ME ME - Kurt Newton, 4, Chain of Ponds, 1 Sept 1975

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I have just read the story of Kurt and I will keep him and his family in my thoughts.
 
ILOKAL's post brought over from another thread.

ILOKAL said:
I found that case last week and read several stories about it. I find
little difference in the circumstances and disappearance of Kurt Newton and little Deorr. IMO, there is what seems to be an obvious suspect in Kurt Newton's disappearance, though I don't know that this person was ever looked at as a suspect.
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I'm curious who you think is the obvious suspect in Kurt's disappearance, is it the man who took his tricycle and put it in the dump, as that's where my hinky meter went up. He told them the trike was off the side of the road there, and he thought it had been discarded so took it to the dump area.... So without bothering to first check it out with the people at the campgrounds you just haul off and put a perfectly good tricycle in the dump? :waitasec:

They do seem to believe it was foul play though, and not by an animal. And it is very similar to little Deorr's case, at least by the information we have to go by. I still believe someone may have known beforehand where they were going and were there in the area already, or came up early that A.M. and waited. Either knew someone in the group, or followed from the store, or overheard them talking somewhere else. JMO

http://archive.wlbz2.com/news/artic...ter-Kurt-Newton-disappearance-still-a-mystery
Some people think Kurt was taken by a bear, others that he was abducted. McDonough says he feels it's pretty clear that this is a case of foul play and he thinks it's unlikely that Kurt was killed by an animal because there was no blood found at the campground.
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neesaki said:
ILOKAL's post brought over from another thread.



I'm curious who you think is the obvious suspect in Kurt's disappearance, is it the man who took his tricycle and put it in the dump, as that's where my hinky meter went up. He told them the trike was off the side of the road there, and he thought it had been discarded so took it to the dump area.... So without bothering to first check it out with the people at the campgrounds you just haul off and put a perfectly good tricycle in the dump? :waitasec:

They do seem to believe it was foul play though, and not by an animal. And it is very similar to little Deorr's case, at least by the information we have to go by. I still believe someone may have known beforehand where they were going and were there in the area already, or came up early that A.M. and waited. Either knew someone in the group, or followed from the store, or overheard them talking somewhere else. JMO

http://archive.wlbz2.com/news/artic...ter-Kurt-Newton-disappearance-still-a-mystery
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Yes, that's who set off MY hinky meter as well. According to every story I've read, they say the same thing. Little Kurt drove his Big Wheel down a logging road and his mom thought he was following his Dad who had gone down the same road to cut firewood. While Kurt was riding, a young girl, Lou Ellen Hanson (age 13) who was camping right nearby yelled out to him and asked if his parents knew where he was. Kurt kept riding and she was (allegedly) the last person to have seen Kurt. When his father returned from cutting wood and the mother noticed Kurt was not with him is when they began looking for him. While going up the logging road, they came across a man named John (Jack) Hanson and they asked if he had seen their son. He said he had not, although he DID see the Big Wheel pulled over to the side of the road. After observing the tricycle, he decided it must have been discarded so he proceeded to toss it into a dump pile at the end of the road. It just so happens that Jack Hanson is the father of the young girl who was the last to see Kurt and he was a "volunteer caretaker" in the park. I have not found any information regarding if "Jack" lived with his daughter who was said to be "camping" right nearby the Newton Family. So, of course, "Jack's" fingerprints are now "innocently" on the Big Wheel, and Kurt is never seen or heard from again!
 
ILOKAL said:
Yes, that's who set off MY hinky meter as well. According to every story I've read, they say the same thing. Little Kurt drove his Big Wheel down a logging road and his mom thought he was following his Dad who had gone down the same road to cut firewood. While Kurt was riding, a young girl, Lou Ellen Hanson (age 13) who was camping right nearby yelled out to him and asked if his parents knew where he was. Kurt kept riding and she was (allegedly) the last person to have seen Kurt. When his father returned from cutting wood and the mother noticed Kurt was not with him is when they began looking for him. While going up the logging road, they came across a man named John (Jack) Hanson and they asked if he had seen their son. He said he had not, although he DID see the Big Wheel pulled over to the side of the road. After observing the tricycle, he decided it must have been discarded so he proceeded to toss it into a dump pile at the end of the road. It just so happens that Jack Hanson is the father of the young girl who was the last to see Kurt and he was a "volunteer caretaker" in the park. I have not found any information regarding if "Jack" lived with his daughter who was said to be "camping" right nearby the Newton Family. So, of course, "Jack's" fingerprints are now "innocently" on the Big Wheel, and Kurt is never seen or heard from again!
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So we're on the same page then. I also didn't read anywhere that they had put up road blocks or anything like that. Do you remember reading anything that they had? And for that matter, did they in little Deorr's case?
 
