NY NY - Richard Cox, 21, West Point, 14 Jan 1950
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10 Hudson Valley Mysteries That Remain Unsolved to This Day
What is known is that Cox was born in Ohio and joined the Army in 1946. He was posted near the new, post-war border between East and West Germany, as an intelligence officer. According to the 1999 book Oblivion: The Mystery of West Point Cadet Richard Cox, by Henry Maihafer, Cox served with another army official who was mysteriously known as “George.”
In 1947, Cox received his appointment to West Point. On Saturday, Jan. 7 1950, a man phoned Cox’s classmate Peter Hains looking for Cox. The caller’s “tone was rough and patronizing, almost insulting,” Hains told Maihafer. “Well, look, when he comes in, tell him to come on down here to the hotel,” the caller said. “Just tell him George called — he’ll know who I am. We knew each other in Germany. I’m just up here for a little while, and tell him I’d like to get him a bite to eat.”
Cox got the message and met George in Grant Hall. The two men went to George’s car, which was parked on the West Point campus, and drank whiskey; later Cox forged his time log so that it would appear that he had attended the 6:30 p.m. cadet supper formation, which he had missed — a violation of the Cadet Honor Code that may have gotten him expelled. George made a second visit to Cox the next day, and on Jan. 14, he came by again. The two left the grounds, and Cox vanished. His disappearance was big news for time, until Cox was declared legally dead in 1957.
A retired schoolteacher named Marshall Jacobs dug into the mystery in the mid-1980s, interviewing Cox’s family, friends, and classmates; CIA, FBI, and CID agents; and West Point and Army officials; and pouring over files acquired through the Freedom of Information Act. He then collaborated with Maihafer on the book. The end result: “Jacobs decided he had learned all he was going to,” Maihafer writes, “and he accepted the fact that neither he nor anyone else would ever know the full story.”
Cox is the only West Point cadet who ever disappeared without being found dead or alive.
The Missing Cadet
On Jan. 14, 1950, second-year Cadet Richard Colvin Cox left his dormitory at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point to meet a friend for dinner. He was never seen again. Was he murdered? Was he abducted by the Soviets as part of some Cold War espionage plot? Those were just some of the theories that “explained” his disappearance.What is known is that Cox was born in Ohio and joined the Army in 1946. He was posted near the new, post-war border between East and West Germany, as an intelligence officer. According to the 1999 book Oblivion: The Mystery of West Point Cadet Richard Cox, by Henry Maihafer, Cox served with another army official who was mysteriously known as “George.”
In 1947, Cox received his appointment to West Point. On Saturday, Jan. 7 1950, a man phoned Cox’s classmate Peter Hains looking for Cox. The caller’s “tone was rough and patronizing, almost insulting,” Hains told Maihafer. “Well, look, when he comes in, tell him to come on down here to the hotel,” the caller said. “Just tell him George called — he’ll know who I am. We knew each other in Germany. I’m just up here for a little while, and tell him I’d like to get him a bite to eat.”
Cox got the message and met George in Grant Hall. The two men went to George’s car, which was parked on the West Point campus, and drank whiskey; later Cox forged his time log so that it would appear that he had attended the 6:30 p.m. cadet supper formation, which he had missed — a violation of the Cadet Honor Code that may have gotten him expelled. George made a second visit to Cox the next day, and on Jan. 14, he came by again. The two left the grounds, and Cox vanished. His disappearance was big news for time, until Cox was declared legally dead in 1957.
A retired schoolteacher named Marshall Jacobs dug into the mystery in the mid-1980s, interviewing Cox’s family, friends, and classmates; CIA, FBI, and CID agents; and West Point and Army officials; and pouring over files acquired through the Freedom of Information Act. He then collaborated with Maihafer on the book. The end result: “Jacobs decided he had learned all he was going to,” Maihafer writes, “and he accepted the fact that neither he nor anyone else would ever know the full story.”
Cox is the only West Point cadet who ever disappeared without being found dead or alive.
LINK:
Oblivion: The Mystery of West Point Cadet Richard Cox
On Saturday, January 14, 1950, at 6:18 p.m., Cadet Rich…
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