Found Deceased OH - Harley Dilly, 14, walking to Port Clinton High School, 20 Dec 2019 #4

[Linda7NJ]

Never knew inverted suspension was some sort of actual term, but yes, quite right. I’m reminded of the man in England last year that somehow managed to get up and then caught upside down by one boot. They suspect he was like that for at least 15 hrs before he passed. Man, 53, who hung upside down from chimney for 15 hours died of brain swell

I’m also reminded of Kyle Plush, the 16 yr old that got wedged between a seat and the wall of his minivan while reaching over the seat to grab a tennis racket. He eventually was unable to breathe and passed.

This tears me up, I’ve got way too invested in this case, as I think many of us did. I’m too overcome with grief to even express my rage at how botched this entire investigation went down. I’m sorry, but those are MOO. I appreciate the sincerity and raw emotion the Chief has seemed to have had since the start, but the entire investigation, to me at least, was amateur at best and Harley possibly paid the price of that with his life. There are no words right now really.

The kid that got stuck in the rolled up gym mat trying to retrieve his sneaker

 

[sallye818]

that antenna mast, if it went to the ground which i'd guess it did, would make a perfect ladder.

And then there's this....I just don't see him going down the chimney unless he thought he could and then got trapped. Chimney and Fireplace Sizing

Looks like the first poster had it tagged, while most of us thought like @lindaromas. How in the world? Rest in Heaven, Harley :*(

 

[sallye818]

Double post

 

[BOSCOE]

Very early AM several of us here were going in the direction of Harley gaining entry to that home.

Such a tragedy and my heart breaks for his family. There is not a sole who can say definitively the EXACT dynamics of another person's home. I never once saw concerned neighbors speaking to MSM about any suspicious behavior or bad treatment of Harley. NOT ONCE and I'm certainly not counting all the ridiculous gossip and innuedos elsewhere.

I truly pray this family can recover.

 

[AgeofAquaruis]

I have no words

I do. I'm not allowed to use though.

 

[Darling136]

Police in Port Clinton, Ohio, said Harley Dilly, 14, died after he climbed into the house's chimney on his own and became trapped in a space of about 9 inches by 13 inches, Chief Robert Hickman said.

Missing 14-year-old Ohio boy's body found trapped inside chimney of empty house

 

[holtzmann]

The kid that got stuck in the rolled up gym mat trying to retrieve his sneaker

I don't believe he was trying to retrieve a sneaker in that case, but that's another story...

 

[bellyup]

Y'all, I'm so sick over this. Please note I am 4'11" and 104 pounds, only slightly bigger than Harley. This piece of paper is cut to 9" by 13". I can't imagine. I'm horrified.

Thank you for doing this. It gives a really good size / scale reference.

 

[deugirtni]

Yeah, they didn't search that house. It appeared from the outside that it was secure, but damn, i think you'd want every vacant house searched. I get that's quite a feat, but my gosh.

Especially when a vacant house is 'across the street'!

 

[dkryder]

Question I have is would Harley do this ? I was a risk taker at that age and while I might have climbed the antenna mast and looked down the chimney I would have never gone into it. And from Mom's description of him and his habits going down a chimney seems out of character. Why not just break one of those upper floor windowns and get in that way?

 

[Diddian]

In all fairness, law enforcement did request all property owners do a search of their vacation properties very early on.

I too would have bypassed a house with zero signs of forced entry & locked up tight as a drum.

If I lived across from what I knew to be an unoccupied house and MY KID turned up missing and LE did not gain access to that house to conduct a full search, I would personally track down the owner and make an urgent plea to have that house searched to eliminate it. Otherwise, it would remain an unaddressed issue in my mind and I couldn't live with it.

 

[michmi]

I didn't even know Harley but I could tell from the few videos I watched of him that he is an out-of-the box thinker. Therefore, it was within the realm of possibility for him to have figured out a way into that house, whether it was picking the lockbox (like he livestreamed from his classroom when he wasn't supposed to) or climbing in some other way.

