Josh Guimond
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Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics including violence, abuse, and murder. This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

Today, I'm discussing the disappearance of Josh Guimond. When Josh went missing in 2002, he was in the first semester of his junior year at St. John's University in Minnesota. While Josh had been extremely ambitious for most of his life, with plans to even run for president when he came of age, this ambition only grew when he was in college.

So when Josh didn't show up for a very important meeting for the campus' pre-law society, his friends knew immediately that something was very wrong and reported his absence to campus security. Investigators believe Josh was last seen earlier that morning walking the path around Stumpf Lake after he left a party around midnight.

By most accounts, the early investigation into Josh's disappearance heavily focused on the possibility that Josh somehow ended up in that lake, or another nearby body of water. But as searches were conducted and new information came to light, years later, investigators would admit that they no longer believed Josh was in the water, and began to consider foul play.

Over the next few years and decades, Josh's case becomes riddled with theories as similar cases and new information emerges. Just some of the theories include Josh being in an accident, being the victim of a serial killer, having a secret life, and the possibility that his interest in the recent allegations against St. John's Abbey led to his demise. This is the disappearance of Josh Gimo.

Joshua Chaney Guimaud was born on June 18th, 1982 to his parents Lisa and Brian. He is their only child. For most of his life, he grew up in the small town of Maple Lake, Minnesota, and Josh always had plans to do big things. From a young age, he was interested in music, playing several instruments and singing in his church choir.

But he was more interested in politics and changing the world one step at a time. Like approaching his local city council in a very professional manner about the curfew laws for minors at the age of 16, much to their amazement. By high school, Josh was laser-focused on his future. He was class president, VP of student council, which made him the student representative for the school board. He was a part of the mock trial program.

And in 1999, he became a junior page at the Minnesota House of Representatives. As graduation approached, he was asked to give the closing speech at the ceremony. As a side note, Josh's grandmother, Barb Vickerman, served in the Minnesota House of Representatives for almost four years. She was selected to be the lead Republican on the General Legislation, Veterans Affairs, and Elections Committee. She also got special recognition for her work on the Health and Services Committee.

Unfortunately, she did pass away in 1997 when Josh was just a teenager. He would later write a letter to a family that funded one of his scholarships, explaining how she was a major influence on his life, writing, "...I can only hope to serve as well as she did," adding, "...I realize these goals I have set for myself are lofty, and will take a considerable amount of hard work to realize."

However, I'm well on my way by attending St. John's, which would not have been possible without your generosity, end quote.

Josh worked hard during high school, and through a combination of scholarships, savings, and loans, he was off to St. John's College to study political science. After graduation, he hoped to attend Yale Law School. The plan was to become a lawyer, then a politician, and at age 35, to run for President of the United States. Josh was so sure of his plan for success, he even used the email handle SenatorJoshua.

But unfortunately, he went missing before he could achieve those goals.

So, let's step back to the fall of 2002, when Josh was finishing the first semester of his junior year at St. John's. Josh lives in the St. Maurer House dormitory, near the center of campus with several other roommates whom he develops friendships with. Over the years, Josh had established a strong friend group, including his ex-high school sweetheart Katie. She was attending St. John's Sister School for Women, St. Benedict's, just a few minutes away.

While St. John's University only admits men and St. Benedict's only women, the students from both schools share at least some classes. Specifically, Josh and Katie had a biology class together. Katie and Josh began dating in their sophomore year of high school and continued their relationship in college. But sometime around the end of summer in 2002, they broke up. According to most accounts, this was amicable and they continued to stay friends.

Just like high school, Josh was involved in extracurricular activities at St. John's. He participated in the university's wind ensemble, where he played the baritone. But it seems his larger focus was the pre-law society, and being co-captain of the mock trial team. This is a position he shared with his friend Nick. In fact, the weekend before Josh went missing, he participated in a very successful mock trial tournament. Everything was going well for Josh, though

Though his relationship with his high school sweetheart didn't work out, they remained friends, and he continued to excel in college just like he had in high school. At the age of 20, all of his plans were on track to being realized. Lawyer, politician, then President of the United States. Until one weekend changed everything.

