MN MN - Jackie Theel, 6, Paynesville, 5 Sept 1944

New Posts

th

Victor John "Jackie" Theel, age 6,
Missing since 5 September 1944, from Paynesville, Minnestoa.

When I first posted Jakie's case here on Websleuths in October 2004, there was not much information available on it. Since that time, there have been many people who have become interested in Jackie and his disappearance. Here are just a few examples of more recent Websites, blogsites, and articles which discuss the case.

LINKS:

KARE 11 Investigates: Mystery of Jackie Theel | kare11.com

Dean Marie Pyle Peters & Cold Cases: November 2009

On Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1944, six-year-old Jackie Theel attended his first day of school in Paynesville. His mother later told the Press that he had talked about going to school for weeks and was so excited that he did not eat breakfast. <P>As far as anyone knows, he did not eat lunch either.


Victor John Theel – The Charley Project
 
Wow. Sister, Judy Espelund in above video says Bureau of Criminal Apprehension denies they ever took this case. But her mother kept the original BCA flier dated Sept 26, 1944, Case #32719. He is still not listed on their missing persons database. Stearns County records no longer exist from this era. Yet the search is well documented. Someone over there needs to make that right!

Imagine the guilt of Jackie’s teacher. Mom sent him to school with a note that an older brother would pick him up, but she sent him off alone. Bloodhounds tracked Jackie’s scent from the school, through town, to Highway 23.

If he was abducted/adopted by a serviceman to avoid deployment, I hope genetic genealogy is able to unravel this mystery one day. I hope some of his 15 brothers & sisters have uploaded a profile.

Jackie would be 83 now.
 
Last edited:
Just now reading about sweet little Jackie! I’m a former first grade teacher and can’t imagine the guilt the teacher must have felt! We always said the number one rule of first day of school was: get everyone home safely.

in one of the articles posted, it said Jackie was seen leaving school with a white slip of paper. I wonder if this was the note he was supposed to give his teacher.
 
little jackie I have the impression that he was taken by some soldier who wanted to retire from the military saying that he was his son and in turn jackie became a soldier... hopefully that's it and he was kidnapped...
one day you will be home little one..
 
Not to derail, but I find it both bewildering and infuriating that Jackie is listed on:

Charley, which lists Stearns County Sheriff as investigating agency;
NamUs, none listed;
DoeNetwork, which lists the MN BCA.

But he is not listed on either:

Stearns County Sheriff Cold Cases

Minnesota BCA Missing & Unidentified Clearinghouse

An article interviewing his sister in 2016 also mentions the discrepancy with the BCA:

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension told KARE 11 they were not the investigating agency and have no records of Jackie’s case either. Jackie Theel is also not listed on the BCA’s official missing person’s clearinghouse website.

But Jackie’s mom kept the original BCA missing poster, complete with a case number on it, in her bible until the day she died.
Click to expand...
 
FTR: A photo of Paynesville School's first grade room, Jackie Theel's classmates and his teacher, about a week after his disappearance.
 

Attachments

  • theel3.jpg
    theel3.jpg
    75.1 KB · Views: 23
Really sad, if you follow the path they say he went, he would have passed his own house or very close to it. Must have been terrifying to be lost. I wonder if the teacher was held accountable, I suppose different times in those days.

"It was a blood hound that found the only clue. It followed Jackie’s scent on a wandering trail leading away from the school down to the river that runs through town. Newspaper records detail how the dog then tracked the scent away from the river, through the west end of Paynesville, and out to a ditch along Old Highway 23."

I read other skeptical that he could have drowned but it does seem likely since he was near water. Possible drowning and/or then animal attack? Was all water ways checked? Could have carried him far.

What gets me though, is that he was seen getting into a grey car, and the solider with a "brother". Didn't anyone comment on the reaction of the boy? Was he scared, content, etc?
 
PrivateInspector007 said:
Really sad, if you follow the path they say he went, he would have passed his own house or very close to it. Must have been terrifying to be lost. I wonder if the teacher was held accountable, I suppose different times in those days.

"It was a blood hound that found the only clue. It followed Jackie’s scent on a wandering trail leading away from the school down to the river that runs through town. Newspaper records detail how the dog then tracked the scent away from the river, through the west end of Paynesville, and out to a ditch along Old Highway 23."

I read other skeptical that he could have drowned but it does seem likely since he was near water. Possible drowning and/or then animal attack? Was all water ways checked? Could have carried him far.

What gets me though, is that he was seen getting into a grey car, and the solider with a "brother". Didn't anyone comment on the reaction of the boy? Was he scared, content, etc?
Click to expand...
Here is a screenshot of students from Paynesville doing some river cleanup not far from where Jackie was last seen. The river doesn't appear to be very deep in this area. Drowning might've been in the realm of possibility, but I see why people are skeptical of that theory. Animal attack also very unlikely, as large predators are quite rare in this part of the state.
 

