www.justiceforchandra.com

[benn]

Search Continues for Missing Auburn Area Teen
Friends and relatives desperate to find out what happened to Justine Vanderschoot expanded the search for the missing teenager on Sunday.

On Sunday, 45 volunteers spent the day in the Sierra Nevada foothills, searching through one of Vanderschoot's favorite spots, a canyon east of Colfax.

Searchers combed an old quarry where teens sometimes go to party, finding old campfires and discarded beer cans, but no sign of the missing teen.

The circumstances surrounding Vanderschoot's disappearance are puzzling. The 17-year-old was at her Christian Valley home with her parents and boyfriend on Monday, but disappeared sometime late that night or early Tuesday.

At first, detectives thought she had run away from home, but are now regarding the disppearance as a missing persons case. Vanderschoot's purse, drivers license and gas card were left behind. Her silver Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck was found at a park-and-ride parking lot at the Meadow Vista exit off Interstate-80.

Friends say it would have been out of character for Vanderschoot to leave without notice. "She's not the kind of person who would run away," said her friend Michaela Jamison. "Everyone loves her. She has everything, has a new job. Everything was going good."

The missing girl is described as being five feet, six inches tall, weighing 115 pounds, and having red and dark brown hair with blonde highlights. She has a nose ring and ear studs.

There is A $15,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts. Anyone with information about Vanderschoot is asked to call the Placer County Sheriff's Department at (503)889-7800.

Story last updated Sunday, September 07, 2003 - 11:01 PM Search News10.net

[rd]

Let's hope she's found ok. Thanks for the heads up, benn.

rd

[benn]

rd, I was thinking that maybe it would be good if we could post a few photos of some of the cases where there seems a possibility of someone sighting the person.

News10.net had a photo of Justine Vanderschoot, but I could not figure out how to post it here. I copied it to my hard drive and that worked good. It was a photo of her face, though, and face photos don't really give much description of a person. A lot of young people look alike if you just look at a photo of their face.

Goggle is picking this site right up now, and we might be able to post more missing person photos when the person first goes missing. Of course I don't know how that all works out with the amount of bandwidth used.

It is sort of a helpless feeling to see so many people go missing. I was looking at a site a day or two ago that tries to figure out methods for people to use that will help them from going missing.

I can suggest one method. All girls should dress like gunny sacks. There was a period of time some years back when a lot of girls did dress that way. It made them less conspicuous, and who wants to kidnap a gunny sack? Now they want to be attractive, the tv soap operas show them that, and they are like chickens in the chicken coop, with the good old fox taking his pick.

I will have to look at that preventive site again.

benn

[jane]

I don't know about the gunny sack (the chador or burka for Islamic women). The thinking behind this seems to be that men can't be responsible for their behaviour unless women become unattractive or even invisible.
_________________
"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
Christ

[benn]

I think maybe it was back in the hippie days that some of the women then looked like gunny sacks, and the men too.

[rd]

I guess she is too old for the Amber Alert, benn? I still propose that part of our Homeland Security be the necessary communications put into place to dial 911 from your cell phone and your location show up at the emergency control center just as if you were dialing from a regular telephone. The systems exist, a few counties nationwide have them, but a compelling case for people anywhere in trouble being able to dial 911 on their cell phone and be located to be helped and rescued hasn't been made for some reason. Hard for me to see why not.

rd

[benn]

http://www.news10.net/storyfull.asp?id=5332

Body of Missing Auburn Teen Found, Boyfriend is Arrested
The body of missing Auburn area teenager Justine Vanderschoot has been found in a shallow grave in Placer County.

Vanderschoot's boyfriend, 18-year-old Daniel Bezemer (shown above), and his roommate, 21-year-old Brandon Fernandez, were arrested Wednesday night at about 8:30.

Although circumstances surrounding the alleged murder are not entirely clear, Placer County Sheriff's Department Detective Robert McDonald said it appears the girl voluntarily met with the two men.

According to detectives, shortly after Bezemer and Fernandez were arrested, one of the men began talking. Late last night, that man agreed to take investigators to a spot on a hillside near Applegate, where they found a grave containing Vanderschoot's unclothed body.

Placer County Undersheriff Steve D'Arcy said it's unlikely the body would have been found without the suspect's guidance. "It's actually a fairly deep grave, it was not a shallow grave," said D'Arcy. "It was a grave that took some time and effort to dig and she was buried in the grave site."

The discovery of the body marked the end of a wide-ranging search for Vanderschoot. At one point, dozens of volunteers and law enforcement officers combed the foothills looking for the 17-year-old Maidu High School student.

Vanderschoot disappeared sometime late on September 1 or early September 2. Detectives originally thought she had run away from home, but later changed their opinion after learning the girl had left behind her purse, driver's license, makeup, and gasoline credit card.

Vanderschoot's silver Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck was later found abandoned at a park-and-ride parking lot at the Meadow Vista exit off Interstate-80.

