Pressureandheat
Member
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2024
- Messages
- 17
- Reaction score
- 96
Agreed. i always found it odd that he would leave supples near the road, if that is really where they were found. My parents, aunts and uncles don’t really know “exactly” where the bike was found. All the high schoolers went out to help search but again, lots of rumors.Just a few comments on this interesting case:
First, if the make and model of shotgun - and possibly its serial number, if it had one - were known, it might be possible to list it as a stolen firearm and might turn up somewhere along the line. A remote possibility at this late date, but why was it not specified back in the 1965 news reports?
Second, much is made of the tracking dog efforts, even though the dogs took two separate scent paths. My question would be, was it actually Dickie's scent they were following, or simply a scent they picked up near the abandoned bicycle? If the latter was the case, it could mean that someone intentionally dumped the bike and items there and then walked away hoping to misdirect search efforts.
Third, anyone who was as dedicated a hunter as Dickie is reported to have been, certainly would not have dumped his bike and important supplies by a driveway alongside a highway and then proceeded to go hunting without them. It is a possibility that he was abducted at or near the site of the bike and taken away from the area. If the abductor did not take the shotgun, perhaps someone else found and stole it, leaving the rest of the items behind.
Great idea re the gun serial number. I can make some calls go see if it was ever made public the brand, etc. FOIA might be helpful there as well.
In regards to someone happening upon the gun, bike, and stealing the gun. It’s kind of a conundrum. It’s not a highly traveled area. We are talking in the late 80’s, years after this happened, I could ride my bike out there and never see a car, maybe one passerby. But that’s just it, could there have been just one, someone nefarious heading south towards Iowa that grabbed him? In my mind it always seemed highly probable due to never finding his clothing, boots, hat, etc. Some shred of evidence I would think would have eventually floated up. The waters not that deep or big.