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

[GirlMarlowe]

Next few months?! Hooray! Soon, little man, you’ll have your name back!

 

[Lilibet]

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?

It turns out that the child the Johnson’s fostered grew up here in the Rogue Valley and was adopted at 13. He was alive and well when this article was written in 2008!

'PeeWee' alive, well

 

[snowgoose]

A new facial reconstruction for this child was added to NamUs recently, with DNA phenotyping by Parabon.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[GirlMarlowe]

Just adorable. :-(

 

[devertere]

Someone on reddit just posted that his family is related to the boy and he has been - inofficialy - identified.

LE is waiting for confirmation by DNA.

 

[GirlMarlowe]

Oh, this is wonderful news. How exciting to be so close to confirmation!

 

[LucyOso]

Hopefully there will be a resolution.

 

[JasonFutchLakeCityFL]

.

 

[JasonFutchLakeCityFL]

Dr. Vance reached out to me unsolicited, to inform me of the rumors surrounding the case. This is the current information as of right now. Please understand that as of right now, there is no ID.

 

[snowgoose]

This identification is going to be tough for family members, I would think. Rather than mourning a missing loved one, they're going to be faced with mourning a child they likely never knew about AND the strong possibility that someone in their family tree was responsible for his death.

 

[taramarie]

Identified at Stevie Crawford. Sounds like he was likely murdered by his mother, sweet boy <3

‘Boy in a bundle’ cold case from 1963 solved | KOIN.com

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Rest in peace, Stevie.

 

[MadMcGoo]

‘Boy in a bundle’ cold case from 1963 solved | KOIN.com

Stevie had family members in New Mexico who told detectives the boy had Downs Syndrome. His mother returned from a tirp [sic] and told family members they wouldn’t have to worry about Stevie anymore.

So tragic. Rest peacefully now little Stevie.

 

[JennyJukes]

Is there an article accessible in the UK/Europe, or could someone post the article contents? Thank you.


RIP little Stevie

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I wonder what explanation his mother gave, because I can't access the article.
Poor little guy. It shouldn't have taken this long for the truth to come to light; his life mattered as much as anyone's.

 

[carbuff]

I wonder what explanation his mother gave, because I can't access the article.
Poor little guy. It shouldn't have taken this long for the truth to come to light; his life mattered as much as anyone's.

The article really doesn't say any more than that. It's only a few paragraphs and mostly about the history of the case. The mother is deceased.

"Fagan [detective] told KOIN 6 News that Stevie’s family members plan on returning his remains from Medford back to New Mexico to be buried in a family plot 58 years after his body was found in a bundle in Keene Creek."

 

[Andreee]

‘Boy in a bundle’ cold case from 1963 solved | KOIN.com

 

[Sierras]

Precious little Stevie. Rest in peace little guy.

 

[GirlMarlowe]

Stevie Crawford. Rest in sweet peace, little guy.

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

Such a beautiful name you had. Rest in peace, Stevie.