Identified! OR - Ashland, WhtMale 1144UMOR, 1-2, in reservoir, Down Syndrome, Jul'63 - Stevie Crawford

[anthrobones]

I looked on Doe Network and Charley Project...no matches. :-(

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Originally posted by "dreamweaver" on 11/6

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs...NEWS/809140328

Unidentified 2 yr old boy, found east of Ashland, Or , 1963.


"
Investigators working to identify a boy found dead in Keene Creek Reservoir 45 years ago have dipped back into old case files while they await results from new forensic technology.
In August, a Jackson County Sheriff's Department team exhumed the toddler, whom a fisherman had pulled from the reservoir in the hills east of Ashland in July 1963, from an unmarked grave at Hillcrest Memorial Park.


"

 

[kline]

What a tragic story.I hope this little boy is given a name.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Bumping for this child. He was just recently added to NCMEC:

http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...seNum=1104614&orgPrefix=NCMU&searchLang=en_US

 

[gaia227]

bumping.

It is a long way from home but William Jones went missing from his families back yard in December 1962 in NJ. It is hard to tell because there are no pictures but I can enough of a resemblence here.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/j/jones_william.html

 

[anthrobones]

There is a reconstruction available now.

 

[badhorsie]

Bumping for this baby boy who just breaks my heart
Mine died 01/10/87, what I would have given for a little one like this...

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Bumping for this little guy. Doe Network says he was found on July 11. NCMEC says he was found on July 22. Either way, he's been unidentified for far too long. 48 years this month.

http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...NCMU&seqNum=1&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US

 

[pdxmama]

Just came across this little one on NCMEC. He reminds me so much of my little boy it is painful to look at him.

I agree with other posters that this is probably a parent who put him there, I can't see any other reason for him not being reported missing.

RIP little guy, there are still lots of people who care about you.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

For The Missing: Pacific Northwest
This little boy was found deceased near Ashland, Oregon 49 years ago. He is still unidentified today.


NCMEC - UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Ashland OR, 1963

On July 23, 1963, an unidentified deceased male child, 22-26 months old, was recovered from the Keene Creek Reservoir along Highway 66 in the mountains of Ashland, Oregon. His body was wrapped in an aqua blanket and a handmade quilt. He remains unidentified to this day.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

50 years and still no name.

 

[Lilibet]

Poor little boy with no name! I spent last evening looking up local cold cases and ran across this one. After the renewed investigation in 2008-2009, there has been nothing new and the case is back to being a cold case. I wish there could be a new media blitz. This little boy would be about 54 years old now, so adults who knew him in 1961-62 are getting into their '70's (not ancient ), but time is running out.

There was a wealth of information gained during the investigation eight years ago, but it didn't lead anywhere at the time. Most of the articles linked here previously from the Medford Mail Tribune are gone or behind a paywall. However, I found a link that gives the text and photos from all the articles at that time. I know posting full text is a problem here with copywrite law, but I hope we can make an exception and that posting it will result in renewed interest here on WS at least. :findinglink:

http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/index.php?showtopic=35940

 

[carbuff]

He has a Namus page now: https://identifyus.org/en/cases/5562

One ruleout, A. J. Campell of Texas.

He has DNA available and dentals elsewhere.

 

[4SAM]

So there was no bruising, no broken bones. Could this have been a natural death and if he did have down syndrome, maybe he was kept a secret from other family members/public. So no one would have known about him except parents?

 

[carbuff]

I think that's quite likely.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

So there was no bruising, no broken bones. Could this have been a natural death and if he did have down syndrome, maybe he was kept a secret from other family members/public. So no one would have known about him except parents?

A natural death is very possible. Down Syndrome varies tremendously in terms of its severity and there are a number of serious health issued associated with it including heart defects, gastrointestinal problems, epilepsy and compromised immune systems. 50+ years ago treatment of these issues was much less advanced than today and few people with the conditions were expected to live much past their late teens or early 20s. Why a parent would dump the body of a child if he did die of natural causes is anyone's guess. Panic, maybe, and fear of being accused of "doing something" to him.

Since Downs is strongly associated with older mothers we can probably rule out a teenager.

Ante-natal screening for Downs was not available until the late 1960s so this child's mother would have had no warning that anything was wrong with her baby.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9494915

 

[GirlMarlowe]

Nobody's Child

So many questions! So many things to think about!

To start with, I don't think the Mrs. Cecil Johnson lead should be completely ruled out yet. If this boy really was born to a teenager who was described as "mentally retarded", that could explain his syndrome. They must not have had a proper diagnosis for mother or child back then.

Someone had to have been caring for him, right down to the plastic pants and Jumping Jacks shoes. How much did they cost back then, compared to now? Were they considered cheap, or on the expensive side?

The red striped shirt and the quilt. Had his favorite color been red?

Some abused children have had nice clothes, prescription eyeglasses, braces, and the like. This boy may have been no different in that, except that he was a toddler with special needs. His clothing and the choice of shoes SEEMINGLY implies that this boy had an active life and was taken out regularly - perhaps not as big a secret as the Boy In The Box had been to young "M".

If his passing was natural, perhaps his caregivers weren't able to afford a funeral, but had used money to spoil the baby some, not knowing how long he had to live, given his health.

How were they doing financially? Could they have pinched pennies to use the money for his final set of clothes he was dressed in? Why not a suit? Unless they wanted to send him off in his favorite clothes -- or, if he had already been wearing them, simply panicked and didn't think to change him out of his old ones.

When he passed, either accidentally or naturally, a good fraction of the sympathetic public eye would have been accusatory toward those they knew were closest to the child. Something had to be done, but he needed a quiet sendoff. "None of that dumping in the woods or in the trash. No need to be accused of not watching him properly..."

One could look up records for the Cecil Johnson family online. I wonder if anyone in the area still remembers them.

Another question - who worked with iron that they had knowledge of where to get weights like that from?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Bumping case up. His image from NamUs:.

 

[JovanSrna]

Human remains found at Multnomah Falls identified after 42 years
Parabon NanoLabs is working on this case. There's high optimism that it will be solved in the following months.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Human remains found at Multnomah Falls identified after 42 years
Parabon NanoLabs is working on this case. There's high optimism that it will be solved in the following months.

Snipped from the above -
Parabon is currently working on the oldest unidentified remains case in the state – a toddler's bones found in Jackson County in 1963. “That one is in process,” Vance said. “We believe we may be able to solve that one in the next few months.”