by Dennis Dalman
On Nov. 9, 2002, 20-year-old St. John’s University student Joshua Guimond left an on-campus party, stepped into the cold night and was never seen or heard from again.
Now, almost 20 years later, renewed efforts have begun to generate tips and clues that just might lead to the cause of Guimond’s dreadful disappearance.
A Minneapolis civil-rights attorney, Josh Newville, has initiated a series of podcasts called simplyvanished.com. For years, Newville has researched other missing-person cases. He is convinced searchers/investigators at the time had missed or completely overlooked clues largely because so many were convinced Guimond had drowned in a lake or swampy area on campus. That certainty caused a kind of tunnel vision. A massive search of the entire area, including the lake, revealed nothing.
Guimond’s long, unexplained disappearance recalls a similar agonizing incident – the 1989 abduction of a St. Joseph boy, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling. It took 27 years before that case was solved, when his abductor-murderer, then living in Annandale, finally confessed to the crime and revealed where he’d buried the body, near Paynesville. In the Wetterling case, it was well established he had been abducted by some man while biking home with his brother and a friend from a store in St. Joseph. In Guimond’s case, on the other hand, the cause of his disappearance was and is utterly baffling.
In a recent letter-to-editor for the St. Joseph Newsleader, Patty Wetterling, the mother of Jacob, wrote this: “Josh was really gifted and had a bright future. He needs to be found. His family and friends need answers. Tune into simplyvanished.com to learn more and help find Josh Guimond.”
Attorney Newville is sharing information on his podcasts with the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department, which has intensified new efforts with new investigators in the case under the leadership of deputy Andrew Struffert.
The first podcast, which aired in mid-June, re-examined communications found on Guimond’s dorm-room computer. One eerie revelation is that when Guimond was at the party across the campus, a music application on his dorm computer appears to have been manipulated manually by someone listening to songs and skipping other songs.
New podcasts will be available every other Monday. Newville said the podcasts reveal that 2002, there were reports that some men were targeting other men on the SJU campus.
One student, “Anthony” (not his real name) was interviewed for the second podcast, entitled “The Price of the Ride.” He said he had been walking on the campus late at night the same week or so that Guimond vanished. A vehicle stopped with four men inside. They told him that a man had just been killed on campus and that they would give him a ride back to his dorm for his own safety. Instead, they drove him to a swampy area on campus, stopped the car and one of the men said, “Time to pay the price for the ride.” He was told to get into the front seat and perform a sexual act on the driver. As the car doors opened, Anthony fled on foot, the men chasing him, unable to catch him.
That podcast also tells of two similar incidents:
At about the same time frame (November 2002), a young man was in a bar in downtown St. Joseph, talking with friends. When he left the bar, several men pushed him into the back seat of a vehicle, but he managed to escape.
In yet another incident in August 2003, a student was walking on campus late at night when a vehicle appeared to be following him. In a parking lot, the vehicle stopped, its several occupants staring intently at the man as he walked into the lot. Feeling he was being stalked, the man sprinted away.
Another podcast mentions a woman who knew Guimond and who recognized him walking unaccompanied past a dormitory toward a roadway the night he vanished. It is about a five-minute walk from the party place to his dorm room.
In the third “bonus” podcast, a reader reads a brilliantly written essay – a “political autobiography” penned by Guimond as a college student.
People are encouraged to watch the podcasts, to discuss the information with others and to report any hunches or clues they might have to the podcast tip line at 612-439-3646; the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department at 320-251-4220; or email to [email protected].
Joshua Guimond
Born on June 18, 1982 in Redwood Falls, Joshua Cheney Guimond, an only child and the son of Brian and Lisa Guimond, was raised in Maple Lake. He excelled in his school studies, being named by his peers as “most likely to succeed” and serving as class president.
Guimond would be 40 years old now.
All who knew him as a youth and as a student at SJU described him as exceedingly intelligent, dedicated, hard-working, kind and responsible. He intended to earn a law degree and possibly enter public service, with hopes of becoming a state congressional representative.
Passionate about politics since he was a child, he had served as a page in the State Capitol where his beloved stepmother and mentor, Rep. Barbara Vickerman, represented the Redwood Falls area until her death from cancer in 1997.
Brian Guimond
After Guimond’s disappearance, his father, Brian, sharply criticized law enforcement and others for being convinced that he had drowned – so convinced that they did not seek any other possible evidence of foul play.
In an interview with the St. Joseph Newsleader nearly 20 years ago, Brian Guimond said he believed his son met with violence from one or more men who were on the campus that night. More recently, he sued the sheriff’s department to force it to release all investigatory details to the public.
Nov. 9, 2002
During the day of Saturday, Nov. 9, Guimond did research for a paper he was writing for history class about Alexander Hamilton, according to one of the “Simply Vanished” podcasts.
Later, a couple friends came to his dorm where they had some drinks and listened to music. Still later, on that very chilly night, he and the two friends walked from his dorm room in St. Maur House to another dorm, Metten Court, to enjoy a gathering attended by about 10 friends.
At the party, Guimond drank some alcohol, but his friends later said that he did not at all appear to be intoxicated. At one point, toward midnight, Guimond left the party. It was only about a five-minute walk back to his dorm. Later, the friends tried calling him but no answer. The next day, Guimond was absent from a school-related meeting he’d been eager to attend. Friends became very worried. They contacted the sheriff’s department and others.
A search of his dorm room revealed that before he left for the party he’d left behind his car keys, wallet containing driver’s license and credit cards and his eyeglasses and contact lenses.
Talk, talk, talk
Podcast producer Newville, who has researched many missing-person cases, said the Guimond case is particularly frustrating because “nobody wants to talk,” especially people living in small towns.
“Nobody is talking so that dots cannot be connected,” he said. “I’m stunned by the amount of silence in this case.”
However, Newville added that his podcasts have generated a tremendous response and so much new information from listeners. He urges people to “keep talking, talking, talking.”
Clarification
This story by Dennis Dalman about the disappearance of St. John’s University student Josh Guimond in 2002 needs some clarification. An SJU student called “Anthony” (not his real name) said he had been abducted by several men in a vehicle about the same time in November that Guimond was reported missing. Anthony ran from the car, pursued by the men, but successfully escaped. In the second “Simply Vanished” podcast about the Guimond case, “Anthony” was mentioned, but the podcast producers and host did not, in fact, interview “Anthony” even though they very much want to. The podcast revealed what “Anthony” had told other students and people about what happened to him that night. The podcast producers talked with those people, not “Anthony,” but the producers are still hoping that he will decide to talk with them.