Bowie Bernstein
Appearances
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We didn't know who he was. I was like, oh, we should call him. He definitely knows what's going on. And so I encouraged my dad to call him, and we recorded a call.
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I don't know if my dad told me to record it or if I just had the thought that maybe having any sort of evidence that we could hold on to would be able to help us.
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I didn't want to speak because I didn't want to, like, get involved. But I was listening to my dad just ask him questions and go back and forth.
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I was just thinking to myself, like, this is maybe weirdest, like, situation that we could be in at this moment. And I remember that phone call went on for a while, too.
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We were curious to know who this person was, but then we did find out he was a student at OSHA.
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I remember taking that call and showing the police, like, look what I have. We talked to somebody who said that they know where my brother is.
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When they were talking about meeting another person, I was like, what other person? Who else would my brother, like, be with?
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I remember going with my dog to Borrego Park before and kind of just like walking around to see like, what if I find him here?
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We were spending every minute talking about it. People were filming in our house, interviewing my parents. Nothing like this ever happened where we were.
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There was like this team of people with drones and they were going throughout Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park where we were concerned maybe my brother was back there and maybe there was a mountain lion or maybe like something happened to him and he was missing or lost.
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I was sitting in my English class in eighth grade and the teacher got a call and he was like, Bowie, you're gonna go to the office, they need you for something. And I was like, oh good, maybe some good news. And they took me into this room and I saw my godmother. She was crying and I looked at her and she just hugged me and she said they found him He is dead. Blaze is gone.
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I just felt so numb, like nothing that had happened in my life had mattered anymore. And then when I got home, my dad was just like,
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Growing up in Lake Forest was really nice. It was kind of inland from the coast, like 30 minute drive from the beach.
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This is the whisk sweatshirt that my brother got. He was an editor for the Pan Appetit magazine. We were going through his closet and we found it and I was like, I'm gonna take that.
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At the time, I thought, I wonder what my brother was thinking before he died. I wonder if he was in pain, or I wonder if he could have saved himself. I think once Sam was arrested, I knew my brother didn't have a chance.
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Growing up in Lake Forest was not super easy for him. He was bullied every single day on the bus. He just wanted to get out of the public school system.
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Blaze auditioned for OSHA. He was artistic in every single way possible. He was very creative.
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Once Blaise got to OSHA, he felt like there was a community there for him. He had a lot of friends, he was very social.
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Pen Appetit is a student-run magazine for people who are interested in writing and also interested in food. He knew that those would be his people.
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My dad called me and was like, hey, have you heard anything from Blaze? He's not picking up the phone. It's really weird. Just let us know if you hear anything. And I'm like, that doesn't sound right.
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When it became dark outside, I think that's when we started to really be super concerned.
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They came and they were really downplaying it, like, oh, you know, 19-year-olds, they run away sometimes, but they'll be back.
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He was in one of the best places I had ever seen him before. That week, he was so happy. He was so excited to go back to school. He was so excited to just have the rest of his life. And so at that point, there was no doubt in my mind. He would never have done that.
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And our daughter, yes. I told my parents, I'm like, I can try and help you find everything that you need. I'm really good with Snapchat. I knew the names of a lot of his friends, so I was able to text them and ask them if they knew what was going on.
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At the time, Snapchat worked. If you sent a message, it could only be saved if you purposefully saved it, and it could be deleted by the person who sent it, and it only lasts 24 hours if you don't save it.
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I had absolutely no idea who he was. I was so happy that there was somebody who we could talk to that could just help us find my brother.
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Hi, this is Blaze's dad. We really need to know what you know. We can't find him.