WV WV - Victor Dewight Shoemaker, 5, Kirby, 1 May 1994

emma l · #1 08-19-2004, 11:05 AM

This gorgeous little boy has been missing for 10 YEARS....without a trace and I recently saw a very old Sally Jesse programme with his poor parents on, over here in the UK. Heres the link to his missing person page

http://www.missingkids.com/missingki...archLang=en_US

I would desperatley love to find some new information on this child......

The only info I have is what his mother inferred on the show I saw - Victor went missing when he was playing in the woods with his young cousins (around the same age as Victor I think. )

Apparently when the search dogs came to look for Victor they "picked up the ending of his scent" on or around a certain female family member. (It was not specified whether this was one of the children or another female relative who was there).........V strange.

The adult family member and her childen have since moved away and have not been investigated. This could be nothing, but the parents were obvioulsy v suspicious of someone.......Though Victor was missing for a v short amount of time before a search was started I can't/ don't want to imagine what children could have done to cause this little boys vanishing.

Anyway, I just would really like some more info. Does anyone live in the area and remember him? Hes so gorgeous it just breaks my heart. I would really appreciate your thoughts on this...............

WasBlind · #2 08-19-2004, 11:28 AM

All the yahoo matches

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%22...t&cop=mss&tab=

27 matches in 10 years is not many.

Maybe I can get some data tonight, as I will speak to a Doe coordinator by telephone.

Thank you Emma, and God speed, Lanie
Help For The Missing
HelpForTheMissing@yahoo.com

emma l · #3 08-19-2004, 11:41 AM

Thank you wasblind! This kid looks uncannily like my beautiful little brother when he was younger and it really got me.

emma l · #4 10-14-2004, 08:02 AM

Bumping for Victor- does anyone live in this area, or have any news on this child?

Juliana · #5 10-16-2004, 05:24 PM

You are right, Emma! He is gorgeous (all kids are, of course, but he just looks so sweet!). How could anyone look into those eyes and them harm him?
I will never, ever understand.

Richard · #6 10-16-2004, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emma l

This gorgeous little boy has been missing for 10 YEARS....without a trace and I recently saw a very old Sally Jesse programme with his poor parents on, over here in the UK. ...

Apparently when the search dogs came to look for Victor they "picked up the ending of his scent" on or around a certain female family member. (It was not specified whether this was one of the children or another female relative who was there).........V strange. ...

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this...............

I do not have any information on this particular case, but I can comment on dog scenting, as I have trained a number of scenting dogs over the years.
I do not believe that any police officer handling a scenting dog would make a statement like "his scent ended around or near a specific individual..." That is simply not how these dogs are trained to search. When given a specific scent (such as an article of the boy's clothing), a good tracking dog will either be given a known starting point, or will be given a general area and allowed to search until he picks up the scent. He will ignore all other scents from other persons and animals. To keep distractions and interference away, other family members certainly would not have been allowed in the area while the dog and his handler are working. So, the dog would not have walked up to any other person and indicated that the scent ended there.
When a scenting dog loses the scent, he immediately begins to circle, hoping to pick it up again. The handler watches his dog closely for other signs and indications as well. A number of factors enter into tracking; among them, weather, temperature, time, terrain, wind, and whether or not the dog is started in a good place to begin with.

emma l · #7 10-18-2004, 04:48 AM

Richard,

Thanks for the info, thats really interesting.

I saw the TV programme with Victors parents on and it was his mother who actually said that the police dogs scent ended on or around this particlar individual.

Of course this doesn't mean thats what actually happened. The mother was very distressed. The obvious explanation is that the parents strongly suspect this individual and have a vague and confusing recollection of what would have been a very stressful time. I wonder what would have made them think that?

There is absolutely no information on this child’s disappearance. Its very upsetting......................

emma l · #8 02-07-2005, 11:14 AM

Bumping for Victor. I'm still thinking of him............................

meggilyweggily · #9 02-07-2005, 03:45 PM

I did a NewsLibrary buy for Victor and this is the info I came up with and wrote in his Charley Project casefile:

Shoemaker was visiting his grandfather in Kirby, West Virginia with his family in May 1994. He was last seen playing with his cousins in a wooded area near Short Mountain on May 1, 1994. Shoemaker got hungry and said he was returning to his grandfather's home for food at approximately 8:30 a.m. His cousins lost track of him in the woods. Shoemaker has never been seen again. He was last seen wearing a red t-shirt and red shorts.
Investigators do not suspect foul play in Shoemaker's case; they believe he became lost and died of exposure. Shoemaker's disappearance was followed by five days of rainy weather with temperatures dipping down to near freezing at night. If he had been without shelter, he would not have survived.
A dark blue 1990 pickup truck was seen in the area around the time Shoemaker vanished. It has not been proven that the truck is connected to his disappearance in any way, but police are interested in speaking to the driver.
Shoemaker's case remains unsolved.

Not very much, after ten -- almost eleven -- years.

emma l · #10 02-08-2005, 04:57 AM

Thanks so much for that. I watched a whole missing persons programme on this child and there wasnt half as much information................ Such a tiny child to be wandering alone in the woods.

PS I wandered and ended up on your charley pages. I also live in an ant-infested flat so we have something in common.........!

meggilyweggily · #11 02-08-2005, 09:50 AM

Ants are the scourge of dorm/apartment life in my experience. It's not so bad now that winter is here but in the warmer months I can't leave food out in my room for an hour without ants getting at it.

Writing about cases such as Victor's has convinced me that, if I ever have kids, I will never leave them unattended in the woods for a minute, and I will never let them go hiking by themselves. It's asking for trouble -- even experienced adult hikers should use the buddy system.

emma l · #12 02-08-2005, 10:17 AM

Indeed, I am not totally convinced that my obsession with missing people is good for my mental health actually! I will insist that my child is also password protected as well........... I live in the UK where instances of child abduction are much lower (even accounting for the obvious difference in populations), but I don't think you can ever be too careful. My little brother was missing for 4 hours once and almost had a heart attack. Vigilance is the key I think..................

Kat · #13 07-03-2010, 07:40 AM

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/...ting-area-acre

article from 1994

They used heat seeking technology to try to find this young boy. One of the searchers died the next day in a car wreck.

CCD · #14 03-09-2011, 03:01 PM

bumping for this sweetie....