By: Shane Lambert
Note: this article was originally published in March of 2018. There is recent news as of November 13th, 2019. Sadly, Devin Bond has been found deceased. Condolences are offered to his family and friends and anyone that this tragedy has negatively affected. According to the Facebook page for the group on the evening of November 13th, 2019:
"We are devastated at the loss of our son, Devin. Our goal was to bring Devin home and we are bringing him home, just not in the way we had hoped. Rest In Peace sweet boy and we will be counting the days until we are together again.
Thank you to Detective Pinson, Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department and all the searchers that helped locate our son, we are forever grateful."
Devin Bond, a missing person from Tennessee, was last seen on March 30th, 2017. His case details as per NamUs are below:
The circumstances listed at NamUs leave something to be desired: "Missing juvenile. Last seen at home by mother." According to
the Facebook group that is dedicated to finding Devin, there are many more details that those looking at this case should be aware of. If the following details could be added to his NamUs profile then it would help any Websleuths* out there get a clearer picture of the situation.
*people that work as amateurs on missing-person's cases or crimes
Answers to common questions according to the Facebook group
(1) Question: Where was Devin last seen?
Answer: Devin was last seen at home near Thompson Rd and Armstrong Valley.
(2) Question: Did anyone see Devin?
Answer: There was one possible sighting of Devin on March 31st at 433 am on Barfield Crescent Rd walking in the direction of Veterans Pkwy.
(3) Question: Have you tracked his phone?
Answer: Devin's phone pinged at 456 am off a tower near Joe B Jackson known as Tiger Hill but the ping info showed his phone was appx 1.8 miles southwest of that tower meaning he wasn't at the actual tower. 1.8 miles puts the phone near the middle area of Barfield Crescent Rd. There has been no phone activity since this ping which was March 31st.
Note: I've used the information in those answers to construct a possible explanation for his disappearance. Furthermore, there is also possible footage of Devin after Barfield Crescent Road according to an individual I spoke with online that knows this case very well.
Looking at his walking route
Devin's home was/is near Thompson Road and Armstrong Valley Road in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (
Google Maps video below). His last-seen time is listed as 11:30pm on March 30th, 2017 at NamUs (a Thursday night). However, there is evidence of his location afterward as per the answers to the questions above.
Devin had a cellular phone and, according to the remarks at the Facebook group, it "pinged at 456am off a tower near Joe B Jackson [Parkway] known as Tiger Hill;" importantly, this ping "was appx 1.8 miles southwest of that tower meaning he wasn't at the actual tower" but rather "near the middle area of Barfield Crescent Rd. There has been no phone activity since this ping which was March 31st," exactly 5 hours and 26 minutes after he was last seen at home. There is also a possible sighting of him 23 minutes before the ping time on Barfield Crescent Road. If it was him, then he was "walking in the direction of Veterans Pkwy." The individual that may have seen him was purposeful in noting the correct time because she actually found his presence walking roadside at such a late hour to be suspicious. If anyone can answer to the side of the road he may have been seen walking on, then this is a matter I'd be interested in.
Below is a screen-recording video from Google Maps showing the area that he was last seen in as well as where he might have been if we take the cell-phone ping to be revealing of his location (ie. about the midway point of Barfield Crescent Road). The video shows the most-efficient walking route one would take if one was to walk using roads (ie. no footpath or cross-property shortcuts). It assumes a northbound direction on Barfield Crescent Road because of the possible sighting that states he was heading toward Veterans Parkway and the cell phone ping corroborating that.
Commentary: Suicide May Be a Red Herring
When it comes to a missing-person's case there are always scenarios of (1) murder, (2) suicide, (3) kidnapped and kept alive, (4) disappearance by accident (ie. vehicle accident knocks someone into a hard-to-find-spot), or (5) voluntary disappearance.
Where Devin fits is not clear but on March 30th, 2017 Devin's girlfriend broke up with him. It's possible that this may have triggered depression. This, in turn, forces one to consider the possibility of suicide. On that matter, the forested areas have to be considered target areas for searching. Furthermore, according to a Podcast episode at thevanishedpodcast.com, Devin may have been in possession of a gun. One that his father owned was discovered to be missing.
But a depressed-and-therefore-suicidal scenario, although impossible to ignore, may still be a red herring. The evidence shows that Devin was walking on a road before 5am in late March in what looks to be a rural area that doesn't have streetlights. According to my research of sunrise times at timeanddate.com the sun rose at 6:33am in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on March 31st, 2017 (see screenshot below).
According to weather.com's archives for the area, it was a cloudy day:
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| Shows information pertaining to weather on March 31st, 2017 from Weather.com. |
When you look at the route that Devin may have taken from the intersection of Thompson Road and Armstrong Valley Road to get to the middle of Barfield Crescent Road (around where his phone pinged) then you notice a somewhat-destinationless route: the route is starting to make a square-like shape. In the Podcast episode, it is suggested that he may have been walking to his then ex-girlfriend's place. However, it was counter-stated that she was out of state at the time and therefore her house wouldn't attract Devin at this point. To me, the point of the walk that Devin was on was only to go for a walk. This would run counter to a different theory.
