Luke Viker - iWatch Series 4 Winner
CONGRATULATIONS TO Luke Viker
Luke was the winner of our most recent promotion for the Apple iWatch Series 4. He correctly figured out the board as:
LetsGoDanDow!TimDavisNoShow!LostOpportunity!199622
Luke grew up in Santa Maria but he is currently living in upstate NY going to graduate school, so he was using the internet to stay abreast of the website and Kristin's case.
Earlier today, Kristin Supporter, Derek Hirata, contacted our Apple Sales Rep contact, Brandon Meulpolder, and sent him the funds for the iWatch. Brandon then used his employee discount and purchased the iWatch. Next - he emailed the purchase order to the Apple Store in NY and Apple then sent Luke a Confirmation Email letting him know his watch was ready for pickup.
Luke just now got back from the mall and was kind enough to share his personal experience along with a photo of him with his shiny new watch.
Thanks to all who donated towards the purchase price of this watch. Obviously - this does not happen without you.
Here is Luke's story:
In the spring of 1996, a young college co-ed, Kristin Smart, disappeared one night after being escorted back to her dorm by a few of her classmates. I was 10 years old, growing up in a small town just south of San Luis Obispo, California. Even as a young boy, I was shocked by her disappearance, and uneasy as weeks stretched into months with no sign of Kristin, and seemingly few leads to solve the case. Years began to go by. Every summer my family camped at Lopez Lake. As we drove through the town of Arroyo Grande to get to our campground, we would drive past a Kristin Smart billboard, and I would wonder what happened to her, and think about her family.
Throughout the years I’ve kept abreast of the case through websites Dennis has created. I have learned about the mishandling of Kristin’s case, and it saddens me to learn about the gross negligence of local law enforcement and county officials. I am thankful for people who continue to inform and raise awareness about Kristin. Hopefully, through the continued efforts of the Smart family, Dennis, and Kristin Smart supporters we will eventually see justice for Kristin and those responsible will be held accountable for their actions.
For this password-cracking contest, I started with a blank sheet of paper with 50 blanks slots. Each week, as the clues came out, I would add, or change change letters depending on the clue of the week. As a grad student, I spend the majority of my time studying, so on days when the clues came out, I would work on the the password during my study breaks. It turned out to be a good way to raise awareness for Kristin with my classmates.
I was able to come up with two of the phrases relatively quickly the “NoShow” and “LostOpportunity”, but I was having trouble with the 1st phrase “LetsGo”. After the 9th clue, I felt I had all of the phases correct, but I couldn’t figure out which letters were capitalized and I was unsure of the two sets numbers at the end. I tried many different sets of numbers until I finally figured out the correct two. The “aha” moment occurred with the last clue of the number 6. It hinted to me to use the year 1996, rather than 1997 (the year of the deposition), and also in the clue he mentioned the 22 years, which is how long Kristin has been missing.
I really enjoy participating in the treasure hunts and the online contests. It’s a unique way to keep Kristin’s memory alive and never give up on our quest for justice.
Luke was the winner of our most recent promotion for the Apple iWatch Series 4. He correctly figured out the board as:
LetsGoDanDow!TimDavisNoShow!LostOpportunity!199622
Luke grew up in Santa Maria but he is currently living in upstate NY going to graduate school, so he was using the internet to stay abreast of the website and Kristin's case.
Earlier today, Kristin Supporter, Derek Hirata, contacted our Apple Sales Rep contact, Brandon Meulpolder, and sent him the funds for the iWatch. Brandon then used his employee discount and purchased the iWatch. Next - he emailed the purchase order to the Apple Store in NY and Apple then sent Luke a Confirmation Email letting him know his watch was ready for pickup.
Luke just now got back from the mall and was kind enough to share his personal experience along with a photo of him with his shiny new watch.
Thanks to all who donated towards the purchase price of this watch. Obviously - this does not happen without you.
