Episode 182: Cornelis "Casey" Bokslag (Part 1 of 2)

0:13 Hello, and welcome to the Cash My Killer Podcast. Thank you for listening. My name is Mark. For nearly eight years, I've written a weekly newspaper column about true crimes and missing people for the Claremont Sun newspaper in Ohio. With the column at podcast, it has always been my objective to bring attention to cases that have not received much media attention if any. This week's story involves a twenty nine year old Utah man named Cornelius Boxlog. For this story, I will refer to Cornelius as Casey, his preferred nickname. Casey was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to America as a child. He served four years in the U. States Marine Corps. He transitioned back to civilian life after serving four years in the service. On June sixth, two twenty two. He would last be seen withdrawing money from an ATM machine. No one has seen Casey since leaving the ATM machine. This is the first part of a two part story. Be sure to listen to the conclusion next week.

1:34 Cornelius Boxlog twenty nine was born in the city of Tilburg in the Netherlands and immigrated to America in two thousand and one with his family. Casey's parents are Robert and Ells shuts Boxlog. Casey was also the oldest of three children. The family would eventually settle in Sandy, Utah, after moving there in two thousand and seven. For this story, I will refer to Cornelius as Casey, which was his nickname. Casey would adapt to American culture in the English language after arriving in the country. On June sixth, twenty twenty two, he was last seen at a Wells Fargo atm Machine in Salt Lake City, Utah. Casey enjoyed being outdoors and was a frequent skier. His father, Robert, said that Casey was a very active young man. He also said that his son was adventurous and that's why he decided to find adventure by joining the United States Marine Corps. After leaving the Marines with an honorable discharge, Casey secured a job as a ranger working at the watershed for Salt Lake City Public Utilities. It was the agency in charge of providing drinking water.

2:53 Robert last saw his son on Saturday, June fourth, two twenty two. Everything seemed normal. He had visited his parents and had dinner with him Robert said there was nothing unusual about Casey's visit. His behavior didn't arouse any suspicion or concerns. Casey had told his parents that he had work prolated virtual training for the upcoming Monday and Tuesday. Robert said that his son was miffed about it because he had to take the tests on his days off. On June fifth, Robert said that Casey was playing an online game with one of his younger brothers. He told his brother he had to go because his rice was done. Casey had also bought a gun that same day. His father didn't seem concerned about the gun purchase because Casey enjoyed shooting. Besides, he was a Marine Corps veteran trained in firing weapons. According to Robert, Casey was captured on a security camera before noon on Monday, June to sixth. He had left his apartment alone in South Salt Lake. He had his backpack on and was likely headed to his job for his online training scheduled for noon.

4:00 He was last seen with drawing one hundred dollars from a Wells Fargo atm Machine in Salt Lake City, which was near his job, but he never made it to work. After leaving the ATM machine, he has never been seen again. Robert says that law enforcement checked Casey's cell phone records and according to phone records, his phone was last active in the area of the ATM machine On June eighth. Casey's boss became concerned when he didn't show up for work. His boss contacted Robert to share his concerns. It definitely wasn't like Casey to not show up for work. He was reliable and always showed up.

4:41 Robert has said he had not seen his son and he did not know where he was. Casey's vehicle would later be found abandoned off I eighty by the Castle Rock exit near the Wyoming border in Summit County, Utah. Casey's E six eight FE license plate was missing. After launching a massive search, law enforcement found no trace of Casey. He's been missing for just over a year. His family is desperately trying to find him. And now on with the story of Cornelius Boxlock is told by his father, Robert Boxlock my soundly by now. He's thirty years old, so thirty years ago. He was born in the city of Tilburg in the Netherlands, and he grew up without any issues out just his regular school days, and we moved to the whole family to the United States. Okay, he has two British younger and so the kids were still young, and he thought, okay, if we go make the big leap, let's do it now the kids are still small and that easily. Okay, let me interrupt you real quick. I need to know how do I pronounce his name? Is it cornelis box lag or did I just totally butcher his name a little? But there's no no good way to say it in English? How does your family pronounce his name in Dutch?

6:13 It's Cornelis say Dick Bulach and his nickname is Casey? Is that correct? We nicknamed him Casey when we moved to the US. His nickname in the Midlands was case which is spelled k e s, which is a very common Dutch name. Both my grandfathers were old Corneliss, so he thold. His son and my grandfather were was called Frederick. So yeah, it's an issue name. And how old was casing when your family left the Netherlands to move to the United States. I think humus a bit ate. Was the move a big change for him. Was he happy being in the United States or was he ever homesick? No, he had a good friend in Nedlands, like little kids have, you always have a best friend. But they kept in touch through the internet a little bit. But you know, so many new impressions and new things and the place in the US. We went to Albuquerque, and that was a big culture shock. It was for us and for the kids really different. You were coming from the straight Netherlands to more the Hispanic style of living in a different climate, different people. Everything were a little bit different. But the kids abducted their new country very quick.