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Saturday, November 9th, 2002 seemed like a regular day for college junior Josh Guimauve. Now, you guys know that I rarely use other podcasts as source material for this podcast. In my opinion, the beauty of so many different people covering these cases is that we can all look at a lot of the same information and glean different ideas from it, and hopefully present the cases in different ways to spark thought and ultimately leads.

But in my research on Josh's case, I couldn't ignore the original work of the podcast Simply Vanished, hosted by civil rights attorney Josh Neuville. He spent a lot of time with those who knew Josh and was able to obtain some information I couldn't find anywhere else. So I want to give credit where credit is due. However, I will give you the same disclaimer that Neuville does on the show. Quote,

For every fact and assertion made on this podcast, we make every effort to corroborate that information using independent and verifiable sources, cross-referencing data where possible. However, some of the information we are relying upon has been reported by individuals and is not always verifiable. This is an active and ongoing investigation."

But here's the timeline Josh Neuvel and others put together through a variety of sources, including interviews, data from Josh's computer, and electronic records of when Josh used his keycard to access his dorm.

From 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., Josh worked on a paper for his history class about Alexander Hamilton. He was also active on AOL Instant Messenger. The podcast speculates that he may have been speaking with his ex-girlfriend, Katie. Josh then goes to the library to get books for his paper and returns to his dorm at 12.57 p.m.,

There, he works on his paper until about 2.30 p.m. After this, he checks his email and looks for a seasonal job. At 3.46 p.m., Josh checks the College Movie Station website to look at the schedule for that day. Eleven minutes later, at 3.57 p.m., he enters his dorm room using his keycard. Around 4 p.m., Josh prepared a document for the pre-Law Society budget meeting he was to attend the following day.

Close to 5 p.m., he was searching for the movie Brewster's Millions. And around 5 or 6 p.m., Josh had dinner with some friends. Just before 7 p.m., Josh and his friend Alex hang out in Josh's room, where they listen to music, drink some beer, and searched beer-related things on the computer. Around 8.30 p.m., Josh invites Alex and his friend Nick outside to smoke cigars, which is pretty normal for Josh.

Nick declines the cigar and ends up going to hang out with Katie. Around 10 p.m., Josh and Alex's friend Greg comes to Josh's room to hang out also. Now, all the activity here looks pretty typical for college students to me. They keep drinking beer, they look up funny stuff on the internet. Around 11 p.m., Josh, Alex, and Greg leave Josh's dorm room to go to a small party at the Minton Court Apartments, which is also a part of campus housing.

At 11.06 p.m., Josh uses his keycard to get back into his dorm room. We don't know why he did this. Some speculate he may have forgotten something, gone back for more beer, or maybe let someone in. After this, they make the about three-minute walk to the Mettencourt Apartments. The party is held at another student named Nate's dorm.

Now, I would consider this more of a hangout than a party. It was about 10-12 students playing cards and drinking. Josh does know some people at the party, but not everyone. Now here is where we get a lot of conflicting stories. Sometime between 11:45pm and midnight, Josh leaves the party. Some people say that Josh did say he had to be somewhere. Others say Josh didn't say anything at all, he just up and left.

Josh's friend Dana told Unsolved Mysteries that this was something she'd never seen Josh do before. It wasn't like him to leave a party without telling anyone. There are also conflicting reports about exactly how intoxicated Josh was, but we do know that he was drinking. To further add to the confusion, it seems like the bathroom was really close to the front door, so some people thought Josh was just using the bathroom.

With potentially 10 plus witnesses, I'm not sure we'll ever get a straight answer about what happened here. But Josh leaves the party and seemingly vanishes. The next day, now Sunday, November 10th, 2002, Josh doesn't show up for the meeting for the pre-law society he was planning for the day before. When Josh's teammates and friends realize he never made it home the night before and now miss this important meeting, they know immediately that something is wrong.

