Putting Things Together (Discussion)

Ron Tammen wiring some cans together

Do you have a question or comment that’s more general in nature–something that extends beyond a specific blog post and synthesizes, extrapolates, and/or puts two and two together? Here’s a good place to write down these sorts of comments and questions.

Feel free to chime in!

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Stevie J
Stevie J
4 months ago

Just read the Tammen story in The Miami Student. Nothing earth shattering, but I hope it sends some people this direction.

A good friend was buried yesterday. She retired from Champion Paper in the early 90’s. I was going to ask her about Dorothy Craig. I am sure she’d have at least known her.

Stevie J
Stevie J
8 months ago

How about a GoFundMe for your legal fees?

Stevie J
Stevie J
10 months ago

In case you don’t have enough to do, the suggested Wiki edit never happened.

Vickki Carroll
Vickki Carroll
1 year ago

I have been re-reading through the threads. I’m sure I’ve missed a lot but I had a thought jump out at me and had to ask about it. I know we’ve discussed the whole bood typing thing Ron did. He was also seen leaving with a woman in a car.

Given the rigid way his Dad was and given that he was embarrassed of his mother, maybe Ron had gotten a girl pregnant. That could be where his money was going. He knew his parents would not approve, would not be accepting and thus went off with the mother and his baby.

There could be other factors also. Maybe the girl was “loose”, maybe she was way older than him, maybe she was a different race, a divorcee, etc. It certainly would explain why he worked so much but yet had little money.

Then again, the girl in the car could have been a CIA operative.

Stevie J
Stevie J
1 year ago

Thought I sent this a few days ago, guess I didn’t. If you have a friend who’s a Wiki Editor, maybe they could add Ron to the list of “alleged subjects” of MKUltra. Maybe something like, “The working theory of the author of the website RonaldTammen.com is that his disappearance was related to the MKUltra activity on college campuses in the 1950’s.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MKUltra

Julie
Julie
1 year ago

Just curious, does anyone else take a look at any missing college kids cases (even recent ones) and wonder if the CIA were somehow involved? Most likely after Ron Tammen they realized people actually try to investigate, not to mention remember for a really LONG time, when certain people disappear, and then you look at some of the similarities in the Maura Murray disappearance and Brendan Santo goes missing at the same time you start reading this blog, and your brain wants to jump to wild conclusions.

Julie
Julie
1 year ago
Reply to  jwenger

It’s not something I entertain seriously so much as an explanation that was never on my radar in the first place until January.

Some former NYPD detectives believe there’s a serial killer (dubbed the Smiley Face Killer) who abducts college men off campuses mostly in the Midwest, tortures them for weeks or months, then dumps their bodies in rivers, which if true lines up with Brandon’s disappearance. Maura seems like she planned her own disappearance, although whether it was supposed to be just a weekend or permanent is debatable and either met a tragic ending or really doesn’t want to be found.

Stevie J
Stevie J
1 year ago

I have been enjoying myself reading some of the Richard Cox material. I noticed repeated references to a ” missing person stop” in the Identification Division. Is that typical of all missing person cases? Only active military personnel? Something different? The fact they mention that it exists means that it should also exist in Ron’s file, or there be a valid reason it doesn’t/they claim it doesn’t. Is a missing person stop different than a missing person notice?

Stevie J
Stevie J
1 year ago
Reply to  jwenger

CD#3, Section 14. Page 16, “notice”. Pages 19 and 22, “stop”. There might have been a couple more along the way, but those I know for sure at the moment.

Stevie J
Stevie J
1 year ago

Just a small thing, but in Carl Knox’ notes, it says Ron had a Bulova wristwatch. While that’s not a Rolex, it’s not a cheap watch either. Seems a touch out of character. I don’t know, maybe it was a high school graduation present, but in reading the notes just now, that jumped out at me.

Stevie J
Stevie J
1 year ago

Yeah, I somehow forgot to mention her reference to Ron! That line sure jumped out at me, although it escaped my memory logs. I think you’d have heard from her by now if she was still alive.

I was also floored by one one of the strong suspects in the case, I forget the name, but he checked ALL the boxes. I put myself in a jury box and uhhh, sort of think I may have found him guilty. Then DNA proved he wasn’t involved. Just a little reminder to not be too quick to assume an answer.

I came here to ask if you could post somewhere a listing of your current FOIA and other information requests. It’s hard to keep the players straight without a scorecard.

