SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
Former Member
Missing Since: October 31, 1955 from East Meadow, New York
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date of Birth: December 1952
Age: 2 years old
Height and Weight: 3'2, 32 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Blond hair, blue eyes. Damman has a small scar under his chin and a birthmark resembling a mole on back of his left calf. He has previously fractured his left arm; the injury had healed by the time of his 1955 disappearance.
Medical Conditions: Damman was undergoing treatment for a growth on his kidney at the time that he vanished.
Details of Disappearance
Damman was last seen at a supermarket in East Meadow, Long Island, New York on October 31, 1955. The establishment was a block and a half from his home; he had gone there with his mother and baby sister. Damman's mother left him and his sister, who was in a carriage, outside the supermarket for a few minutes while she shopped. When she came out, both children were gone. Damman's sister was recovered still inside her carriage a few blocks away but Damman has never been heard from again.
In late November 1955, a student at Queens College in New York City wrote three letters demanding money from Damman's parents in exchange for the toddler's safe return. Each letter asked for a larger amount: first $3,000, then $10,000, then $14,000. Damman's parents attempted to comply, but the student turned out to be an opportunist who had nothing to do with Damman's presumed abduction.
It was suggested that Damman might be the "Boy in the Box" or "America's Unknown Child," a small boy who was found dead inside a cardboard box in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1957. They both were blond and blue-eyed and both had the same scars, but the unidentified boy did not have a healed arm fracture as Damman had and Damman's footprints, taken when he was a baby, did not match the Philadelphia child. In 2003, the police compared the unidentified boy's DNA with DNA from Damman's sister to make sure, and conclusively proved that Damman was not the Boy in the Box. The child remains unidentified in spite of a major investigative effort that continues today.
Damman is originally from Iowa; his father was in the Air Force in 1955 and the family was stationed on Long Island. His father left the Air Force a few months after Damman's abduction and the family returned to Iowa. There is very little evidence available to indicate his fate and his cace remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Nassau County Police Department
516-573-5370
Charley Project
NCMEC