Throughout the day, two different sets of his friends report him missing to campus security. Campus security then notifies Josh's parents, and they call the Stearns County Sheriff's Office, who take the lead on the case. On night one, they bring in dogs to track Josh's scent. So let's break down what this area looks like.

The campus of St. John's is relatively small, but it sits on thousands of acres of property. There are hills, a ton of trees, and several bodies of water, including lakes and more swampy areas. We can't say for sure where Josh was headed after leaving the party, but most people assume that he was headed to his dorm. Now, basically, the Mettencourt Apartments where the party was and the St. Maur House Dormitory is separated by Stumpf Lake.

This is a large body of water he would have had to walk around using the main road. Like I mentioned earlier, the two dorms aren't far from each other, just about a three-minute walk. Basically, the trail leads the dogs east, through these smaller roads near the Mettencourt Apartments, then around the lake, into the main road that would have led him back to his dorm at the university. But then, the trail stops in the middle of the bridge overlooking the lake.

By Tuesday, horses were brought in to help search the campus and the ravines. But the Stearns County Sheriff's Office was very focused on Stumpf Lake. In an article written by Lou Raguse for Care 11 News, Josh's dad Brian was quoted, "'Hour one. The sheriff at the time said he's in the lake. End of story. I said, what if you're wrong? You better start doing something else.'" End quote.

Although the focus was very much on this lake, hundreds of people joined in the search for Josh across the campus and the surrounding areas. On the episode of Unsolved Mysteries about Josh's case, the sheriff's office would tout that it was possibly the largest search in the history of the county at that time.

However, I will discuss how Josh's family feels about how the investigation was depicted for the show later in the episode. But we do know that about 100 National Guard members, National Guard helicopters, horses, dogs, search teams, and about 250 volunteers were all utilized in the search in the first few days and weeks after Josh went missing. The FBI was also brought in early on. They

They did also search several nearby bodies of water. They utilized divers, boats, and sonar, and eventually drug the water for Josh's remains. By November 14th, four days after Josh was reported missing, his father expressed further frustration to the Star Tribune that the sheriff's office only seemed interested in searching the water. He adds that he believes his son may have been abducted, and that he's been brainstorming with Josh's friends about what could have happened.

As the official search by the sheriff's office began to slow down, they were conducting at least some interviews around campus to try to find Josh. Of course, they talk to the other students at the party who can't really give a clear idea of what happened, and they speak with Josh's friends and family. But outside of that, they only find two witnesses who they believe saw Josh after leaving the party.

Between 12.15 and 12.30 a.m. on Sunday, November 10th, two students walking to the Mettencourt Apartments see a person fitting Josh's description walking across the bridge near Stumpf Lake. This was the path between Josh's dorm and the Mettencourt Apartments. The witnesses say the person appeared to be male, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans. They were just walking, nothing out of the ordinary. But when they look back, the person is just gone.

They say they didn't see any other people or cars, and have no idea what happened to him.

Most people, including the sheriff's office, believe this was Josh on the bridge. But that was really it at this point. It was as if Josh had vanished into thin air. But of course, people began to speculate. After the initial searches and interviews were conducted, many began to point out the similarities between Josh's cases and some others. Most notably, the disappearances of Chris Jenkins and Michael Knoll.

Chris Jenkins was a 21-year-old University of Minneapolis student when he went missing after leaving the local Lone Tree Bar on Halloween. 22-year-old Michael Knoll was attending the University of Wisconsin when he went missing on November 6, 2002 after leaving a bar. People were becoming worried that there could be a possible serial killer on the loose, targeting male college students along the Mississippi River.

Now, while law enforcement maintained that there were no connections between the cases, it didn't stop people from speculating. The parents of these missing college students began communicating with and helping each other. By the end of December 2002, Josh's family utilized Hoover the Bloodhound in the search for Josh after getting a recommendation from the family of Chris Jenkins.

