Theory on Michael Rosenblum

[DarkDante]

I love the older episodes and I got a number of them on tape and have been going through them over the past week or so. One that has always intrigued me is the case of Michael Rosenblum, the Pennslyvania teenager who mysteriously vanished on Valentine's Day of 1980. Rosenblum was one of the many young victims of the "drug war" that was gripping the youth of our country at that time and was into heavy illegal prescription drug use. On the night before he vanished Michael's parents turfed him from the house and told him to "sober up". The next day Michael who was suffering from a severe drug hangover was asked by his girlfriend Lisa to check himself into a hospital, Michael refused and took off with her car saying he'd meet her back at his parents house a few hours later. Michael never showed up and remained missing for around ten years. During these years allegations arose involving the Baldwin Police Department's role in Michael's disappearance including allegations of a cover up stemming from the apparent impounding of Michael's girlfriend's car without giving her notice that it was impounded. The car later turned up and the police chief Gaboolie proffered a letter that he claimed to had mailed two days after the car was impounded (the day Michael vanished 2-14-80 so the letter according to Gaboolie would have been mailed on the 16th) - It was later shown that the letter was not widely circulated even around the police department and in fact was typed on or around May 20, 1980 - Michael's father Maurice campaigned to have the Chief of police removed from his post and was temporarily successful although Gaboolie eventually got his post back.

In the interim the Baldwin police issued a warrant for Michael's arrest two months after his disappearance and Maurice Rosenblum was beginning to recieve phone calls that Michael had been arrested by the Baldwin Police on the day of his disappearance. For their part the Baldwin Police denied any knowledge to both the Pittsburgh police department or the general public in regards to Michael Rosenblum's disappearance. Michael Rosenblum's remains were later found and identified ten years later scattered down a cliff in Baldwin, Pennslyvania but because of the aging of the remains and their condition a likely cause of death will never be arrived at based on the forensic evidence alone. What follows is my theory on the final hours of Michael Rosenblum on 2-14-80. It may be a bit crackpot and is not intended as a indictment of the Baldwin Police Department specifically but I figured it might be a good way to brook some discussion on the case.

On 2-14-80 Michael Rosenblum was suffering from a severe drug hangover (ie: he probably also still had some of the illicit drugs in his system as well) and was driving his girlfriend's car around the Baldwin, Pennslyvania area. He was angry at his parents for turfing him from their house the previous evening and as previously stated probably was still suffering from a bit of a hangover. Michael's refusal to be admitted to the hospital is key here, it should become obvious to the viewer of the UM segment that Rosenblum did not want ANYONE in any official capacity be it a doctor, a social worker or a police officer to find he had drugs in his system for obvious reasons.

Rosenblum might have been pulled over by the Baldwin police shortly after taking off with his girlfriend's car - Let's suppose it was just a minor traffic offense due to the hangover lets say Michael was driving erratically. Michael Rosenblum obviously does not want to be brought in for any type of drug test because he would then be looking at a stiff penalty including possible jail time. Rosenblum resists arrest and/or initiates an altercation with the arresting officers and during this altercation he is killed possibly not deliberatley but perhaps somebody got him with an "unlucky punch" or something or even hit him with an object. The arresting officers realize that they might have a case of police brutality on their hands and over the next few hours dispose of Michael's body in a shallow grave at the bottom of the cliff in Baldwin. They leave the car abandoned on River Road where it is found and impounded several hours later by another officer Chester Lombardi and so begins the entire web of events detailed in the UM segement. This is just my theory about what happened to Michael Rosenblum -

Nothing else that I've racked through my mind makes any sense at the moment as to why this boy's body would end up at the bottom of a cliff. I thought maybe Michael who was under the influence of drugs had a car accident (there was tire damage to the car) and died during this accident - Well that is all well and good but there would be no reason to cover that up as it is simply a sad case of a teenage boy knocked out on too many prescription pain killers having a tragic and fatal car accident. The family would have been notified of the tragedy immediatley. I thought maybe a random act of violence but again that doesn't make sense either given the background laid out by the UM segment. In my mind in some way shape or form Michael ran afoul of the law that day and died likely because of it. Also two disturbing questions still remain regarding the Baldwin police: In addition to not notifying Michael's girlfriend about the state of her car, the Baldwin police's accusations that Rosenblum was involved in a robbery attempt two months after his disappearance says one thing to me: that the Baldwin police thought it better that Rosenblum would be percieved in the eyes of the Baldwin public as not only still being alive but alive and well in their very own community when this was obviously not true!

