AZ AZ - Myron Traylor, 13, Phoenix, 27 July 1988

Missing Since: July 27, 1988 from Phoenix, Arizona
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: October 1, 1974
Age: 13 years old
Height and Weight: 5'5, 106 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes. Traylor has a half-inch scar on the right side of his head.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A red and white striped shirt, blue and white print shorts and white tennis shoes.

Details of Disappearance


Charley Project
NCMEC

Detectives look for new leads in 25-year-old case of missing Phoenix boy

Myron Traylor would turn 38 this year, but nearly 25 years ago, he disappeared without a trace. It’s a case that captured the community’s attention and continues to raise questions, decades later.

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Although no one has been arrested, police say they do have an investigative lead in convicted killer Gettus Mintz. Police say Mintz was Myron's mother's boyfriend at the time of the teen's disappearance.

Mintz is currently in prison, after he was convicted of stabbing and killing another woman in 2009.

Detectives have tried to interview him about Traylor’s case, but haven’t succeeded. However, police say they consider him a person of interest.

More: http://www.azfamily.com/news/Detect...d-case-of-missing-Phoenix-boy--190326841.html

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/south_phoenix/Myron-Traylor-Valley-13-year-old-went-missing-25-years-ago

After seeing the story of the three missing women rescued from the Cleveland home, she said it gives her hope that, perhaps, Myron is alive.

“It’s been so long,” she said as tears fell from her face. “We need to know.”

Both of Myron’s parents have died since his disappearance.

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video & more at link

Myron Traylor Still Missing Without a Trace 27 Years Later
Cold Case Spotlight
Jul 24 2015, 6:10 pm ET
http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/cold...-missing-without-trace-27-years-later-n398101

According to a 1991 Phoenix News Times column, an employee remembers Myron ordering a wild-cherry drink and gulping it down in an instant. He ordered another, then headed back in the direction of his grandparents' home.

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The case attracted attention across the county in the years after Myron vanished. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children stated they estimate Myron's photo has been circulated or seen by 40 million homes nationwide. This has not led to a break in his case, with rumors swirling as to what became of the young man.

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More at link.

Myron Traylor vanishes in south Phoenix after a stop for soda pop in 1988

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2016/11/04/missing-arizona-children-myron-traylor-vanishes-south-phoenix-after-stop-soda-pop-1988/93143994/

The number of tips about Myron was much higher than the number in the other cases, said Phoenix police Detective Ron Jones, who was originally assigned to his case, in a 1990 interview with The Arizona Republic.

One caller was persistent. He kept linking Mryon's disappearance to a "well-known crack dealer" in south Phoenix. The dealer had been bragging, in a drunken state, about recently molesting and murdering a child, the detective said.

According to the tipster, the dealer had gotten into a fight with his wife on the same night Myron had disappeared. He went to a bar near the fish and chips shop, had gotten drunk and came across Myron.

Sgt. John Locarni, had to step in at the time to discredit the tipster to the media.

According to Locarni, the man was just trying to get revenge on a woman who had left him to go live with the dealer.

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As in most missing-children cases, fingers pointed to the family.

But Myron’s father, Leroy Williams, was in prison at the time and Debbie passed a polygraph test given by detectives early on.

Still, many who knew Myron tried to link his mother to his disappearance, questioning why she would let the boy leave on his own when she would usually stay with him at OK Fish & Chips.

“All the information checked out,” Jones, the detective, told the media at the time. “These allegations on the mother aren’t supported.”

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Her sister, though, has doubts.

According to Sandra, detectives later told the family that they thought Debbie had taken “something” to pass the test. They believed she somehow “rigged it.”

“We all thought she might have been on something,” she said “But we were just worried about finding him. My sister … she was on drugs.”

Debbie's boyfriend, Gettus Mintz, became a suspect.

Police said Mintz was one of four witnesses who saw Myron at OK Fish & Chips the evening of Myron’s disappearance.

Sandra said he came to the home on Pecan Road that night in a sling, claiming he had gotten bit by a dog before joining the search for Myron.

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In 2002, Debbie died of cancer.

“She knew something …” Sandra said about her sister.

Today, Mintz is serving a sentence for second-degree murder and aggravated assault. According to court records, he stabbed and killed a girlfriend in 2009 and attempted to kill her mother in Peoria.

