This is happening where I live in Orange County, California. Blaze has been gone since Tuesday night, and there’s a huge search underway. He had been scheduled to fly back to Penn today. His parents have started a public Facebook group to try to provide updated information. Friends and family have pleaded with people to stop publicly speculating about what happened. Clearly, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department has more information than they’re releasing, but it can only cause pain to the family to try to play detective. His mom posted this yesterday in response to a question about possible red flags: “Blaze is an excellent student, is now managing editor of Penn Apetit Magazine and has a zero tolerance for drug and alcohol use and abuse. An Ivy League school is a very high pressure environment, but he learned how to deal with stress this year and figured out that doing things that made him happy like writing and cooking made him happy and helped him de-stress, so he did that in his free time. He had no “flags”…”
For those of you who believe in any sort of higher power, please pray for this young man’s safe return and for his family and friends going through this nightmare.
I totally misread this when I saw it in my local paper. I thought it was Orange County, NY, not the OC. I hope and pray they find him safe and sound. I can’t imagine the terror his poor family must be feeling.
@techmom99, it really is so scary and becoming more so every day as the search turns up nothing. Up until now, the weather has been typically mild and dry, but tomorrow we’re expecting our first real rainstorm since February of last year.
I read the story. It seems odd to me that his friend went into the restroom in a park, the boy wasn’t there when he came out and his friend didn’t really freak out. On another note, your weather sounds delightful. We had almost 2’ of snow here and I haven’t been out of my house since Thursday morning.
@techmom99, absolutely desperate for rain here. For a while it felt like it would stay dry forever. And with the wildfires in December and the hottest fall on record, it doesn’t feel delightful, unfortunately (though I know the grass is always greener… I see the snow pictures and think how beautiful they look, but it’s been quite a while since I’ve lived in it.) I hope you’re able to dig out soon!
As for Blaze, there are many things that are completely mysterious, and several reported variations on what happened regarding the friend(s). The bottom line, though, is that a kid who seemed happy and had everything going for him has simply vanished. His mom posted this earlier today: “Blaze was looking forward to going back to school and starting his new semester. We had a terrific time together over his break and we had just finished a fun dinner that he cooked for our family. Everyone praised his ability and creativity and he was shining with love and happiness when we all told him how amazing the meal was and when he said goodbye to his grandparents that night he told them he would see them soon and that his next break was only 2 months away. He just moved into a new apartment in Philadelphia days before he came home. It was his own place, no roommates and he loved it. Right before his disappearance he was sitting in his room trolling Amazon for clothing and new things for his kitchen in his new home. There is no reason to believe that Blaze wanted to take off the night. Absolutely nothing could convince us of that.”
Orange County sheriff’s just found his body in the park where he was last seen and are investigating it as a murder. Devastating. This young man who had everything going for him. Heartbroken for his family.
For those in the Penn family or others who may want to help—
Blaze’s amily may be planning other ways to honor his memory as well, but they have asked for donations to the Orangewood Foundation: Last night Mr. Bernstein posted on the @HelpUsFindBlazeBernstein page, “Many of us are feeling helpless in knowing what to do or how to help to make a real difference in the search for Blaze tonight. So what can we do? Let’s make a difference in someone else’s life. Please donate to Orangewood Foundation, whose mission is to prepare foster and community youth to reach their greatest potential. Make a difference in someone else’s life. This would be an honor for Blaze and his strength to get through this.”
I’m a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) and know first-hand the good work the Orangewood Foundation does in the lives of foster youth: https://orangewoodfoundation.org/
One of the young men who died in that News Year Eve plane crash in Costa Rica, with his entire family, was also at Penn. Think a freshman. Terrible tragedies.
@wisteria100, yes, that’s right about freshman who died, William Steinberg. And I just read this in the Daily Pennsylvanian:
“Steinberg, who died on Dec. 31, was the eighth Penn student to die in 2017.” So terribly sad.
For those following this terrible case, they’ve just arrested another young man in Blaze’s murder. It’s believed to be the “friend” from Orange County School of the Arts.