University student Josh Guimond disappeared. His family has not given up hope finding him and marched Saturday to keep that effort going.
What happened to Josh Guimond on Nov. 10, 2002 is still a mystery. Despite an extensive search of the St. John’s campus, there’s been no sign of the then 20-year-old student and no clues to what happened to him that night. It has been seven long years for Josh Guimond’s family.
“Absolutely horrible, there’s some good days and bad days,” said Bob Guimond, Josh’s grandfather.
Josh hasn’t been seen since attending a party at a friend’s apartment on campus. His family remains convinced Josh was a victim of foul play. They organized the rally near the St. John’s campus to keep up the pressure for answers.
“We would like closure, one way or the other. We don’t know which way or if we will ever get it, but you can’t give up hope,” added Bob Guimond.
The family wants more information about suspected sex offenders who were on campus. Pat Marker was an abuse victim at St. John’s in the 1980s and is now an advocate for other victims. He thinks there’s good reason to look for a possible connection.
“There’s a long history of deception and a long history of misconduct up on campus. We know that they’ve covered up sex crimes,” said Marker.
Whatever may have happened to Josh Guimond, those rallying Saturday wanted to keep the spotlight on his disappearance. Alan Holmes and several members of the Twin Cities chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse rode behind the marchers.
“It had to be a tough seven years for them and we want to support them in whatever way we can,” said Holmes.
The family has been disappointed with the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department’s investigation. After the campus march, they also rallied in front of the Sheriff’s department and delivered a petition requesting cooperation from the department.
WCCO-TV tried to get a comment on the Guimond case from the Sheriff’s department, but no one was available.
St. John’s University released a statement about the investigation:
“Saint John’s has not forgotten about Josh’s disappearance. We continue to have ‘Find Josh’ posters available in the student commons and Josh’s disappearance remains an open case for Life Safety. We also continue to support law enforcement authorities in their pursuit and investigation of any possible leads that might provide information as to the whereabouts of Josh.”
November 7, 2009
Rally Urges Further Search For St. John’s Student
http://wcco.com/education/josh.guimond.rally.2.1298803.html
Maya Nishikawa
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (WCCO)