I also think it was strange that he put the tricycle in the dump.

This was so long ago, I wonder how well they looked into other campers in the area. If there was no road block, any of them could have left. I find it unlikely that a random person did this, unless they followed them up there after seeing them at a store. I feel like it was another camper.
 
neesaki said:
So we're on the same page then. I also didn't read anywhere that they had put up road blocks or anything like that. Do you remember reading anything that they had? And for that matter, did they in little Deorr's case?
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No, I don't recall reading about roadblocks. I once asked about roadblocks in little Deorr's case as well as any contact with the rangers but I received no response.
 
ILOKAL said:
No, I don't recall reading about roadblocks. I once asked about roadblocks in little Deorr's case as well as any contact with the rangers but I received no response.
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And is it only strange to me? Or isn't it standard to set up road blocks in the case of an abduction?
 
neesaki said:
And is it only strange to me? Or isn't it standard to set up road blocks in the case of an abduction?
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I don't think anyone thought this WAS an abduction at the time. They just thought he had wandered off into the woods, and that was probably the initial thought with DeOrr, too.
 
doublestop said:
I don't think anyone thought this WAS an abduction at the time. They just thought he had wandered off into the woods, and that was probably the initial thought with DeOrr, too.
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For sure. And in the case of little Deorr, to this day the sheriff doesn't think he was abducted. We haven't really read a lot of details in the Newton case about the Chain of Ponds area but I read it is a wilderness type area. A person who was characterized as a "volunteer caretaker" (whatever that is) seemingly would be quite familiar with the area and many of its nooks and crannies, IMO
 
neesaki said:
So we're on the same page then. I also didn't read anywhere that they had put up road blocks or anything like that. Do you remember reading anything that they had? And for that matter, did they in little Deorr's case?
Click to expand...

JMO
I also agree about the tricycle person needs to be questioned by LE. It is way too fishy for me.

-Happens to be the first person the Mom spots when looking for the boy
-Was a person that was familiar with the area
-Went out of their way to take the trike to a dump site when it really was not trash.
-Lived there

LE needs to re-open this case and requestion him and any other witnesses.
This doesnt sound good at all.

IMO on the Deorr K case I think it was different in that I cannot get over the interview with parents. Deflection and changing the subject all the time during the interview. For such a lengthy interview there were hardly any details about what exactly happened. No details and specifics hardly. And too many eyes looking back and forth at each other. It was hinky interview. I am sorry but I cant get over that interview. Something is not right with that case. I don't think a stranger is involved in that one.
 
This article below gives a good summary of what happened.
Here are things below that stand out to me from this article about the Kurt Newton case.

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/mysteries/vanished#_


-"It had been a grand weekend, camping with their children....(snipped)....and three other families from their home in Manchester, Maine."

This tells me there was a lot of other kids there so a person familiar with the campsites would realize there was a lot of distraction.

-"(snipped) gathered the mud-soaked sneakers from the day before and with her friends walked to the bathhouse fifty yards away to wash them. (snipped) began playing a game and assumed Kurt would ride his tricycle around the campsite"

50 yards is a long ways away but I know certain campsites you tend to feel homey with them. Its a cautious tale to always have an adult watching children at all times. I realize the poor mother never would have thought anything bad could happen.

-"a friend from her trailer heard a plaintive “Daddy, Daddy,” as Kurt apparently ran to his tricycle, a determined little boy trying to catch his father, and pedaled away"

The little boy was trying to follow his dad down the logging road. Its so sad as he just wanted to follow him. He went a long ways before he ended up missing.

-"about a quarter-mile from the Newtons’ campsite. Here, twelve-year-old (snipped), returning from a walk, was startled to see the small boy churning past on his tricycle."

Here it proves he was at least 1/4 mile already and yet we find out he goes further still.

-"The road continues another quarter-mile, then forks. To the left it leads to a small campground dump on a knoll, past a shaky bridge over a stream................."

It gets confusing but to the right of the fork is where I think the father went to chop wood. To the left of the fork is the dump. So I think the wood chopping was to the right of the fork. I am guessing the boy knew the father went to the right of fork so I am guessing the boy made the right fork turn. Or he was right at the fork when he went missing. He definitely didn't make it the whole 1/2 mile to the right as the father would have seen him.

-"It was on this road, about a half-mile past the fork, where (snipped) went to chop wood, the sounds of his ax barely audible from the dump."

See I think the father had chopped wood the day before and I think maybe the boy knew which way his father went. Not sure if father ever took him wood chopping but this wood explain the boy wanting to drive his trike all the way to his father. I think he knew exactly where he was and was disappointed his father didnt take him. He wanted to be with him.

-"a volunteer caretaker for the campground, found the tricycle just before the steep rise leading to the dump."

