DC DC - Bobby Joe Horn, 41, Washington D.C., 31 Aug 1977

The Doe Network:
Case File 4271DMDC

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/4271dmdc.html

Bobby Joe Horn
Missing since August 31, 1977 from Washington D.C.
Classification: Missing



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Vital Statistics

Age at Time of Disappearance: 41 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 230 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Black male. Black afro cut hair.
AKA: Nighthawk; Bob Terry


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Circumstances of Disappearance
Horn was last seen on August 31, 1977 driving a dark blue 1976 Olds Toronado.
He disappeared not long after leaving D.C.'s WHUR in the 1970s to form his own production company. He was known as the Nighthawk, the name he used for a decade as one of the most prominent disc jockeys in black radio in Washington. Authorities opened a murder investigation into Horn's disappearance when the popular radio host and producer's car was found. But police have never found a body and have never found any evidence that the Nighthawk was murdered.
In 1978, a federal grand jury in Baltimore returned an indictment charging Horn with failing to file his taxes in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974.



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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

D. C. Metropolitan Police
202-727-9099

Source Information:
Washington Examiner
Washington Afro-American - Sep 13, 1977

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/horn_bobby.html
More details of circumstances at Charley Project, quite interesting.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Nighthawk-still-missing-after-all-these-years-94868149.html
May 26, 2010

Nighthawk still missing after all these years

Snipped:

He went by "Nighthawk" on the radio. He once talked a confessed killer into surrendering while on the air. He disappeared not long after leaving D.C.'s WHUR in the 1970s to form his own production company.

Nighthawk's real name was Bobby Joe Horn

Click to expand...

More at link.

Bobby is *not* listed in NamUs at this time.

Bobby has been missing close to 33 years now. Come home soon.

Bumping, missing for 38 years now. I don't think he has been added to NamUs

I remember watching Talk to Me when it was released but I wasn't familiar with the real Bobby Horn. The movie wasn't about him though so nothing specific about this case was mentioned, if I recall correctly.

JusticeWillBeServed said:

Bumping, missing for 38 years now. I don't think he has been added to NamUs

I remember watching Talk to Me when it was released but I wasn't familiar with the real Bobby Horn. The movie wasn't about him though so nothing specific about this case was mentioned, if I recall correctly.

Click to expand...

You're right, Bobby Joe Horn isn't in NamUs. For some reason, I thought that he was but when I went to find his case number, I learned that he is not. I don't want to sound like I am trying to start problems, yet I have noticed [and become very frustrated] by the fact that there seems to be very little information about African-American and Asian-American males who went missing during the 1970 and early 1980s.

Ambercat said:

You're right, Bobby Joe Horn isn't in NamUs. For some reason, I thought that he was but when I went to find his case number, I learned that he is not. I don't want to sound like I am trying to start problems, yet I have noticed [and become very frustrated] by the fact that there seems to be very little information about African-American and Asian-American males who went missing during the 1970 and early 1980s.

Click to expand...

I agree but I was still surprised about the lack of information on Bobby Horn. Seems like he was a local "celebrity" so I thought over the years, his case may have been mentioned. Doesn't appear that a real effort was made to resolve his case.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...b7c-a89c-b49f092153f5/?utm_term=.1746263010fd

Terry, whose real name is Bobby Joe Horn, was last seen leaving a party in District Heights early one night last summer. His burned-out car has since been located in a rural area near Raleiuh, N.C., but Terry himself has not been located.

The Music Concert Murders: Four On The Floor Following Mob-Backed Maryland Concert Almost 40 Yrs. Ago - The Gangster Report

Nighthawk Terry was the premier D.C. radio personality at the time, overseeing WOL’s transition from tradition rock-and-roll to all-R&B and soul music in the mid-1960s. Federal documentation from 1975 tied him to a series of payola scandals, the drug world and local east coast African-American hoodlums, Howard McNair and Teddy Brown.

I made a NamUs page for him, but it's been listed as "pending" for over a year.

Bumping

Coffee56 said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...b7c-a89c-b49f092153f5/?utm_term=.1746263010fd

Terry, whose real name is Bobby Joe Horn, was last seen leaving a party in District Heights early one night last summer. His burned-out car has since been located in a rural area near Raleiuh, N.C., but Terry himself has not been located.

The Music Concert Murders: Four On The Floor Following Mob-Backed Maryland Concert Almost 40 Yrs. Ago - The Gangster Report

Nighthawk Terry was the premier D.C. radio personality at the time, overseeing WOL’s transition from tradition rock-and-roll to all-R&B and soul music in the mid-1960s. Federal documentation from 1975 tied him to a series of payola scandals, the drug world and local east coast African-American hoodlums, Howard McNair and Teddy Brown.

Click to expand...

The 2 links are behind a paywall so those interested may prefer to go to Part 2 - Lullaby of Gangland by Fredric Dannen which has a brief version of the same story (about halfway down). It seems that McNair and Brown stiffed the Genovese mob family by counterfeiting tickets for a concert sponsored by Horn. They were both killed and Horn disappeared. The only real question seems to be who actually carried out the hits, although the article points the finger at Nate McCalla, an enforcer for Morris Levy who was, on the surface, a music industry entrepreneur with record labels and other interests. In reality he was part of the organised crime fraternity and closely linked to the Genovese family through Vincent Gigante (their head) and his brother.