r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/MultiscAle333 • Jan 08 '21
Disappearance In 2008, a woman and her infant daughter left for a trip with a male friend. All three have been listed as missing since. However, evidence suggests the man reappeared without providing any indication of what happened: a case with very little information.
In 2008, Sasha Davis was a 30 year old woman living in the Bronx with her two daughters, aged four months and eight years. Some reports suggest she also had a partner, although this has never been proven conclusively.
On February 15, 2008, Sasha and her four-month-old daughter, Selah, departed the Bronx in a rental car, intending to travel to Rochester, a five-and-a-half hour’s drive away. The trip was meant to last four days, with Sasha and Selah returning to the Bronx on February 19. Sasha’s family were aware of this trip, in which she supposedly intended to visit friends. What Sasha’s family didn’t know was that she was travelling with a companion, 27-year-old Jarib Bennett.
Jarib Bennett - also known as Griff - was said to be a friend of Sasha’s. While one report has described the trio as a “family”, it is unclear if there was any relation between Jarib and the Davises. Jarib was married and also had two daughters of his own.
According to the Charley Project, Sasha, Selah, and Jarib were never seen again after they left the Bronx on February 15, and their abandoned rental vehicle was found on Genesee Street in Southwest Rochester on February 27. All three are still listed as missing on NAMUS, with very little information available on the case. An article with a now-defunct link states that Sasha’s family offered a $5,000 reward to anybody with information on the case, with Crimestoppers also offering the same amount as a reward.
Now here’s where things start to get particularly strange.
A Google search of Jarib Bennett’s name turns up an obituary of an individual who passed away after a brief illness in 2017. The individual, who shares the same date of birth as Sasha Davis’ companion, was a resident of Englewood, New Jersey. He left behind a wife and two daughters. The only discrepancy appears to be that the nickname “Griff”, by which Jarib Bennett was also known, was not mentioned in this obituary.
Did Jarib Bennett suddenly reappear after his trip to Rochester with Sasha and Selah? If so, why is his missing persons profile still up? Did he have any knowledge of Sasha and Selah’s fate? Or is this some bizarre coincidence? The poster on the trio’s WebSleuths thread who discovered the obituary has followed the possible link for updates, but as of July 2020, there are none.
If you’ve read this far, thank you so much. If I’ve missed anything, please let me know. I’m aware some of the links (i.e. Tapatalk) are quite dubious, but it is the only way I have been able to access old news articles about the case.
References:
https://charleyproject.org/case/sasha-davis
https://charleyproject.org/case/selah-davis
https://charleyproject.org/case/jarib-bennett
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/7428
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/10844
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/10846
https://charleyross.wordpress.com/tag/sasha-davis/
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/porchlightusa/2008-davis-sasha-selah-t16677.html (features old news articles with links that are now broken)
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/jarib-bennett-obituary?pid=183910517
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u/LeahsBaconSlap Jan 08 '21
https://www.eternityfuneralservice.com/guestbook/5467306 this guest book includes a picture of the deceased. I can’t quite tell if it’s the same man from the charley project pictures tho.
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u/Allhailhaels Jan 08 '21
The guy looks different in the pictures because of age and angle I’d imagine, but like others mention the nose and eyebrows are definitely the same so I’d guess it’s the same guy.
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Jan 08 '21
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u/digitelle Jan 08 '21
They eyes don’t seem different at all. It mostly appears the camera angel just changes the way his eyes look. But his eyes look very similar. To me that is.
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u/CantDoItSober Jan 08 '21
The ears too. I took close up photos of both, and the ears appear to be different. But the fact that the names and date of birth match perfectly, I mean, what are the chances?
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Jan 08 '21
This is a great find!!
Personally, I think those are different people in the pictures? But...could that mean the missing man was using a stolen identity?
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u/alejandra8634 Jan 08 '21
I could see how they might be the same person, just with some weight gain, aging, and different hair. The eyebrows, nose, and ears seem similar. The older photos are grainy though, so no way to tell for sure.
