Marshal Iwaasa was born on January 3, 1993, in Lethbridge (Alberta Province, Canada). This city has over 90,000 inhabitants and is located approximately 90 km from the US border. The boy's parents were Perry Iwaasa and Tammy Johnson. He also had an older sister, Paige. Relatives described Marshal as quiet, calm and kind.
As a child and then a teenager, he liked to spend time actively outdoors. At school he trained rugby and American football. He also enjoyed going camping with friends and family. After graduating from high school, he became interested in fitness and bodybuilding. The photos show his muscles.
Marshal started working in a grocery store as a high school student. He wanted to have his own money, thus gaining some independence. When he grew up, he started working physically. Southern Alberta is famous for its oil and gas industry, so there are plenty of job offers of this type (e.g. on drilling platforms). The young man was living in Lethbridge with friends at the time.
A few years before her brother's disappearance, Paige got married and changed her surname to Fogen. The couple moved to Hawaii. However, the distance between the siblings did not break off contacts. Every few months, Paige visited her family who stayed in Canada.
Additionally, Iwaasa went to Hawaii every year at the turn of December and January. During this period it was not only Christmas, but also his and his sister's birthdays. The siblings celebrated this special time together. They spent a lot of time on the beach and went on trips, sometimes off the island. When the young man returned to Canada, he kept in constant contact with his sister.
Marshal was an ambitious young man, so he decided to change something in his life. He didn't want to work physically until he retired. So he decided to go to study computer science. He was 24 years old then. He chose the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT). It was based in the largest city in the province of Alberta, Calgary. It was over two hours away from Marshal's hometown. So the man decided to move to Calgary.
Iwaasa began looking for a room to live in. Eventually, he rented space in the basement of a large house. He was happy with this solution because he retained his privacy, which was important to him. It had a separate entrance and bathroom. He shared only a laundry room with the owners of the house, who also lived there.
Marshal was stressed before college because he had a break from education for several years. He was also one of the oldest people in his year. Despite his initial fears, he did quite well. Ultimately, he completed the first two semesters of his studies.
The summer of 2019 has arrived. Paige then came to visit her relatives. They all went for a week to the American state of Montana, which borders Canada. The woman recalls that Marshal was reluctant to talk about studies. He sometimes muttered that in the IT industry, skills are more important than a diploma. Everyone took these words as natural doubts that affect each of us from time to time. After a few weeks in Canada, Fogen returned to Hawaii in August.
On Sunday, November 17, 2019, Marshal spent the day doing household chores. In the evening, the 25-year-old got into his navy blue 2009 GMC Sierra pickup truck and went on a trip to his family home. He promised his mother that he would help her solve a computer problem.
At approximately 11 p.m., Marshal left Lethbridge. Before he left, he told Tammy that he wanted to go to the warehouse where he and his sister kept their things. This place was about 15-20 minutes from the family home. Then he was supposed to return to Calgary to attend classes at the university the next day. This was the last time Tammy saw her son.
It was determined that Marshal arrived at the warehouse around 11:30 p.m. This was consistent with his conversation with his mother. Everything that happened next was quite strange. Iwaasa tried many times that night to gain access to the room where he kept his things. The entrance was PIN protected.
It is suspected that Marshal did not know that access was not possible at night (from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.). The strangest thing is that the boy did not go back to his mother or return to Calgary. Instead, he waited all night to enter the warehouse. He achieved this just after 6:00 a.m. on Monday, November 18. Equally peculiar is that he stayed there until about 8:30. It seems like a very long time to go through his things, of which he didn't have very much.
However, it is not known whether Iwaasa was alone or what exactly happened next. Investigators were unable to find any footage that would show the man leaving the area or driving anywhere nearby. Relatives later checked the hiding place and found that Marshal's belongings were still there. On the other hand, they probably did not know the full list of equipment he stored there.
On November 23, a strange discovery was made in a remote area near Pemberton, British Columbia (about 1,100 km from Lethbridge). Several hikers who were passing through the densely forested area noticed something that sent shivers down their spines. They noticed a burnt car in the middle of the wilderness. Clothes and items were strewn nearby. The tourists informed the local police. They also took photos of this unusual discovery.
It took Canadian police two days to reach the scene. However, the reason was not delay, but problems with access to this hard-to-reach area. One of the police cars was damaged during the first tests. When investigators finally arrived at the scene, they took more photos.
Marshal's mother and sister were in Hawaii at the time. On November 26, the women received a call from the police. Investigators wanted to determine whether relatives knew Iwaasa's current whereabouts. Tammy and Paige learned that the 25-year-old's vehicle had been found in the middle of a forest in British Columbia. However, the police did not provide all the details.
