Justin Smeja Incident?

[OldMort]

Didn't Smeja also claim that his house had been broken into and that the sasquatch "steak" was either stolen or "replaced"?

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by OldMort

[Arvedis]

I just don't think Smeja had it in him to come up with weird stories. I have no doubt he would poach a bear but avoiding the consequences for not having tags seems really roundabout. If he was cited anyway, why not just admit the story was untrue, lesson learned. Instead, he just has that blank look at on his face, not a poker face, the face of a guy who has no clue. He politely repeats what he saw or thinks he saw. Details change though which is the sticking point to closing this mystery out.

[norseman]

17 minutes ago, Wooly Booger said:

But there remains the question of the lie detector.

Not really. The DNA test trumps the lie detector test.

 

He is either a liar and hoaxer or grossly incompetent. Ultimately this story does nothing to prove the existence of Sasquatch.

[Patterson-Gimlin]

He was also on the Bigfoot bounty show that Stacy  Brown won.

No one seemed to believe him. 

It was a bear and he was suspected of poaching. 

[Arvedis]

Let's say it is a matter of poaching.  Smeja and his pal spotted and dropped a bear. Then decided what?  They only wanted certain parts of it?  They couldn't fit it into the pickup and did not have a tarp? Maybe figured it was too dicey with a bear carcass hanging out of the tailgate to get spotted by a random authority so they left it there?  These are experienced hunters and at least would have a reason to do what they did. Incompetent?  Possibly but why would Smeja return to civilization and say anything about what he did if he realized he made a mistake and could get fined if caught?  These are folks with lower end finances. Why would they bring trouble onto themselves if all they had to do was say nothing and hope no one saw them up there and remembered their plate #?

 

It was only because Smeja decided to poke around online, he found folks who were interested in his story. Only because he was coaxed into it, he returned to the scene and could not explain why the BF bodies were not there (little one and big one). I believe the area was snowed in at that time but his dog found something buried in ice that could not be dug up. We know today that was a bear carcass which they carved off a steak for testing. At the time, they did not know it was bear.  And I do not believe Meldrum went up there with him. Derek Randles was there and he is no fool. He would know if Smeja was being untruthful and had he been able to get a good look at what was under the ice, he would have been able to recognize a bear carcass, disproving Smeja's entire story. That didn't happen.

Edited April 22, 2021 by Arvedis

[gigantor]

Justin joined the BFF right after the incident. He was.on the chat room often and many of us had the chance to ask him questions.

 

My impression is that he really wasn't sure what he shot, he didn't have a clear view and was very scared of the pissed off parent animal coming to the scene. He had to hurry.

 

There is a thread somewhere around here where he posted the details.

 

 

 

[Huntster]

3 hours ago, Wooly Booger said:

While it is certainly possible, albeit difficult, for a liar to pass a lie detector test there is an alternative explanation. Though one that not all Bigfooters are willing to accept. The possibility of a government-scientific cover up. 

 

Government agents could have replaced the original hair samples with black bear samples. 

 

I'm not prepared to accept this theory in this case, but I did find it interesting that California Fish and Wildlife officials shadowed Smeja like Cold War spies throughout the event until Sykes announced his results. THEN they charge him, as if they couldn't have done that difficult investigation themselves. It's almost as if they wanted the whole thing to go away, but when it didn't, they charged Smeja when Sykes almost forced the issue with his announcement. 

 

California Fish and Wildlife really like to tippy-toe around this issue. They like to keep really quiet about it. I wonder why?

[Arvedis]

12 minutes ago, Huntster said:

I did find it interesting that California Fish and Wildlife officials shadowed Smeja like Cold War spies throughout the event until Sykes announced his results. THEN they charge him, as if they couldn't have done that difficult investigation themselves. It's almost as if they wanted the whole thing to go away, but when it didn't, they charged Smeja when Sykes almost forced the issue with his announcement. 

 

California Fish and Wildlife really like to tippy-toe around this issue. They like to keep really quiet about it. I wonder why?

 

 

It is curious that CF&W waited until after the Sykes interview to make their move. Maybe they had no evidence to prove their case until science provided it for them?  

 

Where have you heard that F&W had him under surveillance? I can't help but be shocked any time I hear of elaborate schemes by any CA gov agency. A big time narco operation, I can see them use a budget for that, roll out the tanks even.  This state is run by bureaucrat buffoons and has always been the case. I just can't see bear poaching as something they truly care enough about to put surveillance on. I know there is the environmentalist lobby and other examples. It's just that Smeja is so small time.

 

 

Edited April 22, 2021 by Arvedis

[Wooly Booger]

37 minutes ago, Huntster said:

 

I'm not prepared to accept this theory in this case, but I did find it interesting that California Fish and Wildlife officials shadowed Smeja like Cold War spies throughout the event until Sykes announced his results. THEN they charge him, as if they couldn't have done that difficult investigation themselves. It's almost as if they wanted the whole thing to go away, but when it didn't, they charged Smeja when Sykes almost forced the issue with his announcement. 

 

California Fish and Wildlife really like to tippy-toe around this issue. They like to keep really quiet about it. I wonder why?

Agreed. It seems unlikely that they would have complicated the situation if it were simply a bear poaching case. 

 

Black bear are a dime a dozen. It would have been different if Smeja shot a bald eagle. 

[Huntster]

47 minutes ago, Arvedis said:

.......Where have you heard that F&W had him under surveillance?.......

 

Smeja said he was talked to by a pair of CF&W officers not long after his story became public.