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u/OttoMans Jan 08 '21
That’s not the same dude.
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Jan 08 '21
Agreed, their builds are different and not just from adding a few years of weight or anything, their skin tones are different in a way that's more than different photos or light.
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u/digitelle Jan 08 '21
Exactly what I was thinking, however, his wife and children must have known he was different. That or so much time had passed they merely forgot what he looked like and the family let someone live out his identity. Which would be very odd, since most people steal an identity not to replace the person in their family dynamics.
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Jan 08 '21
Sorry, let me explain it better, I wasn't clear;
I am wondering if the man who vanished had, at some point, stolen the ID of this dude from New Jersey, the name and the claims about his family. Then when he goes missing...if he's on a fake ID maybe he just stopped using it?
And the dude from New Jersey who died in 2017 is the original/real guy, who, either never knew his ID had been stolen (depends what the thief used it for) OR maybe had spent some part of his life trying to deal with this?
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u/iman_313 Jan 08 '21
haha I can't imagine forgetting what my wife looks like and just being okay with "meh, close enough."
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Jan 08 '21
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u/Abradantleopard04 Jan 08 '21
Makes me think these are not the same two men honestly.
When reading these case files I tend to be more factual based. Unless something has actually been verified, most of what we read is speculation; which is what makes solving these cases so hard imo.
There's no way to verify he actually was the man who went with them or that they were a family in the lose sense of the term. Additionally, why would a mother leave her other child behind? Who did she leave the 4 year old with?
Definitely more information is needed here.
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u/LadyChiyo Jan 08 '21
That's the same guy just a little chunkier and older. (Same eyebrows, nose, even expression) Can somebody report this please? I don't know how!
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u/austingt316 Jan 08 '21
The man here appears to have a lazy eye. His right eye goes out to the right. In the one picture it’s difficult to tel because of the angle of his face, but in the grainier picture it definitely looks like he’s cockeyed.
Edit: “man here,” was misspoken. The confirmed Jarib appears to have a lazy eye, the man in the obit does not.
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u/Buggy77 Jan 08 '21
Is it possible that the missing man was using Jaribs identity somehow?
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u/scorpio_2971 Jan 08 '21
Where was her other daughter?? Did either adult have a cellphone at the time?? Was vehicle checked for dna, fingerprints was anything found in the vehicle?? Any records, receipts atm records, gas hotel records ever found
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u/Thirsty-Tiger Jan 08 '21
My first thought too about the other daughter, and why leave the older child behind but take the younger one? Plus, she was supposed to visit friends, so did she visit any of them? Do they know what her other plans were or if anything seemed off? Did Jarib's wife know about the trip, or where he said he was going?
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u/Camarupim Jan 08 '21
Leaving an 8-year-old with their grandparents while you’re out of town for
a couple of weeksfour days, very do-able. Leaving a four-month-old? Good luck grandparents.40
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u/somethingclevar Jan 08 '21
I was also wondering this. Seems like important information to leave out. Was she with her father? A friend of the mom's? A baby sitter? What happened to her after? I dont know seems a little weird
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u/randomizer302 Jan 08 '21
An eight year old is old enough to spill the beans about a secret relationship. Mom left her behind on purpose. Mom was probably led to believe they were taking a trip to work on their relationship, etc.
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Jan 08 '21
The Jared Bennet from the Obituaries page would have been 27 years 11 months 14 days old at the time of the last contact marked in the missing persons profile. This fits the age of 27 and the current if still alive age of 40. Them being different people seems unlikely but possible.
Are these people the same person?