7:45 At home, we stopped speaking Dutch for the first filf year, so the kids had to speak English and that goes amazingly fast. Little kids just pick it up like it's We moved quite a few times after Albuquerque. That didn't even last year was the chip factory I worked in closed, so I had a new position in Boise, Idaho, so we moved there, which was again totally different. That's where Casey was still in elementary school. Then we moved to Virginia, where we were way out in the sticks on the I don't know if you know the Skyline drive. It's a National Park. It starts in the north at a little town of Full of Royal and that's where we lived. So we lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a beautiful area, but it was a small town. It's only at the time fifteen thousand people, so it's a really small town out in the sticks of Virginia. Look Gigs, you liked it there. He went to elementary and later he went to middle school there. And then I got an opportunity to go more to the west because the West we liked Boise and that kind of living. So I had a chance to start a job here in Lehigh,

9:18 Utah, and so we moved to Sandy, which is a superb of Salt Lake City, and that's where he really grew up, did his high school. He wasn't a straight age student, but didn't have any problems in high school, had a couple of friends. But when he came out of high school, he really didn't know what he wanted to do. He didn't have a feeling that he wants to go to college like so many kids uncertain what to do, and he liked outdoor and adventure. So he came to my wife and I traveled all for work. At the time he came to my life, he says, I want to go to the military. Out of the blow. We never talked about it before. We were surprised, and then we talked about it. So why the Marine Corps? Why not the Navy or any of the other branches. You know, the story isn't totally clear. After he talked to my wife and then later he talked to me and he wanted to adventure in excitement. And I don't know if he came with it or I came with it. It's like if he got to the military eight for the biggest right. But later we found out he already knew the recruiter of the Marine Corps. He ain't Sandy, So I think we were blind syed about that one. But I think it was even before he graduated high school. He knew what he wanted and the recruiter back to recruiting office. Here he trained for physical training because he wasn't a sports guy,

10:52 but he was fit, so he did to training and all that, which helped him tremendously in bootcare. Because the physical part of the boot camp was not an issue. You can't prepare for the mental tricks they play on here, but especially the Marine Corps. Thirteen weeks so the Mangui. But then he trained and he liked a recruiter and they did games and stuff. And then when he graduated pretty much only a couple of weeks later, he went to Marine Corps. He went to boot camp, came back that his training for a warehouse clerk. He wanted another job in the Marine Corps, but he couldn't get it because he wasn't an American citizen yet. So a lot of jobs in the Marine Corps were blocked because of confidentiality and that kind of thing. And so he went to be a warehouse clerk and did his training for that. After his training, because he was best of the class, he got three weeks of leaf and after three weeks of leaf, he had chosen to go to Okinawa, Japan. So he got his wish, he got his adventure. He going to for har away Land. And because of his job, he never ever was assigned to any action scene. He never went to Iraq, he never went to Afghanistan was big at time. But he did the supply you know, engines for him VC. They came out

12:26 of the warehouse and there was one broke down and putlands what kind of city somewhere in Afghanistan. They had to get that alne flight the kind of thing. He was good at it. So he remained stateside during these major conflicts. Well he didn't be a stateside or Okinawa in this case, but he never went to a conflict zone. It sounds like he was fortunate. Then he did the trainings, the big exercises with the marine with the Navy. Hope about sailed to Thailand do an exercise there, that kind of thing. I think he went to Malaysia or something in that area that they did trainings.

13:11 So he had a couple of adventures. He did his helicopter survival They put you in a mock up helicopter that falls into water and rotate and you had to get out of it. And did his swim training. Of course every marine has two is shooting training, which he was pretty good, not excepting, but pretty good. But in the Marine Corps he really excelled in being a logical guy, a guy who's on task, guy who you can always rely on. And after his two years in Okinaba, he came back stateside. He did his last two years of his four year contract in I think it's called Pendleton no Le June June, Okay, June. Yeah, that's in North Carolina. After serving four years in the Marine Corps, Casey was asked to re enlist. He chose not to because the Marines would not guarantee the job that he wanted. In writing, Casey decided that he was ready to leave the military and rejoined the civilian world. But we'll take a short break and learn more about Casey's career goals. After he received his honorable discharge from the Marine Corps and he was looking he at one buddy from boot

14:45 camp and that buddy also went to Oknawa. He went to another American baseball Loknava. But still they were in cool text and once in a while they show each other and at the fact time to come back stick side and the same time they worked together. So that was the guy who he knew all the four years in the Marine Corps. So that was a good thing in the end for because what it is, it's the rank just under sergeant. That would be the rank of corporal. Yeah, corporal, yep, so he got corporal before he uh, he said, now four years is enough.