[MIB]

5 hours ago, JustCurious said:

It was part of the batch that Dr. Brian Sykes tested.  Smeja was on the show Sykes did after the results came out.  The show was Bigfoot Files and was a 3-part series.

 

The story has gotten twisted up a bit.     This is not right.    Justin's BOOTS were tested by Sykes.   The outcome was no recoverable / testable DNA.   The boots with the blood had been worn for a year or so after the shooting and had been immersed in salt water a time or two.   The outcome was no surprise.    The test showing bear was done by Trent University.    It was arranged through Bart Cutino.   The chain of evidence on that sample was broken.    The shooting happened, Justin and his buddy panicked and left, and they didn't return for a period of weeks.    They recovered some frozen flesh and hair from under the snow in the same general location.    Justin provided part of that sample to Melba Ketchum.    It was one of her 109 or 110 samples that she said tested positive as bigfoot.   Some time later she asked him to destroy the rest of the sample with bleach so it could not be tested.   (Justin provided a recording of the phone call where she asked this.   It was on YouTube at one time.   This is not in question except by Ketchum supporters.)   At that point, Justin smelled a rat.     Through Bart Cutino, the retesting was arranged and the results were 100% black bear.     This should not be a surprise.   The location of the shooting, the location of the sample recovery, is a place I'm told hunters often gut and sometimes skin game before returning to town.    That discarded bear hide with a little meat was found has no bearing on whether or not Justin shot 2 bigfoots as claimed, it only shows that what was recovered, later, under the snow was bear.  

 

People on both sides try to read too much into it.    In the end the only thing really proven, via the recorded phone call between Justin Smeja and Melba Ketchum, is that Ketchum was trying to get him to destroy evidence of her apparenlty fraudulent claims about her lab results.   

 

MIB

[MIB]

4 hours ago, Arvedis said:

Smeja changes small details every time he talks about it. I'm not sure how to explain it.

 

I think I do.   I don't think the crux of the story changed, what changed were which details were emphasized and that was done to "reach" whichever audience he was talking to at the moment.    I do the same thing.   If I go hunting and kill a big buck, when I tell my hunting friends I emphasize details of the hunt, the deer behavior, the shot, the pack-out, but if I am talking to my non-hunting friends, I gloss over the kill and talk about the birds, the squirrels, etc.    Neither is a lie, it's just communicating with people about the things relevant to the story that I expect them to know without cramming something they'll object to down their throats.

 

MIB

[Doug]

My brother killed an elk about 8 years ago. We boned it out and left the bones there. Last year, 7 years later, I found the site of butchering and quite a few of the bones still there. I dug up the fir needles, moss and forest duff to uncover more bones.

 

It's been 8 years, so, would it be possible to do some sort of excavation in search of bones?

Edited April 22, 2021 by Doug

[Arvedis]

10 minutes ago, MIB said:

 

The story has gotten twisted up a bit.     This is not right.    Justin's BOOTS were tested by Sykes.   The outcome was no recoverable / testable DNA.   The boots with the blood had been worn for a year or so after the shooting and had been immersed in salt water a time or two.   The outcome was no surprise.    The test showing bear was done by Trent University.    It was arranged through Bart Cutino.   The chain of evidence on that sample was broken.    The shooting happened, Justin and his buddy panicked and left, and they didn't return for a period of weeks.    They recovered some frozen flesh and hair from under the snow in the same general location.    Justin provided part of that sample to Melba Ketchum.    It was one of her 109 or 110 samples that she said tested positive as bigfoot.   Some time later she asked him to destroy the rest of the sample with bleach so it could not be tested.   (Justin provided a recording of the phone call where she asked this.   It was on YouTube at one time.   This is not in question except by Ketchum supporters.)   At that point, Justin smelled a rat.     Through Bart Cutino, the retesting was arranged and the results were 100% black bear.     This should not be a surprise.   The location of the shooting, the location of the sample recovery, is a place I'm told hunters often gut and sometimes skin game before returning to town.    That discarded bear hide with a little meat was found has no bearing on whether or not Justin shot 2 bigfoots as claimed, it only shows that what was recovered, later, under the snow was bear.  

 

People on both sides try to read too much into it.    In the end the only thing really proven, via the recorded phone call between Justin Smeja and Melba Ketchum, is that Ketchum was trying to get him to destroy evidence of her apparently fraudulent claims about her lab results.   

 

MIB

 

 

That's right, I totally blanked on Cutino's testing. As for Ketchum's convo with Smeja, Melba was all about keeping her funding from Wally coming in and getting the recognition for the discovery. By destroying the sample, no one could re-test and disprove her claims. Didn't work out well for her.

[JustCurious]

6 hours ago, MIB said:

 

The story has gotten twisted up a bit.     This is not right.    Justin's BOOTS were tested by Sykes.   The outcome was no recoverable / testable DNA.   The boots with the blood had been worn for a year or so after the shooting and had been immersed in salt water a time or two.   The outcome was no surprise.    The test showing bear was done by Trent University.    It was arranged through Bart Cutino.   The chain of evidence on that sample was broken.    The shooting happened, Justin and his buddy panicked and left, and they didn't return for a period of weeks.    They recovered some frozen flesh and hair from under the snow in the same general location.    Justin provided part of that sample to Melba Ketchum.    ...

 

MIB

 

IF all the above is true, and I don't know the source of your info, so I can't evaluate one way or another, it just raises 101 more questions for me.  Not so much about Smeja himself, but the actors surrounding the whole story.  But at the end of the day, it's all pretty moot since we don't have a body, nor DNA and even if I had the answers to those 101 questions, we still wouldn't have anything more than what we have now.