I guess I am a dog with a bone. I apologize for being that way, but experience has taught me that if you do not operate in this mode you get exactly nowhere. It is now over than 24 hours since I put in a call to the St Tammany Parish detective supposedly working this case. I am still waiting for a call back.
This is odd, we cover major cases, the detectives are always very responsive, what makes these people any different? Is it possible that they just want this case to go cold?
There are questions that need to be answered, and they likely are ones that St Tammany do not want to comply with.
There is a popular TV show that explains that most crimes have to be solved in the first 48 hours, it is a true statement, most crimes are solved within just a few hours. If a crime is not solved quickly the investigative effort drops faster than a meteorite killing off the dinosaurs!
Crime is an unfortunate part of today’s world, but crime is very much a part of our world.
It would be easy to just put the story of Zachary Pittman in the cold case file. But that is not the place he belongs, he needs to be at the forefront, not a file gathering dust in some storage area.
The saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ creeps into my head. That does not work, last year a very good friend of mine cola collaborated on a book, a biography, that book caused a 27 year old case to come alive. A double homicide was solved. The evidence was clear, law enforcement were forced to dust the file off. The 20 detectives involved in the resurgence, dwindled to two within a few days. It transpired that the two were not working the case full time, in my mind it was a case that they discussed for 5 mins while chatting around the Coffee Pot in the morning.
Is this what is happening to Zachary Pittman? My guess is yes. Crime happens every day, and this case is just short of 48 hours from being a year old.
I will ramp up my efforts to get some official comment on the status of this investigation. I will keep you all appraised of my progress. If the Detective won’t respond to my messages, I will just go up the ladder. I will get someone that will go on record.
For a recap, you can check out Jan’s article, and my rather grumpy one from yesterday.
Simon Barrett
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25 users commented in " Zachary Pittman – Some Thoughts – Cops Copping Out? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackBless you Simon & Jan for taking this case on.
Have they even searched the surrounding area?
In my area there is a 81 year old man who went missing 1 year ago from his farm, they searched 2 days and nothing else. Its a shame that no one cares what happened to him his name is on the missing list but thats it.jmo
Also 2 men the Deckers, father and son both missing for over 2 years. The fathers bloody glasses were found in a truck on the property, the keys to the car his son borrowed were found in the drive. The car and both men are just gone. They were in the news for about 2 weeks then nothing. jmo
It is sad that adults don’t garner the same attention as do children when they go missing and even more of a shame the children of color and maybe not so cute don’t get the same coverage as do pretty little girls. Even Kyron’s case has been slow to get any national coverage.
This is my Nephew<I have been out a few times w/ small groups searching for remains, clues, etc. Not once have we had any law enforcement with us. And I think they tell my sister (Zach’s Mom) what she wants to hear to get her to quite calling each week…that is when they take the time to even call her back!
praying for you, your family, and a lead!
n2kayaks1965 thanks for your comment. I was raised in St Tammany Parish and although I never had a reason to deal with the sheriff’s department I do know how they operate. It is a shame too. We elect these people in office but when we need them they are never around. They sometimes treat you with great concern and other times they don’t give you the time of day.
I pray that someone somewhere will see our articles and look at the pictures and recognize him or remember some details as to what happened to Zachary. Your sister, you and the rest of his family needs answers.
Jan Barrett
Somebody has to know something…I know LA has a rep for the “good ole boy” justice. Wish I could do something to help. What can I do to help?
Thank you Jan and Simon and everyone responding to these articles. My son is Zachary ,who is missing. I appreciate everything that yall have done to get the word out there. This is the most horrible thing I have ever had to deal with, but with the Grace of God and People like yall it gets me through. I hope we will find him soon. I will never give up, thanks again for all the support
Jan/Simon so far y’all have already done more than anyone else to help us find answers. As a result of your efforts, these blog post articles are being circulated on Facebook, my friends are passing it on. Prayers are needed but so is ACTION. The right people w/ the right resources that can help follow up the leads and get to the bottom of it all is what we need. again thank you for your help.