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

I strongly recommend you read I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, by Michelle McNamara. It’s her account of a private investigation of the Golden State Killer. I just finished it in two days. If you’ve heard of it, you know she died before the book was finished. I surely hope for better things for you!

Anyway, the process was oddly analogous to your efforts. This line, among many, seems apt to AGMIHTF: “We live in a swipe-right, blip-scan culture of clickbait, 140-character arguments, and thirty-second viral videos. It’s easy to get someone’s attention, but it’s almost impossible to keep it.”

Julie
Julie
1 year ago
Reply to  Stevie J

I also really like A Murder in Music City by Michael Bishop- there’s a lot of cover-ups and scandal, albeit mostly at the municipal level, as well as tracking down witnesses, friends, etc after decades and many pertinent players dying of age as he investigates.

Julie
Julie
1 year ago
Reply to  jwenger

I just finished reading it, and it’s really good! (I have to confess, I liked it a lot better than “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” mostly because I think the writers who picked up after Michelle McNamara weren’t that engaging.) I learned about it on one of my many podcasts – Southern Fried True Crime.

And thanks for the 20/20 recommendation – I had to stop to remember even WHY I mentioned Heaven’s Gate in the first place, but yes, that was me. And apparently in reference to their website that is currently still running being less of a scam than that weird insurance site.

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

Last line of the Carl Knox notes:

“Did he owe Univ any money?”

Pathetic. For a while, I thought that a Miami rep visiting the Tammens allegedly for payment was a big clue. I thought that was surely a cover story for something more important/sinister/something. Over time, I think it was simply an ill-advised but legitimate visit to collect money. Unbelievable.

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

While the original players in the Tammen saga are all late 80’s at the youngest, whoever interviewed AD was surely much younger. While time is running out on much of the case in terms of first hand witnesses, this particular point surely doesn’t face such a pressing deadline, no pun intended. Maybe there’s nothing to report, but I’d sure like to hear firsthand from the interviewer to that effect. No particular stunning revelation here, but it’s been in the back of my mind a while and decided to mention it.

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

It’s odd that just as it’s odds against finding a document proving your case, it’s also odds against finding a document disproving. Sometimes I step back and think “Maybe it just was a frat prank gone bad and nobody talked.” Well, if that’s it, that’s it. Short of a deathbed confession, that secret won’t be discovered.

The point is that either way, whatever happened, happened, regardless of the ability to document it. I’d really like to know. I’ve swung from being skeptical of the CIA involvement to thinking it did happen that way. There’s just an awful lot of smoke around Miami U at that time to think there wasn’t a fire. The obstructions tossed up by the various agencies sure look like the actions of people with something to hide. But I still accept it’s possible there wasn’t anything to it. I don’t know, just some big picture idle thoughts about the affair.

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

A surprisingly nice letter from the CIA. I bet that almost makes you nervous. December 8, 2022. 3 years to the day after the first confirmed case of Covid. I think. Okay, a rather specific day when we’re talking 18 months out, but whatever.

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

I gave Black Vault another shot today. It’s not very user friendly. And I tried to use your instructions in the header, and really couldn’t follow them. In particular,

“Jot down the document number from the index and then find it in one of the four folders of the searchable and downloadable database.”

I could use some specifics on exactly where to plug in that file number. I bet (hope?) I’m not the only one.

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

Okay, I forgot you identified him. There’s an awful lot of material here. 😉

In my mind, if Switzer was the antagonist, the woman in the car seems a lot more likely. That had always seemed a bit of an outlier to me. How exactly was everyone communicating/coordinating? But if someone ON CAMPUS was pulling the strings, well then…

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

What was the Ralph Smith lead?

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

Did you ever look into GEDmatch.com? Just browsing the site and saw that on the blood test post.

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

Well, if I was a well meaning friend of the Miami personnel mentioned, and wanted to defend them, I’d have written something a lot like that. It seemed a bit obvious. I almost said so on the thread. But as I wasn’t sure, I let it go.

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

Why were some posts removed from the last blog entry?

Stevie J
Stevie J
2 years ago

I’ll share one point I’d never considered before finding this site. I had a sort of blind spot for the possibility Ron rode away in someone else’s car. Nothing earth shattering in that, but I’m amazed it never entered my mind. That particular point is probably why I’d always leaned to the Fraternity Prank Gone Wrong Theory.