15:28 The Marine Corps offered him another four, and he said, I wasn't that in that job, because by then he was an American citizen. And he said, I won't do that job. And they said, oh, yeah, you can get it. And he said, okay, put it in writing. Oh we'll do that where you sign up for another four. No, you put it in writing first. He learned from other guys they didn't want to do that. He said, nah, never mind. I had fun, but I'm going back, go back home. So that's what he did, and his four years in the Marine Corps, he came back home and being the adventures type. Here in Utah, we have a little renter Sports and the ski area where we are self for skied it's called Felta.

16:14 And he got a joke at the ski area in Alpha to check his people have to write tickets for the lift, you know that adult people don't go in the kitch ticket and stuff like that. And how old was Casey when his enlistment ended? But then he was twenty two okay? And what year would that have been? Two thousand and fifteen thereabouts. And I read that after he left the Marine Corps he was able to get a job working for a lodge or something along those lines. Is that what he did.

16:55 It's a ski area. They got like a five lift and the watches, so he's attending the lift, and they're electronic gates that swing open if your pass is nearby. It's an idea thing. You just have to have it in the pocut of your ski jacket. And if you go to the gate, the gate opens. But the gate opens for every velt pass, but if it's an adult and has a pass for a kid, which is much cheaper, it will still open. But then they have iPads, and then on the iPad they can see what kind of pass, and if it's a season pass, they see photo of a person. So sometimes people try to go on the ticket off their twelve year old order. You've got the craziest things. I worked there myself too later years now. Did he enjoy that type of warmth? He enjoyed that. He always liked skiing, even as a kid, whisky when we live in Boise, and whiskied when we came to a salt lake. So he enjoyed the skiing. And in that ski area, the Alta ski area, you work fifty minutes fifty minutes off of course, you're in the elements. Right, you're standing on the snow, So if the winter is cool, you need fifty minutes to get warm.

18:18 But if it's a nice day, he just goes skiing for fifty minutes. So days were like that and he liked that. But ski areas are seasonal, so in the summer he needed to do something else. I believe he worked at another ski area that in the summer it's a resort and has all kinds of games for kids and stuff to you know, sort of be an old all around, a year round thing. I think he worked there one year. He didn't like that much. You little kids and stuff. That wasn't his big thing. So after another winter he went to work or the city of Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City has the department and it's called the water shed, and it takes care of the areas where we got our drinking water. And the funny thing is the ski areas are all on the Salt Lake City side are all part of that watershed. So in the winter he worked there as a ski bun and in the summer he worked there taking care of some plants that don't belong there. They mow him or they take care of that, so he was a groundskeeper. Then, yeah, it's a groundkeeper, but it's also a little policing because the canyons here, they're called cotton boot canyons. They are not accessible with dogs. Dogs aren't forbidden,

19:52 and that's all to keep the water quality. And of course you got people, I'll take my dog and go for the walk, and then they got to go. And when they see that, they got to go over. He didn't you see the sign. You got to keep your dog out of the canyon, walk back through your car, bring the dog down. He can't bring the dog. So he did a little bit of policing. And after a couple of years of doing that in the somewhere in the ski booming in the winter, he got a real position with the watershed. He became a they're called rangers. So he gave a ranger in the watershed and it comes with a jacket with a little star on it and your official.

20:41 Yeah, you're a city official pretty much. And they take care of the little dams that we have in the area. They're the smaller ones, the smaller reservorests there. They're not really big, but they take care of that. They take care of the maintenance. They also take care say a car gets off the road, they're goals because maybe the car's leaking oil or diesel or whatever flu it. And they got to protect the war and then they worked together with the police and whatever authorities. He liked a job a loot. He liked it a lot. I think he got one promotion that he applied for more lead senior ranger. It's a team lead. And according to his boss, he got a job. But just before that was officially announced, he disappeared. And then we're talking June six, two twenty two.

21:42 Now, before he disappeared, did he have any type of social life. Did he have a serious girlfriend, children, or anything along those lines. What can you tell me about his social life? So he never had much of a social life. Wasn't into food or any sports. At school, he always had a couple of good friends. He had no girlfriends, and at some point in time he had a boyfriend. So we discovered that he was gay. Which we grew up in the Midlands and the Midlands is a very free and open society, so for us, it's no as you at all. And when he came back from the Marine Corps, he had that boyfriend. He wasn't. That was a guy from here, from the city here, and he and the boyfriend actually lived in our house for a while.

