Simply Vanished, Season One: The Disappearance of Josh Guimond

[Sebastian]

Welcome All!

As part of our expanding media offerings, Real Cleveland Fans is proud to host the best podcasts produced by friends and family of RCF. In this case, true crime and investigative podcast fans are in for a real treat.

Simply Vanished is a podcast produced by Minneapolis Civil Rights attorney, and my great friend, Joshua Newville.

Simply Vanished is a serial investigative podcast about missing persons. Each season is dedicated to a single case. The show digs deep to tell the stories of people who vanished. Who were they? What may have happened to them? Why hasn't their case been solved?

Join host Josh Newville in the search for answers. Newville is a civil rights lawyer who has long been fascinated by unexplained disappearances. Drawing inspiration from other serial investigative podcasts, Newville founded Trembling Leaf Media and launched Simply Vanished in 2022.

Simply Vanished's website is here: https://www.simplyvanished.com/podcast



If you have any tips or leads on the disappearance of Josh Guimond, PM me and I will see it gets to Mr. Newville promptly.

 

[Sebastian]

For Season One, Simply Vanished will be covering the disappearance of college student Josh Guimond in 2002. Josh's disappearance has long been associated with the deaths and disappearances of college aged men through-out the 2000s.

While the local law enforcement has long held that Josh probably drowned in one of the lakes surrounding Saint John's University in Collegeville Minnesota, many have long feared that Josh was the victim of foul play. In particular, his case has been associated with that of the so-called Smiley Face Killers, amongst other theories, and has been theorized by some to have a connection with the murder of another college student, Chris Jenkins, only a week prior 60 miles south in Minneapolis.

Simply Vanished cuts through the distortions and theories and is investigating the disappearance anew and discovering startling new evidence that most certainly points toward foul play.

Simply Vanished has been around for only a month, but has received critical acclaim and national news coverage and has been endorsed by Patty Wetterling.


If you have any tips or leads on the disappearance of Josh Guimond, PM me and I will see it gets to Mr. Newville promptly.

 

[Sebastian]

Episode One: Music in the Night

We begin our search for Josh by retracing his steps on Nov 9, 2002.

https://www.simplyvanished.com/podcast/episode/e011c585/1-music-in-the-night

 

[MD13]

Thanks for the rec @Sebastian. Loved what's come out so far, hopefully the platform allows them to get some significant leads in this cold case. Really well researched and put together, and I'll be listening to this moving forwards.

 

[Sebastian]

Thanks for the rec @Sebastian. Loved what's come out so far, hopefully the platform allows them to get some significant leads in this cold case. Really well researched and put together, and I'll be listening to this moving forwards.

I'm glad you liked it!

I'll pass on your compliments!

But yes, he has received a lot of information. There are a number of people who have come forward.

Unfortunately I can't share a lot of what has come up recently, but as you may suspect, this is clearly another case of shockingly poor police work leading to nothing in two decades when even simple canvassing by Josh has led to many new, credible leads.

It’s easy to say they drowned case solved and then they don’t have unsolved murders on their hands. Large cities have a terrible solve rate already on their hands.

So as I wrote a long time ago on the True Crime thread, I have long been of the opinion that the Smiley Face Killers was not a thing, more so after I looked through dozens of cases and determined that only a handful could have been murders.

My opinion was based on the fact that conspiracies are hard to keep secret after so many years, and that the idea of a group of 3-4 middle-aged men boldly killing college dudes seems to contravene all the rules of predation. From motive to method it is so atypical.

However, that said, from what Josh has learned (to be clear, Mr. Newville does not believe in the SFK theory much either, and was not looking for any evidence of that sort, rather the opposite) about Josh Guimond's disappearance, and the cluster of activity in that time and place, and in Minnesota that Fall, I am now rethinking that.

Just because something is atypical and unlikely does not mean it can't actually happen. And it is very possible to hunt a small area when rural law enforcement is so intentionally oblivious.

 

[Sebastian]

Tagging folks because I know of their interest in this topic from the old True Crime thread from a few years ago.

This is up your alley!

@MGMT @natedagg @MediumBaller @redscoon @macbdog

 

[MD13]

I'm glad you liked it!

I'll pass on your compliments!

But yes, he has received a lot of information. There are a number of people who have come forward.

Unfortunately I can't share a lot of what has come up recently, but as you may suspect, this is clearly another case of shockingly poor police work leading to nothing in two decades when even simple canvassing by Josh has led to many new, credible leads.



So as I wrote a long time ago on the True Crime thread, I have long been of the opinion that the Smiley Face Killers was not a thing, more so after I looked through dozens of cases and determined that only a handful could have been murders.

My opinion was based on the fact that conspiracies are hard to keep secret after so many years, and that the idea of a group of 3-4 middle-aged men boldly killing college dudes seems to contravene all the rules of predation. From motive to method it is so atypical.

However, that said, from what Josh has learned (to be clear, Mr. Newville does not believe in the SFK theory much either, and was not looking for any evidence of that sort, rather the opposite) about Josh Guimond's disappearance, and the cluster of activity in that time and place, and in Minnesota that Fall, I am now rethinking that.

Just because something is atypical and unlikely does not mean it can't actually happen. And it is very possible to hunt a small area when rural law enforcement is so intentionally oblivious.

