IL IL - Paul Love, 22, Galesburg, 2 Oct 1947

NOTE: I did several different tag searches and nothing popped up for Paul. Mods please merge if I missed a thread for him.

The Doe Network:
Case File 4263DMIL

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/4263dmil.html

Paul Gordon Love
Missing since October 2, 1947 from Galesburg, Illinois
Classification: Missing


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Vital Statistics

•Age at Time of Disappearance: 22 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'6"; 140 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White male.


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Circumstances of Disappearance
Paul Love disappeared from the University of Illinois Galesburg branch on October 2, 1947.
Paul Love of Hinsdale registered at the U of I branch campus on the grounds of the former Mayo Hospital in Galesburg following his release from the Army during World War II.
He was last seen in downtown Galesburg where he attempted to cash a check at a music store for the purchase of a record. The request to cash the check was declined and Love said he would be back later.

The state police mobile laboratory carrying grappling and diving equipment was brought in to help search both Lake Storey and Lake Bracken. When the search of the countryside failed to produce any results, local, state and federal authorities continued the search with no results.

Six years after the disappearance of Paul Love, human bones were discovered on a farm three miles east of Wataga. Naturally speculation was that the remains might be those of the missing student. Another report linking the bones to the missing student was the examination of a .22-caliber Marlin rifle that was discovered near the scene of the bones. Finally in early March 1953 it was concluded the remains were not those of Love. The conclusion was arrived at by comparison of dental records.

Source Information:
Unsolved in the News
Galesburg.com

Paul is not listed in Charley Project, one of their requirements to publish a missing persons flyer is that an LE entity must be investigating. IIRC.

Not found to be listed in NamUs at this time.

http://unsolveditn.blogspot.com/2010/05/tom-wilson-galesburg-student-vanishes.html
This blog has scanned articles from the 1940's that can't be accessed in google archives.

http://www.galesburg.com/columnists/x968919244/Tom-Wilson-Galesburg-student-vanishes-without-a-trace
By TOM WILSON
The Register-Mail
Posted May 15, 2010 @ 08:02 AM
NOTE: Very good details at article linked above.

Paul has been missing almost 63 years. Did he leave and start life elsewhere or did meet with foul play or an accident? Come home soon.

This is so sad ... so many years and no clues... It seems like he met up with some foul play downtown- maybe someone who offered to take him to cash his check? I pray for resolution for him and his poor family.

I tried looking everywhere I could for further info on Mr. Love. I also searched around for info on the other missing two people and came up empty. All very strange.

Stella said:

I tried looking everywhere I could for further info on Mr. Love. I also searched around for info on the other missing two people and came up empty. All very strange.

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I went to college near Galesburg and found it strange that I also havn't heard of this case. I've heard of several others from ths town and others nearby. My college newspaper even ran stories like his during halloween. I even have friends from this area that have lived their whole lives in or near Galesburg, I'll ask if they have ever heard of this case.

lieber - not to take this off topic but have you ever heard of any from Macomb?

Claudette said:

lieber - not to take this off topic but have you ever heard of any from Macomb?

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Yes, I have why? I actually graduated from Western Illinois University in Macomb. I do have a lot of friends from Galesburg and I did ask and they were not familiar with this case. I visited Galesburg a lot as a college student because it was one of the bigger towns near Macomb. If any are not familiar with this area it is very rural. When people think of Illinois they either think Chicago or Springfield (I actually lived there and grew up about an hour from Springfield). I have lived in St.Louis for five years now and everytime I go home I am spooked by how rural it is. I'll be running my dogs and get spooked at the littlest thing. At night can't sleep. I grew up here with well water, satellite cable, dial up, thats how rural it is. We owned I don't know how many acres. Galesburg is also very rural the biggest town for several miles. Several might be an understatement. Last time I was home (thanksgiving) I told my family I would be taking my dog for a run and they said okay but be careful because it was bow and arrow season. What, but they said it was out in the open and how anyone could mistake me and my dog for a deer (I own a yorkie). They also stated if it was next week or the week after they wouldn't advise me to go running with my dog as it was shotgun season. Well I'm running my dog and we had been running probrably 40 minutes and I hear shotguns. You bet I ran like hell.

Bumping for Paul. Strange case that I'm surprised passed underneath my radar all these years. I'm from Chicago and attended Western Illinois University as well. Can anyone fill in some of the blanks after all these years?

Any info on remains found in 1953? Where buried?
was the .22 traced?
Were the dental records up to date?

Bumping for Paul. It's been years since anyone posted about him. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anything new on him. I'm including a link for his case on the missing veterans site, but it's pretty much the same information that has already been posted.
http://www.missingveterans.com/1947/paul-gordon-love/

The links in #1 above are now dead. However http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/index.php?showtopic=57922 contains a post with what seems to be the story from one of those sources.

