2 teens dismembered 'friend,' set him on fire 1
Woman kills newborn during prison visit 2
Pedophile politician's $150,000 bribery scheme 3
By Steve Huff in missing persons
Friday, Oct. 17 2008 @ 8:20PM


About a minute of raw video from the Las Vegas Police press conference held Friday afternoon.

In this post, published earlier today, I gave credit to a commenter who uses the nickname "joe." After the Las Vegas Review-Journal published an article this morning connecting Cole Puffinburger's drug-running maternal grandfather to millions of dollars stolen from a drug cartel, it became clear that this particular commenter had inside knowledge. "Joe" had posted about the very same revelations more than 24 hours before they made it into the Las Vegas paper.

Joe has written in again, leaving a comment on that same blog post. In his/her comment, Joe tells us in more detail about what's transpired in the Tinnemeyer/Puffinburger family over the last year or more. Joe's narrative adds to the portion of the news conference captured above.

Joe acknowledged posting information in advance of the mainstream news and wrote that "the reason that I know this is that I am a close personal friend of the family but wish to remain anonymous." Joe continued, "I am only posting in hopes that this may help people know what they are looking for and so people don't assume that the parents were involved and not look for what they should."

Then Joe launched into the meat of the story. "The grandfather who goes by the name Clem (police have just today issued a APB for him for questioning and yes you are right about him and the info you have posted Steve) was a drug runner for the Mexican drug cartels, mafia whatever they are one in the same. He found out where they kept their money hidden and stole millions of dollars as well as millions in drugs from the cartel and disappeared."

So far, it sounds a little like the plot of Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men. But Clemens F. Tinnemeyer Jr. wasn't involved with some fictional latino drug mob (and, it should be said, no Anton Chigurh has appeared on the scene yet either, thank God). More from Joe: "The mother, her boyfriend or father of this boy never had any connection to this illegal activity whatsoever and were unaware of his involvement until a couple of months ago." Here Joe posed a compelling question: "Think about this logically if they had anything to do with this activity or the stolen money and drugs do you think they would have stayed here?"

Then Joe set about clearing up some misinformation -- "Another point I would like to make is that it is being falsely reported out there that the grandfather was the 'owner' of the drug cartel, totally false. Now think about this very clearly people, Do you think the 'owner' of a drug cartel would not have his entire family completely protected 24 hours a day but an army of guards?"

The money men who could afford to "run" an international drug-dealing operation often live in circumstances where they could fight off a small army if needed. This clearly wasn't the case with Cole Puffinburger's family. Clemens Tinnemeyer's name was easily found in property tax records, as was other personal information.

Clemens Tinnemeyer, Joe pointed out, "is only a drug runner who thought he was slick enough to get away from people that no one really get away from."

Joe addressed the issue of ransom. "This is and this isn't a ransom case, yes they want money but not because the grandfather or parents are rich but because the grandfather took that which was not his for the taking. The boyfriend of the boy's mother is not mexican or a drug dealer nor is his father or mother."

Julie Puffinburger had heard from someone connected to Clem Tinnemeyer's deadly pursuers before. Someone had come to the Puffinburger residence "a couple of months back," according to Joe, "and told her about the situation [...] that her father stole from them and they just wanted to locate him and get back what belonged to them." Julie and her boyfriend "were very scared," Joe wrote, "but did agree to help see if she could get a hold of her father since she had no knowledge of this and wanted nothing to do with it." And ironically, Julie didn't "want any harm to come to her or her son." Julie Puffinburger tried to find Clemens Tinnemeyer, but she had no luck. Her father had "dropped off the face of the earth." All anyone knew about Tinnemeyer at that point was that "he was last seen in Tennesee but that was the last lead they had."

Later in his/her long post (seemingly written in haste), Joe wrote this interesting passage, "The police were informed of this situation from the beginning(,) but there was little they could do as they were also looking for the grandfather as well [...] and there was really only an implied threat made(,) and these men did really seem to just want to find her father and not to harm her."

Next, Joe wanted to clarify how the men entered the residence on Wednesday morning. Joe's depiction of Cole's abduction was harrowing: "The mother did not let these men in her house, she was getting ready to take her child to school heard a knock on the door [...] asked who was there [and] when they said police she thought with all that had going on lately that it probably was them there to talk to her about her father, and she mistakenly opened the door. This is when these men forced their way in, searched the house for the money and when they didn't find it ripped the child out of the mother's boyfriend's arms (he was crying and screaming hysterically,poor baby), tied them up and left with the boy."

Joe then defended Cole's mother: "A lot of people are saying the mom keeps changing her story, she does not the media and the cops are the ones either misreporting or reporting bits and pieces at a time I know the police were aware of all of this from minute one but they may have been waiting for confirmation of the facts before releasing them and that is why it seems the story keeps changing. Remember the story is only changing in the media not in reality the mother, father and boyfriend have always given the same story, but the public is only hearing trickles of information until I believe they confirm it. This is a very sad scary and true situation."

Finally, the commenter addressed the doubts first expressed here and elsewhere about the story of Cole's abduction: "I hope I have clarified this situation for all of you and you all understand how important it is to not judge or jump to conclusions. I have to admit in past cases I have jumped to conclusions but now seeing this from a totally different perspective it makes me rethink other cases and wonder if it only seemed the way it did because the media either got it wrong or only reported half truths and bit of information."

Near the end of the commentary, Joe wrote the following. It probably speaks to many who come to this post in an effort to try and find out more about this little boy's inexplicable and terrifying kidnapping: "We all have a child or children in our lives we love that we would be devastated if something like this happened to so please when you look at Cole's sweet face remember that. Remember that he could be your son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, niece or nephew or just a dear friend's child but just see that child you know and love in his smile and think about what you would do to bring them home and do that, help in anyway you can. Please!!!"