Michael Negrete

[connieallbright]

http://findmikenow.com

What could compell a person leave their dorm room in the middle of the night? I try to put myself in the same situation -- what would make me leave?

I remember reading he wasn't wearing shoes. He didn't have a car so he couldn't have just driven off into the night.

[SiberianKiss]

I was just thinking of this case recently. It's really quite bizarre and sad too. He was playing a computer game with a friend down the hall and then when he was done went to talk about it after and that was it....vanished! I found it especially creepy when during the search some bloodhounds traced his scent to a nearby bus stop. Maybe they picked up somebody else's though.

I wonder if he was part of that whole cadaver/stealing body parts thing going on at UCLA.

[connieallbright]

I don't live in LA but it seems to me that enough people die there on a daily basis -- why would they need to recruit? And how could anyone have gotten him out of there? Dorms are chock full of people at all hours of the night.

This is bad memory on my part but I sort of recall reading something early on about Micheal maybe not even having shoes on or maybe it was just flip flops.

Even if the police came to my door in the middle of the night, I would still take ID or tell someone. Could he have engineered his own disappearance or been involved with something unsavory?

[nohwheregirl]

Originally Posted by connieallbright

Even if the police came to my door in the middle of the night, I would still take ID or tell someone. Could he have engineered his own disappearance or been involved with something unsavory?

Interesting theory, Connie. Even before I read your above words, the scenario reminded me of a local disappearance here in Madison, WI (which made national news at the time) of a college student named Audrey Seiler who engineered her own disappearence. She had walked out of her apartment building (which was basically a dorm...all college students) in the middle of the night for no apparent reason and was found a few days later unharmed. It turned out that she was having problems with her boyfriend and wanted his attention (yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either, but we'll just go with what the investigators found). The city was absolutely frantic when she went missing, and then absolutely livid when it was revealed to be a hoax.

The website from the link said the investigation found no evidence of a hidden lifestyle. Audrey didn't really have one either, but there were definite warning signs. She was "attacked" outside of her appartment building a few weeks before her disappearence. Turns out the attack was probably faked to get attention just like the disappearence. The police and emergency room personnel suspected she was making up the attack story when it happened. My question is, if he did engineer his own disappearence, would their be some kind of warning sign(s) like in the Seiler case? It would be unusual for a person with no major psychological, emotional, or relationship problems to just want to disappear. I wonder if something was overlooked. Or, there's foul play....

[SiberianKiss]

no no no he was a good boy....good student, good family. it's not fair to just chalk it up to devious behavior by the missing subject or suicide or whatever....think if your own loved one was misisng and you came on the blogs to see any discussion and there was people talking about that stuff....i don't think michael's family would've created a wesbite, went on tv, and the cops too believe it was foul play.....if he had major problems it wouldn't be as big a deal....this was just a crazy mystery....i wish i could go back and see what happened.....i feel so sad for families that have to deal with this...imagine how crazy it must make them and sad too....every second just wanting to know "what happened!!!???"

i just don't understand what happens to these missing people....is there really that many maniacs out there who want to kill somebody and then dispose of their body?

perhaps he went down to the lobby of the dorm to get something from some vending machines or something and was abducted? or maybe he was abducted on his floor.

[nohwheregirl]

Originally Posted by SiberianKiss

no no no he was a good boy....good student, good family. it's not fair to just chalk it up to devious behavior by the missing subject or suicide or whatever....think if your own loved one was misisng and you came on the blogs to see any discussion and there was people talking about that stuff

SiberianKiss, I don't think anyone here is chalking up his disappearance to anything, devious behavior or otherwise. You're insinuating that we're being disrespectful to his family and that's just not the case. I don't get a feeling from what his family said about him that he had a hidden life, but there's just not much to go on here. We're simply discussing different possibilities, and I brought up a case that I thought sounded eerily familiar, but still had major differences (i.e., no warning signs of emotional disturbence). His family probably knows that ALL avenues have to be explored in their son's case. How can you eliminate a theory of what happened if you never consider it or discuss it?

[cuba_libre]

I just find it so sad that many parents/families send their child to college, thinking the kid will come back with an education and life experience. But that child vanishes....So sad!

[Awsi Dooger]

Originally Posted by cuba_libre

I just find it so sad that many parents/families send their child to college, thinking the kid will come back with an education and life experience. But that child vanishes....So sad!

I remember my first semester in college, staying in an off-campus university-owned complex in LA, they sent us a flyer saying something like, "Over the past few weeks at Century Apartments we have had two attempted rapes, several apartments broken into, and many vehicles and bicycles stolen. This is not meant to alarm you, but please be careful..."

I'm serious. That's what it said virtually word for word. I immediately mailed it to my mom so she could have an idea regarding the environs where she had sent her only son. I asked her to keep it so I could reminisce years later, but dang when I went back home during break she had trashed the thing.