22:37 So then it was a good relationship. No violence or anything like that, No violence at all. It was a good relationship to at some point, some relations I'd say, they grow apart and once things annoy you, they started knowing you more and more. And then at some point in case she said, well, my friend, this is not working. So they's played up. And the case he was a person. I think the social things he had hall was with people at work. He went with the guys and the go from work. They went to cemovie, they went outward, dinner, things like that. Case he came at least later because in twenty twenty I had my stroke and since the stroke, he at least once a week he came over and we hadn't dinner together and stuff like that. You know. And based on your description of Casey, he sounds like a really great son. Yeah he is. And that was the thing where his boss called me on June eight, because case he is always very reliable. If he says I'll be there at two, he is there at five minutes.

23:56 Suit he's looking to leave you wait until two thirty. He'll text her cool and say, hey, I got a flat or whatever happened. But normally you could totally rely on him and those sort. His boss was really worried because it was the first time he didn't show up. On June eighth, Casey's boss became concerned when he didn't show up for work. Casey was a responsible young man and would never not show up for work. Casey's boss would then contact Casey's father, Robert, to share his concerns. We will take a final break in return with Robert boxlogs thoughts on his son's disappearance. So this phone call would have occurred on j Days correct, two days after Casey officially disappeared. Yeah, at June night and during fourth Saturday, we had a dinner here at our house. He was there, my youngest film was there, and it was normal. He just complained a bit because Monday and Tuesday were his days off, and on Monday and Tuesday he had to do some online training page like, yeah, and I got to do a training

25:27 on my day off, and blah blah. But it was very cool and very normal. Afternoon, we said goodbye and my younger son talked to MM from the afternoon around four o'clock and they talked about the game on Steam. I think they used Steam to talk to each other on the headset in the computer. And but then the Monday, June sixth, he had to do it training. Well, his boss said later told me that he never showed up for the online training, so that was strange. The seventy to do another training online. He never did that training. So on the age when he was expected to be back at work, he didn't show up. I suppose called me, he said, you know where case he isn't at work.

26:18 I guess no, he didn't show up, so we went to his apartment and there was no answer at the door. We went to the office and they said, well, if you want to get into apartment, we Edward didn't have a key, so if you want to get into the apartment, it con't take a police So they helped us because we don't know anything in south Old Lake, it's another city, and they helped us contact police. Police came and they did the welfare check and they said he's not there and he said he has a little silver Suzuki Oka. Check if his car is there. So they went and searched on the parking lot and his car was also gone, and so he was registered as missing, and his car was the license plate and make and all were also registered with the Southold Lake Police. And by that time you're very sick and hofull. He said, we will investigate. In the evening, I got a phone call and they said we found the cars. Like, whoa, that's a good well.

27:36 They found the car on a dirt dirt parking lot next to the freeway in the direction of Evanston, Wyoming. So it's a state border to the east. It's about an hour and fifteen minutes from Salt Lake City. It's a sparsely populated area, I would say, But the parking l and where they found the car, it's all open to right and there's no forest there. It's all grass land because it's pretty high up and it's pretty dry, so that's all grass land, and certainly in the summer or in June, it's all dry. It's all yellow grass and then a couple of bushes, but nothing much there. So you can see the car from the freeway. It wasn't hidden at all. But one thing was very strange the largest plates were removed, and one thing that immediately took my attention the screws were put back in the car. It would be a thing that I would do, just not willing to lose his screws. He put them back. That's the way you do it. But it also says that whoever removed the license plate took their time. It wasn't rushed. It's something, yeah, I would say some someone did that fairly, calmly. Was no reason to believe that case

29:08 he would hurt himself. There were some suggestions of other people, well maybe money problems. Well no, he did. He had and he still has a very substantial amount of money in the bank account. And she was sizing up for buying his first house. And let me tell you, he had enough to do a substantial doubt and payment. So money wasn't of an issue in his personal life. We don't know, but we never found any reason to believe there was an issue there. People from his work all say, well, he seemed happy and great to work with and this none that so on a personal level, no indication whatsoever why he would leave. On the other hand, the police also found no indication whatsoever over crime. There were no blood in the car or any traces of struggling every belonging. That more scene on the video when he left his apartment, because there's video from June sixth that he leaves his apartment. I think it was eleven forty or thereabouts.