Here is Luke's story:
In the spring of 1996, a young college co-ed, Kristin Smart, disappeared one night after being escorted back to her dorm by a few of her classmates. I was 10 years old, growing up in a small town just south of San Luis Obispo, California. Even as a young boy, I was shocked by her disappearance, and uneasy as weeks stretched into months with no sign of Kristin, and seemingly few leads to solve the case. Years began to go by. Every summer my family camped at Lopez Lake. As we drove through the town of Arroyo Grande to get to our campground, we would drive past a Kristin Smart billboard, and I would wonder what happened to her, and think about her family.
Throughout the years I’ve kept abreast of the case through websites Dennis has created. I have learned about the mishandling of Kristin’s case, and it saddens me to learn about the gross negligence of local law enforcement and county officials. I am thankful for people who continue to inform and raise awareness about Kristin. Hopefully, through the continued efforts of the Smart family, Dennis, and Kristin Smart supporters we will eventually see justice for Kristin and those responsible will be held accountable for their actions.
For this password-cracking contest, I started with a blank sheet of paper with 50 blanks slots. Each week, as the clues came out, I would add, or change change letters depending on the clue of the week. As a grad student, I spend the majority of my time studying, so on days when the clues came out, I would work on the the password during my study breaks. It turned out to be a good way to raise awareness for Kristin with my classmates.
I was able to come up with two of the phrases relatively quickly the “NoShow” and “LostOpportunity”, but I was having trouble with the 1st phrase “LetsGo”. After the 9th clue, I felt I had all of the phases correct, but I couldn’t figure out which letters were capitalized and I was unsure of the two sets numbers at the end. I tried many different sets of numbers until I finally figured out the correct two. The “aha” moment occurred with the last clue of the number 6. It hinted to me to use the year 1996, rather than 1997 (the year of the deposition), and also in the clue he mentioned the 22 years, which is how long Kristin has been missing.
I really enjoy participating in the treasure hunts and the online contests. It’s a unique way to keep Kristin’s memory alive and never give up on our quest for justice.
Alex and Marla Kraft
Wow. There are so many things we want to take the time to address, but unfortunately, we know something will slip through without being mentioned.
First of all, we want to start by acknowledging all of the Diguptheyard.com supporters–without you, we feel justice for Kristin would be lost, and the evil culprits would be allowed to breathe free. By continuing to keep Kristin’s case in the eyes of the public, we believe eventually we will one day overcome the corruption in our small community.
A little about us. Being central coast locals, we have grown up with this case since Kristin went missing back in 1996. Alex was 11 years old in the 6th grade when Kristin’s case began to hit the local news, and Marla was only 7. Over the years, more and more evidence has emerged only to be disregarded, discarded, or destroyed. It is very disheartening to grow up in any town, where justice can’t be served–even though all the evidence is there– let alone it be little ole’ Arroyo Grande. I hope these treasure hunts continue to bring awareness about the circumstances of this particular case, and hopefully enough enraged citizens will help to bring some closure to the Smart family. That is all we wish, and God willing, it will happen, sooner than later.
So on to how we unraveled the $1,000 mystery:
The 1st 5 clues were no help because we were searching on campus–We thought for sure because the last treasure hunt was found at the Vet’s Hall, this one was going to be found closer to Cal Poly, boy where we wrong. By the 6th clue, we were starting to get a different feeling, because our opinion the eateries on campus had no relevance to Kristin’s case.
The 7th clue confirmed it, the $ was not hidden on campus, but in fact hidden under or inside of something. Searching all over the Foothill and Santa Rosa, we figured those were the only two areas that had any fast food, so we searched and searched both the shopping center with Lassens/Milestone Tavern & California Fresh/SLO DO Co. We also searched in the areas behind Kona’s deli and by Jamba Juice to no avail. The 8th clue was the kicker, we knew the cash had to be hidden along the path of the fast food, either Carl’s or Taco Bell, but it was just a matter of looking and looking hard.
