Mark Rhineberger 39, Last Seen 2/15/12 in Liberty County, Texas

[MuffyBee]

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Man-s-disappearance-leaves-another-Liberty-County-3445886.php
Man's disappearance leaves another Liberty County mystery
By Lomi Kriel
March 29, 2012

ROMAYOR - The day before his truck crashed into a dilapidated house in rural Liberty County and Mark Rhineburger disappeared into these thick piney woods, the welder told his brother that someone was trying to steal his work truck.

Then he canceled a Valentine's Day dinner with his former fiancée. He told her someone had tried to break into his trailer. He would call her later.

At about 5 a.m. Feb. 15, his 39th birthday, Rhineburger walked into a Crosby gas station near his home and said he was being followed. An hour later he pulled up to a Cleveland gas station, saying he had no money, was out of gas and being "chased." Around 7 a.m., sheriff's deputies say his white Chevrolet hurtled into a house near the Trinity River Bridge off FM 787. The property owners rushed to check on the driver. There wasn't one. The keys were still in the ignition.

The search for answers into Rhineburger's mysterious disappearance has involved a tense standoff with a local family, allegations that the Texas Militia is involved and a call to federal agents about explosives. Fliers about Rhineburger posted throughout the town suddenly vanished last weekend, and many residents here said they are afraid to talk.
 ::snipping2::
He is the third man to disappear under suspicious circumstances near the same area in as many months. Dennis Rogers, 54, was last heard from March 8 after telling relatives he was lost in the woods. Tipsters claimed he was a victim of foul play. In early January, the Jeep Cherokee belonging to Edwin Clark Rogers, 62, of Tarkington was found abandoned on Highway 321. His phone and medication were left inside.

Liberty County sheriff's spokesman Capt. Rex Evans said they are investigating the cases but haven't found anything to indicate they're connected.

Nevertheless, it has fueled paranoia in this remote area about 90 minutes northeast of Houston, in many parts impenetrable by thick forest.
More...
Photos and Map at Link

[MuffyBee]

Article is a week old, but has information.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/Standoff-leads-to-evidence-in-man-s-disappearance/-/1735978/9683782/-/asl778z/-/index.html
Standoff leads to evidence in man's disappearance
Mark Rhineburger hasn't been seen since Feb. 15
March 22, 2012

ROMAYOR, Texas -

Detectives said a standoff led them to a promising lead in a man's disappearance.

Liberty County sheriff's deputies said they went to a trailer in Romayor, Texas, on Wednesday to question a man about the disappearance of Mark Rhineburger.

Rhineburger, 39, of Crosby, was last seen in Cleveland, Texas, on Feb. 16. His pickup truck was found abandoned near the trailer deputies went to on Wednesday.
nvestigators said that when they got to the trailer, three people refused to come out. It took deputies about two hours to talk them into surrendering.

"We told them we could shut off the power, use tear gas, that the situation was only going to deteriorate," Capt. Rex Evans said.

One man, Joseph Brunson, was arrested on an outstanding warrant.

Deputies said they questioned the man they went to the trailer to speak to, and that man led them to important evidence in Rhineberger's disappearance. Investigators said they recovered Rhineburger's cellular phone and some of his clothing near the trailer.

"Detectives are still out in the field trying to locate more items, and hopefully learn the whereabouts of Mr. Rhineberger," Evans said.
More...
Video at Link

[BabsKats]

Article is a week old, but has information.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/Standoff-leads-to-evidence-in-man-s-disappearance/-/1735978/9683782/-/asl778z/-/index.html
Standoff leads to evidence in man's disappearance
Mark Rhineburger hasn't been seen since Feb. 15
March 22, 2012

ROMAYOR, Texas -

Detectives said a standoff led them to a promising lead in a man's disappearance.

Liberty County sheriff's deputies said they went to a trailer in Romayor, Texas, on Wednesday to question a man about the disappearance of Mark Rhineburger.

Rhineburger, 39, of Crosby, was last seen in Cleveland, Texas, on Feb. 16. His pickup truck was found abandoned near the trailer deputies went to on Wednesday.
nvestigators said that when they got to the trailer, three people refused to come out. It took deputies about two hours to talk them into surrendering.

"We told them we could shut off the power, use tear gas, that the situation was only going to deteriorate," Capt. Rex Evans said.

One man, Joseph Brunson, was arrested on an outstanding warrant.

Deputies said they questioned the man they went to the trailer to speak to, and that man led them to important evidence in Rhineberger's disappearance. Investigators said they recovered Rhineburger's cellular phone and some of his clothing near the trailer.