I am not a profiler. I don't even have children. Yet to me it is very possible that a child that smart would have had a hideaway near his home.

 

[MsRydia]

Being female - this makes zero logical sense to me.
Being a mother of a son- I’m not surprised by the act itself, boys do really dumb dangerous stuff.
I’m more shocked he’d enter someone else’s home.

I can’t imagine being his mother. Never laid eyes on him the last time she spoke to him, never got up, never felt his forehead when he said he was sick.
I don’t think I could live with myself & l know I could never forgive myself. What she’s facing is pure hell -

Very well said. Also knowing she did not have his phone fixed, and he could possibly have been saved had he been carrying it. He made a poor choice that wound up tragic, but knowing she could have taken a few easy steps and he would probably still be here ... She has a long struggle ahead of her.

 

[Cubby]

Eta : Accident or not, if they'd looked for Harley that Friday night instead of going out to eat 35 miles away --he'd still be alive.
He could've been stuck in that chimney but wouldn't have died yet.

If they'd checked that house before as the chief of police stated, they'd have found him.
Lazy and inept.

Rsbm

Not necessarily. If he couldn't expand his chest to inhale, he would have died fairly quickly. I honestly don't think he was able to breathe and suffocated shortly after he became trapped.

This isn't anyone's fault. He just made a bad choice, like many teens do, and it was an unfortunate fatal choice.

 

[Gunslinging Granny]

I am having a really hard time accepting that he tried to climb down the chimney. It makes no sense to me. If he was stuck in there, how would the jacket (how would he get it off?) and glasses get past his body and into a room below?

He allegedly didn’t feel well, so he left for somewhere at 6:08 am, and then climbed into a chimney!? He had to have used this house before if he went there on his own this day. If his entry was the chimney before, was it just he got stuck this time? I imagine if it was a close call any other time, he wouldn’t keep using it.

It doesn’t make sense....

This photo came from Holtzman's photo on the previous page. In old homes, there was a fireplace on every floor because this was the home's heat source in the winter. The fireplaces share a common chimney.

 

[Syxanthi]

There is nothing in his history that shows him as a risk taker, if anything the opposite. However teenagers are odd creatures. Only his closest friends will know for sure if this is something he would have done.
I was a habitual runaway and total risk taker as a teen but I wouldn't have tried to get into a house via a chimney.

But this folks is why when my kids say they don't want to go to school, I go and sit and talk with them to find out what's going on. I don't shoo them out the door.

 

[Mandrew]

Perhaps he thought if he could fit down a chimney it'd be fun to film it and put it on YouTube.

 

[bellyup]

Question I have is would Harley do this ? I was a risk taker at that age and while I might have climbed the antenna mast and looked down the chimney I would have never gone into it. And from Mom's description of him and his habits going down a chimney seems out of character. Why not just break one of those upper floor windowns and get in that way?

I'm struggling with how a puffy coat itself wouldn't get stuck? I have a 14 year old. He has a puffy coat. I don't see how in the world it would fall through a 9x13" opening without getting stuck. It would have to be shoved. And that's if the chimney is absolutely straight to the ground floor (most aren't).

 

[yelodoggie]

Empty for 10 years? So it’s not for sale or a rental. Wonder why they don’t sell it if they don’t rent or use it?

owner may be a snowbird. Lives in PC during 3 seasons and goes South for winter.

don't understand how there would be a flue or vent on the second floor with the fireplace on first floor. I wonder if Harley got into the house some other way, left his coat and glasses, went out the way he got in and it locked behind him. Realized his stuff was inside and looked for another way to get in, hence, the chimney.

someone mentioned "he basically starved to death", but if he didn't suffocate, dehydration would have killed him before starvation. 3, maybe 4 days.

 

[Damarna]

DBM after thinking things through