Joshua Guimond (born June 18, 1982) is an American man who disappeared on the night of November 9 and 10, 2002, after leaving a party hosted in a dormitory of Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He was a 20-year-old junior student at Saint John's, who was partying with friends in the campus' Metten Court dormitory building. He left the party around 11:45 p.m. on the 9th without saying anything. When he did not return, the students at the party assumed that he had gone to sleep elsewhere. The walk to his dormitory, St. Maur, would have taken about three minutes. He was last seen around 12:15 to 12:30 a.m. on the 10th, on a bridge near Stumpf Lake, which is located in between the two buildings.
The disappearance's possible connection to others in the area led to media attention. Investigators from the Stearns County Sheriff's Office discovered Guimond's scent by the lake using a bloodhound, and theorized he had fallen or was pushed into the lake during his walk. In the decades since, divers have searched Stumpf and other nearby bodies of water, and have not found Guimond's body. Based on conversations found on his computer, investigators now theorize he was kidnapped or picked up via a car on the bridge.
Background
Joshua Guimond was born on June 18, 1982. His parents are Brian Guimond and Lisa Cheney. When he was four, he moved from Redwood Falls, Minnesota to Maple Lake, where he grew up. He was a valedictorian and class president of the Maple Lake High School class of 2000. Afterwards, he was a student at Saint John's University, a Catholic school in Collegeville. Saint John's is notably surrounded by 2,500 acres of woods and lakes. Guimond was an honor student who was majoring in political science, and had planned to be a lawyer or a politician. He debated in the school's Pre-Law Society, and played the baritone in their Wind Ensemble.
Leading up to November 2002, in the area around the Saint John's campus, male college students had been the subject of attacks (including attempted abductions) and stalkings. At the time, Guimond was a 20-year-old junior, and was living in a room in the St. Maur dormitory building. He was around six feet tall, weighed 176 pounds, and had blonde hair and blue eyes. On one of his shoulders, he had a four-inch vertical scar.
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Disappearance
On the night of November 9, 2002, Guimond was writing a paper in his room at St. Maur. At 11:06 p.m., he left and walked north with his friends to go to a party in an apartment of the Metten Court dormitory building. He did not have his wallet, glasses, and other important items with him, but one of the friends said nothing seemed wrong with him.
At the apartment, he played poker with eight to ten other students. He had between seven and twelve beers, but did not seem to get intoxicated. The other students at the party said he got up and left the apartment around 11:45 p.m., without saying anything. However, he had implied beforehand that he had somewhere else to be. Different sources say his friends assumed he walked south back to St. Maur, or went down the hall to use the bathroom. Many at the party did not realize he left. When he did not return, they assumed he went to sleep. He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a gray Saint John's sweatshirt, which was not appropriate clothing for spending a long amount of time in the snow.