Alex was attending school at Cuesta College and was able to work in extra searches from time to time, on Monday December 11th he actually pealed off the cap to the black pole and heard the container with the cash slide down to the bottom. Eventually after concluding his search, he went to Rite-Aid to purchase a small flashlight to confirm it was indeed the bottle. To him it actually looked like the green bottle, but it was white around the edges leaving him to believe someone, somehow, might have actually shoved a calamine lotion bottle in there. He made his way back home to makeshift a device to reach down into the tube, however when he arrived back at the location, the device did not have enough length to actually grab a hold of the item to verify its contents. Too bad, because, it would have definitely helped around Christmas time, especially, with two children.
Having misplaced the cap to the pole, Alex left very distraught not knowing where to go next. Coupled with the fact that classes at Cuesta finished up, our search also came to a halt, therefore we also stopped making the trips to San Luis to look, feeling lost.
The clues were then put on pause while Cal Poly went on break, and we thought that we might have the upper hand, not having to travel to be with family. However, it was not until school was back in session, spurring the clues to start up again that we realized that the money had not been found and the subsequent clues did not rule out the location of the black pole. On Wednesday January 17th, when the 11th clue posted, we had a feeling that we had to recheck the black pole, getting a fresh set of eyes on it could never hurt.
When we first arrived at Carl’s Jr. there was a truck parked next to the black pole, and there was someone waiting inside. For fear that the new device still wouldn’t be able to grab the container, we waited for the truck to take off. Directly opposite the black pole there was another pole, and Alex told Marla to take a look and you will see what the cap would look like, however that pole was also missing a cap. We then checked the pole that initially had a container inside, to our surprise someone replaced the missing cap with the other cap, re-concealing the container in the pole. Alex was a little afraid someone was on the same trail, however, when we pealed the cap off, and shined the light inside, we could clearly see that indeed the green bottle was still lodged inside. Thankfully this time the device was long enough, and we were able to retrieve the container with the $1,000!!
The treasure hunt is a real deal, and we are excited to be a part of it. If there is anything we can do to help spread awareness to the Kristin Smart case please let us know, because above all, we believe in Justice for Kristin.
First of all, we want to start by acknowledging all of the Diguptheyard.com supporters–without you, we feel justice for Kristin would be lost, and the evil culprits would be allowed to breathe free. By continuing to keep Kristin’s case in the eyes of the public, we believe eventually we will one day overcome the corruption in our small community.
A little about us. Being central coast locals, we have grown up with this case since Kristin went missing back in 1996. Alex was 11 years old in the 6th grade when Kristin’s case began to hit the local news, and Marla was only 7. Over the years, more and more evidence has emerged only to be disregarded, discarded, or destroyed. It is very disheartening to grow up in any town, where justice can’t be served–even though all the evidence is there– let alone it be little ole’ Arroyo Grande. I hope these treasure hunts continue to bring awareness about the circumstances of this particular case, and hopefully enough enraged citizens will help to bring some closure to the Smart family. That is all we wish, and God willing, it will happen, sooner than later.
So on to how we unraveled the $1,000 mystery:
The 1st 5 clues were no help because we were searching on campus–We thought for sure because the last treasure hunt was found at the Vet’s Hall, this one was going to be found closer to Cal Poly, boy where we wrong. By the 6th clue, we were starting to get a different feeling, because our opinion the eateries on campus had no relevance to Kristin’s case.
The 7th clue confirmed it, the $ was not hidden on campus, but in fact hidden under or inside of something. Searching all over the Foothill and Santa Rosa, we figured those were the only two areas that had any fast food, so we searched and searched both the shopping center with Lassens/Milestone Tavern & California Fresh/SLO DO Co. We also searched in the areas behind Kona’s deli and by Jamba Juice to no avail. The 8th clue was the kicker, we knew the cash had to be hidden along the path of the fast food, either Carl’s or Taco Bell, but it was just a matter of looking and looking hard.
Alex was attending school at Cuesta College and was able to work in extra searches from time to time, on Monday December 11th he actually pealed off the cap to the black pole and heard the container with the cash slide down to the bottom. Eventually after concluding his search, he went to Rite-Aid to purchase a small flashlight to confirm it was indeed the bottle. To him it actually looked like the green bottle, but it was white around the edges leaving him to believe someone, somehow, might have actually shoved a calamine lotion bottle in there. He made his way back home to makeshift a device to reach down into the tube, however when he arrived back at the location, the device did not have enough length to actually grab a hold of the item to verify its contents. Too bad, because, it would have definitely helped around Christmas time, especially, with two children.