Bezemer and Fernandez are being held without bail in the Placer County Jail in Auburn. The pair are scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.

Story last updated Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 5:49 PM

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benn

[jane]

What a sad end to a young life.
_________________
"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
Christ

[benn]

I am going to write a few thoughts on this case and all similar cases. A lot of this is just repeat, repeat, repeat.

There are no winners in these missing person cases. The victims lose, and the persons who assaulted and murdered the victims also lose. It is a lose lose situation.

I wonder then why people are so eager to get rid of the Ten Commandments. I wonder also why the book of Proverbs is not taught more than it is now taught, and everywhere that it could be taught.

It is no good for me to try to criticize anyone either. A website like this is not really helping much except in helping to keep people informed. What they are being informed about has already happened, and though we are learning, what is really needed is more websites telling people how to protect themselves from going missing, or from harming and injuring, or murdering, someone and becoming criminals.

I am going to start looking for websites that attempt to tell people how to protect themselves from going missing, or from becoming criminals by breaking the law. I think I mentioned part of this on another topic once on this site. I will see if I can find that.

Of course we all get different ideas of what is wrong, and what should be done, and I am goiing to try to experiment with my ideas, not new ideas at all. Maybe just that "crazy" guy on the street corner with a sign that says "Jesus Saves."

How much better that than looking for dead bodies, and murderers.

benn

[rd]

Well, here we go again. Girlfriend missing, purse and money and id left at home. Where'd she go? To meet her boyfriend. Condit lied about not being Chandra's boyfriend. Otherwise he should have been answering the same questions just as soon after the disappearance as this boyfriend. That's why police question the intimate. But Condit was able to evade an investigation because he was a Congressman. That's what people need to know. Not that he was questioned because he was a Congressman, but that he wasn't questioned because he was a Congressman.

Why men kill their girlfriends and wives I don't know. But I doubt even requiring everyone to cite the Ten Commandments as a mantra would make a difference, unless one of them was "Thou Shall Not Have a Boyfriend". Obviously as a potential boyfriend, I hope that doesn't happen.

rd

[benn]

Well, I got to searching around the Internet, and I decided to listen to a Bible preacher, who is now dead, but his bible lessons are still broadcast on the radio, and Internet.

By chance he got to talking about judges and criminals. I think he was reading from a Psalm, but I forget which one right now. The tape I was listening to may have been about 15 years old, because the preacher died some time ago. The preacher was blaming the judges for a lot of todays problems because they were not judging right. He said as judges they were doing God's judging for God, and they should be trying to do a good job. That does not mean being soft on the prisoner.

This preacher seemed to think that punishment was the reason for prison and not rehabilitation. I know he was in favor of the death penalty because the bible is in favor of the death penalty.

He gave some figures on men in prison, and about 12% of African-Americans in the United States are in prison. About 4% of the Hispanics are in prison, and about 1% of the whites, or caucasians, are in prison. He also said that the prisoners who have the best chance of recovery when they leave prison are men who have became Christians in prison. But he did not believe in being soft on prisoners.

If there were speedy trials, and executions, that might make a difference. That was the way executions used to be, but not now. A prisoner is going to die sometime eventually anyway, so a death sentence just means that he has shortened someone else's life, so his life too should be shortened.

benn

[benn]

rd wrote:

[benn]

http://www.sacbee.com/ Friday, September 19, 2003
Frontpage.

Sacramento Bee/Manny Crisostomo
2 arrested in teen's death
Missing girl's boyfriend and his roommate will face murder charges.
By Jocelyn Wiener and Art Campos -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Friday, September 19, 2003
Justine Vanderschoot's boyfriend, Daniel Bezemer, ate dinner with Justine and her family on the night she disappeared.

He joined in searches for the missing 17-year-old Auburn girl.

He cried on her sister's shoulder.

On Wednesday night, he was arrested -- accused of her murder.

On Thursday afternoon, officials recovered an unclothed body from a deep grave in a grove of oak and manzanita trees on the side of a canyon outside Applegate, said Placer County Undersheriff Steve D'Arcy.

"She was found in a remote area that you'd not normally walk to," D'Arcy said. "It is our belief that the grave was pre-dug."

Bezemer, 18, and his roommate, Brandon Fernandez, 21, are scheduled to be arraigned on murder charges today in Placer Superior Court.

Officials said one of the men led them to the site Wednesday night and that Bezemer gave additional information Thursday that is expected to lead detectives to evidence at other locations.

Although positive identification is pending, authorities say they are confident the body is Vanderschoot's. They would not name a motive or cause of death, saying an autopsy will be performed today.

Vanderschoot disappeared from her home in the Christian Valley area of Auburn sometime between 11 p.m. Sept. 1 and 12:30 a.m. Sept. 2 in a manner officials had described as "very suspicious."

She had left her purse and credit card in her room, her television on, and the front door ajar.