Initially, loved ones thought Marshal's pickup had been stolen. The Lethbridge man's family immediately began searching the area for him. However, no one could find the 25-year-old. It also turned out that no one had talked to him or seen him since November 17. It became clear that Iwaasa was missing. So his family tried to find an answer to the question of what happened to him. The other thing to figure out was what his car was doing in the middle of nowhere, about 12 hours away from his family home.
Undoubtedly, the interesting thing were the things found next to Iwaasa's car. Apparently someone threw them out of a car before setting them on fire. But why didn't the one who set the fire let the fire destroy them too? The arsonist could have left DNA traces on them. These were also additional clues that could lead investigators to solve the mystery. The list of found items is quite peculiar.
It contained three damaged phones, a lot of clothes, an Xbox and PlayStation console and an invalid passport. However, there were a few things missing that Marshal always took with him. These included contact lenses, a backpack, his Samsung laptop and a wallet. The latest phone used by the man, a Samsung Galaxy S6, was also not found.
Another puzzling issue was the discrepancy between the photos taken by tourists who discovered the burned vehicle and the police photos. Some of the items were in a different place in both photos, while others were missing. It's unlikely anyone passed by in the two days between the discovery of the car and the arrival of investigators. Did the perpetrator (or perpetrators) of the arson return to the scene of the incident?
It was also puzzling that Marshal's burned car did not have a steering wheel. Apparently, removing it is not that easy, especially since it is rarely done (unless you are a car mechanic). Why would anyone do that too?
The family of the missing person accused the police of not taking the case seriously enough. It was clear to the relatives that a crime had occurred. Why would Marshal set his car on fire? The long journey undertaken by the 25-year-old or anyone who came into possession of his pickup truck seemed equally pointless. According to the missing man's relatives, he had no family or friends in British Columbia. He didn't know this area either.
His relatives also pointed out that no activity had been recorded on his payment cards since Marshal's disappearance. The journey without longer stops would take several hours. However, the man had to refuel at least a few times along the way. He would probably also buy some food and drinks for the journey. Perhaps he would stop overnight somewhere along the way.
He could, of course, pay in cash every time. What was strange, however, was that there was no witness who would remember the man. The 25-year-old looked quite characteristic due to his muscular build, long curly hair, facial hair and tattoos.
Iwaasa's phone also did not log in to the network from the day she went missing. This was another suspicious issue. Everything looked as if someone really didn't want the man to be found. On the other hand, the missing person himself could have erased all these traces.
Investigators believed in this last hypothesis. For this reason, they did not treat the case as a potential crime and therefore did not check, for example, the found items or the vehicle wreck for DNA. When the police turned to the employees of the warehouse where the student kept his belongings, it turned out that the surveillance recordings had already been deleted.
In May 2020, about 6 months after the disappearance, the area around the site of the GMC arson was searched using cadaver dogs. However, no significant traces were found. A month later, another search operation began. This time a helicopter and off-road vehicles were used. However, all these activities did not solve the mystery of Marshal's disappearance.
As with other unexplained disappearances, there are at least a few theories about what may have happened to Marshal.
One, which many consider the most likely, assumes that third parties were involved in the disappearance. It's a bit hard to imagine that a Canadian would have planned and executed the scenario that took place. However, the question remains about the motive. Iwaasa was not a conflicted person and had no known enemies.
On the other hand, his family probably did not know the whole truth about his life. After the disappearance, it turned out that Marshal had not started his second year of studies. However, he did not tell his relatives about it. So what did he do during the few months he was supposed to be studying? It is speculated that the man may have been involved in some illegal business. Perhaps he was exposed to the wrong people who decided to get rid of him.
This is, of course, only a theory. However, if we assume that this was actually the case, Iwaasa could also have started running away from dangerous people. Why would he set his pickup truck on fire at the end? How could he get out of the lonely place without a car?
Another likely possibility is the Canadian's suicide. On the one hand, this solution seems the most likely. We know that Marshal interrupted his studies, and he had already mentioned to his family that he was wondering about the point of continuing them. Perhaps he came to the conclusion that he did not want to connect his future with IT. At the same time, he may have had no alternative plan.
There could also have been financial problems (although this is just speculation, I don't know exactly what the man's account balance was). It is also worth adding that Marshal really liked Hawaii, where his sister lived. Perhaps he was fed up with the Canadian climate?
On the other hand, these problems could probably be solved by Iwaasa's family, with whom he had good relations. Paige, who is still particularly involved in the search for her brother, would certainly help him move to Hawaii. He was a healthy, strong man with experience in physical work, so he probably wouldn't have had any major problems finding employment.
However, we still don't really know what happened to Marshal. Despite the actions and perseverance of loved ones, this mysterious case remains unfortunately unsolved.
No comments:
Post a Comment