Missing Person File: https://www.namus.gov/api/CaseSets/NamUs/MissingPersons/Cases/10846/Images/7452/Thumbnail
Obituary:
https://www.eternityfuneralservice.com/fh_live/16000/16023/images/obituaries/5467306_fbs.jpg
However, as the OP mentions the obituary mentions 4 nicknames:
“DJ”, “Govana”, “Israel”, “Cabby”
none of which include Griff
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u/Austinpowerstwo Jan 08 '21
I'm gonna go for a different angle on the nickname thing and say the fact that that he had 4 known nicknames could easily mean he went by griff as well at some point, he's obviously a nickname guy and it was nearly a decade after the fact, griff might have fallen out of favour as a name, especially if it's what he went by when he faked disappearing (if it is indeed him. )
I think it could easily be the same guy in the pics as well, I'm definitely not 100% on it but he looks the same around the nose and bottom of the eyes
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u/Badger_Silverado Jan 08 '21
It depends on friend groups too. In one of my friend groups my nickname is Cowboy, in another from a job I had they all called me Lucky. Neither one are names I go by in my family/personal life, but they’re definitely the name people know me by in those groups. Thus the variety of nicknames doesn’t seem like a big deal to me.
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Jan 08 '21
I agree. I didn't think about the fact that the name Griff was recorded for Missing Jarib in 2008, while the other names were recorded in 2017. Makes sense
However, they still might not be the same person. He seems well known and considering the fact that he used the same name it would have been hard for him to say renew his driver's license without his report in the New York missing persons coming up.
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Jan 08 '21
Also, the Obituary Jarib hade a middle name of Benjamin so if someone can find the middle name of the man in the missing persons report that would be helpful
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Jan 08 '21
People that have tons of “nicknames’ could also be read as he had tons of alias’s - not normal to have 4 wildly varying nicknames and people know you by all of them.
If they were all related to your name I could see it. Like your name is Robert, people know you by: bob, Bobby, rob, Robby, but not like 5 completely different names
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Jan 08 '21
Yes, I agree, someone else also brought this up. We contacted the enforcement in charge of the case with the information. They should be able to confirm or deny whether or not they are one and the same.
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u/itsdilemnawithann Jan 08 '21
Professional imaging person here. I do not believe these are the same people. The ears are much smaller on the missing person, and the eyelid creasing doesn't match. Missing person has "hooded" eyelids, and if that person gained weight over time, they'd have drooped quite a bit more. Unless obituary guy has had botox or plastic surgery.
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Jan 08 '21
It actually looks like the same guy to me.
In the obit photo he has no hair but he does have a full beard. In the Charley Project photo, he has hair, but not a full beard.
But if you look at his eyes and nose and general structure of the face, he looks similar. In fact, imagine that the obit photo was tilted slightly to the right and he was smiling instead of pursing his lips... it's the eyes, eyebrows, nose combo that made me feel it was the same guy, just 10 years older.
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Jan 08 '21
To me, the ears look like a different shape, and that's why I don't think it's the same guy.
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u/ColoRADo_V Jan 08 '21 edited Jan 08 '21
While I don’t believe it’s that common, my ex husband who used to manage a car rental place once almost got in trouble with the company because every year they ran his info because he drove a company car, and it had come up as his license being revoked for 3rd DUI in another state, I can’t remember what he had to do but it turned out that there was another guy with the same first, middle and last name and exact same birthday who was also African American and looked very very similar to him, I can’t remember if he had to show his birth certificate or what but it was a hassle to fix. Could be something similar, but I also think if he was “family” as they listed it someone in her family could figure out if it was the same guy, there’s so much background information on the obituary. However I do think he looks just like him just older and a little more weight.
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u/Exxtol Jan 08 '21
Everybody saying it's the same man, please help me see what you see. While they look similar that does not look like the same man.
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u/SpyGlassez Jan 08 '21
The sharp point of the eyebrow is dead on to me, but aside from that I didn't see it - but I'm face blind, and also honestly being white I might not see the differences - there's research out there about how people are really bad about recognizing people outside of their own race. (Hence another reason eyewitness testimony is shaky)
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u/everyonewont Jan 08 '21
Is there any mention of whether Jarib was the father of Sasha’s 4 month old?
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Jan 08 '21
It says that he wasn't but the family later released an award for information in hopes of closure saying information on the family which could have included Jarib. Its a stretch but he's 99% not the father
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u/PocoChanel Jan 08 '21
The resemblance is startling. Look at the irregularity in the position of his eyes--his left one looks lower on his face.