Simon, don’t be sorry for “being like a dog with a bone”. Sounds exactly what this case needs.
Thanks you to you and Jan for all you do. You are very special people. The world could use a few more like you.
To Zachary’s family: my thoughts and prayers are with you. I hope you get some answers soon. I can tell you that you have a great support group here should you need it. There are some very caring people here at BNN. I’ve seen them go to great lengths to help people, the bloggers included. Simon has a lot of contacts with a variety of people. I’m sure he will use every resource he can find to help you.
God Bless
Well, I’m Zach’s aunt and I would also like to thank everyone for their care and concern. And my sister is right we really haven’t had enough coverage and exposure. It has been so frustrating for all of us but mostly for my sister(Zach’s mom). Anything you can do is appreciated. Thanks again for everyone’s support. God bless each of you.
It’s not like STPSO is overburdened with missing person cases, there are only two. Zach and another man. Maybe they’re overrun dealing with drug dealers and what not, I don’t know.
Here’s the press release:
http://www.stpso.com/pr_pdf.php?id=52
My daughter says, “Cover up”. Her theory, he’s in the Pearl River.
I know the West Pearl River reached very high levels last April, I can’t find anything about June. There are many waterways in that areas, and the rivers ultimately flow into the Gulf of Mexico, after going through Lake Borgne (WPR) or the Mississippi Sound (EPR). The entire area isn’t an easy place to search.
Is he any relation to the Pittman family who owned theatres in New Orleans years ago? Just curious, as I frequented those theatres for years and knew some of the family (1960s).
It’s hard to find any information besides a couple of missing person flyers regarding details of the case (hence the no answers).
Were bloodhounds/dogs brought out? What type of fight with a family member precipitated him leaving? Did he often leave ‘to cool off’ after fights/arguments? Was the area rural/well traveled? Did he usually leave without a cell phone? How long had he been off of drugs? Where is his cell phone? As for the latter, it would be interesting to know which of his ‘friends’ called in the days following his disappearance (and more interestingly which ones didn’t).
Sorry for all of the questions, but maybe the family could shed more light on the circumstances surrounding this day to help us all get a better grasp of the situation. Thanks in advance!
I would hope that the police looked at cell phone “pings” if Mr. Pittman had a cell phone a lot could be learned, if it was on at the time he became missing.
This family deserves police work, and to find there loved one.
TO THE FAMILY MEMBERS OF ZACHARY: If you have email addresses, phone numbers and/or mailing addresses of LE or other officials please post them here. We’re a pretty feisty bunch and we’ll be happy to try and apply some pressure but we need to know who to contact. Was there a certain detective assigned to the case? Any other officials we can contact in your area?
to Appleamy said, in regards to your questions I will tell you this Zach did not have a cell phone and the fight he got into was with his sister, they often argue( what brother and sister dont). No he didnt have to have a cooling off period and for the cadaver dogs they have been out several times. The first time was with a friend of the familys help who knew someonwe with search and rescue. That happened on July 5 then about 6 months later the ST Tammanys Sheriffs office had fed dogs out for several days on the hunting leases surrounding where Zachs dad lives. This Sunday I have another team going the people from the first search are going out to the Honey Island Swamp Area. If you think that I sent around and do nothing about this case you are wrong. The flyers and signs that I put up all over are be taken down behind me. Its frustrating and costly. I am on the phone everyday or internet trying to get the word out there I dont know what else to do. ThnakGod for Jan and Simon. No one knows how this feel until you are living through this its very surreal. I appreciate all the help and support I can get I just want to find my son and bring him home. Tomorrow makes one year. I miss you Zachary and Love you and I will never give up looking for you.
Hi cchristyra,
My apologies, but what I meant by lack of information was from law enforcement/news sources. I can imagine that you’ve poured your heart and soul into the search doing everything you possibly can. I cannot begin to imagine your nightmare. Please know our prayers are with you. With the Haleigh case, we armchair detectives pour over every detail of what we know about that night to help us dig for answers. Thank you for the information you shared in your post that helps to clarify some things.
