TX TX - Norman Lamar Prater, 16, Dallas, 14 Jan 1973

Gardener1850

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[h=1]Norman Lamar Prater[/h]
  • norman_lamar_prater_1.jpg
  • norman_lamar_prater_2.jpg
  • norman_lamar_prater_3.jpg
Norman, circa 1973; Age-progression to age 55 (circa 2011)



  • Missing Since 01/14/1973
  • Missing From Dallas, Texas
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Date of Birth 06/06/1956 (61)
  • Age 16 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'8, 130 pounds
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown or blue eyes. Norman has attached earlobes.


[h=3]Details of Disappearance[/h] Norman was last seen in Dallas, Texas on January 14, 1973. At about midnight, he went to the all-night coffee shop where his mother worked and had a soft drink. He was accompanied by two teenage boys with shoulder-length hair whom his mother didn't recognize, and one older Hispanic man whom she knew by sight.

Norman told his mother he was going home, and he agreed to help her move the next day. He apparently never arrived home and has never been heard from again.

Authorities looked into the possibility that Norman was a victim of the serial killer Dean Corll. Corll, nicknamed the "Candy Man," was responsible for the sexual assault and murder of at least 28 teenage boys and young men in Houston, Texas between 1970 and 1973. Two teenagers, David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, helped lure victims to his house.

Henley shot Corll to death in August 1973. Ultimately, 28 bodies were recovered; one has never been identified. Brooks and Henley were both sentenced to life in prison for their role in the slayings.

Norman lived in Houston with his father during the 1970-1971 school year, in the neighborhood where many of Corll's victims came from, and he attended Jackson Junior High School in Houston, which Henley also went to. After he moved to Dallas to be with his mother, he continued to visit Houston regularly on weekends.

It hasn't been proven that Norman was one of Corll's victims, and none of the recovered corpses turned out to be his. His case remains unsolved.

http://charleyproject.org/case/norman-lamar-prater

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/6542/
 
NamUs MP6542 - Has 20 exclusions as of 3/26/19. Interestingly, only three of those exclusions are from TX, which makes me wonder whether TX just isn't as efficient at updating NamUs as other states (VA, for example). But I digress...

NamUs UP10177 - Matches on age, height, weight, and hair. Found 7/9/73 about 375 miles from where Norman Prater went missing. Not currently listed as an exclusion for Norman.
 
Norman Lamar Prater
NLPrater.jpg
NLPrater1.jpg
1478DMTX.jpg

Images 2 and 3: Age-progressed to 50 and 55 years

Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: January 14, 1973
Location Last Seen: Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Date of Birth: June 6, 1956
Age: 16 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 130 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Earlobes are attached.

Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available

Clothing & Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance: Norman Lamar Prater was last seen leaving his home on January 14, 1973. He said he would be back in a short while but he never returned
 
From the above posts........

Norman was last seen in Dallas, Texas on January 14, 1973. At about midnight, he went to the all-night coffee shop where his mother worked and had a soft drink. He was accompanied by two teenage boys with shoulder-length hair whom his mother didn't recognise, and one older Hispanic man whom she knew by sight.

Norman told his mother he was going home, and he agreed to help her move the next day. He apparently never arrived home and has never been heard from again.


OR

Norman Lamar Prater was last seen leaving his home on January 14, 1973. He said he would be back in a short while but he never returned

The discrepancies on some of the cases is unbelievable.....surely can, and has, only made a lot of them harder to solve..... or maybe shows how little effort has ever gone into some of them...very sad.

Also found this....
29th victim of Candy Man 'revealed' after photo of a terrified handcuffed young boy discovered | Daily Mail Online



 
From the above posts........

Norman was last seen in Dallas, Texas on January 14, 1973. At about midnight, he went to the all-night coffee shop where his mother worked and had a soft drink. He was accompanied by two teenage boys with shoulder-length hair whom his mother didn't recognise, and one older Hispanic man whom she knew by sight.

Norman told his mother he was going home, and he agreed to help her move the next day. He apparently never arrived home and has never been heard from again.


OR

Norman Lamar Prater was last seen leaving his home on January 14, 1973. He said he would be back in a short while but he never returned

The discrepancies on some of the cases is unbelievable.....surely can, and has, only made a lot of them harder to solve..... or maybe shows how little effort has ever gone into some of them...very sad.

Also found this....
29th victim of Candy Man 'revealed' after photo of a terrified handcuffed young boy discovered | Daily Mail Online


I wonder who this man is...”and one older Hispanic man whom she knew by sight.”

Norman is thought to possibly be a victim of Corll’s, then who is this Hispanic man?
 
Could work. I don’t understand this:
Estimated Year of Death: 1950-2005
Estimated PMI: 6 Months

Does that mean at least 6 months? IDK. The UID also had a cleft lip/palate and a missing front tooth. Are you thinking Norman lived awhile following his disappearance?
I don't understand either. However, I've seen it many times on NamUs. I suppose six months is a minimum.
To be honest, that's the only John Doe in Texas that fits the parameters I could find... excluding Corrl's unidentified victim.
 
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article261374552.html

Vanished: 10 of the oldest unsolved missing children cases in Fort Worth and Dallas

More than 350 children from Texas are considered missing, with kidnappings and disappearances going back to the 1950s, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

These 10 children from Fort Worth, Dallas, Arlington and Grand Prairie are among the oldest unsolved disappearances. They each vanished more than 20 years ago.

If you have any information about any of these cases, call 911 or the 24-hour tip line: 800-843-5678. You can also report suspected abuse and other information at missingkids.org.

1674770724852.png
Missing since: Jan. 14, 1973
Dallas
Born: June 6, 1956
Age now: 65
Race: White

Norman’s photo is shown age-progressed to 55 years. The 16-year-old was last seen leaving his home on Jan. 14, 1973. He said he would be back in a short while but he never returned. Norman has not been seen or heard from since.
 
I wonder who this man is...”and one older Hispanic man whom she knew by sight.”

Norman is thought to possibly be a victim of Corll’s, then who is this Hispanic man?
Oh weird yes who is the Hispanic man?
 

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