One question I had so far about all this that you're probably very qualified to answer is: how is the local community responding to the podcast? Do people know about it, and are they helpful for the most part? I remember he noted in a recent ep that a lot of Josh's friends haven't reached out to him, and there was all of that about how any hint of homosexuality was just shot down by those close to him.

The interview in episode 4 was awesome, is he getting more really substantial leads like that one that he isn't at liberty to publish?

Also, how involved are local and state police with his investigation?

All in all, I'm getting a ton of creepy small town/community vibes from this and I'm really interested to see where it goes next. Just way too much spooky shit going on in and around that campus.

 

[Sebastian]

One question I had so far about all this that you're probably very qualified to answer is: how is the local community responding to the podcast? Do people know about it, and are they helpful for the most part? I remember he noted in a recent ep that a lot of Josh's friends haven't reached out to him, and there was all of that about how any hint of homosexuality was just shot down by those close to him.

The interview in episode 4 was awesome, is he getting more really substantial leads like that one that he isn't at liberty to publish?

Also, how involved are local and state police with his investigation?

All in all, I'm getting a ton of creepy small town/community vibes from this and I'm really interested to see where it goes next. Just way too much spooky shit going on in and around that campus.

The podcast is getting a lot of support from the family and from the local area.

People in that area have long been upset about the way the initial investigation was conducted, a lot like how the Jacob Wetterling investigation was botched. Josh is giving all pertinent information to the Sheriff's department.

So people have reached out in support, and he has received a number of leads. And there are a lot more than just the one featured on Episode 4. I can't talk about specifics though.

But yeah, like I posted before, as someone who led investigations before, there are a lot of things that are very atypical going on here if true. The idea that a group of men were repeatedly trying to abduct college dudes, all in the same area and time frame, is fantastical. Criminals are not all dumb and what they were doing was high profile. Who one Earth would press their luck like that?

And that does not even cover the murder of Chris Jenkins and Danny Newville.

 

[Sebastian]

Thanks for the rec @Sebastian. Loved what's come out so far, hopefully the platform allows them to get some significant leads in this cold case. Really well researched and put together, and I'll be listening to this moving forwards.

Did you listen to Episode 5?

Two more credible reports of attempted abductions of male St. John's students.

Same vehicle even.

The temerity of these guys, whomever they are.

 

[MD13]

Did you listen to Episode 5?

Two more credible reports of attempted abductions of male St. John's students.

Same vehicle even.

The temerity of these guys, whomever they are.

I did! First episode where you really start to see the complete incompetence of law enforcement and the government.

I'm also just shocked that this wasn't a big story and campus security and/or law enforcement were involved? If there's a car full of men just trying to abduct random students on or near campus, shouldn't there be some sort of lockdown or curfew?

 

[Sebastian]

I did! First episode where you really start to see the complete incompetence of law enforcement and the government.

I'm also just shocked that this wasn't a big story and campus security and/or law enforcement were involved? If there's a car full of men just trying to abduct random students on or near campus, shouldn't there be some sort of lockdown or curfew?

It seems that no one really came forward.

These guys talked to their friends, but as I recall all the episodes, not one said they went to the police.

That said, in a case like this, the police should have absolutely canvassed the student body for any odd activity.

They didn't. And just like the Jacob Wetterling case, which happened under the watch of the same Sherriff, they failed to do the basic police work. Police 101. They failed.

Instead they immediately went with the most likely scenario and refused to deviate even after it was super clear that Josh did not drown in the lakes around the school.

While it is true that investigators are trained to pursue the most likely scenario first, they are not supposed to ignore evidence to the contrary, nor fail to do basic investigation.

The Abbey and the proximity of St. Cloud (which has a history as being the epicenter of human trafficking in MN) also complicates matters and it should, in the back of the minds of the police, make them that much more vigilant.

 

[Mr. Orange]

Did you listen to Episode 5?

Two more credible reports of attempted abductions of male St. John's students.

Same vehicle even.

The temerity of these guys, whomever they are.

Been listening to this. Interesting. Though the white van selling speakers is a common scam in many cities. They are just shitty cheap speakers. The grift is telling people they are from Best Buy. Same as Eric Bischoff selling meat out of the back of a truck in Minneapolis.

 

[Mr. Orange]

It seems like he was nabbed and killed. He most likely got into someone’s car on that bridge. I’m thinking it was a gay sex meet up that he set up after some online chats. But it’s also quite possible it was these guys in the red car or the truck. If it was a drowning or suicide they would have found the body. Someone hid or buried him most likely.

Good production by your friend Sebastian. It’s well done.

 

[Sebastian]

It seems like he was nabbed and killed. He most likely got into someone’s car on that bridge. I’m thinking it was a gay sex meet up that he set up after some online chats. But it’s also quite possible it was these guys in the red car or the truck. If it was a drowning or suicide they would have found the body. Someone hid or buried him most likely.

Good production by your friend Sebastian. It’s well done.

I let him know you like it!

New bonus episode: https://www.simplyvanished.com/podcast/episode/4f757124/s1-b2-qanda

 

[Sebastian]

Episode 6 is up, and discusses possible connections to the long history of sexual abuse by the monks at St. John's Abbey.

https://www.simplyvanished.com/podcast/episode/1d5be162/s1-e6-they-prey