Also if you "buy into" this theory the fact that Rosenblum's remains were found in a deserted area where few people would travel on a day to day basis is key because the people who killed Michael also thought it would be better if Michael Rosenblum was percieved still alive but missing instead of deceased. Nobody involved with this crime wanted it to be known that Michael Rosenblum was dead or to have his remains found.

Later.

[rickpryor]

I think Michael's body was killed somewhere else and left to decompose for a couple years. Afterwards, the person(s) involved in the crime dumped different body parts along the place where he was last seen. The chief is definitely suspect number one.

[Drakken]

Originally Posted by DarkDante

Nothing else that I've racked through my mind makes any sense at the moment as to why this boy's body would end up at the bottom of a cliff.

Michael's clothing parts weren't found at the bottom of the cliff, but above the road, overlooking the location where his girlfriend's car had been found by the Baldwin police. So it has not gone downward, but gone upward! How did these pieces of clothing find themselves laying above the level of disappearance scene, and not below?

Also, not all remains were found, but only a piece of human bone and pieces of garments and corduroy from his clothes (above River Road) and the skull fragment (at the site three miles away). The skull fragment could have been carried away by scavengers weeks or months after death. I have more faith that the human bone found near of the pieces of clothing, though, was were Michael's body was laid to decompose.

[nohwheregirl]

Your theory is as good as any I've heard. I always thought he died in police custody, and it would have to be under suspicious/illegal circumstances or they would have no reason to cover it up. I imagined that it was an interrogation gone bad. Like maybe they found drugs in his car or something, brought him in, he was defiant, and somebody just lost it.

What's really sad about this story is that it amounts to every parents' worst nightmare. Parents are told not to enable their children who are using drugs. Michael's parents did the right thing, and they never saw their son again. I don't place any blame on them at all, but you have to imagine that they blamed themselves to a certain extent.

[SitcomsAreTheWay]

Originally Posted by nohwheregirl

What's really sad about this story is that it amounts to every parents' worst nightmare. Parents are told not to enable their children who are using drugs. Michael's parents did the right thing, and they never saw their son again. I don't place any blame on them at all, but you have to imagine that they blamed themselves to a certain extent.

They definitely did the right thing. Michael needed to get himself together and they were only laying down the law within their household. I'm sure they loved him dearly, but it just couldn't be tolerated. It was bad enough that he was using in the first place and they had to draw the line. How could they ever have expected him to disappear afterwards? It's heartbreaking because it's as if they viewed it as some kind of karma for having demanded that he leave.

[DarkDante]

^ I don't think "tough love" works at all at least in the way that Michael's parents chose to use it. I obviously don't blame them for their son's death as that was a horrible turn of events but between this case and the death of a close friend in my own life, I've almost made it a personal mission when I counsel parents of children who have drug problems to persuade them to avoid "tough love" at any and all costs. I don't think it works and I think its propaganda thought up by people who were misinformed on how to deal with addicts.

[slasherman]

My theory is that he died because he was on drugs and frustrated(driving away from his girlfriend). When his car wheels got flat due to bad driving or something in the road. He walked from the car and died. Either from a natural causes due to heavy drug use, accident or suicide. His body then was lying there so that animals and nature (wind and rain) would spread it around, some will also fall into the river. The strange behavior of police could be explained with bad police work and errors in the red tape. That's what I feel about this case. Sorry if I destroy the mystery

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by slasherman

My theory is that he died because he was on drugs and frustrated(driving away from his girlfriend). When his car wheels got flat due to bad driving or something in the road. He walked from the car and died. Either from a natural causes due to heavy drug use, accident or suicide. His body then was lying there so that animals and nature (wind and rain) would spread it around, some will also fall into the river. The strange behavior of police could be explained with bad police work and errors in the red tape. That's what I feel about this case. Sorry if I destroy the mystery

I do think thats a very plausible theory on what happened. Sometimes UM goes out of their way to incinuate something sinister when its possible it didn't happen that way. I think there's a very good chance that Michael Rosenblum died of a drug overdose and the coverup by police wasn't to hide his murder but just to hide their incompetent actions in his case.

