With no cell phone, no money, no drivers license, and no car, how can a 26 year old man disappear at 11pm? To add another aspect to this mystery is that the house he was last seen at was in a sparsely populated area.

Today marks the one year mark that Zachary Pittman went missing. An idea was floated at me today, could he have done this on purpose? Could he have just decided to walk away from his problems and start a new life somewhere else? It is a valid question. It is a possibility but is it a probability? In my mind I say NOT. To walk away and start a new life is far more complex than grabbing a change of clothes and walking off into the sunset. I base that statement on countless hours of telephone discussions with people that went missing, oh and they had the governments help. They were part of the Witness Protection Plan. Unlike the Hollywood version, the WPP is a tough road to take, you do not get a big bag of cash and a private jet to whisk you off to some exotic island. A new identity, even with the Feds behind you is a complex deal. There are so many agencies involved, it makes your head spin!

30 years ago, maybe walking away and starting over would have been a possibility. Author Fredrick Forsythe put forward the perfect scenario in The Day Of The Jackal. The scheme would not work today. To disappear you need two things, a huge pile of money, and a lot of official help. Zach Pittman had neither. He was broke, he didn’t even have a cell phone or car.

So what did happen? It is easy to blame Law Enforcement for not being on top of the case, but both my wife and I have covered enough cases to know that they have limited resources, and new crimes to deal with on a constant basis. They have to set priorities and unfortunately they must make decisions that not everyone agrees with.

I seriously doubt that Zach rode off into the sunset. It would seem more likely that he resides somewhere in a swamp. An unmarked grave, a sad resting place for a young man.

Jan and I spoke with his mother Christy Ragas yesterday, and on Sunday she plans to do a new search. It will be a small group of volunteers, and they have both boats and cadaver dogs. We asked if she would like more help. Her answer at first surprised me, yet made perfect sense. The area involved is dense swamp, it is inherently very dangerous. One person has already been bitten by a rattle snake and spent three days in the ICU!

This is not a place that the average well meaning person wants to be in.

What is needed is an organization that has more equipment and the personnel to operate it. When dealing with searching water and swamp areas you need some high tech gear, side scan sonar, etc. We here at BNN are planning on reaching out to some organizations that have that technology.

What I do know, is that the resolution of what happened to Zachary Pittman will only be found if we all keep pressure on the case.

Someone knows something. We need that person to step up to the plate. Jan and I have spent enough time talking to Christy Ragas to know that she has no expectations that Zach is alive. No one stands to make any money, all this woman wants is an answer. People use the term ‘closure’, a word that I hate! What the lady wants are answers. It is not even clear that she wants to find the killers, in fact there may be no killers. It is possible that Zach lost his life by his own hand. But someone, somewhere knows something.

If that someone reads this article, find a pay phone and call, or go to an Internet Cafe, set up a new Email account, Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, you don’t have to use your own name, but please email us at zzsimonb@gmail.com or at jannyo@gmail.com.

We have never met Zachary Pittman, we have no ax to grind, other than the fact that we now know a family that is in a huge amount of hurt. BNN will do what we can to move this case forward to a conclusion.

Simon and Jan Barrett