Over 45 years have passed since two nine-year old boys from the eastern Cincinnati suburb of Fairfax disappeared from their community and were never seen again.
John Hundley and James McQueary lived very close to each other and were both in the third grade at Fairfax School. On Thursday afternoon, October 15, 1964, they were last seen walking out of the parking lot of Frisch's Mainliner, a very popular restaurant in the Frisch's Big Boy chain that was a short walk from their homes. One of the youths had owed the manager a short amount from a recent visit and the pair had stopped in to repay the debt. After doing so, they walked west off of the property which was in the opposite direction from where they lived. Although Daylight Savings Time was still three years away from going into effect in Cincinnati, the two still had some time to do something before it became dark.
When neither of the pair returned home, police were called. After the news picked up the story, the surrounding community was on the lookout for the young men. The initial thought was the two had ventured too close to nearby construction work. There had been some work done on a nearby street. There was also a much larger project that was ongoing as construction was taking place on an extension of Columbia Parkway, a four-lane highway that carried traffic from downtown Cincinnati into Fairfax. This was only a short distance from the restaurant where the boys were last seen.
Not long after the report of the boys' disappearance, a man told authorities he had previously seen a pair matching their description cleaning up in a restroom at Lunken Airport. That was in the immediate vicinity although quite a walk for two nine-year olds. However, this and all leads failed to find the young men and the case soon grew cold.
That was the situation until September, 1967, when a 17-year old Marine private from Fairfax, then stationed in San Diego, told authorities he had killed the boys. He alleged that he and another youth, who later moved to Indianapolis, had lured them to a location and then killed them. The Marine was brought back to the area for futher questioning, but on arrival, he stated he had just made up the story to avoid the military. As a result and with no other evidence, he was released. The other person he had named was also deemed to be not involved in the matter.
The disappearance remains open with no further clues and is unsolved to date.