I cannot help but wonder if someone from campus found out what he was doing on yahoo personals and disagreed with his life choices. Being that it was a religious school, and in the early 2000s homosexuality was severely frowned upon. I can't help but wonder if it was similar to a Matthew shepherd story. What his mom said about if the monks had anything to do with it, they'd never know, really sat uneasy with me. I also thought it was strange that they didn't want the dog to search the abbey.
I have so many questions and also theorize if Josh did get threatened and was scared so he disappeared for fear of being brutally attacked.
I really hope the new attention to his case brings some new details to light.
I respect that we all come from different perspectives and that is what makes this investigation dynamic so let me share mine. It is not at all intended to be offensive.
First, I grew up catholic and St. Johns is absolutely a solid institution as far as academics go. In fact, I would have loved to have gone to such a school in college. But now I can hardly fathom going to a school with such history. First a boarding school, then the sex abuse accusations, then eventually a full blown scandal and yet still after all of that the football team makes the news far more often than anything else (Go Johnnies). I have known many people who have gone to St. Johns and didn't even know about Josh- which blows my mind. The lack of recognition of deep issues within St. Johns spreads so far and wide that parents still risk sending their kids to the prep school and college without so much as a word of caution and that is the scariest thing. Loyalty has made people blind but at what cost?
To your statement that students weren't allowed in the Abbey I will share a story. The pub on campus is named after a monk. He loved to drink- a lot- and worked on campus at night and would regularly get in trouble by the other monks for his drunken behavior. Hence, the night shift. Students would even get in trouble for giving him booze because he got so wasted. His poor judgement may have gotten him in trouble with other monks but the students, and public service members- as in Stearns County service members- loved him. He let people into the Abbey, and other "restricted" areas, many times. There is no real off limits at St. Johns. I mean that with sincerity.