Hoover tracks Josh's scent from the Mendencourt Apartments to Stumpf Lake, just like in the first canine search, but Hoover then tracks it further to Josh's dorm, then to St. John's Abbey, a monastery on the St. John's campus, but they were denied entry when the team asked to be let inside to continue the search. It was only when the sheriff's office intervened and offered to accompany the team that they finally allowed Hoover to continue.

Ultimately, according to Josh's father Brian, Hoover did alert on Josh's scent near the back of the building in two different places. But no physical evidence of Josh being there was ever found. Now, there was a lot of controversy about Hoover and his findings. The police have publicly discredited him and his handler Penny Bell. And at that point, the local fire department stepped in to help with further searches as the sheriff's department continued to focus on Josh being in the water.

I know there's a lot of debate about the accuracy of using dogs to assist in a search. I'm not going to sit here and argue it. The important thing to note about this discovery is that it opened a new and one of the most discussed theories in this case. In September 2002, just a few weeks before Josh went missing, the Star Tribune ran a massive article looking into the claims of sexual abuse at St. John's Abbey. At the time of the article, 11 monks were on restriction. And

and two on a leave of absence due to the credible allegations of sexual misconduct against them. It was a huge deal, and of course, a very important topic that could probably be an entire podcast series on its own. So I'm going to focus on how it relates to Josh and his disappearance. The abuse was apparent. It dates back to the 1960s and continued well past Josh going missing. The

The colleges now have an official message about it on their website to, I assume, proactively fight the concerns of prospective and current students. But back in 2002 when Josh went missing, there appeared to be a massive effort to cover it all up, and Josh knew this.

According to several people who knew Josh, he was very vocal about his concerns and was also researching the situation. One, because it seems like he's a caring individual, and also, understandably, because of his future plans. He was nervous that the school might shut down. Some believe that Josh may have been writing a paper about the situation, but a search of his computer found no such document.

This is alarming to many for obvious reasons. If Josh was trying to somehow bring this story further to light or even just voicing his concerns, it could have made him a target.

Also, I think it's incredibly important to note that the dorm that Josh visited on the night he went missing was supervised by Reverend Tom Andert, who faced many allegations of sexual misconduct over three decades. This is in addition to Josh's own dorm supervisor, Reverend Jerome Tupa, who also faced allegations.

So when St. John's Abbey and the university in general became less hospitable in hosting searches for Josh, or making statements to the media, it was cause for concern for Josh's loved ones. His mom, Lisa, has made statements about her belief at one point that Josh may have been killed in connection to the campus, but won't be found due to how secretive leadership is.

The sheriff's office refutes the connection altogether, saying that they just don't have any credible information to link Josh's disappearance to St. John's Abbey.

But Josh's case is riddled with theories. And as the sheriff's office continued to focus on Josh being in the water, his loved ones began to get frustrated. At this point, we're getting into the coldest parts of winter in 2002 and the beginning of 2003. The nearby bodies of water freeze, and the hope is that if Josh is in the water, by the time it thaws and the weather gets warmer, his body will float to the surface.

By April 2003, Chris Jenkins and Michael Knoll's remains were found in bodies of water near where they went missing. As a side note, Michael's death was eventually ruled a probable drowning. Chris's death was initially ruled a drowning as well, but then it was eventually reclassified to a homicide and has yet to be solved. But when Michael and Chris were found in the water, it only propelled the theory that Josh was in Stump Lake.

So when it began to thaw out, the searches continued. Josh's father Brian would even kayak on the lake, looking for his son himself. And in May, the Trident Foundation was brought in to search the water to eliminate the possibility of Josh being in the water for good. They didn't find Josh, and unfortunately, didn't really convince the Stearns County Sheriff's Office to pursue other theories, despite there, in my opinion, being pretty good reason to look in other directions.