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Screenshot from Google Maps. This walking route is one
I constructed based on the information at the Facebook group. |
After all,
there is a theory that he ran away. According to a May 17th, 2017 article at Murfreesboro Post:
"An investigation into a missing Rutherford County high school student showed he apparently planned to run away and packed his clothes, a sheriff's detective said."
I'm not generally a fan of run-away theories when it comes to missing people. I think the police are partial to them at times because it's just an easy answer. Family members may be partial to them because they keep hopes alive for a reunion. That two interested parties in a missing-person's case might be partial to a theory that has no substance isn't a great recipe for success. Relentless logic where facts are known and reasonable conjecture where they are not is the route to take.
Using the information at the Facebook group, when I start his walk at the intersection of Thompson Road and Armstrong Valley Road and then connect that to a northbound walking route up Barfield Crescent Road, it seems to me that he wasn't trying to get somewhere (that's the route pictured above). That route doubles back in a northward direction after originally heading south. If he was heading toward an area east of his starting point or north then he certainly took a scenic route.
What makes sense to me is that perhaps after his girlfriend left him, he felt a compelling need to clear his mind with a long walk. That he left in the very-early morning suggests that he suffered from sleeplessness. It was Spring Break, there was no school to sleep for, and on Thursday maybe he slept in and was therefore well-rested on Thursday night/Friday morning.
Without a pressing need for sleep at a late hour perhaps he felt a long walk would do him good in an angered state of mind from losing his girlfriend. Perhaps he made his bed up to appear as though he was in it just so no one would worry about him while he was gone. Perhaps he took the gun because it was 3:30am in the morning when he left (according to the mother in the Podcast episode) and the gun made him feel safe.
But Devin was wearing dark clothes as per his NamUs profile. He had a grey t-shirt, brown or black footwear, and a black drawstring backpack. The news article linked above mentions some red clothing as well. The point is that with mainly dark clothes on, in the early-morning pre-sunrise darkness on a cloudy day, he should have been hard to see.
Walking roadside, it's possible that an early-morning and fatigued driver didn't notice Devin as he walked. In fact, anyone that regularly drove the route in the early morning might have been surprised by Devin's presence, maybe even at a narrowing point in the road or on a bend. Perhaps Devin was involved in a vehicle-and-pedestrian car accident without any witnesses present due to the rural setting and the early hour. That would be more likely to happen, in my opinion, in the northbound lane of Barfield Crescent Road as most traffic would be headed toward the city as commuters in the morning time. If the possible accident happened in the southbound lane then it might have been a drunk driver.
A drunk driver hitting Devin (in either lane) can't be discounted, especially at the Spring Break time of the accident. According to
Sabrina Toppa, a writer for Time Magazine, "The Percentage Increase in Traffic Deaths During Spring Break Will Shock You." A car accident might have destroyed Devin's cell phone, thereby preventing any future pings off of the nearby tower.
So, if this is true, then why didn't this possible accident get discovered? I shudder to write the following statements.
If amateur websleuths want some food for thought on this case, then consider what one
James John Onak allegedly did back in 2011. After allegedly striking and killing a pedestrian, he allegedly drove for miles with him in the front seat. The alleged behavior is
not isolated to that case alone. It's possible that someone struck Devin with a vehicle and then attempted to hide his/her crime.
Hypothetical timeline, mixed with known facts and my presumptions
- ~8:30pm on Thursday, March 30th, 2017: Devin's girlfriend breaks up with him over the phone
- ~11:30pm: Devin says goodnight to his mother, the last verified sighting
- Between 11:30pm and 3:30am on March 31st, 2017: Devin deals with the anguish of losing his girlfriend; he prepares his room to make it look like he is sleeping; he takes the missing gun; he leaves the home at 3:30am to go for a walk as he struggles with sleeplessness
- 3:30am to 4:33am: he walks south down Armstrong Valley Road, turns toward Barfield Crescent Road, and walks on the side of that road when he is spotted by someone at 4:33am
- At 4:56am his cellular pings off of the tower
- A short time later maybe he is struck by an early-morning commuter or a drunk driver, an individual that may have tried to cover the accident up; a narrow point in the road or a bend in the road would be more likely to produce this kind of accident
- This could have happened after walking Barfield Crescent Road, noting that some with ample knowledge of this missing-person's case believe he was spotted on a camera after that road (see below)
Conclusions
A vehicle in the area of Murfreesboro that was damaged toward the front on March 31st, 2017 would be interesting in this case. In fact, I would hope the authorities would try to get records of auto body shops in the area. Additionally, broken glass on Barfield Crescent Road or broken reflectors would be interesting finds that might still be present. Lastly, chips of paint on the road could be important. Fans of the Forensic Files series may remember Season 11's Episode 32 "Critical Maneuver" where evidence of a hit and run was linked to a vehicle: both paint chips and reflector glass were key.
That is not to say that other scenarios aren't possible, including the run-away theory and the possibility of suicide due to depression. But based on Devin's dark clothes, his roadside walking before the light of day hit, and the likelihood that a driver would not expect a pedestrian to be around at such a time of day, I don't think a car accident where the driver decided to try and cover up what he/she did can be discounted because there is precedent for such behaviour.
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