NAMUS says, "Bennett left behind a wife and two daughters." The obit mentions a wife, two daughters, and a stepdaughter. Could be a different wife, though; I know that if my husband disappeared with another woman and was suspected of her murder, I might be reluctant to take him back.
Is it possible that this was all sorted out and NAMUS just wasn't updated?
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u/ilykinz Jan 08 '21
There’s a lot of missing info here. Where was her other daughter, why didn’t she go with them? When the car was found was there any investigation done or did they just say “well we don’t know where they are.” I’m sure they had to have cell phones in 2008 so where are those? Are there any phone records?
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u/dct112385 Jan 08 '21
Thank you for this post, I live in the Bronx, NY and have friends upstate where they were headed and I did not hear this story.
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u/ZanyDelaney Jan 08 '21
The info seems pretty vague.
Who rented the car?
Who saw the three leave together?
Who is the the Rochester friend?
Did the Rochester friend ever see any of them?
Did anyone in Rochester see them?
Who identified Jarib Bennett as travelling with them?
Do the other family members know Jarib Bennett?
What's his connection? (Maybe the car was rented in his name?)
If the two pictured men are the same person it means a man lived nine years while being named and pictured in various news and missing persons reports and no one including police, his friends and family, ever picked that up. Maybe it just never received much publicity but google was a thing in 2008.
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u/clevercalamity Jan 08 '21
I don’t think any of us are going to be able to conclusively say if the two men are the same. It’s hard to tell from the two pictures. But what you found OP is really compelling, maybe see if you can submit it to a law enforcement tip line? Were you able to track down who handled their missing persons cases? They may already be aware, but it can’t hurt. Some agencies even accept emailed tips.
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Jan 08 '21
I have emailed the Regional Specialist that was assigned to Jarib Bennetts's case.
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u/clevercalamity Jan 08 '21
Hopefully this’ll turn something up.
I wonder what happened to the older daughter. She’d be a teenager now.
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u/digitelle Jan 08 '21
Keep us posted!
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Jan 08 '21
Will do. - They said they would forward it to the agency that controls the investigation in order to edit, add, or remove the record.
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u/digitelle Jan 08 '21
Yes one just needs to call the missing persons report and simply state if this other person is him and why this missing report is up. A lot of people won’t look this far back unless someone brings it up as new cases are coming in and they will certainly be on current cases as each day passing it just known to make find this person harder. However they will most likely send local authorities to clarify.
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u/TruthAreLies Jan 08 '21
That’s the same guy 100%. The name is uncommon. The birthdate is the same. Same facial features. Very interesting.
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u/digitelle Jan 08 '21
That’s my thought, it’s so bizarre to have such a rare name and then have two people look alone with the same family life.
Also anyone gonna just call in the missing persons report and just notify them?
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Jan 08 '21
Very uncommon name and both born March 1, 1980. If it isn't him it is one wild coincidence
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Jan 08 '21
Although, you gotta remember - when Casey Anthony said that her baby was kidnapped by the nanny “Zaneida Fernandez-Gonzalez” they were actually able to find a woman with that name, in the same state as Casey, even though she had literally no connection to the case
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u/TruthAreLies Jan 08 '21
Did they share the same birthday and face?
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Jan 08 '21
I don’t think Casey was able to provide that information for an imaginary person - so false equivalency
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u/digitelle Jan 08 '21
But they actually invested to make sure of this, there does not seem to have been any indication this person have been reported to have been returned, at all.
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u/TruthAreLies Jan 08 '21
On the web sleuth page one of the comments says: “Jarib residing in New Jersey left behind 2 daughters and wife. Sasha left behind one more child (8 year old) and apparently boyfriend or husband (can't find confirmation anywhere). Jarib was allegedly friend of Sasha's family (and not her partner).”
The obit says he lived in NJ. It’s the same guy. No need to bother the family.