"Detectives are still out in the field trying to locate more items, and hopefully learn the whereabouts of Mr. Rhineberger," Evans said.
More...
Video at Link

Sounds like there is alot going on down there, these three men and now the little 2 year old Devin Davis missing in the same county?

[MuffyBee]

BabsKats, at the very end of the article's I posted, there was something that made me wonder if this could be a common thread.  Maybe Brunson did have  some connection to the Texas Militia, but I wonder about someone like Dennis Rogers.  Maybe someone affiliated with them found him.  I just don't know.  It's scary to think about. 

http://www.click2houston.com/news/Standoff-leads-to-evidence-in-man-s-disappearance/-/1735978/9683782/-/asl778z/-/index.html

Investigators said neo-Nazi and separatist emblems found around the trailer lead them to believe that Brunson and the others may be connected to the Texas Militia. A man who lives next door to the trailer, Kevin Boney, 34, is affiliated with the Texas Militia. Boney was charged with aggravated assault on Valentine's Day after he held deputies at bay with a high-powered rifle and body armor for more than an hour, detectives said.

[MuffyBee]

Still missing.

http://www.lrcf.net/missing/1763/1763.html

[melisb]

Not trying to be funny but the cases in this county and the surrounding areas remind me of scenes straight out of the movie "DELIVERANCE"!
Was wondering if this area is also plagued by the meth business too?  I just get the feeling there is a little group thugs tweaked out on meth, terrorizing those they know they can intimidate or maybe these men that are missing were also dabbling in that evil drug?  You know how paranoid and delusional this drug can make folks and almost all the real gone tweakers think they are being followed and just take off into the woods or just hide in strange places or areas and some end up in real medical/psychological breaks?!
I dunno but it's just plain weird and I hope they are okay!

[MuffyBee]

http://www.khou.com/news/crime/Human-remains-found-in-Liberty-County--202734061.html
‘Human remains’ found in Liberty County
April 12, 2013

HOUSTON—An investigation is underway after two men came across “human remains” along a pipeline right of way in northwest Liberty County, deputies said.
Two men, who were riding four wheelers, discovered the remains at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday and called investigators.
The pipeline right of way is located approximately 200 yards off CR 332 about a half mile East of Highway 59.
Investigators said they recovered a human skull and partial vertebra of an unknown victim on Thursday night.  There are no indications as to the sex, age or race of the skeletal remains.

Investigators said the remains are not fresh and have been in the area for a while.
 ::snipping2::
This is a very populated area for animals as well, so at this point and time, some of the things we’re finding, we’re not sure if it’s human or animal,” said Cpt. Ken DeFoor.
Liberty County investigators said they are checking records of missing persons to see if there are any matching characteristics from prior cases.
In 2008, 19-year-old Rodney Stockley vanished on Plum Grove Road,  just a mile and half away from where the remains were discovered.
DeFoor said the area where the remains were found was not searched when Stockley was reported missing.
“The chances are always there. We are searching our own records to see if there are any characteristics, or time frame that would match up,” he said.
Just last year in a period of three months three men disappeared in Liberty County.  Edwin Rogers, Mark Rhineburger and Dennis Rogers all were reported missing over a 10-week span and within a 20-mile radius of each other.
 ::snipping2::
Video at Link

[MuffyBee]

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Human-remains-discovered-near-Cleveland-4430543.php
Human remains discovered near Cleveland
April 12, 2013


Investigators hope DNA tests or dental records will reveal the identity of human remains discovered by two men riding four-wheelers along a pipeline easement in a remote wooded area about a half mile east of U.S. 59 near Cleveland.

By late Friday, searchers had recovered a human skull and portion of a vertebrae. Both appeared hardened and bleached by the weather, as if they had been there for a while, said Liberty County Sheriff's Capt. Ken DeFoor.

Fourteen law enforcement officers combed the 4-acre area east of U.S. 59 and an area of County Road 332 (Gladstell Road) on Friday in hopes of finding more human skeletal remains after the initial discovery the night before. No clothing or other artifacts have been collected that might be associated with the bones.

"We've found a multitude of other bones that probably are from animals, including the full skeleton of a horse with the bridle still on it," said DeFoor. "We're tagging all of them and marking the GPS location before sending it to lab for examination to check whether they are human remains."

Texas EquuSearch will have 25 or 30 volunteers expanding the search area Saturday by foot, horseback and four-wheel vehicles.

"There's nothing obviously wrong with the bones. No hatchet mark or bullet hole, so we can't tell the cause of death or whether there was foul play," he said.
 ::snipping2::
Meanwhile, DeFoor said the sheriff's department is reviewing records to see if these bones might match any of the unsolved missing person cases in Liberty County.

