July 25, 2009

07/25/09: William Bosen, Columbus, OH

19-year old William Bosen attended a birthday party Sat., July 25, 2009 in a neighborhood across from Holt Park on the west side of Columbus, Ohio. When he did not return home and hadn't been heard from for several days, his family feared that something bad had happened to him.

According to friends, after Bosen partied heavily and friends had to put him to bed. At one point during the night, they saw the bathroom light on and figured he was in the bathroom. But the next day when they woke up, the door was unlocked and he was gone. They assume he must have gotten up sometime during the night while they were asleep.



Recovery
Bosen's body was recovered from a nearby retention pond in the Holt Park community on 7/28/09 by an 11-year-old boy who was fishing for turtles behind his grandfather's house. The boy thought he had spotted a turtle but realized he was looking at a striped pattern on a shirt. When the boy realized what he had found, he ran back and told his grandparents. They called 911 at 10:29 a.m.

Columbus fire and police arrived at the scene and pronounced Bosen dead at at 10:39 a.m. Police said the body matched a missing person’s report and identification was found on his person. The body was found face down about 10 feet from shore and had been in the water for a few days. Columbus homicide detectives James McCoskey and Patricia Dailey said they found no obvious sign of foul play on the body. Bosen's cell phone was found on the shore nearby.

Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak said an autopsy conducted on July 29 revealed no signs of trauma or foul play. Toxicology tests are pending and could take several weeks.

About William Bosen

William Lee Bosen was born in Columbus on January 8, 1990. He is survived by his parents, John and Judy Bosen; sister, Virginia Bosen; grandfather, Lee Tharp; grandmother, Marilyn Bosen; aunts and uncles, Tim (Charlene) Tharp, Janet (Doug) Boyd, Judy Bosen, and James (Lisa) Bosen; cousins, Daniel and Ben Tharp; and special friend, Annie Mathues. Visit Legacy.com to sign William's online guest book or to leave a special memory.

Facts of Interest:
Name/age: William Lee Bosen, 19
Last Seen: 7/25/09, Columbus, OH
Recovered: 7/28/09, Columbus, OH, retention pond

15 comments:

Doc Conjure said...

Great. We got a spammer and then we got the alchemy crap again.

Sad, because this whole leaving behind of the cell phone thing is a troubling pattern. I'm not understanding why a cell phone would be left behind if the I.D. was on the body. I mean, if it was a suicide then I could see someone placing a cell phone and wallet on the shore, or if it was an accident to have both in the water on the vicitm, but this is just weird.

Monique777 said...

The cell phone not being on the victim has been troubling me too.

One might argue if he was on the phone at the time it may have flown out of his hand as he slipped (although reflex usually dictates one would hold onto the phone more tightly). But if someone is not on their phone it's usually in the front pocket of their jeans or in their jacket pocket. So, how does it end up by the side of the water?
I also find it troubling if someone is not so intoxicated they are able to walk some distance yet they can't get out of a pond? Wouldn't the cold water be sobering to some degree?

Anonymous said...

On other comment boards, there are some claims that it isn't the best area. From the photo though it looks to be atleast middle-upper/middle class. Regardless, its so strange that it took 3 days for him to be found - especially in the summer in such a small body of water.

And the phone! I'm starting to get sorta decencitized to the phone aspect since in so many of these cases its not on the victim - can't forget how suspicious that is though.

Lisa said...

Sam,

You make great points. Why did it take so long for him to be found? From the photos, the housing complex appears to be a fairly large community, and it was summer, so you would expect people to be out walking their dogs and such. I think the pond was also across the street from where he was last seen and would be a logical place to search. So why did no one see him sooner?

But the phone bothers me the most. If he accidentally fell in, how did it end up on shore?

So many unanswered questions!

Monique777 said...

I found a comment made by a Bosen that was posted on July 30th:

"...I wish you could come back and sit down with us and tell us why you didn't accept that offer for a ride,why you got up from that chair, why you went in that direction, why your cell phone had to die just as you were about to say where you were..."

http://topix.com/forum/source/
columbus-dispatch/TL5H3G585VC
BATTSA/p3

So, by this comment it appears William Bosen was on his cell phone and lost contact with who he was talking to just before revealing his location. The phone went dead just as it did with William Hurley in Boston right before he was going to tell his girlfriend where he was;99 Nashua St.
It's difficult to understand why all these cell phones are "going dead" just prior to these men going missing only to turn up later at the scene.
Also, many times the victims were later found to be walking in a direction that doesn't make sense.

I Knew Will said...

I know a little about this case. Nobody believes he walked to the pond, fell in and drowned.

I believe he died at the party, either he passed out in the bathroom and slumped over in a way that cut off his air (positional asphysixia) or vomited and choked on it.

Then K (the host of the party) found him and panicked. K loaded Will into his suv, drove the half mile to the pond, and rolled Will into the water.

