AKA Neo Babson Maximus
I first heard about this case when I watched an episode of “Disappeared” called Game Over.
This was a good few years ago and it has stuck in my mind ever since. Annoyingly, I was unable to find this particular episode available to watch anywhere.
Who is Charlie?
Charlie Allen Jr has been described as a highly intelligent and fun-loving young man.
He excelled at everything he did and a few years before his disappearance, he had been an extremely well-known online gamer, he was known online as “Neo” after a character in his favourite film, The Matrix.
Two months before his disappearance, Charlie changed his name legally to Neo Babson Maximus.
What happened?
On the 11th of October 2007, Charlie was playing tennis with his friend Mason, Charlie invited Mason to a party that evening and they agreed that they would meet at their college campus that night.
Later that day, Charlie’s sister Britney went on to Facebook to reply to a message Charlie had sent her, but when she logged on, she saw his account had been deactivated, so she decided to call him.
When she asked him about the Facebook account, he told her he had not deactivated it and said someone else must have, he went on to say that he had sent some emails and was now in trouble as some important people were after him.
He warned her that she might also be in danger, and told her that she should leave school and only God could protect her. Britney said he wasn’t making much sense, he sounded panicked and out of breath, like he was running.
One of the last things he said to Britney, was that if he went missing, the answer could be found in the periodic table of elements.
Understandably concerned, Britney called their dad, who said that he and their mother had also received messages from Charlie.
He was concerned as they had sounded like goodbye messages with the call to one parent mentioning going somewhere hot like Florida or Mexico and the call to the other mentioning Texas. Again, Charlie sounded out of breath.
When the family & friends tried to call him back, the calls were going straight to voicemail.
Police were eventually called when no one was able to contact Charlie, they conducted a ground search with dogs, as well as an aerial search.
Charlie’s laptop was searched, but it appeared to have been wiped clean, there was only one internet search showing in the history and that was for the University of Texas.
The police located Charlie’s car, which was abandoned in the college campus car park, it contained a pillow and blanket, leading police to believe Charlie may have been sleeping in his car, rather than in his apartment.
Charlie’s bank cards have never been found or used.
Although his phone was never found, 2 days after his disappearance, the phone was back on and when the family were calling, the phone was ringing, but the calls were never answered. This went on for a few months.
The phone company said they could not trace the calls.
Sightings
The following morning, police went to investigate reports of an intruder.
A woman had been woken by a shirtless and shoeless man, entering a second-floor window of her home.
When she bravely confronted him, he was apologetic and asked if Mason was there, she told him Mason did not live there, he once again apologised and left out of the window he came in.
It was later confirmed that the man matched Charlie’s description.
On the 14th of October, a backpack was found, it contained a notebook with Charlie’s name on it, a pair of tennis shoes were also found on a road a couple of miles away.
In 2009, 11 miles from the college campus, a couple received a knock at their door at 4 am, the husband answered to a man, who was not dressed for the cold weather. The man said he needed help getting back to SMU (a former acronym for the college) The husband went back inside to call the police, but when they arrived the man was gone.
When the husband was shown a picture of Charlie, later on, he was certain it was the man at his door. Another search was conducted after this incident, but still, nothing was found.
There was one more unconfirmed sighting of Charlie, a man driving along the motorway, saw a dishevelled shirtless man attempting to hitch a ride with a truck driver, but again nothing ever came from this.
Bi-Polar
Unbeknown to Charlie’s friends, Charlie suffered from Bi-Polar disorder. He had stopped taking his medication the year before and was attempting to manage his symptoms with physical activities.
The police believe he suffered a psychotic break, leading to his disappearance, however, his family have stated that before any episodes he had previously, Charlie always had certain signs and symptoms, which had not been present around the time of his disappearance.
New Life
Police think maybe he was trying to start a new life, given that he changed his name legally just before. His family do not believe this is something he would do.
Scientology
Anthony, a former roommate, said Charlie, who was studying psychology, had shown a lot of interest in Scientology and their psychology teachings. It is also known Scientology does not believe mental health exists and that medication for it is a scam.
Final thoughts
Personally, it feels to me like the fact that Charlie suffered from Bi-Polar has been used as a reason not to keep going with this investigation. I don’t know much about this myself, but if Charlie had not suffered, would the searches have gone on longer?
Charlie was described by many people as highly intelligent, with his former roommate saying that if anyone wanted to get away and stay hidden, Charlie could.
Had he got on the wrong side of some “important” people and it was safer that everyone thinks he had had a manic episode?
Charlie knew where Mason lived and the house that was broken into was nowhere near his house, was this person Charlie or just a bizarre coincidence?
What are your thoughts? ♥️
If you would like to find out more about the disappearance of Charles Allen Jr, I can recommend Liz Wakefords YouTube Video and the If I Go Missing podcast. There is also a Facebook page set up by Anthony with further details.
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2022-07-05 13:00:00