Larry Baker, 54, of Cleveland, who had a medical condition, vanished during cold weather within about two miles of this site on Jan. 29, 2010. He was never found.

Likewise, a few miles further away, three other men disappeared in the forbidding woods and bogs of north Liberty County last year and have not been seen since. These unsolved cases include:

1 Edwin Rogers, reported missing Jan. 6, 2012

1 Mark Rhineburger, reported missing Feb. 15, 2012

1 Dennis Rogers, reported missing March 8, 2012.

"This could be an entirely new person that we didn't know was missing," DeFoor said.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/cleveland/news/human-remains-found-in-north-liberty-county/article_903b1e48-a328-11e2-8590-001a4bcf887a.html
Human remains found in north Liberty County
April 11, 2013

Human remains have been found along a pipeline right-of-way off of Gladstell Road (CR 332) between US 59 and FM 1010 south of Cleveland.
 ::snipping2::
Defoor, who is the local coordinator for Texas EquuSearch, is well-trained in searching for the lost and missing. Though he couldn't speculate about the identity of the person whose remains were found, he said that it was just two years ago when EquuSearch volunteers worked that same area while looking for an elderly man who wandered away from his home. The man was never located.
In recent years, four other men have gone missing in north Liberty County, including Rodney Stokely, who was 19 in 2008 when he disappeared while walking along Plum Grove Road; 39-year-old Mark Rhineburger, who was reported missing on Feb. 15, 2012; 54-year-old Dennis Rogers, who was reported missing on March 8, 2012; and 62-year-old Edwin Clark Rodgers, who has been missing since Jan. 6, 2012.
All four of those cases remain unsolved.

[MuffyBee]

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9064011
Equusearch volunteers find more human remains in NW Liberty County
April 13, 2013

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Texas Equusearch volunteers on Saturday found more human remains at the northwest Liberty County site where some had been discovered a few days earlier.
The search group took 40 volunteers, six ATVs and seven horses to scour the area off County Road 332 near Highway 59, said Ken Defoor with Texas Equusearch. During the search, volunteers found bone fragments of a person, along with other remains.

On Thursday, a human skull and smaller remains were discovered by two men out riding four-wheelers in the area.

The Liberty County Sheriff's Office collected that evidence and is working to identify the victim.

Detectives believe the bones are from just one person, and they have been in the location for quite some time.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/cleveland/news/equusearch-volunteers-look-for-more-human-remains/article_d6d41fba-fbb6-54dc-9524-65b41e2bc811.html
EquuSearch volunteers look for more human remains
April 13, 2013

Close to 40 volunteers for Texas EquuSearch scoured a brushy and wooded area off of CR 332 (Gladstell Road) south of Cleveland on Saturday, April 13, to look for additional human remains after a skull and portions of vertebrae were found Thursday evening.
The search is coordinated by the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office. On Friday, deputies spent several hours going over the grounds where the skull and vertebrae were spotted by two citizens riding four-wheelers on the Kinder-Morgan pipeline right-of-way.
LCSO Captain Ken Defoor, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said Friday evening that the deputies had found other bones, but it has not been determined if they are human. Some of the bones, he said, had “mummified flesh” attached, giving investigators hope that, if the bones do turn out to be human, identifying the remains will be much simpler.
Defoor said searchers are hoping to find some clothing items in the area that they can compare to other pieces of evidence in several missing person cases. In the last five years alone, five men went missing and were never found.
 ::snipping2::
Currently there is still no way to determine age, sex or race as the evidence first must be analyzed.
“At this time there is no reason to believe there are more than the remains of one person,” said Defoor.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/More-human-remains-found-in-Liberty-County-4433684.php
More human remains found in Liberty County
By Ryan Rockett | April 14, 2013

Additional unidentified skeletal remains were found near a highway in the Cleveland-area Saturday during a search effort by volunteers and the Liberty County Sheriff's Office.

The remains were found on County Road 332, about half a mile east of Highway 59. Liberty County police began the search after receiving a call from residents who found a human skull and vertebrae in the area Thursday evening. The sheriff's office requested Texas Equusearch's help in a search Saturday morning.

The search team of about 40 volunteers and mounted officers recovered several bones at the site. Equusearch coordinator Jack Boggess said around five bones were found, including pieces resembling a human rib and vertebrae segment.

Liberty County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Ken DeFoor said that after having retrieved around 40 pieces of evidence surrounding the remains, no additional searches are planned in the forested area.

"We feel we have gathered all the physical evidence available," DeFoor said.
 ::snipping2::