Having misplaced the cap to the pole, Alex left very distraught not knowing where to go next. Coupled with the fact that classes at Cuesta finished up, our search also came to a halt, therefore we also stopped making the trips to San Luis to look, feeling lost.
The clues were then put on pause while Cal Poly went on break, and we thought that we might have the upper hand, not having to travel to be with family. However, it was not until school was back in session, spurring the clues to start up again that we realized that the money had not been found and the subsequent clues did not rule out the location of the black pole. On Wednesday January 17th, when the 11th clue posted, we had a feeling that we had to recheck the black pole, getting a fresh set of eyes on it could never hurt.
When we first arrived at Carl’s Jr. there was a truck parked next to the black pole, and there was someone waiting inside. For fear that the new device still wouldn’t be able to grab the container, we waited for the truck to take off. Directly opposite the black pole there was another pole, and Alex told Marla to take a look and you will see what the cap would look like, however that pole was also missing a cap. We then checked the pole that initially had a container inside, to our surprise someone replaced the missing cap with the other cap, re-concealing the container in the pole. Alex was a little afraid someone was on the same trail, however, when we pealed the cap off, and shined the light inside, we could clearly see that indeed the green bottle was still lodged inside. Thankfully this time the device was long enough, and we were able to retrieve the container with the $1,000!!
The treasure hunt is a real deal, and we are excited to be a part of it. If there is anything we can do to help spread awareness to the Kristin Smart case please let us know, because above all, we believe in Justice for Kristin.
Thank you again for all of your contributions to the Kristin Smart case. Brooke and I both feel that the treasure hunt you put on was a brilliant idea because it helped shed more light on this case for many people.
As I mentioned, since moving to the area in January 2016, we have seen a few signs up for Kristin, but were unaware of the extent of the case. All that we really knew about the case when we first heard of "diguptheyard.com" a couple weeks ago, is that a girl had gone missing at Cal Poly in the 90s and authorities still had not found her body or heard from her. Between diguptheyard.com, kristinsmart.org, and the articles by the California Register, we feel much more informed on the events that took place, and have much better knowledge of some of the flaws in our justice system. Brooke and I will do our best to spread the word through social media and if there is anything further we can do to help (i.e. hanging flyers), please do not hesitate to ask.
I feel it is also important that you know a little background about Brooke and I. I met Brooke in July 2015 in Mammoth Lakes, CA. She was serving at a restaurant and enjoying the summer camping and back packing in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. I was working as a Squad Leader on a USFS Hotshot Crew (Wildland Firefighting Module, just like the movie Only the Brave that hits theaters this weekend) out of Bishop, CA. After falling in love, 6 months later, we both agreed that we wanted to move to San Luis Obispo County to continue our College educations. That winter we resigned from our jobs, moved to the Central Coast and attended school. Brooke is pursuing her Registered Nurse license at Cuesta College and hopes to begin the Nursing program next fall. I started Cal Poly's Forestry and Natural Resource BS program in Fall 2016. We spend the majority of our free time exploring the area with our yellow lab Lucky. Whether it is going to the beach to surf, hiking one of the many scenic trails, or enjoying a local farmers market, we always find ourselves saying how happy we are to be here.
So, how we found the $1000:
The first I heard of the treasure hunt was about 2 weeks ago. During one of my classes at Cal Poly, I overheard another student talking about the treasure hunt and the Kristin Smart case. Following that class I looked up diguptheyard.com and I instantly sent Brooke a link and told her "you have to check this out". That evening when I got home from school Brooke and I discussed how crazy the events of this case were and we went over some of the clues we knew at the time. I think this was after clue 13 which eliminated several of the grids from the satellite image of 'Grand and Perimeter'. So going through the clues, the main ones that stood out to us were: the money was "knee high or lower", within 1 mile of "Grand and Perimeter", hidden by a “natural barrier, you mentioned that a kid could find it and give it to you and that many people could walk by it and never know it was there, It was strongly tied to the Cal Poly experience, it could be near "parking lots, tennis courts, basketball courts, etc..." and it was related to a significant part of the investigation.