30:22 He has his backpack for work, although he didn't have to work that day. Something that looks like a lunch box or something like that. So officially case he was last seen on the sixth when a security camera picked him up taking one hundred dollars out of his bank account. Does that sound correct? So from the sixth, we have a couple of cameras. One camera is from his apartment building. Unfortunately, his apartment building had a lot of broken cameras, so for instance, the parting lot of camera that didn't work. But we have a friend of mine and my wife. They check down a store or a business. I think they got to drive aall or stuff, and they have a camera facing the street and you could see a car exactly like my son's car and with a person who is probably about six feet which is my son's hide, driving to the street at eleven fifty, So that totally makes sense. That is about ten minutes from his home. He's driving north towards his workplace, and a couple of minutes later he is on camera at a nearby well Fargo at m where he very normally calmly gets a hundred bucks in cash. And we even know what probable backstory is why he

31:52 needed cash because he was going to treat some of the temporary workers that the ship employees in the summer. He was going to treat them for Peter. So we know from a very short period from about twenty minutes. We have him on camera a couple of times, but never on his workplace. They have cameras on the parking lot and he never showed them. And we think he might have gone to his workplace because he couldn't connect to his training from home for whatever reason, and thought he, I'll go to the workplace and they grab one of the computers there and do the training there. It's a theory, it's not confirmed no one else. Another thing that he did on the Sunday before he disappeared is he bought a handgun. He talked to my youngest son who likes guns. They they go bang and they loud, and that's why he likes it. No other reason, just why do you like fireworks? While they go pay, and they talked about him buying a gun, and then it's stuff that they talked about. Funny enough, I didn't talk about that one Sunday when they talked on the steam and that was after the gun was purchased. The police knows when the gun was purchased. At what time, I'm not sure, but it's possibly even at videos from the

33:24 gun store. And because if you buy got here there is a background check, so his background check was done at a certain time and when it comes back to the gun store as okay, that's okay, you can take the gun home, So that's what he did. That gun is also missing, so we assume that gun was in his backpack when he left on Monday. After that, the car was found on money on a Wednesday evening. The police has been able to find a witness who believes that the car was parked there already on Monday. So between eleven forty leaving his suburbense and somewhere on Monday late afternoon or evening, the car was brought to that parking lot because she disappeared, and I'm assuming that there were no witnesses. So no one actually saw anyone driving Casey's car to that remote location. No, no, No one has been able to be tracked or whatever. No, police doesn't haven't been able to check anyone down. And what about a cell phone?

34:50 He did have a cell phone? Is that correct? Yep, you have a cell phone. But he didn't have much failures if to think inness him detect they make a phone call, he was good and a still smartphone. He was handy with looking things up on his phone and stuff. His phone was switched off for it at least the signal was lost again around that noontime on the sixth, and according to police, the last time the cell phone was in contact with the cell tower was around the area where the ATM was. And so the car was found way to the east, like I said, an hour and fifteen minute drive. There is no trace of any cell phone things to any towers in that area or on the way to it, because along that freeway there's cell phone towers almost everywhere. So yeah, the cell phone was either switched off, empty, broke or whatever happened. Where is his cell phone at now? That's with it. So his cell phone and pistol both went with him because neither of those items have ever been located.

36:12 That's correct, and his license plate is also missing. There's plate, his bullet with his bank cards and his credit card and on the website that there's a list of things. There's some really weird special things that you're unique. He had a key hangard that had two pictures of diolate father who would died in twenty twenty. We made a key hanger everyone who gave everyone one just as a remembrance, so that on his key chain he had one of those baracord doubles. I think there was also on his keys. And that concludes the first half of casey box logs story. Please listen to the conclusion next sweek. Have you seen this adventurous military veteran Casey has described as being six foot two, weighing one hundred and forty pounds. He has blonde hair and gray eyes and a goatee. He typically wears long green wrangler cargo pants, a T shirt, military boots, or sneakers in a cap. Anyone with information about Casey's whereabouts is asked to contact the South Salt Lake Police Department at eight zero one nine four zero six one seven nine, or contact Valley Emergency Communications Center at eight zero one eight four zero four zero zero zero and reference case number LK twenty twenty two DASH one eighty six nine three. Additionally,

37:50 the family has set up a website and Facebook page, both dedicated to finding Casey. The website is titled Casey Missing, in the Facebook page just titled Cornelius Casey voxlog Missing. There is also a fifty thousand dollars reward for anyone who can provide useful information leading to finding Casey. I will also provide all of this information in the case story It's and if you are a parent, law enforcement official, friend, or relative seeking justice for an unsolved Thomas side case, please visit my website and complete the contact form. You can also contact me through Facebook. Thank you for listening.