The Scarecast Files #12: The Disappearance of David Gonzales

The Scarecast

Michael Crutchfield

True Crime, Society & Culture, Books, Arts

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Scarecast Files episode, we delve into the mysterious disappearance and tragic death of 9-year-old David Gonzales. On the morning of July 31st, 2004, during a camping trip at Big Bear Lake, David vanished without a trace while attempting to retrieve a box of cookies from the family truck just 50 yards away from the Big Bear campground. Despite a massive search effort, David's remains was only discovered a year later, raising more questions than answers. Was it a mountain lion attack, a kidnapping, or something more sinister? Join us as we explore the theories, the investigation, and the unanswered questions surrounding this heartbreaking case. Tune in to unravel the mystery and pay tribute to David's memory.

Old Chair Photography Lab Location (David's Memorial Accross Street - Unconfirmed): 39185 N Shore Dr, Fawnskin, CA 92333

Instagram Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7Xs6TjP76x/

Instagram Comments Mentioned:

@camelia1506 - Just terrible but glad that his remains were found to help parents have closure with their son. Otherwise parents would be still looking for him. Rip little angel.

@cesar_chingon_number_1 - I was just a little kid still when this happened. And strangely to this day i think alot about this little boys missing case. A few years ago i took my jeep to big bear and several times after that one day after wheeling i was airing up my tires , i looked over and there he was. His smiling face just as i remembered seeing him on tv. Its a memorial plaque located across the street from old chair photography lab in fawnskin Ca. If you ever go there please be respectful and say a prayer for little David. May he rest in peace. We may never know the truth of what happened to him.

@jessneedsaninstaa - ight ?! I have a 9 year old as well and I am so paranoid I won’t let her walk to the mailbox without her holding one of our dogs and me and the other dogs watching from the door!! You never know who is lurking, or who is even living next door or across the street. Always be aware and alert !!!

@mikeperrry620 - Kids go outside and play all the time without parents watching. It's ridiculous to blame the mom, the car was only fifty feet away.

@noddika - I knew him, he was a twin. His mom used to make dresses for me when I was little. Last time I saw him he was jumping on the bed with his brother while we picked up one of my dresses. It was so terrible when we heard what happened. Be kind in the comments, the family went through a lot. 🤍

Sources

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-03-me-bones3-story.html

https://www.espn.com/outdoors/hunting/news/story?id=2075458

https://mountainlion.org/2005/06/03/lion-attack-theory-abandoned/

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=124433&page=1

https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/2004/08/06/search-goes-on-for-missing/50697700007/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It was around 8 a.m. on July 31st, 2004.
0:07.0	Breakfast was being prepared when 9-year-old David Gonzales
0:12.0	was on a camping trip in Big Bear Lake to celebrate his birthday
0:15.5	with his family and members of his local church told his mother that he was hungry. David asked his mother if he could have the car keys to grab a box of
0:26.4	cookies from the family's Toyota pickup truck. The car was only 50 yards away and his mother would watch him as he walked over to the parking lot.
0:37.0	His mother would briefly look away and look back and David was gone.
0:50.8	David's mother never heard a sound, never heard a struggle and only noted that at the time she saw a beige truck speeding out of the campground at the time of the
0:55.5	disappearance. The cookies were still inside the car, the door still locked, and the keys nowhere to be found.
1:08.7	Which all indicate that he had never even made it to the car during his trek through the parking lot.
1:17.0	Rescue teams would go on a nine day search scouring the entire woods, searching an 8-mile radius, and would never find him alive.
1:28.0	All sexual offenders who are reported to be living in the area was also interviewed.
1:36.2	And detectives also took statements from the majority of people who are camping at the
1:41.0	Big Bear campsite. At the time of disappearance to gather any evidence of an abduction.
1:47.0	Authorities would state that any sign of an abduction was not present and because of this this leads them to believe
1:55.8	that a natural death must have occurred and since there were no signs of
2:01.4	abduction or foul play, the beige truck driver that the
2:06.7	mother seen at the time of the disappearance was rolled out.
2:11.4	It is unknown if they ever did follow up with the beige truck driver or at least
2:16.6	it was never announced publicly if such an interview took place. A year later, a pair of hikers would come across
2:27.1	skull and bones, roughly one mile southwest from the Big Bear
2:32.1	Campground that David disappeared from.
2:36.8	Strange given the area was thoroughly searched at the time of disappearance.
	...

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