At this point I tried to think of the path Kristin, Paul, Cheryl and Tim could have walked home that night and I checked a few of the walking paths near the Cal Poly Rec Center that made sense to me as a logical path to walk home from a Frat party or house party. I also looked at google earth images and thought there was a possibility it was hidden near the tennis courts and basketball courts behind Mott Gym, but I didn't see a connection with that area and the investigation.
After Saturday's clue, with the clip of Paul Flores pleading the 5th 27 times, and clue #14 “...keep Grand Ave close at hand...”, we knew it was likely that the money was either off a sidewalk along Grand Ave, or on a walking trail near Grand. Because you emphasized that Paul Flores “used the 5th Ammendment 27 Times”, I thought that since 27x5=135, maybe the money was at 135 Grand Ave. So I used the google earth image to see where this took us.
There is a walking path behind the Montessori school that is frequently used by college students, so we thought it was possibly hidden somewhere along that trail. We went to look at this area on Tuesday Oct. 17th. It seemed promising, other than the fact that when we got to the school we realized the actual address was 165 Grand Ave. It was late in the day and starting to get dark, so after coming up empty handed, we talked about the last clue and decided to wait and see your next post on Wednesday Oct. 18th. That evening, Brooke asked where the deposition took place. We searched on youtube for the full deposition video and noticed the Smart family attorney, Mr. Murphy, stated they were located at "the Vet's hall on Grand Ave in San Luis Obispo." We looked up the address and saw this was located at "801 Grand Ave", so we plugged in the address on Google Earth and saw it was down Grand Ave, but still within the 1 mile radius of "Grand and Perimeter".
Yesterday (Oct. 18th) your clue stated that the money was at ground level, along Grand Ave, and that the clue about the deposition would lead us right to it. From this, we realized that it must be slightly covered with dirt or rocks, and that it was potentially lodged in the roots of a tree or bush. I called Brooke yesterday afternoon and we both agreed that we should search at the Vet's Memorial Hall after I got out of class around 6 PM, so, Brooke picked me up after school and we drove straight there to look for the treasure. Brooke parked directly in front of the trees that lined the sidewalk on Mill Street, because we could tell that they had large roots with knots. Our dog Lucky jumped out of the car, and as I was getting him on a leash, Brooke saw a flathead screwdriver near a hole at the base of one of the trees. She poke around in the first hole in the ground and didn't feel anything. There was another hole around the back of the tree that she prodded the screwdriver into and she instantly said "There it is! I found it!" She proceeded to dig out the small purple bottle with the screwdriver and with her hands.
So there it is! This is how we found the treasure.
Have a great day Dennis, and again, please feel free to contact us if there is anyway we can help.
Sincerely,
Reuben Brand and Brooke Glassco
As I mentioned, since moving to the area in January 2016, we have seen a few signs up for Kristin, but were unaware of the extent of the case. All that we really knew about the case when we first heard of "diguptheyard.com" a couple weeks ago, is that a girl had gone missing at Cal Poly in the 90s and authorities still had not found her body or heard from her. Between diguptheyard.com, kristinsmart.org, and the articles by the California Register, we feel much more informed on the events that took place, and have much better knowledge of some of the flaws in our justice system. Brooke and I will do our best to spread the word through social media and if there is anything further we can do to help (i.e. hanging flyers), please do not hesitate to ask.
I feel it is also important that you know a little background about Brooke and I. I met Brooke in July 2015 in Mammoth Lakes, CA. She was serving at a restaurant and enjoying the summer camping and back packing in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. I was working as a Squad Leader on a USFS Hotshot Crew (Wildland Firefighting Module, just like the movie Only the Brave that hits theaters this weekend) out of Bishop, CA. After falling in love, 6 months later, we both agreed that we wanted to move to San Luis Obispo County to continue our College educations. That winter we resigned from our jobs, moved to the Central Coast and attended school. Brooke is pursuing her Registered Nurse license at Cuesta College and hopes to begin the Nursing program next fall. I started Cal Poly's Forestry and Natural Resource BS program in Fall 2016. We spend the majority of our free time exploring the area with our yellow lab Lucky. Whether it is going to the beach to surf, hiking one of the many scenic trails, or enjoying a local farmers market, we always find ourselves saying how happy we are to be here.
