Derrick James Engebretson

[Protect Your KiDs]

We have put a lot of time and dedication into searching for Derrick and will never give up doing so. We have done underwater searches for Derricks hatchet. We did land searches with Derricks parents to better learn the path he traveled. All coming up with nothing... Learning more and more from investigating we know are 99.9% sure Little Derrick Engebretson was abducted. The full story is on our forum for everyone to read.

This forum is terrific keep up the good work! :dance:

[Seahorseladydi]

8 Years ago today a boy, his father and grandfather went to look for their christmas tree........ one of them would never return home.....

Derrick was kidnapped 8 years ago today. I still think of him everyday and have him and his family in my prayers today.

Please bring Derrick home!

[Rle7]

Date: Dec. 5, 1998

Victim: Derrick Engebretson

Synopsis: Missing person

Probably Klamath County's most highly publicized missing person case in recent years is the case of 8-year-old Derrick Engebretson.

The Bonanza boy, called “Bear Boy” by his family, went hunting for a Christmas tree with his dad and grandpa at Pelican Butte near Rocky Point when he vanished without a trace. Investigators say Derrick disappeared after telling his grandpa he wanted to go up a hill to his father.

“Grandpa came down, dad came down, but no Derrick,” said Klamath County Sheriff's Detective John Dougherty, who has followed the case since its beginning.

The boy's disappearance occurred during a winter storm that blanketed the area with several feet of snow, which hindered the search that involved hundreds of people, including the boy's family. After two weeks, search and rescue officials didn't turn up a single trace of him.

Over the years, authorities have returned to the same spot in spring and summer months, hoping to find clues. Bones and blood were found on a few occasions, but were later tested and determined to be from an animal. In addition, authorities found a pair of boots, but they weren't Derrick's.

“It's very frustrating to not have closure for hundreds of people involved in this case,” Dougherty said.

The detective believes the boy's disappearance could be either a missing person case or a criminal investigation - he hasn't ruled either out.

In 2002, Frank J. Milligan, a convicted rapist and attempted murderer serving time in prison, became a suspect after he confessed to murdering the boy, but he later retracted his statement. Investigators could never link him to the area at the time of Derrick's disappearance. Yet Dougherty said the link between Milligan and the boy is still a possibility.

Investigators still seek closure for Derrick's family in a case that's haunted Dougherty since 1998. And it haunts his family - the boy's father, Robert Engebretson, still walks the area where his son vanished, Dougherty says.

“I have no idea what they're going through, but I imagine it's hell.”

http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2007/02/11/news/local_news/local1.txt

[Seahorseladydi]

Mr. Milligan IS THE ONLY person the police should be looking at........ HE DID IT! I am 99.9% sure of it!

[gaia227]

Bumbing for Derrick.

In a couple weeks it will TEN YEARS since he disappeared and his families nightmare began.