Attachments

  • N fork Crow River Paynesville.JPG
    N fork Crow River Paynesville.JPG
    64.5 KB · Views: 8
nancy_drew_coldcases said:
Also,

"It was a blood hound that found the only clue. It followed Jackie’s scent on a wandering trail leading away from the school down to the river that runs through town. Newspaper records detail how the dog then tracked the scent away from the river, through the west end of Paynesville, and out to a ditch along Old Highway 23."

If you look at my map, there is no river that runs near the school that I could find...
Click to expand...
FYI - There are several issues here that need to be corrected to avoid confusion. The North Fork of the Crow River runs through town, and is in fact visible on your map. I've marked it with a darker blue on the attached. I noticed it also doesn't show up on Google maps for some reason, which is weird because it's definitely there. Also, Highway 23 is not in the same place as it was in the 1940's as a bypass was created since then. I've marked Old Highway 23 in red on the attached. Hopefully this helps to clear things up in terms of key locations in this case.
 

Attachments

  • Map Paynesville.JPG
    Map Paynesville.JPG
    96.9 KB · Views: 23
Gophers_FTW said:
FYI - There are several issues here that need to be corrected to avoid confusion. The North Fork of the Crow River runs through town, and is in fact visible on your map. I've marked it with a darker blue on the attached. I noticed it also doesn't show up on Google maps for some reason, which is weird because it's definitely there. Also, Highway 23 is not in the same place as it was in the 1940's as a bypass was created since then. I've marked Old Highway 23 in red on the attached. Hopefully this helps to clear things up in terms of key locations in this case.
Click to expand...

Here is a map showing what was believed at the time to have been Jackie's path after leaving school at lunch time. Note that he seems to have first traveled west from the school and was possibly seen by witnesses about 1pm near Hwy 23. It wasn't until a few days later that bloodhounds were brought in to try and track Jackie's scent. They ended up near the intersection of the Crow River and the Soo Line Rail Road tracks only a few blocks west of Jackie's home.

One has to remember that little Jackie was only 6 years old and this was his first day of school. It seems likely that he was simply disoriented when he left the school and thought that he was on the road home rather than headed west. He might have been disoriented and confused, then wandering near the river and from there toward the rail road in his attempt to find home.

No trace of him was found except for the dogs indicating his scent in certain areas.

The fact that Jackie seems to have completely disappeared might mean that he was abducted and taken from the area - possibly by a motorist passing through the area on Hwy 23, or possibly by a migrant "hobo" on a passing train. Another scenario might be that he was murdered and his body taken to, or buried in one of the locations indicated by the bloodhounds.

LINK:

map
 
Last edited:
To be perfectly honest,

I blame the Kindergarten teacher for allowing Jackie to leave the school unsupervised! She was new and this was her first teaching job. She would face a huge lawsuit if she did that today. Several accounts say that Jackie told her that he knew where he lived, BUT he pointed in the wrong direction when asked!

Jackie's Mother sent a note with him stating that his brother would pick him up to take him home for lunch. Jackie was to remain at the school for his brother to do that. This tells me that one of two things happened:

1.) In his excitement with the first day of school, Jackie forgot to give his teacher the note.

2.) The teacher forgot about the note he gave to her, which is absolutely inexcusable!

Satch
 
Richard said:
Here is a map showing what was believed at the time to have been Jackie's path after leaving school at lunch time. Note that he seems to have first traveled west from the school and was possibly seen by witnesses about 1pm near Hwy 23. It wasn't until a few days later that bloodhounds were brought in to try and track Jackie's scent. They ended up near the intersection of the Crow River and the Soo Line Rail Road tracks only a few blocks west of Jackie's home.

One has to remember that little Jackie was only 6 years old and this was his first day of school. It seems likely that he was simply disoriented when he left the school and thought that he was on the road home rather than headed west. He might have been disoriented and confused, then wandering near the river and from there toward the rail road in his attempt to find home.

No trace of him was found except for the dogs indicating his scent in certain areas.

The fact that Jackie seems to have completely disappeared might mean that he was abducted and taken from the area - possibly by a motorist passing through the area on Hwy 23, or possibly by a migrant "hobo" on a passing train. Another scenario might be that he was murdered and his body taken to, or buried in one of the locations indicated by the bloodhounds.

LINK:

map
Click to expand...
I wonder if the place where the bloodhounds hit, closer to his home, was a place he played, maybe with siblings or neighborhood kids.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 94 more.
Total: 3,991 (members: 95, guests: 3,896)

Online statistics

Members online
95
Guests online
3,896
Total visitors
3,991
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
592,494
Messages
17,969,852
Members
228,789
Latest member
Soccergirl500
Back
Top