The tragic scandal at Penn State University, in which former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is charged with as many as 40 sex crimes against minors while running a program for at-risk kids raises new questions about the unsolved disappearance of Joshua Guimond nine years ago today, on Nov. 10, 2002, from the campus of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

The Penn State scandal has already resulted in the firing of legendary head football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier, the arrest of Sandusky, and charges against athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz for failure to report allegations of sexual misconduct to law enforcement authorities. Furthermore the U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into whether Penn State — which already faces the prospect of multimillion-dollar lawsuits — failed to report instances of suspected sexual abuse on campus, as required by federal law under the Clery Act.

As for the matter at hand, Joshua Guimond remains missing and his case appears no closer to resolution than the day he vanished nine years ago. Yet, it has been speculated that parties subject to mandatory reporting requirements have been less than forthright with information pertinent to the investigation of Josh’s disappearance.

——————————————

FROM THE ARCHIVES

One Year Ago — November 5, 2010

Refer Joshua Guimond Case to FBI

One year ago today, I reported that Maple Lake, Minn., student Joshua Guimond had been missing eight years from the campus of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

I noted that Josh still remained missing and that his case appeared no closer to resolution than the day he vanished.

As a consequence, I contended that to move Josh’s case forward, it was imperative that the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department refer the case to FBI behavioral scientists promptly for review and investigative recommendations.

Image: Last known photo of Joshua Guimond, taken on the St. John’s University campus in October 2002.

—————————————————————————————————

Two Years Ago — November 7, 2009

Missing Person Joshua Guimond

Two years ago, on November 7, 2009, I featured the latest news and information about the unexplained disappearance and fruitless search for missing student Joshua Guimond, who vanished from the campus of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., on November 10, 2002.

Oddly, local police never put out a widely disseminated notice to the public that foul play is suspected or made an urgent appeal to students on campus at the time of Josh’s disappearance to report to law enforcement authorities any incidents in which they were approached in a sexual manner by an older person on campus or noticed any suspicious activity of a possible predatory nature.

Click on the image to enlarge/print, or read more about Joshua Guimond.

——————————————————————

Two Years Ago — November 9, 2009

Guimond: “Justice for Josh” March

Two years ago today, on November 9, 2009, I reported on the 7th anniversary of the unsolved disappearance of St. John’s University student Joshua Guimond. On Saturday, November 7, 2009, Josh’s family and supporters convened near the site of Josh’s disappearance for a “Justice for Josh” march to raise public awareness of their son’s plight, after which they delivered a petition for renewed efforts in the search to the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department. On Saturday evening, the family held a prayer service and candlelight vigil at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Maple Lake, Minn.

[Link to video reports of the day’s events]

————————————————

Related reports on this site

Joshua Guimond Missing — 10th Anniversary (Nov. 10, 2012)

Minnesota Missing Person Linkage Analysis (June 22, 2011)

Josh Guimond: New Developments (May 24, 2010)

Josh Guimond (Photo credit: KMSP-TV Fox 9)

Jacob Wetterling 20 Years On (Oct. 22, 2009)

A photo of Jacob Wetterling from 1989, the year he was taken (left), and an age-adjusted image of what he may have looked like at age 29 (right).

Jacob Wetterling Lead Unravels (Jan. 7, 2009)

—————————

Related report

No Sign of St. John’s Student 9 Years After Disappearance
By Michelle Knoll, KSTP, Twin Cities, Nov. 10, 2011

Nine years after he disappeared there is still no clue what happened to missing St. John’s University student, Josh Guimond.

Guimond went missing after leaving a party on the Collegeville campus.

To mark the anniversary of his disappearance, family and friends gathered at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Maple Plain for a prayer service Thursday [Nov. 10, 2011].

The family says a billboard with Guimond’s picture asking for information will be put up between St. John’s and St. Joseph.

—————————

Related report

Questions on Sandusky are wrapped in a 2005 mystery (Ken Belson, New York Times, Nov. 8, 2011) — One of the questions surrounding the sex-abuse case against Jerry Sandusky is why a former district attorney — said to be a meticulous, independent, tough-minded prosecutor unbowed by Penn State, its football program, and political pressure in general — chose not to prosecute the then-Penn State assistant coach in 1998 after reports surfaced that he had improper contact with a boy. The answer is unknowable because of an unsolved mystery: Ray Gricar (photo, left) the Centre County, Pa., district attorney disappeared on April 15, 2005. His car was found the next day in a Lewisburg parking lot. His laptop was recovered months later in the Susquehanna River without a hard drive. Gricar’s body has never been found. … Full story

Video report

——————————

Video update

How far will Penn State probe reach? (NBC “Today,” Nov. 13, 2011) — Federal, state and local investigators from Philadelphia to San Antonio are reportedly investigating new claims of child abuse from alleged victims of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. As NBC News’ Michael Isikoff reports, the investigations could lead to a slew of civil suits and could even jeopardize Penn State’s bond rating. (03:22)

———————————

11/18/2011 Update

Penn State scandal puts campus police in spotlight; Officers may feel need to protect the institution’s reputation, not just the campus community (AP, Nov. 17, 2011) — At Penn State, as at many colleges, campus police occupy an unusual and much-misunderstood spot on the law enforcement spectrum — and when scandal breaks, that often leads to questions about divided loyalties. The latest developments in the sex abuse case there have put university’s police front and center of some of the most prominent unanswered questions. Did Penn State officers investigate allegations former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused on campus thoroughly and professionally, only to have their findings quashed by prosecutors and image-conscious university administrators who preferred to handle things in-house? Or were the police themselves part of the cover-up? … Full story

——————————————————————————————————————

Penn State is being investigated by the Education Department in the wake of Jerry Sandusky’s arrest. A law known as the Clery Act, dating to 1990, requires colleges to disclose potential crimes. (Photo credit: Chang W. Lee / The New York Times)

On campus, a law enforcement system to itself (New York Times, Nov. 11, 2011) — After the body of an Eastern Michigan University freshman was found in her dorm room in December 2006, naked from the waist down with a pillow over her head, the chief of the university police said there was “no reason to suspect foul play,” and let her parents believe she had died of natural causes. … On most of these campuses, law enforcement is the responsibility of sworn police officers who report to university authorities, not to the public. With full-fledged arrest powers, such campus police forces have enormous discretion in deciding whether to refer cases directly to district attorneys or to leave them to the quiet handling of in-house disciplinary proceedings. … But many serious offenses reach neither campus police officers nor their off-campus counterparts because they are directly funneled to administrators. … Full story