Now, if you've watched the Unsolved Mysteries episode featuring Josh's case, you might think I didn't do great research here. But the thing is, you guys, these shows are greatly for entertainment purposes, and edit these stories as such. In the show, there's a heavy focus on how hard the Stearns County Sheriff's Office looked for Josh, and I will give credit where credit is due. The searches of the water and much of the campus appear to have been thorough. How

However, according to my research and statements from Josh's family, they don't really present the timeline of Josh's investigation the way it happened. So we are in the spring of 2003, a few months after Josh went missing. In the show, law enforcement appears on camera saying they did what they could.

They spoke to witnesses, they searched high and low for Josh, and they searched his computer. But it appears that in the days after Josh went missing, someone installed an internet washer and deleted files off the hard drive. Now, an internet washer normally deletes temporary files like cookies, search history, and plugins to speed up your computer.

On Unsolved Mysteries, they basically say this cleaner was used and nothing of note could be found on the hard drive until new technology developed, and that they were able to get it analyzed by a lab at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in 2008. Then they find this shocking information that they think can help solve the case today. But that's just not true.

See, on April 13th, 2003, a journalist named Dave Unns wrote an article for the St. Cloud Times discussing this information. According to the article, law enforcement was unable to find anything on Josh's hard drive that pointed to criminal activity.

So they gave the hard drive to the St. Cloud Times for this article, where as far as I could find, they reported this new information for the first time, just months after Josh went missing. Not years, as unsolved mysteries would lead you to believe.

So, here's what was found in 2003. It appears that Josh, or someone using his computer, created fake profiles on Yahoo Personals. Basically, that's Yahoo's dating website at the time. One profile appeared to be a credible, normal profile for Josh, using his real name and photo. But the two other profiles featured unknown women in the profile pictures. The usernames were CoochieCoo2002 and GwenGirlBigJugs.

After law enforcement spoke with several of the people these accounts interacted with, they determined that it was most likely that this was Josh, presenting himself to men as a woman, and speaking with them in a romantic nature. Now, Josh's sexuality or the way he identifies doesn't feel relevant to helping him outside of the fact that if he was speaking with men online portraying himself as a female, and showed up to an in-person meeting as male-presenting, that could put him in danger.

It also opens the door to just the extra dangers we know face the LGBTQ plus community, especially in the early 2000s. As far as I could find, Josh didn't discuss what he was doing on Yahoo Personals with his friends or family. When law enforcement showed them the profile pictures of these men from Josh's computer, they say they didn't recognize them.

So, some speculate that maybe that's why Josh left the party without telling anyone. Maybe he was talking to someone who wanted to meet up. Josh didn't want to tell anyone what he was doing, he left, and things went wrong. It's also worth noting that at one point, Josh's friend Nick does say it sounds like specifically the username "GwenGirlBigJugs" was likely a joke, as they both shared an affinity for the singer Gwen Stefani.

Okay, we have a lot to break down. First, let's talk about someone using Josh's computer a few days after he went missing. As I mentioned, someone installed and used an internet washer on the computer in the days following his disappearance. This is a program that had never been used on Josh's computer previously. So this has, of course, sparked a lot of debate and scrutiny. A lot of people had access to Josh's computer at this time, specifically his roommates. But

This leads some to theorize that perhaps his roommates or one of Josh's friends did know about the activity on his computer and tried to delete it to protect Josh. And of course, there are other, more nefarious theories, like someone involved in the allegations facing the priests and monks at the abbey were erasing information. Perhaps the advisor for that specific dorm who was facing allegations.

Another theory is that someone Josh was speaking to online hurt him, found the computer, and deleted the information. Though, given how many people lived in the St. Maurer house and how campus security tracked unfamiliar cars, this does seem like one of the more unlikely possibilities.

So basically, this information just sits for about 20 years until the Stearns County Sheriff's Office releases images of the men's profile pictures found on Josh's computer, just before the Unsolved Mysteries episode came out. This caused a lot of distress for Josh's father, Brian, but we'll get to that. First, let's talk about how our next development comes in 2010, when the Sheriff's Office finally interviews the rest of Josh's roommates that weren't interviewed before.

