, but the snow piled on the handrailings was undisturbed for the entire length on both sides of it. Underwater sonar has also yielded no answers to the mystery; there is apparently nothing in the waters that rush beneath the bridge. Rescue coordinators say this is the first time they've ever failed to promptly locate someone in Ohiopyle, dead or alive, and the police have no solid theory or leads either. They think the fact that Walker has been so difficult to find could mean anything, from intentionally hiding to suicide or foul play. But, they emphasize, every one of those likely scenarios leads to the river. Jeremy Walker is a white male, with light brown hair and gray eyes, and is estimated to be about five-feet-ten and 180 pounds. The quest to find him is ongoing and anyone with information that might aid searchers is asked to call the Ohiopyle State Park rangers at 724-329-8591.

Charles Geurts, 26, from Kaukauna Wisconsin was visiting the nearby city of Madison for an agricultural conference. He went missing early in the morning of January 15th after leaving his hotel room at the Sheraton. Over the past 15 years, this northern U.S. city has become a 'hot spot' for Smiley Face disappearances and drownings. Not incidentally, for that same length of time the Madison Police Department has shielded amongst its ranks a cop known for especially abusive treatment of young males he perceives to be inebriated. Sociopathic officer Stephen Heimsness has been written up a number of times for using excessive force -- beating, tasering, and even shooting to death unarmed and allegedly intoxicated men. Recently suspended for the wrongful shooting death of 30-year-old Paul Heenan, Heimsness was cleared to return to work at the MPD just this month, ominous news for men like Geurts who was last observed to be drinking with friends. Coincidentally, police say someone in the neighborhood of the Sheraton Hotel had called the police about "a prowler" in their yard only 20 to 30 minutes after Charles Geurts left the Sheraton. Police say they have a "strong reason to believe" it was the missing young man, but refuse to elaborate on the basis for that hunch. The MPD did, however, rather frantically search for the 26-year-old ASAP, which, as most people know, is an unusually swift response to a missing man report...however, they now claim Geurts "fell into" the nearby lake, but, yet again, don't say why it is they suddenly believe that's the case, and they still haven't released the names of the officers who responded to the 911 call that was made. Anyone with information about this case should contact police at 608-266-4275. Charlie Geurts is blond-haired, blue-eyed, and approximately six-feet tall and 180 pounds. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt, denim jeans, and boots when last sighted.

 

 

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