This is where things get muddy for me.
Because why would he be down that fork to the dump in the first place?
Did he tell LE that he had gone to the dump to dump stuff?

Just my opinion here but I have many questions and issues here.
What was he doing on the fork to the left?
Was he going toward the dump or away from the dump?

Answer: According to him he would have had to be going toward the dump otherwise he would have seen the boy on the trike. So he would have had to be going toward the dump and he said he ran into seeing just the trike.

So what was he doing going toward the dump in the first place?
Especially since his daughter was going in the opposite direction a few minutes before?
Why didn't he pick her up since he had to pass right by her?
Or did he drop her off and make her walk back from the fork?

If foul play by any humans involved, then I think the fork in the road is the key to this case. I think right at the fork is where the boy was taken because I think the boy knew to go to the right and not the left where trike was found.

I think his trike was just deposited on the side of the road toward the dump after he was taken.

I wonder what is beyond the dump?
It sounds like nothing but maybe there is a structure or something beyond the dump?

LE needs to reopen this case and reinterview everyone IMO.
Its possible animals were involved also but we would have expected more evidence of animal attack and there was none.

If I had to search for remains then I would search beyond the dump.
 
The weird thing about this case and finding possible remains is that Kurt's dad I do believe it was lost his pen 2x while searching and both times had it returned quickly - they did a very good job of covering the area it sounds like so they really think he ISN'T there.


http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/mysteries/vanished/3

Of course, anything at all is possible and he could still very well be there. But it sounds like to me he was abducted.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
 
Hatfield said:
This article below gives a good summary of what happened.
Here are things below that stand out to me from this article about the Kurt Newton case.

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/mysteries/vanished#_


-"It had been a grand weekend, camping with their children....(snipped)....and three other families from their home in Manchester, Maine."

This tells me there was a lot of other kids there so a person familiar with the campsites would realize there was a lot of distraction.

-"(snipped) gathered the mud-soaked sneakers from the day before and with her friends walked to the bathhouse fifty yards away to wash them. (snipped) began playing a game and assumed Kurt would ride his tricycle around the campsite"

50 yards is a long ways away but I know certain campsites you tend to feel homey with them. Its a cautious tale to always have an adult watching children at all times. I realize the poor mother never would have thought anything bad could happen.

-"a friend from her trailer heard a plaintive “Daddy, Daddy,” as Kurt apparently ran to his tricycle, a determined little boy trying to catch his father, and pedaled away"

The little boy was trying to follow his dad down the logging road. Its so sad as he just wanted to follow him. He went a long ways before he ended up missing.

-"about a quarter-mile from the Newtons’ campsite. Here, twelve-year-old (snipped), returning from a walk, was startled to see the small boy churning past on his tricycle."

Here it proves he was at least 1/4 mile already and yet we find out he goes further still.

-"The road continues another quarter-mile, then forks. To the left it leads to a small campground dump on a knoll, past a shaky bridge over a stream................."

It gets confusing but to the right of the fork is where I think the father went to chop wood. To the left of the fork is the dump. So I think the wood chopping was to the right of the fork. I am guessing the boy knew the father went to the right of fork so I am guessing the boy made the right fork turn. Or he was right at the fork when he went missing. He definitely didn't make it the whole 1/2 mile to the right as the father would have seen him.

-"It was on this road, about a half-mile past the fork, where (snipped) went to chop wood, the sounds of his ax barely audible from the dump."

See I think the father had chopped wood the day before and I think maybe the boy knew which way his father went. Not sure if father ever took him wood chopping but this wood explain the boy wanting to drive his trike all the way to his father. I think he knew exactly where he was and was disappointed his father didnt take him. He wanted to be with him.

-"a volunteer caretaker for the campground, found the tricycle just before the steep rise leading to the dump."

This is where things get muddy for me.
Because why would he be down that fork to the dump in the first place?
Did he tell LE that he had gone to the dump to dump stuff?

Just my opinion here but I have many questions and issues here.
What was he doing on the fork to the left?
Was he going toward the dump or away from the dump?

Answer: According to him he would have had to be going toward the dump otherwise he would have seen the boy on the trike. So he would have had to be going toward the dump and he said he ran into seeing just the trike.

So what was he doing going toward the dump in the first place?
Especially since his daughter was going in the opposite direction a few minutes before?
Why didn't he pick her up since he had to pass right by her?
Or did he drop her off and make her walk back from the fork?

If foul play by any humans involved, then I think the fork in the road is the key to this case. I think right at the fork is where the boy was taken because I think the boy knew to go to the right and not the left where trike was found.

I think his trike was just deposited on the side of the road toward the dump after he was taken.

I wonder what is beyond the dump?
It sounds like nothing but maybe there is a structure or something beyond the dump?

