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Help Find Derek
Helpfindderek
In Love

5 Years Later: Derek is still loved, and we still miss him

”Do you see how many people's lives you touched and how loved you are? We miss you. Come back and share your adventures with us and meet the new little ones that have joined the world since you left. Love and miss you every minute of every day. Jean Gadra Its hard to believe that 5 years later, Derek Seehausen is still missing. We have not had new significant updates since 2016, but what we have seen in the interim is an outpouring of support, love and memories that we will all always hold dear. His facebook page is a monument to the amazing mark he left on us all, and even though he is still missing five years later, he is not missing in our hearts nor our memories. This site will continue, in perpetuity, to serve as a home and beacon for the efforts to Help Find Derek. In the meantime, wonderful investigators have taken up the cause in assistance. Caseremains.com created a faithful retelling of the events during the week of Derek’s disappearance. We urge you to listen and tell the story about Derek. Our eyes and ears will always still be on the lookout. MartinPI.com created a 25,000 reward for locating Derek Seehausen. We urge anyone with tips to let us know. Derek will always be with us, and personally, with me. Derek's vibrance for life inspires me every day. His patience and kindness has always pushed me to be kinder, more giving, and more loving. His legacy will always continue not just through me but all the countless lives that he touched, the hundreds and thousands of friends who helped support the effort to find him, who remind us they love him on his Facebook wall. Today, I urge everyone to do something kind in memory...
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In Uncategorized

A new tip and a call for help

Today, we have a very significant lead from a fellow USC student A man who looked like Derek with a full beard was spotted in in Northern California, near where the 395/203 highways meet Is anyone out there able to help put posters and flyers up in the following places near where we received this tip? June Lake (resort town) Lee Vining Bridgeport Carson City Reno (closest REI) Bishop Lone Pine Big Pine Olancha Independence While its almost been a year and a half from the time we last saw Derek, we do think the weight of the person who gave us this tip means we are obligated to follow up. We're asking anyone who may be in the area or near by who can help please contact us at info@helpfindderek.com so that we can coordinate a follow up to this significant lead Thank you! -Help Find Derek team We would be eternally grateful! As it happens, there is a livestream camera in the area   http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist9/cctv/  
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In Uncategorized

One year in. From Mary to Derek

Hi Friend, It’s been almost a year since you’ve been gone. A lot has changed. You can’t find me at CVT in unit 1302 baking up a batch of s’mores cookies or cooking up some spaghetti bolognese. Shuhan moved to Boston for residency. People say that time heals all wounds. I’m not certain. As time passes, I think of you less, yet I think of you more. I wonder about you regularly. Mostly, I hope that you are alive and well; I hope that you are in Mexico or Costa Rica surfing or mountain manning it on the PCT. Where ever you are, where ever you may be, where ever you may go, as much as I miss you and wish you were here, I hope you have found the peace that you need. Until the day that your dead body shows up, I’m going to keep sending you prayers, thoughts and good juju and good karma. You will remain in my memory the most kind and empathetic person- there are so many times that you’ve shown me how to be more. Thank you for being my friend. Love you Derek P.S. These are little random bits that I want to tell you about if you’re out there reading this. I’ve been on one car camping trip since you left. It was a disaster. First of all it was in Wisconsin. Second of all, a storm blew through and Shuhan broke his arm and needed a staple on his head. Shuhan told me to tourniquet his head wound and I was super confused- was I supposed to tourniquet his neck? That didn’t make sense. I’m missing all the crazy shenanigans on the camping trips- I’m definitely sad we haven’t had any more campfire cooking. Shuhan and I went to Nepal…

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In Uncategorized

One Year in

Derek has been missing for one year now. One year ago, friends, family, and myself spent every minute in what felt like an impossible struggle to searching for Derek. With the gracious help of local store owners and their surveillance footage, with the help of the hard working men and women in all the legal labyrinths we had to navigate, and with the hard work of all of his friends and family, we put every ounce of ourselves into finding him. One year ago there were things we could do to bring him back. But despite our best efforts we never did. And in the past year, we’ve gone through spurts of hope, even longer periods of silence and paralyzing calm in the hope that maybe something would turn up. He never did. I’ve always thought of how exactly I should feel. Sometimes I feel like I failed. Other days, I feel like I should have hope, because that helps me feel like Derek is still out there. Some days, I do feel like he is out there, just calmly surfing the gulf of Mexico on a tropical resort without a care in the world. Other days I think maybe that’s just foolish and naive of me to think that. Everyone might think I’m a bit of sucker, I’d tell myself. I wouldn’t want people to think that. Or, maybe I should be a bit more realistic. He wouldn’t keep us all wondering like this. We know that he was just too considerate. Who knows what the right answer is–there’s not textbook for this kind of stuff. In the last few days leading up to this anniversary, I’ve read amazing stories of love and hope and memories of what Derek was like when he was in all of our lives. He was warm, compassionate, intelligent, loving, curious, fun, loyal…