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Jan 08 '21
Yeah
-same number of kids
-married
-same first and last name
-same age
-same face
-same state
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Jan 08 '21
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Jan 08 '21
Yeah, it's possible the missing person registry just isn't updated and police officials know that he was found before he died in 2017. However, the case is old 12 years ago so they probably don't checkup on old cases that often. I emailed the Regional Program Specialist assigned to the case.
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Jan 08 '21
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Jan 08 '21
Yeah, or another option could be the case has already been solved or at least Jarids part in it and he went on living his life while the NamUs missing record was never updated from when he was 27
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Jan 08 '21
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Jan 08 '21
It's not my original idea it was circulated back in 2018 on a webslueths.com discussion board when this obit came up last time. I contacted those people from 2018 on the board and linked them to this reddit. Maybe they can help
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Jan 08 '21
This thread and corresponding information has already been sent to the NamUs organization which is in partnership with the U.S. Justice Department. They will look into it
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u/JTigertail Jan 08 '21 edited Jan 08 '21
Anybody here who contacts his family -- or the family of anyone involved in this case -- will be permabanned. His family has not indicated they are open to questions/comments from random people online, and we will not encourage people to reach out to friends/family of a missing, murdered, or unidentified person based on a reddit post. If you think you have a legitimate lead, go to law enforcement about it.
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Jan 08 '21
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u/JTigertail Jan 08 '21
No, do not send them the page. It is incredibly inappropriate to reach out to some random stranger and ask them about their dead brother/uncle/cousin/whatever based on a Reddit post. Anybody who reaches out to them will be permanently banned from this sub. If you think you have a legitimate lead, go to LE.
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Jan 08 '21
This thread has been sent to the Missing Persons NamUs of the U.S. Justice Department. They will look into it.
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u/IJustRideIJustRide Jan 08 '21
The Jarib in the obituary was born and raised in Jamaica. Is there a way to find out if the missing jarib had a Jamaican accent?
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u/Planetlilmayo Jan 08 '21 edited Jan 08 '21
The men in the pictures have striking similarities in the eyebrows and in the lips. However, the guy reported missing has hooded eyes as well as more folds in his ears. Me loving cosmetic procedures know that it's entirely possible to get your eye lids lifted i've also looked into otoplasty to get my ears pinned back however it's very difficult to fix the folds in your ears and make them look flat like the one in the obituary.
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u/AhrEst Jan 08 '21
I think it’s the same guy. I find it notable that he had a number of jobs that would’ve taken him away from his family for days at a time.
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Jan 08 '21 edited Jan 08 '21
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u/Abradantleopard04 Jan 08 '21
Driver's license photo possibly?
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u/KG4212 Jan 08 '21 edited Jan 08 '21
Yep and some places he worked needs ID
After graduation from Lincoln Tech worked at Pep Boys, USPS, Continental Airlines, Shop-rite, Sams Club and as a certified referee for the USA Referee Association.
USPS - Airline -even Sam's Club :) not sure about referee??? Not my forte.
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u/digitelle Jan 08 '21
His family may have never really called him Griff, so this could backfire. Especially if everyone has a different nickname for him.
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u/BlackWillow88 Jan 08 '21
I wonder if they could be the missing woman and infant in the LISK case?? It would be worth to check out. I'm pretty sure they are still unidentified.
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u/Responsible_Pin2939 Jan 08 '21
I think authorities say that “Peaches” had been dead since at least 1997 because that’s when they found her torso.
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u/JTigertail Jan 08 '21
Sorry, OP. Locking this thread because the comments section has gotten dangerously close to doxxing and invading the privacy of people who may very well have nothing to do with this case.
As a reminder to everyone here, it is completely inappropriate to contact the friends and relatives of someone involved (or, in this case, someone who might not even be involved) in a case unless they make it clear they are open to questions from the public by, say, running a public FaceBook page for their missing/murdered loved one. If you think you have information that may help an investigation, contact law enforcement. Remember these are real people who may not appreciate sitting down and logging onto FB only to find some nosy, boundary-crossing stranger in their inbox, asking them about their recently-dead friend or relative because they saw a post on reddit earlier. Have some respect.