Eight years ago today, on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2002, Maple Lake, Minn., student Joshua Guimond was reported missing from the campus of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Josh remains missing and his case appears no closer to resolution than the day he vanished. To move Josh’s case forward, it is imperative that the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department refer the case to FBI behavioral scientists without further delay for review and recommendations.

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

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Related reports on this site

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

Penn State Scandal Highlights Guimond Mystery (Nov. 10, 2011)

Minnesota Missing Person Linkage Analysis (June 22, 2011)

Josh Guimond: New Developments (May 24, 2010)

What happened to Josh Guimond?

Guimond: “Justice for Josh” March (Nov. 9, 2009)

On Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, three days before the 7th anniversary of the disappearance of St. John’s University student Joshua Guimond, 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 Josh’s church in Maple Lake.

Missing Person Joshua Guimond (Nov. 7, 2009)

Joshua Guimond’s Final Journey

Based on interviews and ongoing private investigation, here’s a summary of Joshua Guimond’s last known movements and locations (as best I’ve been able to establish) the night he disappeared, along with a campus map and numbered legend to track Guimond’s route:

Map of St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minn. (PDF — larger image)

» Josh leaves card game at Metten Court (43) to return to his apartment in St. Maur House (15).

» Josh takes the paved pedestrian walkway (not shown on map) passing between the buildings of Seton Apartments (40); observed by one eyewitness standing behind dumpster at Seton Apartments.

» Josh crosses the intersection to the left of Stumpf Lake onto the main campus; observed by group of eyewitnesses crossing culvert in direction of bus stop on exit route to I-94.

» Josh walks in direction of his apartment in Maur House (15); no further witnesses.

» At this point, Josh had to cross County Road 159; a parking lot; and walk around the tennis courts to reach his apartment in Maur House (15); however, there is no electronic record that he used his computerized key card to enter his apartment.

Sidebar: Profile of Joshua Guimond’s Abductor

The offender responsible for Joshua Guimond’s disappearance, if foul play is involved, would have the following personal characteristics: above average intelligence; socially competent, with good interpersonal skills; employed in a skilled occupation; high birth-order status (e.g., first-born son); a poor relationship with his father, who humiliated him in childhood; a childhood history of inconsistent discipline; a reliable means of transportation, most likely a late-model car in good condition; and a precipitating situational stress in his personal life prior to the victim’s disappearance.

The offender would be considerably older than traditional-age college students. He would be very familiar with the college campus from which the victim disappeared; it would be part of his territory, his comfort zone. He likely would be familiar with the schedules of campus buses and security officers and would know whether the campus has surveillance cameras and where they are located.

The offender would have conducted extensive pre-surveillance of campus activity around midnight on weekends, which suggests he easily blends in and does not arouse the suspicions of students or security officers when out and about late at night on campus. He would be comfortable in outdoor locations.

The offender would be highly skilled in presenting the image of a loving and sincere individual and adept at charming others and gaining their confidence and trust. However, beneath this veneer of civility and trustworthiness, he would be selfish, cunning, manipulative, and driven by a need for power, domination, and control.

The offender would have chosen for himself an occupation or avocation that allows him to act as an authority figure and places him in a position where he can easily identify and gain the trust of vulnerable college-age men (e.g., youth counselor or coach); however, he will not have distinguished himself in his chosen occupation.

The offender may previously have come to the attention of authorities as a result of allegations of inappropriate relationships with younger men or minor violations such as trespassing, peeping, soliciting, or numerous driving offenses.

The offender would be a fussy, meticulous, impeccably groomed individual preoccupied with details, lists, organization, and schedules. He would act kindly toward those who submit to his authority but cold, critical, or vindictive toward those who do not. He would have few if any genuine, reciprocal, give-and-take friendships. He would be essentially a loner whose primary relationships are with younger men in a subservient, compliant role.

The offender likely would have rehearsed his abduction plan. This means that in the months prior to his victim’s disappearance, he used a con or ruse (e.g., asking for assistance or directions, feigning a fall, accident, or injury) to lure a student late at night into a vehicle, to an isolated area concealed from public view, or to an indoor location over which he had a great deal of control (e.g., a basement, garage, or office area).

The likely offender would have a longstanding interest in sexual bondage and discipline, and over the years may have sought out opportunities to discuss this and other sexual topics with younger men (possibly in a counseling situation, or perhaps in a joking or offhand fashion in more informal interactions). He would have an extensive collection of bondage pornography, though this would likely be a closely guarded secret.

After the victim’s disappearance, the offender would have closely followed the investigation in the news media; likely increased his alcohol consumption, showed signs of stress, and/or experienced weight loss; and may have changed jobs or left the area until the dust had settled enough for him to feel it was safe enough to return.

When he is finally apprehended, many will be shocked, asserting that this was the last person they would have suspected of being capable of such a heinous crime.

Sidebar: Suspect Sketch in Wetterling/Guimond Investigation

Below is a police sketch Fox 9 KMSP-TV in the Twin Cities used in a February 2004 feature about a college student working at the Tom Thumb convenience store in St. Joseph, who rented the video “Naked Gun” to Jacob Wetterling minutes before his abduction on October 22, 1989.

According to the Fox 9 report, this man came to the Tom Thumb store two weeks to the day after the abduction and talked obsessively about Jacob, saying, “They’ll never find that boy” (note the depersonalization of the victim in that statement).

The clerk thought this individual, described as a white male about 50 years of age (or about 70 in 2010) with receding gray hair, was behaving suspiciously. She reported him to the FBI and apparently the sketch was produced based on her eyewitness account.

This person closely matches the description of a suspicious person seen lurking around the Tom Thumb store and other area video rental places on the day of Jacob’s abduction.

It’s important to keep in mind that, unlike photographs, sketches based on eyewitness accounts are not exact likenesses. However, they typically capture enough of the basic characteristics of a suspect’s face to trigger a response from someone who knows the offender and thinks it might be the same person.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 10, 2009

Iraq-Afghanistan Casualties

One year ago today, I provided my weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army Spc. Gary L. Gooch Jr., 22, Ocala, Fla., died Nov. 5, 2009 in Jelewar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — November 10, 2008

Dozens of Casualties in Baghdad Triple Bombing

Iraqis gather at the site of car bomb explosions Monday, Nov. 10, 2008 in Baghdad. (Photo credit: Khaldoon Zubeir / Getty Images)

Two years ago today, on November 10, 2008, I reported the deadliest attack in Iraq in months, when a suicide bomber struck a crowd that had gathered where an explosion moments earlier had damaged a bus full of schoolgirls, killing at least 31 people and wounding 71.