This posting could also be called "What I learned during my four day missing persons obsession" or "Why I blog."
Often the simplest solution is the correct one. This turned out to be the case with the recent bizarre saga of Christian Julian Irwin. A little over a week ago, Irwin made a frantic call at 3:45 a.m. to a friend telling him that he was being chased by men with guns and dogs. He also mentioned that it may have something to do with the "Nigerian Internet Scam" that he was caught up in. That was the last that anyone heard from Irwin. His glasses and shoes were found on a hillside by his house but nothing else. For reasons that I cannot easily explain, I became obsessed with this story as it was unfolding.
With regard to the disappearance, all kinds of theories were floated around from the Nigerians coming to collect to it being a faked abduction. The simplest explanation of course was that Irwin had mentally lost it and just run off. The argument against this theory came from his friends and family who professed that he was mentally sound with no history of such behavior. For the family to be right, the explanation for his disappearance would have to be extraordinary to tie up all of the loose ends.This made the story that much more compelling and it became international news.
Six days later, Irwin was found, not far from where he lived and had last been seen. He was naked and delusional and had been hiding from his rescuers because in his deluded state he thought that they were out to get him too.
The moral of this story is the most basic, simple and obvious solution is usually the correct one--this is especially true in missing persons cases. Think of it as a Occam's Razor for solving crimes.
The day the story broke big, I drove up to Topanga to where Christian was last seen, talked to people who knew him, and took and published extensive photos of his path into the night from whoever was chasing him. I studied up on the the Nigerian scam that he was caught up in, I went to his personal website, I even combed eBay looking for things he might be selling that might have attracted the Nigerians or perhaps give other clues. I read pretty much every article published in the world about his disappearance and combed through the email "tips" that readers were sending in. I also trolled music industry bulletin boards and posted answers to questions people had about the case.
The stories v on Christian got linked by LA Observed, Jossip, Fishbowl LA, 8763 Wonderland to name a few. I tried to be a point person for people interested in this story around the world who knew him or had worked with him.
This brings us to blogging. Sometimes I get asked why I blog, and I typically don't have a good answer. But perhaps I blog because when a story like this comes along and I can get completely immersed into it and even better share it with others.
Insider
Independent Sources
Hey, just trying to spread the word that I am a full-time Capitol reporter who recently launched a daily blog covering CA politics called The California Observer.
Take a look--and link to it if you like.
Posted by: Shane at August 31, 2005 05:46 PM (Permalink)