This explains why Wills phone was found by the pond. It fell out as K carried him to the pond.

I viewed the cell phone records of the other person who was left at the party. You can see the calls leading up to the party, the calls tapered off as the party was winding down. This person, T, said they went to sleep around 3:00a.m.. At 4:15 three calls were made from Wills phone to K's phone, which belongs to Ks girlfriend. These are the calls where Wills phone "died". Oddly, there was no attempt at calling Will back. So, you get three calls from a friend you think is sleeping on your couch after a party, you are "cut off" but you don't call him back?

Instead you go to another sleeping friend,T, take his phone and make ten calls between 4:23 and 4:50. Calls to Will's phone and K's phone, I assume being held by K's girlfriend now.

Then you erase the call log on T's phone, and put it back in his pants. This is what K admits he did.

This pond is about one to two feet deep at the edge, and Will was an excellent swimmer.

I told all of this to the police, they did not care, if they can call it an accidental drowning, case closed. I understand, they have lots of bodies with bullet holes in them.

I know I'm rambling, I'm still so angry that K lied to my face when I was looking for Will. If anybody has any questions, I have lots of answers.

When people tell me the "official" story doesn't make sense, I tell them thats because the "official" story is K's story. He was the last person to say he saw Will, he was the last person to say he talked to Will. His story changed every time he told it to me.

Doc Conjure said...

@ I Knew Will:

Those are very interesting thoughts. Of course I know nothing of the case other than this blog nor do I know if what you wrote is correct.

I think people here should start looking at other cases to see if they also might be the result of death via drugs with "friends" disposing of the body.

Monique777 said...

@ I knew Will

I am sorry for the loss of your good friend. It sounds as though you are really suspicious of K, the person hosting the party. You said you think he put Will into the pond after he died at the party? Why would K then use T's phone to call Will many times if he knew he was dead and in the pond? I am not sure I follow this. Also, if Will called K 3 times, then I would assume Will had left the house where the party was at and headed out.
Is it possible Will called K 3 times as he was headed home? Could K have placed many calls to Will a little later because he wanted to know Will got home okay?
I am not doubting your story, just trying to understand it more clearly.
Thanks

Lisa said...

@ I Knew Will,

I am currently in partnership with Gary Peterson, a medico-legal death investigator, as well as a few other members of law enforcement who have an interest in looking into mysterious cases like these. Would you be interested in talking to us? Perhaps there is something we would be able to do. If so, please e-mail me at footprints.blogmail@yahoo.com to discuss. Thanks!

Doc Conjure said...

@ I Knew Will,

Lisa's suggestions are great, but instead of contacting her to pass on to someone she knows, you should go directly to the police and inform them of your suggestions.

I'm afraid that if you contact Lisa then the police would not be willing to listen to your story. Most people don't like it when people go over their heads w/out resorting to the proper channels.

Lisa said...

BITM,

I didn't state it very clearly--I was using the term law enforcement too loosely. To clarify, Gary Peterson, Marcia Cummings, etc. are not working on behalf of law enforcement or in conjunction with them. They are working independently. They have training into these matters and have some valuable contacts who can provide insight as well.

I Knew Will said he went to the police without results. The police would be my first course of action too, and I would recommend he/she continue to call them until they listen. But beyond that, I don't see harm in having I Knew Will contact Gary directly--just to see what independent observations he can make and whether or not this data ties in with any other cases.

Doc Conjure said...

Thanks for clarifying, Lisa.

Anonymous said...

@ I Knew Will

Any idea why they would dump the body? Was there something at the party that insighted a fear preventing a call to law enforcement? I understand he was underage, so those which provided the alcohol would likely get charged with a some degree of manslaughter. Along with this, would drugs have been present at the party?

You really should go back to the police. If anyone else you know has information, you should try convince them to also speak to the police. It would be a good idea for you to contact Lisa. There is a lot more interest now in these kinds of cases and perhaps some of the professional independant investigators can yeild more evidence.

Like stated above, we cannot take your claim at face value, gotta be weary since anyone can post on here, but at the same time I think the fact that you are reaching out suggests you may have some information. Your claim is also pretty consistant and the theory does seem to hold up with what little was released to the public. It's not outlandish. Best of luck. I'm sorry for your loss.

Anonymous said...

I cannot find any publically released information on Bosen's toxicology. Which honestly isn't surprising. It would have been completed by now.

Why is the toxicology so rarely presented to the public? Is there some sort of communication breakdown b/n LE and the media? More often then not, the media will specify that LE plans to conduct a toxicology and that it will take weeks - information usually stops there though. Granted there are some exceptions.

benm said...

This is definitely very fishy. I knew Will years back and he would always kick my ass at swimming, and I ended up getting my lifeguard certification. Very strange that he would drown. The police should definitely be more involved in this.