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In Uncategorized

Happy Birthday Derek

Derek, Happy birthday! Wherever you are, and however you may be today, you’re loved by your friends and family. We miss you, and we love you dearly. I’m sitting here studying for an exam, drinking coffee and watching life go by. Every day these little moments that make me remember just how much I miss you. Every good thing that happens to me makes me think about how you should have been here, because you would have been happy for me. For every bit of bad news or setback that I get in life, I remember how comfortable I felt sharing that with you too. Driving in a car. Oh, that’s the toughest. I used to have conversations with myself, but I now find that I’m actually more comfortable thinking about all my faults and vulnerabilities when you’re part of my inner monologue, more so than when I talk to myself. Go figure. When I hop on a flight, I think about your seat next to me. Where would you have slept when you stayed in San Francisco? Did you want to go to the moon festival in Tibet? How about Chile? Aconcagua? The TcDS machine still hasn’t been built, but I’ll get around to it. Mary is awesome at planning our interviews, isn’t she? Regardless of what any future developments may be, the things I’ll always remember about you will always stay the same. I don’t know where you are, who does? But I know that I still think about you every day. You were always an incredible source of strength and intelligence, but your friendships were truly special. I’m a better person because of you. We’re all better people because of you. To all his friends and family, I encourage you to share  any fond memories of Derek,…

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In Case Details

10/8 tip: The Importance of Photos and Derek’s Shoes

Hi all, Tips have been incredibly helpful in helping us advance the case and we've learned some important lessons about the best practices for tips. Here are just a few, with a case below to illustrate the importance. In general, we have found that the most useful tips are the ones that include photos to help us confirm the accuracy of the report, and to easily include or exclude the tip as a possibility for a lead on Derek. Flyers seem to work very well for creating new tips, especially those near the LA National Forest Tip 10/8/14 Hello, I live in the city of Whittier. Today when I got home from work I spotted a pair of sneakers on the front porch. I asked my wife about them and she said that our gardener had found them hiding in a bush in our front yard. I inspected them and found a key chain with a key attached to it inside one the shoes. They appeared to have been there for a while because they have cobwebs on the soles. They are Nike size 10, gray with light blue trim. The reason I'm doing this is that I just came back from riding my mountain bike and on the entrance to the hiking trail I saw the missing person's poster and I thought it might be connected to the disappearance of Derek. A lot of people come to hike on the Whittier hills. Some of these people sit in front of our house and some times they forget items. I don't know if this is the case. Let me know if you have further questions. Reply Dear Martin, Thank you very much for taking the time to write us about the shoes found in your yard.  I'm sure you can...
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In Media

LAist: Strange Details Emerge About The USC Medical Student Who Went Missing Over A Month Ago

 From Jean Trih at the LAist: More details about a USC medical student’s disappearance more than a month ago were revealed today in a press conference on campus. Although 26-year-old Derek Seehausen was reported to be last seen in Echo Park on August 5, there have been a couple of recent potential sightings of the fourth-year medical student—and his family believes he may be in San Diego. Someone had tipped off LAPD on Sept. 10 that a man who resembled Seehausen was shuffling on Pacific Coast Highway between Solana Beach and Cardiff by the Sea. Private investigator Thomas Martin said that he believed that was him because Seehausen has plantar fasciitis, a painful disorder that affects the heel of a foot. A family spokesperson told NBC San Diego that Seehausen often visited San Diego, had friends out there, and surfed at Mission Beach often. L.A. County Sheriff’s department deputies reported to the LAPD that they may have spotted Seehausen on a Metro bus on Sept. 5. They had been reviewing surveillance video on the bus looking for a suspect accused of sexually assaulting people on a Los Angeles bus when they spotted a man on the bus that fit Seehausen’s description. Initially, Seehausen was last seen in Echo Park on August 5. His family has surveillance video from a Vons on Alvarado Street, where Seehausen is seen taking $200 cash out from an ATM there at 10:34 p.m. Martin said Seehausen was later seen returning keys to a friend’s house on the 1000 block of Wilshire Boulevard. Seehausen also made a payment of $2,999 off of his iPhone to a friend he owed money to, though that is not considered a factor in his disappearance. Martin does not suspect foul play. The last sighting of him was at 12:02 a.m. that night heading on foot on…

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