Hi Appleamy said
Thank you so much for your support. I guess I am on the defensive, with all this going on I am trying to make sure my son does not be tarnished anymore than what has already been said about him. When he was first came missing the police were so quick to say things about him which I am not going to go into right now, but as time has gone by they have retracted a lot of accusations about him. He is not here to defend himself (I wished he was), I appreciate all you bloggers and anyone else who cares what happens. I just want to make sure that people know he made some mistakes but he had a heart of gold. He would do anything for anybody. he was happy go lucky. No matter what his past was, he didnt deserve what has happened to him. By the Grace of God I hope we find out what happened to him. Thanks again and God Bless all of you.
Here’s the main website for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office:
http://www.stpso.org/
Detective Corey Crowe at 985-726-7836 is the person to contact about Zachary.
Sheriff’s Office at 985-898-2338 (also listed as a contact number).
I don’t know any e-mail addresses.
Pearl River is a small town, population about 2,200 or so, near a rural area, about 30 miles north of New Orleans, between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi state line, with highly traveled Interstate 59 nearby. Nearest cities are Slidell, Louisiana (abt. 15 miles) and Picayune, Mississippi (also abt. 15 miles).
There’s lots of undeveloped land covered with brush, including Honey Island Swamp, a wildlife area, and John Stennis Space Center beyond that. It’s not a place anyone would want to travel far on foot, especially in the dark. It’s easy to get lost without a compass or GPS. We’re talking rural swampland away from the populated areas.
To me it looks like a small country town (I’m a city girl), so depending on where Zachary and his family were living, it could have been quite easy to walk around town. Venturing out into the undeveloped areas would be more problematic for someone on foot, although someone who grew up in the area might opt to take more chances than I.
Today marks one year sine my nephew has disappeared. I watched that kid grow up, make the mistakes we all make as part of learning. I also watched w/ great pride him as a father to one child (not even his biological)and then also w/ his daughter. He didnt have a college degree or a lot of wealth, but this young man was a good Daddy to his girls! Watching him w/ his girls or w/ children in general, you could see that he had a gift of love and laughter, and a special sense of responsibility. He would walk through fire for those girls! He also loved his Mother dearly. He always managed to call her or see her everyday, he truly showed love to her. So as I have watched this all unfold, I KNOW he didnt walk away, or need time away. There are people who have very good motives for doing harm to him, they have yet to really be scrutinized as I feel they should be by law enforcement. It is a shame to feel so helpless and not be able to do more. Please continue to pray for our family, for God to prick the hearts of those who know information, that they will feel compelled to share it! Thank you
I think we can all relate to making mistakes in our past and then learning from those. None of us is perfect, yet no one deserves to be victimized either. Zach sounded like a really kind person and great father. N2Kayaks, could you shed some more light without naming names on who you think might have had a motive to do harm? Did LE interview them already? Do you know if lie detectors were used at all in this case?
Hi Applemay
I can answer a couple of your questions. They are a couple of people of interest. The only poloygraph test was given was to the girl who was with him last. She passed, but she was told the night before the test was given. Big suprise! A couple of motives are possible, one was jealousy and the other is drugs. Of course this is our opinion. The police have not questioned these people more than couple of times, they do not want to harass these people. What about Zachs rights. Hopefully soon we will have answers, thanks for caring.
Pardon my typos in the above post.
By ‘astrologers’, I don’t mean ‘psychics’. They use Forensic Astrology to solve crimes.
i have known zach since elem school….i can tell you that no matter how bad the situation was, zach would’ve come back….i know that there are cases where someone has lost their memory and didn’t return home for years, and to be perfectly honest, i pray this is the case! the last few times i saw zach, i know he was happy…the way his eyes would light up when he smiled told you the story of a proud father.
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