Paul Gordon Love was born in Marcell, Iowa on 3 September 1925 (from Ancestry). I am wondering if this should be Minnesota as I cannot find one in Iowa. Either way I assume there is an Iowa connection which would explain the boy scouts in the story coming from Iowa to join the search.

What rotten luck....you get back having survived WWII and you go missing leaving a record store.

Has anyone considered that he was never missing? It all happened in 1947 when record keeping was pitiful. Someone might be missing for a week and then comes home and no one bothers to call the police or if they did the officer on the line replied "great to hear" and hangs up. The guy moves and lives the rest of his life without attracting any attention.

Be very leery about missing persons cases before 1970.

Falcon500 said:

Has anyone considered that he was never missing? It all happened in 1947 when record keeping was pitiful. Someone might be missing for a week and then comes home and no one bothers to call the police or if they did the officer on the line replied "great to hear" and hangs up. The guy moves and lives the rest of his life without attracting any attention.

Be very leery about missing persons cases before 1970.

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This is a very fair point in general; however I suspect that it would have been well reported had he reappeared. A search involving 2500 boy scouts, mobilised by the boys father, would have ensured an unusually high profile for this case at the time.

Paul Love
Missing from: Galesburg
General Information
Missing Since October 2, 1947
Age Then: 22
Age Now: 94
Gender: Male
Race: Caucasian
Height: 5'5-5'7"
Weight: 140-145 lbs
Hair Color(s):Brown
Eye Color(s):Brown
Circumstances

Paul Love disappeared from the University of Illinois Galesburg branch on October 2, 1947.
Paul Love of Hinsdale registered at the U of I branch campus on the grounds of the former Mayo Hospital in Galesburg following his release from the Army during World War II.
He was last seen in downtown Galesburg where he attempted to cash a check at a music store for the purchase of a record. The request to cash the check was declined and Love said he would be back later.

A letter was received from a motorist from Mt. Pleasant, stating that on October 8th, the day after Love vanished he picked up a hitchhiker answering the description of Love. He told the motorist he lived in a suburb of Chicago and was heading for Hollywood, CA.

Links:

Paul Love - Missing From: Galesburg - Missing Since:October 2, 1947

Paul Gordon Love

If the hitchhiker was indeed Paul Love, I wonder where he was dropped off?

Paul Love



Paul Gordon Love - Newspapers.com

Richard said:

A letter was received from a motorist from Mt. Pleasant, stating that on October 8th, the day after Love vanished he picked up a hitchhiker answering the description of Love. He told the motorist he lived in a suburb of Chicago and was heading for Hollywood, CA.

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Alleykins said:

If the hitchhiker was indeed Paul Love, I wonder where he was dropped off?

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Was Paul known to hitchhike? Is that how he got to the record store in town?

I hate to say it, but I'm suspicious of that letter. If the hitchhiker was indeed Paul, why would he randomly want to go to Hollywood about 1,900 miles away? I realize hitchhiking was more common in the 1940s, but what are the chances that someone in a "very rural" community wants to hitchhike to Hollywood? Would they really expect someone there available to take them? It just seems like a story intended to throw off investigators, literally to the other side of the country.

Also, it doesn't sound like this person actually ever came forward physically, just anonymously. I realize some people just don't want to get involved, but to me, it just adds to the suspicion.

Mt. Pleasant is a little over an hour away from Galesburg. Maybe Paul hitched a ride from the person who sent the letter and ran into foul play with them.

I agree he may have just moved and lived somewhere else keeping a low profile... However, Why? Was he depressive or worried about something? Surviving WWII seems to be something stressful (yeah, euphemism of the decade), so he may have developed PTSD and he possibly didn't know what to do or how to ask for help; add that it wasn't considered a disorder back then... Maybe a fresh start was the only option he could see. But we don't know for sure if he was depressive or stressed.

What about the bones? Were they ever identified? I've been unable to find them on NamUs.

Unidentified remains were located in a Galesburg home's attic. Maybe this will help answer the question of what happened to Paul.
EBM to reflect title change of UID thread.

IL - IL - Bones found in attic during renovations, 400 block E. Losey Street, Galesburg 14 Aug 2021

YaYa_521 said:

Unidentified remains were located in a Galesburg home's attic. Maybe this will help answer the question of what happened to Paul.
EBM to reflect title change of UID thread.

IL - IL - Bones found in attic during renovations, 400 block E. Losey Street, Galesburg 14 Aug 2021

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I wonder if this old home ever had ties to the University of Illinois Galesburg? Could it have been used at extension offices or maybe fraternity or sorority housing?