Just, you know, eight years later when I'm sure that information is super fresh in their minds. Now, we don't glean a lot from these interviews. Actually, nothing of note as far as I could find. But that might be expected given how long it took them to conduct these interviews.

Then Josh's case basically just sits. In 2013, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension releases an age-progressed photo of Josh in hopes of renewing interest. But again, it's a few more years before we see more movement in the case. Now, I have to say that Josh's father, Brian, has been extraordinarily dedicated to finding his son throughout the years. At one point, St. John's gets an order against Brian.

barring him from entering the campus without an escort due to claims of harassment. But this would only further shine a light on the theory that the school was hiding something and wanted Josh's case to be erased from their already disturbing history. And Brian didn't stop. He was determined, and I imagine still is determined, to uncover the truth of what happened to his son.

So, in 2019, he requests Josh's case file from Stearns County, but he was denied. In 2021, he follows up with a lawsuit against the county for the file, stating that at this point, he would really like for a PI to review the facts, and especially what was done in the first few days after Josh went missing.

Brian's attorney told CBS News in Minnesota that with the file, "...there's a reasonable chance we can figure out what happened to Josh." His attorney pointed to the kidnapping of Jacob Wetterling 13 years prior, and the investigation led by the same team, stating, "...if the FBI didn't come into the Wetterling case and secure that file from the Stearns County Sheriff's Office, the Jacob Wetterling case, as I'm talking to you right now, still would not be solved." End quote.

But they lost. As Stearns County maintained, it was an open and active investigation.

Though some believe Stearns County was just avoiding another PR disaster, especially since this is the same year filming for Unsolved Mysteries began. But before that episode could come out, the Simply Vanish podcast premiered in the summer of 2022 and preemptively clarified much misinformation perpetrated in the show, like the actual timeline of when law enforcement knew Josh had been speaking with people online.

They also presented some what I would consider to be crucial information that never made it to the Unsolved Mysteries episode. Like that it appears someone was using Josh's computer during the time frame he went missing. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Ibotta. Are you planning your dream vacation but dreading the cost?

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On Simply Vanished, host Josh Neuville explains that he obtained this information from filmmaker Justin Thole. Thole and Neuville work together to go through Josh's case and submit their findings to law enforcement.

I'd also just like to note that Simply Vanished is a podcast Josh's family promotes on their website for Josh, findjoshua.com, and appears to endorse. I personally think the host did a great job with Josh's season. If you're looking for a super deep dive on this case, I absolutely recommend that you check it out. He speaks with many people who knew Josh, and even those who had scary experiences on St. John's campus, like a possible attempted kidnapping.

But back to someone using Josh's computer. As a reminder, on the night Josh went missing, he left his dorm room around 11 p.m., but his keycard was used to re-enter at 11.06 p.m. He was then seen at the party shortly after, and then left sometime between 11.45 p.m. and midnight. Witnesses then placed Josh on the bridge area of his walk home between 12.15 a.m. and 12.30 a.m.,

Meanwhile, at 11.52pm, music began playing on his computer. A song was skipped at 11.53pm, then another song, and another, until the music stopped playing at 12.32am. Now remember, this is 2002. As far as I remember and could find, the only way to skip a song on a computer at that time was to manually click the skip button in the music player.

So what does this mean? Well, like a lot of clues in this case, there are multiple possibilities for what could have happened. Some theorize that the keycard entry at 11.06pm was Josh possibly letting someone into his room, and they played the music and skipped the songs.

Others believe the couple on the bridge who thought they saw Josh was mistaken. That Josh left the party at 11.45pm, made it back to his dorm room, and maybe the door was propped open, or opened by someone inside bypassing the use of his keycard, and it was Josh and someone else playing the music. Or that Josh's keycard just didn't register, and it was Josh alone in the room.

But according to Simply Vanished, which again the host does say to take with a grain of salt, this information was found on Josh's computer. And since it really just gives us more questions than answers, I don't see a huge benefit to someone fabricating this information.