Sacramento FBI agents joined sheriff's detectives in an extensive investigation, including a series of searches and interviews that led to the arrests of Bezemer and Fernandez, both of Auburn, about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

They are being held without bail in the Placer County jail.

"We are so sorry that we don't have a better outcome," Sheriff Ed Bonner said at a Thursday morning press conference announcing the arrests. "Our prayers are with Mr. and Mrs. Vanderschoot."

Justine Vanderschoot's parents, Don and Lynnette Vanderschoot, and her 18-year-old sister, Christine, held a press conference by the swimming pool behind their home Thursday afternoon. Surrounded by a few dozen friends and family members wearing pink ribbons -- Vanderschoot's favorite color -- the family thanked the community for its support.

In the past few weeks, hundreds had passed out fliers and conducted searches for Vanderschoot.

"This is probably the toughest thing I'll ever go through in my life," said Don Vanderschoot. "But we're going to work through this."

"It actually brings comfort to know there's someone in custody," he added. "If the two gentlemen who are in custody now did this, they need to burn in hell."

Later, Lynnette Vanderschoot recalled that her daughter met Bezemer a few years earlier, when Fernandez brought him along to a pool party at the family home.

Bezemer's relationship with the family expanded from there. He began having dinner with them three or four times a week. Don Vanderschoot hired him to work at the Mercedes auto service center he manages in Rocklin. Bezemer quit in March, Vanderschoot said, using the skills he had acquired to find another job. For about a month, Bezemer lived with the Vanderschoots.

"He showed interest in my daughter, my daughter showed interest in him," Don Vanderschoot said.

Justine Vanderschoot and Bezemer talked about marriage. Still, some friends and family members said they never trusted Bezemer. Justine Vanderschoot's grandmother, Guyla Parisi, said she wouldn't allow him inside her house.

"I remember the first day that (Bezemer) came here, it seemed like popular consensus: 'Stay away, he's bad news,' " said Francois Novotny, 19, a close friend of the family. "We continued to say that. (Justine) never listened. He always seemed real jealous."

The day after Vanderschoot disappeared, Bezemer stopped by the chiropractic office where she worked to deliver lunch. Don Vanderschoot said Bezemer had never dropped off lunch for his daughter before.

In a Sept. 12 report in the Auburn Journal, Bezemer told the newspaper that he learned after Vanderschoot's disappearance that she was seeing someone in Florida. He told the newspaper that he believed her disappearance had something to do with that relationship.

"I think she's OK," he was quoted as saying. "I figured it out. I'm not mad."

He even arrived at the family's home to offer his support, reportedly throwing himself on the ground, sobbing.

Lynnette Vanderschoot said a gut instinct told her Bezemer was involved with her daughter's disappearance. But she had no evidence.

"It hurts that somebody we trusted and took in the family and I treated basically like a brother would do this," Christine Vanderschoot said in a weak voice, between sobs. "He was out there Saturday searching with us, and I cried with him and comforted him. That he could sit there looking me in the face and not say anything, it just hurts."

Maidu High School, which both Vanderschoot and Bezemer had attended, was closed Thursday "due to the devastating news," according to a recorded phone message that expressed condolences for the Vanderschoot family and said grief counseling will be available at the independent study school.

On Thursday afternoon, the Vanderschoot household filled with cheese trays and homemade cookies and the perfume of dozens of bouquets of daisies and roses.

Family photographs of Don and Lynnette Vanderschoot and their two grinning, red-headed daughters line the walls. Friends and neighbors bustled in and out, remembering Justine Vanderschoot.

Vibrant. Determined. Beautiful. Fun. Loving. Wonderful with children.

"She would have been one of the more successful people in our environment," Don Vanderschoot said. "But now we have her just to remember."

About the Writer
---------------------------

The Bee's Jocelyn Wiener can be reached at (916) 773-6846 or jwiener@sacbee.com. Bee staff writer Kim Minugh contributed to this report.

benn

[rd]

I'm surprised about the Eastern Orthodox church site participant being offended about the Ten Commandments. I assume they use the same Bible as other Christians. Whatever causes men to kill their girlfriends and wives I believe is not controllable by exposure to goodness and biblical wisdom. That is rationality, to take the teachings and apply them to oneself and say, I shouldn't kill her, that would be wrong. Obviously there is no rational thought process going on when they decide to do it.

There doesn't even seem to be a concept of being afraid of being caught. The intimate is obviously going to be the prime suspect, yet they still murder for some unfathomable, irrational reason that teaching will not prevent. Condit lied to the police about being an intimate of Chandra's, something if known that would have made him the prime suspect. Yet he was a preacher's son, sang gospel songs for the church, and was a distinguished member of a Congressional prayer group, as well as being the leader of a conservative Congressional group. None of that made him act any better.

rd

[jane]

Knowing rules or laws doesn't prevent a person from breaking them - but they're still worth having. It's helpful to be able to sort right from wrong behaviour. It's better than expecting each person to learn by trial and error - why waste time reinventing the wheel?
_________________
"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
Christ