[Zero]

I have posted about this case a few times on this message board. I was the same age as he was when he disappeared. His family lived all the way in San Diego. About 2 hours easily for those of you unfamiliar with the geography of Souther California.

I've often wondered why he would leave his dorm room at that late hour. I'm from LA. I love it there. I wouldn't be outside anywhere in LA alone at that hour for anything! Apparently the camera in the hall shows him leaving willingly. He wasn't being lead out the door. He wasn't taken out by force. He calmly walked out alone. The only thing that was later found missing was a pair of slippers.

Here are two other things I find odd. A student waits until a year after he's been questioned by police to come forward with this story about a strange older man lurking around the dorm that night. Why not come forward with it sooner?

Also, around the time of his disappearance there was a strange fire in one of the classrooms. I do believe that it was never determined who started it, or when. I did email his mother a few years ago with the suggestion to write about her son to UM and another tv show. Shortly after that Robert Stack passed away. I have never seen her son profiled on this other show. A couple of years ago his case was profiled on a segment called L.A.'s Most Wanted which airs once a week on the local news. Who knows whatever became of Michael or how many clues are left...

[SiberianKiss]

where did you hear of this camera showing him leaving willingly? i haven't seen or read about that anywhere.

i also found it odd that the suspicious person was not brought to the cops attention until about 6 months after michael's disappearance

[Zero]

Originally Posted by SiberianKiss

where did you hear of this camera showing him leaving willingly? i haven't seen or read about that anywhere.

i also found it odd that the suspicious person was not brought to the cops attention until about 6 months after michael's disappearance

A few years ago I went from one link to another about his case. I finally ended up viewing a clip of news footage about where the case had gone. At that time, there was only one detective working on the case. I can't remember who said it, but someone mentioned that the camera shows him walking through the hall and out the door calmly. He wasn't running, or looking over his shoulder or anything like that. That's what I meant about him leaving willingly.

[connieallbright]

Originally Posted by SiberianKiss

no no no he was a good boy....good student, good family. it's not fair to just chalk it up to devious behavior by the missing subject or suicide or whatever....think if your own loved one was misisng and you came on the blogs to see any discussion and there was people talking about that stuff....i don't think michael's family would've created a wesbite, went on tv, and the cops too believe it was foul play.....if he had major problems it wouldn't be as big a deal....

But it also doesn't help to set aside any possibility that lifestyle, choices or just being in a bad place mentally ISN'T relevant.

Look at the case of Dr. Sneha Philip -- the unsolved profile of her sort of glossed over the fact that she'd had a fight with her husband on the day of her disappearence and was facing the loss of her job. I'm sure her family and friends felt these details didn't need to be part of her 'missing persons' story as they clouded the issue.

I'm not saying I think something devious was going on with Michael but there may have been signs that something was going on with him. Maybe he was being harrassed or targeted in some way.

Michael's case reminds me of a recent local case:
http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/ori...t_missing.html

[mistagee]

Something doesnt make sense in this case. One of two things happened.

Michael may have been playing video games on his computer, but he may have also been chatting with someone online. I just have the feeling that he met an older male that night and something went wrong and he was murdered. Why else would an older male be in a college dorm? Because he was looking to meet some younger college boys. This theory makes sense to me. If Michael had a cell phone, perhaps the records could have been traced. Also it would be interesting to know if he roommate was in the room when he was in there or if he knew there was history of online chat.

If he was on a camera leaving the dorm, then we know he didnt meet foul play in the dorm. The only theory that makes sense is his leaving to meet someone, and the stranger in the dorm makes it even more obvious. Is there a camera involved with this case at all?

He looks like such a nice innocent kid, I feel horrible for his family and wish that this has a happy ending

[SiberianKiss]

I don't think there's a camera and Zero is mistaken, I've done major searching on Negrete's Case and found nothing at all to indicate he was seen on some camera before he disappeared. Zero must be thinking about some other missing person. Negrete's family most certainly would've had this so called video camera sighting of Michael leaving his dorm posted on their website.

There was a sketch of a "person of interest" the police released about 6 months after the disappearance.....some other students reported seeing somebody unsual on MN's floor.

I thought it was especially creepy that some bloodhounds traced his scent to a nearby bus stop.

I wonder if the UCLA cadaver thing had something to do with this. He may have met somebody online but the authorities most defiintely would've searched his computer and found anything like that.

I sure would like to know what happens to these missing people.

[mistagee]

hmmm, anyone willing to entertain the notion, that Michael met with foul play in the dorm, and was a cover up by a few guys on the floor who may have removed his body that morning? He could have drank himself into a stupor or choked on vomit, it happens alot in dorms, and perhaps his buddies took his body out and thus the scent at the bus stop? It does sound very far fetched.

The scent at the bus stop could also be from a previous day or could have been an error, or could have been.....?

It seems so odd, someone didnt see anything? He seems like such a likeable and innocent young boy, it would be a shame that someone took advantage of his kind nature.....

I am totally stumped on this one, I dont even have a gut feeling on this