Now, in mid-2022 or so, the Stearns County Sheriff's Office does admit that they no longer believe Josh just drowned in the lake. And in October 2022, they released 28 profile photos of men found on his hard drive, asking the public to come forward if they have information. They say that at this point, they've exhausted all other resources trying to identify these men.

Then, just a few days later, the Unsolved Mysteries episode finally airs, with a heavy emphasis on how hard the department worked for Josh.

Josh's family is pretty upset. His father Brian has been very outspoken on the show's depiction of the investigation, specifically pointing to depicting these photos as new information. He told the forum news service, quote, they have had these photos. This is new information? Give me a break. That is not correct. End quote.

When asked by the Forum News Service whether the Sheriff's Office believed releasing the photos earlier may have been helpful, Lt. Zach Soroson responded with, quote, I can't answer that. That's something nobody is able to answer. End quote. When asked if they tried to subpoena the messages between Josh and those individuals, they declined to comment.

Brian was also not pleased when it appears that the department was sitting on more information for about two decades. When the show airs, Josh's family learns for the first time that law enforcement had a pretty decent lead on a suspicious vehicle in the area. This information comes from a log maintained by Campus Security. As I mentioned earlier, Campus Security tracks vehicles not associated with the campus.

In 2002, before Josh went missing, there were two incidents involving an orange Pontiac Sunfire. So, on campus, there are a few, poorly lit, more desolate areas that were known to be places kids on campus would go to hook up. In the first incident, the orange Pontiac Sunfire is seen in one of these areas. When campus security arrives, a man described as college-aged runs from the passenger seat and the driver is never identified.

In the second incident involving the same vehicle, it's the same story. An older male on campus in a weird spot with a college-aged student. But this time, the driver says he's just dropping him off. Security takes down the plate, and they go on their way. Now, honestly, this could have been anyone doing anything. And we don't know for sure that that was Josh. As far as I could find, there were no further descriptors of these people.

It does appear that initially, law enforcement did follow up with this driver, and they stuck to their story. But that was really it, until law enforcement began considering foul play. They then went back to try to have the car tested, but it had been destroyed, basically crushed. Again, this is something Josh's family didn't know until they watched Unsolved Mysteries with millions of other people, and they were understandably very upset.

This is something that actually happened to me in the ABC 2020 episode about my sister. I can't get into too much detail, but I can say that hearing new information about my sister on TV was extremely distressing. They also released clips of our home videos, me and my sister at our mother's funeral, birthdays, trips to Disneyland.

And I felt so betrayed, because I'd been begging for that footage back. And instead of releasing it to me or my family, they decided the whole world deserved it more than we did. Now, these are obviously very different situations, but my point is that law enforcement and television productions do this.

Now, while Stern's County Sheriff's Office admits that the timing of releasing this information was deliberate to pair with the show, it doesn't explain how waiting 20 years to release this information is somehow more helpful now than maybe when people would actually remember this stuff.

In the end, Brian has been very clear that he is not happy with the Unsolved Mysteries episode because he just doesn't think it represents how the investigation really unfolded. And at this point, he's not even sure they want to solve it. That's pretty much where the case is today. This is Jessica Knoll, host of the new series, Back in Crime.

If you're a follower of true crime, you're probably familiar with some of the most shocking stories from our history. Horrific tragedies like the Columbine Massacre. And notorious criminals like cult leader Charles Manson.

In a scene described by one investigator as reminiscent of a weird religious rite, five persons, including actress Sharon Tate, were found dead at the home of Miss Tate and her husband, screen director Roman Poliansky. But what if we were to turn back the hands of time and relive these events as they unfolded? Follow along each week as we take a fresh look at crimes from the past. Back in Crime is available now.

In 2020, in a small California mountain town, five women disappeared. I found out what happened to all of them, except one. A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars. I'm Lucy Sheriff. Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends, and I've discovered that

Everyone has a different version of events. Hear the story on Where's Dear? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

So, what happened to Josh? Well, there's no shortage of theories. With how many searches have been conducted, even the Stearns County Sheriff's Office has leaned away from the possibility that Josh ended up in the water. I've already discussed the possibility that he was abducted, and that someone from St. John's Abbey was involved with the university trying to cover it up.