He was scheduled to be released in March 2047.

Mintz has refused to be interviewed, according to Sandra.

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A big part of Sandra believes it’s important to have a place for her nephew to come home to one day.

She thinks he might have returned recently, before leaving, she said.

On Oct. 22, three men had come up to her door. The home doesn’t have a doorbell, so a loud bang on the security door had caught her attention.

“My last name is Traylor and I’m here from Texas,” one of the men said. “My mamma told me I had a bunch of kinfolk out here, are you family?”

But Sandra didn’t open the door. She was home alone and afraid.

She asked the men to come back again to speak when someone was home with her. She squinted at the van as they drove off. In stickers on the side, it appeared to spell out “Traylor,” she said.

But the men never came back.

“Was that Myron?” she asked aloud. “I should’ve opened the door, right?

“I was just confused. I’m mad at myself. What if that was him after all these years?”

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still missing: Phoenix boy Myron Traylor, 13 vanished in plain sight in south Phoenix on July 27, 1988 after grabbing a soda pop on his way to his grandmother's house down the street.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...re-information-missing-arizona-day/787575001/

Bump

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Myron Timell Traylor – The Charley Project

Myron Timell Traylor

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Myron, circa 1988; Age-progression to age 41 (circa 2015); Gettus Mintz, circa 2009

• Missing Since07/27/1988
• Missing FromPhoenix, Arizona
• ClassificationNon-Family Abduction
• Date of Birth10/01/1974 (45)
• Age13 years old
• Height and Weight5'5 - 5'6, 106 - 116 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionA red and white striped shirt, white shorts with a blue print, and white sneakers.
• Distinguishing CharacteristicsAfrican-American male. Black hair, brown eyes. Myron has a half-inch scar on the right side of his head. He is supposed to wear eyeglasses for reading, but he didn't have them with him at the time of his disappearance.

Details of Disappearance
Myron was walking to his grandparents' house with his mother in Phoenix, Arizona on July 27, 1988. His grandparents' residence was located on east Pecan Road.

Myron stopped at OK Fish-N-Chips, which was located on 16th Street and Southern Avenue, to purchase a soft drink while his mother continued ahead. He was last seen at approximately 6:00 p.m. outside the stand after purchasing a soda.

Myron was carrying a plastic bag full of dirty laundry at the time of his disappearance; he planned to wash the clothes at his grandparents' home. He was also going to call his brother, who was staying with a relative in California; Myron's family home near 16th Street and Nancy Lane did not have a telephone. He has never been heard from again.

Myron finished sixth grade at Sierra Vista Elementary in the spring of 1988; his hobbies at the time included drawing and reading, and was not involved with drugs or gangs.

He regularly attended services at Southminster Presbyterian Church on 19th Street near Broadway, went to Sunday School, and was a member of the church choir and the youth group. He didn't have a habit of staying out late and it's uncharacteristic of him to leave without warning. His father was in prison when he disappeared, and his mother has been ruled out as a suspect in his case.

Myron's mother's then-boyfriend, Gettus Leroy Mintz, is the only suspect in his disappearance. He was one of the four witnesses who saw Myron at OK Fish-N-Chips the evening of his disappearance. Myron's aunt said that one of Mintz's arms was in a sling shortly after Myron vanished. He claimed the injury resulted from a dog bite.

Investigators stated that Mintz was involved with drugs in 1988. Authorities theorized that Myron confronted him regarding his lifestyle after seeing him at OK Fish-N-Chips and was murdered shortly thereafter.

A photo of Mintz is posted with this case summary. In 2009, he stabbed his girlfriend and her mother in Peoria, Arizona. His girlfriend died, and Mintz was convicted of second-degree murder and aggravated assault and sentenced to forty-two years in prison. He has refused to be interviewed about Myron's case.

Investigators received an anonymous letter in 1991 that claimed Myron was buried on private property near 24th Street and Jones Avenue in Phoenix. A search of the location produced no evidence regarding his case. Authorities believe that Myron was killed and buried near his last known location.

Myron's mother died in March 2002 at the age of forty-five, nearly fourteen years after her son disappeared. His case remains unsolved.

Bumping up for Myron.
I hope this poor boy will be located and hopefully there will be at least a little justice.

Bumping case up.

Bumping,this one always hit my heart hard