Since DNA was used to exclude Mr. Barnett, I’m guessing the same DNA could also be used to include or exclude Ross — assuming his living brother would submit a sample and police were interested, of course.

Good point.

Weeks later, I haven’t received a single response to one of the 20+ emails I sent out asking if anybody remembered Ross from school

Being only slightly facetious, those are the ones you have to wonder about. Went to school with hundreds of others, yet not a single one of them remembers that they ever existed.

-gurk

Being only slightly facetious, those are the ones you have to wonder about. Went to school with hundreds of others, yet not a single one of them remembers that they ever existed.

-gurk

The weird part to me is that not one of them replied even to say that they didn’t remember him. To me, it makes me wonder if people thought he was strange or were afraid of him, and just don’t want to even bother to respond. I think I wound up sending 22 emails and not a single response, just a little odd to me

Do you mind posting the body of the email you sent? Could be the way it was worded. I know I have gotten emails from people trying to reconnect from high school and completely blown them off. Could also be a possibility that whatever was in email was sent to spam.

The email was basically as follows:

Hi, I am wondring if you might be able to help me? I am trying to see if you may remember a fellow high school classmate of yours, Ross Sullivan? Maybe you were Friends with him,or know some students that were. Can you please let me know either way,thanks.

Really non-threatening, and Friendly I think

Nothing out of the ordinary for sure. Any chance it was sent from an email or had any links in it that would be seen as spam and filtered as such? And how sure are the email addresses it was sent to? If company email they may have moved jobs, but if yahoo or gmail I would gather they may have either been sent to spam or just disregarded. I know I do that daily with gmail. Did you have a subject for the email that would catch their attention?

Is it possible to find his teachers through school and request records or personal recounts of his demeanor? I dont think school records are under the same lock and key as medical records and I would think it possible some of his teachers may still be around. You could also request a school transcript for his admission or possibly even the courses he took in college? Would love to find a connection to cryptography.

Is it possible to find his teachers through school and request records or personal recounts of his demeanor? I dont think school records are under the same lock and key as medical records and I would think it possible some of his teachers may still be around. You could also request a school transcript for his admission or possibly even the courses he took in college? Would love to find a connection to cryptography.

School records are still an issue to get, privacy laws & procedures still apply

Still awaiting receipt of Ross’s original ss application, which hopefully will yield some good printing samples. The SS website stated that it would take about 20 days to fulfill the request, but after searching google for accounts of people who requested the same type of materials for genealogy projects, reported that it could take up to 90 days. What a letdown. All we can do now is wait

I think it is possible to get some Selective Service Registration Records. He would have had to register at some point I would think during those years.

Isn’t there a 50th high school reunion coming up this year? Perhaps someone could attend and bring it up somehow with anyone who may remember Ross and also be at the reunion. Of course this should be done discreetly and maybe a private meeting could be arranged afterwards to discuss.

I feel sorry for Ross and his family. It sounds like he had good upbringing and it is very hard to lose a parent at any age. He was probably made fun of because he was heavier than most of the kids then.

Further, mental illness was more of a stigma in those days than it is now. It wasn’t discussed as openly and not as much was known.

It is interesting that there was a librarian he must have gotten along with well and she probably knew more about him and was probably a good friend as well and kind of took him under her wing, knowing whatever it was about his circumstances.

I find it hard to believe that if someone really thought he’d escaped from a mental hospital that the person would not have reported it to the police, especially if they felt Ross was so scary, especially someone like a staff member.

The email was basically as follows:

Hi, I am wondring if you might be able to help me? I am trying to see if you may remember a fellow high school classmate of yours, Ross Sullivan? Maybe you were Friends with him,or know some students that were. Can you please let me know either way,thanks.

Really non-threatening, and Friendly I think

Just a random thought, really, but I suppose anything is worth trying here: How about approaching these people via Facebook? My mom is that generation or thereabouts. She probably wouldn’t respond to an email – but she might very well respond to a FB message. People her age are the most avid FB users, I read the other day. You’d need to befriend ’em first, of course – but it might be worth a try.

The email was basically as follows:

Hi, I am wondring if you might be able to help me? I am trying to see if you may remember a fellow high school classmate of yours, Ross Sullivan? Maybe you were Friends with him,or know some students that were. Can you please let me know either way,thanks.

Really non-threatening, and Friendly I think

Just a random thought, really, but I suppose anything is worth trying here: How about approaching these people via Facebook? My mom is that generation or thereabouts. She probably wouldn’t respond to an email – but she might very well respond to a FB message. People her age are the most avid FB users, I read the other day. You’d need to befriend ’em first, of course – but it might be worth a try.

All avenues have been explored.

The email was basically as follows:

Hi, I am wondring if you might be able to help me? I am trying to see if you may remember a fellow high school classmate of yours, Ross Sullivan? Maybe you were Friends with him,or know some students that were. Can you please let me know either way,thanks.

Really non-threatening, and Friendly I think

Just a random thought, really, but I suppose anything is worth trying here: How about approaching these people via Facebook? My mom is that generation or thereabouts. She probably wouldn’t respond to an email – but she might very well respond to a FB message. People her age are the most avid FB users, I read the other day. You’d need to befriend ’em first, of course – but it might be worth a try.

All avenues have been explored.

Even snail mail? Sometimes a more personalized approach works with the older generation.