We talked about Josh talking to strangers online, and the possibility of danger if he met up with one of them. But there are many more theories. Some point to Josh's ex-girlfriend Katie and his friend Nick. On the episode of Unsolved Mysteries, there are claims that the night before Josh went missing, he and Nick got into a fight over Katie. Some believe that information was fabricated for the show, as this was quite a surprise to pretty much everyone who knew Josh.

In my opinion, the show does really push this theory. They point to Katie and Nick having slightly different timelines for the night Josh went missing, and the fact that Nick refused to take a polygraph test.

So here's what happened. Katie says that night, Nick left her dorm between 1 and 1.30am. Remember, she's at St. John's Sister College St. Benedict's, so it's like a 10-minute drive between the campuses. But Nick says he left at 2.30am, and there was a keycard used to enter his dorm at 2.42am. So the one-hour discrepancy, which feels pretty normal to me, is one thing the show pointed to.

Now for Nick not taking the polygraph. It appears that he did initially agree and then canceled his appointment. Nick himself explains this on Unsolved Mysteries. He says he knows they aren't very accurate and felt it would probably do more harm than good. In an interview with Nick and Josh's mock trial coach Olga, she explains to Josh Neuville on the Simply Vanish podcast that Nick asked her advice about taking the polygraph test and

and she and another teacher said it was in his best interest to not take the test. So take all that for what you will. While it doesn't appear Nick had a lawyer, he was studying to become one, and was taking the legal advice given to him, which if you are ever in a similar situation, I would encourage you to do as well.

Another theory ties back to Chris Jenkins, the university student who went missing on Halloween in 2002 and was later recovered in the water. According to a few sources, it appears that Hoover the Bloodhound not only tracked Josh's scent to St. John's Abbey, but also tracked Chris Jenkins' scent there as well. So, some believe that Josh and Chris' disappearance are linked by St. John's Abbey.

Another theory was that Josh was the victim of the smiley face killer, or maybe he was hit by a car or in another terrible accident, and those involved disposed of his body to cover up the crime. Some people think that maybe something happened at the party. As for Josh's father Brian, well, he holds out hope that his son is still alive. He says until they find Josh's body, he will continue to hold out hope.

Like I said, there's no shortage of ideas about what happened to Josh. So instead of continuing with theories and speculation, let's move on to how we can help with our call to action.

First and foremost, please share the information the Stearns County Sheriff's Office is asking the public to share. The pictures of the men as well as the information about the car. I will have the photos of the men posted on the VFJ website and social media accounts. As a reminder, the car was an orange Pontiac Sunfire. Now,

Now, somehow despite having the license plate number, we don't seem to know the year. But that model was released in 1995, so I think it's safe to say that it was between a 1995 and a 2003 model. And again, as far as I could find, the sheriff's office has not released a photo of any vehicle that may look similar. So I will leave you with that description. There is another way to help.

Josh's father Brian does have a GoFundMe, where he accepts donations for case needs, such as research and private investigators. But at the very least, if you have listened to this entire episode, please just share Josh's picture. It'll only take a few seconds, and even if you don't think it will do or mean much, I can tell you that to a family, to Josh's dad Brian, it would mean the world.

Josh Guimond was 20 years old when he went missing from St. John's University in Minnesota, likely just after midnight on Sunday, November 10th, 2002. He is white, with blonde or strawberry blonde hair, and has blue eyes. He is 5'10 or 5'11 inches tall, and weighed approximately 160 pounds before his disappearance. Anyone with information is asked to call Stearns County Investigators.

at 320-251-4240. You can also submit tips to the Tri-County Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-800-255-1301. But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.

Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player. It's a great way to help us out.

It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice. You can also support what we do here on Patreon at patreon.com slash voices for justice. And for even more content, check out my other podcast, Disappearances, only on Spotify.