So, how we found the $1000:
The first I heard of the treasure hunt was about 2 weeks ago. During one of my classes at Cal Poly, I overheard another student talking about the treasure hunt and the Kristin Smart case. Following that class I looked up diguptheyard.com and I instantly sent Brooke a link and told her "you have to check this out". That evening when I got home from school Brooke and I discussed how crazy the events of this case were and we went over some of the clues we knew at the time. I think this was after clue 13 which eliminated several of the grids from the satellite image of 'Grand and Perimeter'. So going through the clues, the main ones that stood out to us were: the money was "knee high or lower", within 1 mile of "Grand and Perimeter", hidden by a “natural barrier, you mentioned that a kid could find it and give it to you and that many people could walk by it and never know it was there, It was strongly tied to the Cal Poly experience, it could be near "parking lots, tennis courts, basketball courts, etc..." and it was related to a significant part of the investigation.
At this point I tried to think of the path Kristin, Paul, Cheryl and Tim could have walked home that night and I checked a few of the walking paths near the Cal Poly Rec Center that made sense to me as a logical path to walk home from a Frat party or house party. I also looked at google earth images and thought there was a possibility it was hidden near the tennis courts and basketball courts behind Mott Gym, but I didn't see a connection with that area and the investigation.
After Saturday's clue, with the clip of Paul Flores pleading the 5th 27 times, and clue #14 “...keep Grand Ave close at hand...”, we knew it was likely that the money was either off a sidewalk along Grand Ave, or on a walking trail near Grand. Because you emphasized that Paul Flores “used the 5th Ammendment 27 Times”, I thought that since 27x5=135, maybe the money was at 135 Grand Ave. So I used the google earth image to see where this took us.
There is a walking path behind the Montessori school that is frequently used by college students, so we thought it was possibly hidden somewhere along that trail. We went to look at this area on Tuesday Oct. 17th. It seemed promising, other than the fact that when we got to the school we realized the actual address was 165 Grand Ave. It was late in the day and starting to get dark, so after coming up empty handed, we talked about the last clue and decided to wait and see your next post on Wednesday Oct. 18th. That evening, Brooke asked where the deposition took place. We searched on youtube for the full deposition video and noticed the Smart family attorney, Mr. Murphy, stated they were located at "the Vet's hall on Grand Ave in San Luis Obispo." We looked up the address and saw this was located at "801 Grand Ave", so we plugged in the address on Google Earth and saw it was down Grand Ave, but still within the 1 mile radius of "Grand and Perimeter".
Yesterday (Oct. 18th) your clue stated that the money was at ground level, along Grand Ave, and that the clue about the deposition would lead us right to it. From this, we realized that it must be slightly covered with dirt or rocks, and that it was potentially lodged in the roots of a tree or bush. I called Brooke yesterday afternoon and we both agreed that we should search at the Vet's Memorial Hall after I got out of class around 6 PM, so, Brooke picked me up after school and we drove straight there to look for the treasure. Brooke parked directly in front of the trees that lined the sidewalk on Mill Street, because we could tell that they had large roots with knots. Our dog Lucky jumped out of the car, and as I was getting him on a leash, Brooke saw a flathead screwdriver near a hole at the base of one of the trees. She poke around in the first hole in the ground and didn't feel anything. There was another hole around the back of the tree that she prodded the screwdriver into and she instantly said "There it is! I found it!" She proceeded to dig out the small purple bottle with the screwdriver and with her hands.
So there it is! This is how we found the treasure.
Have a great day Dennis, and again, please feel free to contact us if there is anyway we can help.
Sincerely,
Reuben Brand and Brooke Glassco