LE needs to reopen this case and reinterview everyone IMO.
Its possible animals were involved also but we would have expected more evidence of animal attack and there was none.

If I had to search for remains then I would search beyond the dump.
Click to expand...

allmybecsloveme said:
The weird thing about this case and finding possible remains is that Kurt's dad I do believe it was lost his pen 2x while searching and both times had it returned quickly - they did a very good job of covering the area it sounds like so they really think he ISN'T there.


http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/mysteries/vanished/3

Of course, anything at all is possible and he could still very well be there. But it sounds like to me he was abducted.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks for the refresher, Hatfield. I keep thinking if he'd been deceased in that area they should have found his remains so am more leaning towards an abduction, human not animal. I agree with your suspicions re: the caretaker though. Why would an adult put a child's trike in the dump knowing there were families right there with small children? :waitasec: The only logical thing for him to have done, IMO, would have been for him to take the trike up to the campsites and find who it belonged to. But no, so big time hinky, IMO. That was the first thought that crossed my mind when I read about this case the first time, the second thought was, "is that guy right in the head", you know, "off" somehow? Yet we never heard anything like that. Could be that he was involved in handing little Kurt over to someone else who took him away from the area. It's really hard for me to believe they completely cleared the guy. JMHO
 
allmybecsloveme said:
The weird thing about this case and finding possible remains is that Kurt's dad I do believe it was lost his pen 2x while searching and both times had it returned quickly - they did a very good job of covering the area it sounds like so they really think he ISN'T there.


http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/mysteries/vanished/3

Of course, anything at all is possible and he could still very well be there. But it sounds like to me he was abducted.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

neesaki said:
Thanks for the refresher, Hatfield. I keep thinking if he'd been deceased in that area they should have found his remains so am more leaning towards an abduction, human not animal. I agree with your suspicions re: the caretaker though. Why would an adult put a child's trike in the dump knowing there were families right there with small children? :waitasec: The only logical thing for him to have done, IMO, would have been for him to take the trike up to the campsites and find who it belonged to. But no, so big time hinky, IMO. That was the first thought that crossed my mind when I read about this case the first time, the second thought was, "is that guy right in the head", you know, "off" somehow? Yet we never heard anything like that. Could be that he was involved in handing little Kurt over to someone else who took him away from the area. It's really hard for me to believe they completely cleared the guy. JMHO
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Hello Allmybecsloveme + Neesaki,

Good points.

I see what you mean about him possibly being taken from the area. It makes sense if they searched the area good at the time and were finding small things like a pen (twice).

I didn't think about that too much because of the woods and camping area so was first thinking more along the lines of him being buried in the woods or a spot the person knew about but you could be right that maybe he was immediately taken from the area.

Its such a sad case. A lot of our cases here on WS are very sad but this one really tore at me when I read about it.
 
The more I think of how this incident happened the more I think LE got fooled into tunnel vision with thinking the boy was lost on his own.

I think LE made a critical error right at the beginning an did not interview others enough about where they were at the time. Especially the caretaker person.

He should have passed his daughter in the road walking back toward their campsite if he was headed in his vehicle toward the dump area. From what we know she said she was just walking home from a walk.

So she would have had to had seen her dad pass her. We don't hear anything about her seeing her dad.

And the article talks about how he "walked" over the hill to dump the trike on the dump pile and then got back in his vehicle to drive back home. So why didn't he drive right up to the dump if he had his vehicle. What was he doing on foot at all?

I really hope LE reopens this cold case and reinterviews some people. I think this case is solvable still. Maybe people are ready to talk and years ago they were not ready. They may be at a time of their life where they need to get something off their chest and take responsibility.

From reading the article about it, there was so much effort put into searching the woods that I think LE got tunnel vision. I think by the time they realized an abductor was really a possibility then the boy could have been removed if he had been dumped at first.

According to the Mom there is no way the boy would walk into the woods and I agree with her. He was afraid of the woods and he would have stayed on that road. The fork area and the dump area are keys to solving this case.

There is some hope the boy could still be alive and living and not knowing what happened to him all those years ago. I hope that is the case but I sadly have to say that I think he was killed shortly after going missing and was dumped near the camping dump area at first. I think he may have been removed within a day or two as more and more searchers began to show up then I think the perp removed him and took him someplace else to bury him much farther away.

I just wish LE would reopen the case and retalk to the witnesses that day.
I am glad the family seemed to be doing as well as can be expected in the years that followed. They seem like a strong family. I feel terrible for them.

This was a parents worst nightmare come true.
 
Just saw this case on Facebook. Wow, what a heartbreaking search that must've been. I agree that the caretaker's actions were a little odd, but I don't think he was involved. My gut says the little boy got lost and died from the elements, and somehow his body wasn't found in the searches.
 
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