[SitcomsAreTheWay]

Originally Posted by DarkDante

^ I don't think "tough love" works at all at least in the way that Michael's parents chose to use it. I obviously don't blame them for their son's death as that was a horrible turn of events but between this case and the death of a close friend in my own life, I've almost made it a personal mission when I counsel parents of children who have drug problems to persuade them to avoid "tough love" at any and all costs. I don't think it works and I think its propaganda thought up by people who were misinformed on how to deal with addicts.

Well considering that you actually counsel those who are in search of help for their loved one(s), or/and are distressed by the drug problem of their loved one(s), what do you suggest? Though I'm aware that not all cases are successful, overall, is process involved? Have you ever counseled those who have done all they possibly could (or presumed themselves to have), but were stricken by tragedy regardless?

[charmedsignora]

Regarding this case, I think that the police chief's "incompetence" was strictly that: incompetence. I don't think he actually murdered Michael Rosenblum. I don't think anybody did.

Either Michael died of natural causes while being held by the police and they covered it up by getting rid of the body, or the tires of his car went flat and he was so frustrated that he decided to take a hike to clear his mind and he came across something in the mountains.

[dianel]

I met Michael in 1974 while vacationing in Long Beach Island, Beach Haven, N.J., I was 16 years old at the time. I am a Canadian from Quebec and every summer I spent two weeks in Beach Haven with my family. When I met Michael, he was with his cousin, two very nice guys, I found Michael very charming and fell for him. He was funny and down to earth. He introduced me to his parents... two beautiful people.
We met again in 1975 and we'd write in between. When I returned summer 1976, I was very disappointed to find a different Michael, he was in his own world, obviously on drugs.
I remember he once said to me '' one day I will come to Canada and surprise you!'' needless to say, many mornings when I heard a car pulling down our driveway, I'd get out of bed to see if it was Michael surprising me. I waited. But he never did surprise me. And he stopped writing. It was only in 1986 that I heard about him on unsolved mysteries. I was shocked and very sad by the news. I tried to find his letters, but never did find them. I do believe the theory that he tried to avoid being stopped by the police for obvious reasons and that's when things got out of hand. But we will never know. This is truly a sad story.

[Corky Kneivel]

**** I love this website.

[sdb4884]

If they have the word Unsolved Mystery in the dictionary they should include this case as an example.

It is a mystery in the true sense of the word.

[mercy1825]

I realize this is an older thread but since there seems to be many of you interested in the fate of this young man Michael Rosenblum, I just wanted to make a few things clear.

All of my life I have live in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Michael disappeared. Baldwin is basically a city community with its own police jurisdiction because it is a suburban neighborhood right across the river from downtown Pittsburgh. Only bridges seperate Baldwin from the inner city. Where Michael's car was found and where all the footage was shown on the UM segment are HEAVILY TRAFFICED urban areas. Personally I have driven around that area thousands of times and it is inconceivable to me that somebody could wonder off and die there without any witnessess. We are talking about bumper to bumper urban traffic every day of the work week. The wooded areas depicted were Mt. Washington, which is a scenic overlook to the downtown area on the Baldwin side of the river. There are lookout posts complete with binoculars and telescopes, scenic overlooks, also many climbers who adventure through the area as a hobby.

I believe that Michael died or was killed elsewhere and somebody intentionally disposed of his body in a way that it would not be found. I believe the Baldwin police surely made significant errors in this case but I do not think they were directly responsible for his death. I feel this way because of the locations involved, how heavily trafficed they are, and how far would have been able to travel on foot. Another theory is that he fell or was thrown into the river which connects to the Ohio River which connects to the Mississippi River. I do not know much about river currents however.

Just was curious if anyone was intrested or wanted to discuss this case. Always been one of my favorites because it is so close to home.

[UMfan77]

Originally Posted by mercy1825

Where Michael's car was found and where all the footage was shown on the UM segment are HEAVILY TRAFFICED urban areas. Personally I have driven around that area thousands of times and it is inconceivable to me that somebody could wonder off and die there without any witnessess. We are talking about bumper to bumper urban traffic every day of the work week...

I also don't believe that he had "wandered around and died". If Michael was disoriented from drugs and wandering around, he would have been found by someone that knew him. He was from the area and probably had a lot of aquaintences/friends.