TX TX - Dorien Thomas, 9, Amarillo, 26 Oct 1998

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Name: Dorien Deon Thomas
Case Number: A9810009
Case Type: Involuntary - Non-Family Abduction
Last Seen in: Amarillo (Potter County)
Last Seen on: 10/26/1998
Height: 4' 0 "
Weight: 60 lbs.
Age Missing: 9
Eye Color: Black
Hair Color: Black
Date of Birth: 5/6/1989
Race: Black
Sex: Male
State Missing From: Texas
Country Missing From: USA

Circumstances: Dorien has a scar on the inside of his right knee. He was last seen on his aqua blue bicycle with white tires. Dorien was wearing a red shirt, blue jeans and white/black tennis shoes.

Additional information:

Circumstances: Dorien was last seen riding his aqua blue bicycle with white tires along 9th and Libscomb Streets in Amarillo, TX around 5:30pm. He told the friends he was with that he was going to go see another friend and has not been seen or heard from since. His bicycle has not yet been recovered.


Article from 2000

Full story: http://amarillo.com/stories/102800/new_boyremains.shtml

Dorien's name surfaced in the files of an unsolved murder case. According to APD records, Dorien was the person who found the body of Gloria Ann Covington in 1997 in Hilltop Park, more than a year before he disappeared. Police have posted a photograph of Covington on a billboard along Amarillo Boulevard in hopes of finding clues to her death.

Tips flooded the Amarillo Police Department shortly after Dorien became missing in 1998. Two years later, the calls are sporadic and always lead detectives back to the same place.


More.......

http://www.surflocal.net/AmarilloTX/Amarillo Crime Stoppers Inc/Missing Persons.html

Dorien Thomas

In the early evening hours of October 27, 1998 , officers were sent on a missing child at the intersection of NW 9th and Lipscomb. Upon arrival, it was determined that 9 year old Dorien Deon Thomas had been missing for over 24 hours. Dorien was last seen on October 26th, near his home on an aqua blue bicycle. He was wearing a red shirt and blue jeans. An extensive search was conducted all over Amarillo , but Dorien has never been found. Foul play is suspected in this case, and no new leads have come forward. Dorien is currently listed on the Missing and Exploited Children’s website, and has been featured on the television show “ America ’s Most Wanted”.
 
Update on missing children in Amarillo

There are several cases in Amarillo that didn't meet that criteria to have an Amber alert issued and because of that police need your help finding three missing children.

Dorien Thomas went missing in 1998, at the age of nine, when he was riding his bike in north Amarillo.

"The last time he was seen or known of he was going to the Toot N Totum there at Boulevard and Hughes, he was going to go get a drink and some chips," said Lt. Gary Trupe.

[snip]

Officers say there is little hope Dorien may still be alive but they will continue searching for him until that is proven.

"We would like to find Dorien, we would like to be able to, if somebody did murder him, arrest that person, I think someday we'll find Dorien I just don't know where," said Lt. Trupe.

More: http://www.newschannel10.com/Global/story.asp?S=13841854
 
Bumping for Dorien.

I remember when this happened but when I ask my friends around town if they remember it sadly most don't recall or know about this little boy. I wish there was more we could do but unfortunately there just isn't much information. The area he disappeared from is not a great area now and wasn't in 1998 either. Did it have anything to do with little Dorien finding the body of a murdered woman? Was he abducted because he knew or saw something else? That murder is still unsolved as well. Was this just a random kidnapping? A family member as statistics would suggest? There is just no direction at all. What happened to you Dorien?
 
While doing a little more reading on Dorien I found something that I hadn't previously seen. Looks like this very well could be related to the murder victim that Dorien found! Looks like he may have seen the suspect in a previous unrelated assault on another woman before any murders took place. It alludes to a possible "serial" killer type scenario among a couple of Amarillo prostitutes. Poor Dorien...if this is the case...you didn't deserve to get wrapped up in adult situations and pay for it with your life (I believe Dorien is no longer with us).


http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/t/thomas_dorien.html
 
Dorien has been missing for over 17 years now.

The only strong piece of information that they have released is that he discovered a body a little over a year before he disappeared. While that information is public now, was it made public prior to his disappearance? Usually, they don't publish the name of a person who makes a discovery like that particularly if it's a child. The perpetrator of the homicide may not have even known that Dorien specifically found the body. The story of that witness stopping by his mother's residence adds credibility to it though. Hopefully they can uncover the truth soon.
 
Cold Case Spotlight

18 Years Later, Missing Amarillo Boy Dorien Thomas's Disappearance Still Waiting to be Solved

"When I come into my office every day, I see the cold case file at the back of our office," Lt. Bohannon told Dateline NBC. "The reason I keep them there, is because it's a constant reminder that we need to work on them."

One of the cases waiting to be cracked is that of nine-year-old Dorien Thomas.

It has been 18 years since Dorien disappeared, but Lt. Bohannon remembers that October distinctly. At the time, he was a relatively new officer working on the bicycle squad.

After Thomas was reported missing the morning of October 27, an enormous search effort was launched.

"I had never been involved in an operation on a massive scale like this. It was multi-agency, multi-officer. We even had air support." Bohannon said the community also banded together to help find Thomas, to no avail.

Bohannon still hopes to find Dorien alive, "But if he's not, I want to make an appropriate DNA identification for Dorien," he says.

"I will never give up on him. Maybe at some point in time, somebody will come forward with that one little thing that we need to solve the case." Until then, the lieutenant will pass the cold case shelf every day and think of Dorien, forever nine, waiting.
 
The murdered women were prostitutes, I see it as a bit far fetched that someone would go after Dorian though. The killer has never been identified and the murders are still unsolved.

He dissapeared with his bike, and neither's been found. How was his home situation? the article said it's unclear how he went missing. Couldve been while riding the bike or at his grandmother residence. His grandmother was apparently a white woman. He was street smart, I suppose he spent alot of time outside and knew his enviroenment. How was the neigbourhood? if murders were comitted there it can't have been the best of places.

This is how the street look like where he lived. Looks like a poor neighboorhood
Google Maps
 
Remains Found Didn't Help Give Amarillo Family Closure

So when news of this came out Tuesday afternoon there is always talk. Who is it? What happened? Sometimes this kind of news can lead to some closure for a family.
The name I saw come up a lot was wondering if maybe we finally can say we located Dorien Thomas. Where that would usually not be good news that these remains were found. I think in this situation the family would like some closure.
These remains were located on the North side of Amarillo which is the area Dorien went missing from. He was last seen with his bike riding around his neighborhood.
All we can do is hope.

That was until news came out that the skull that was found was of an adult male. The skull had been in the lake bed for about a year. That news makes it impossible for it to be Dorien.
 
Dec 29 2022
''The Amarillo Police Department announced Dec. 20 that it is establishing a Cold Case investigation unit, in hopes that the work of the investigators will allow APD to find new leads and bring peace to loved ones of victims.

According to APD, this unit was created in part due to the technological developments allowing more advanced research and testing capabilities. The new unit will be a part of the APD Homicide Unit and currently consists of officer Jimmy Rifenberg. APD stated that the new unit will allow Rifenberg to focus on solving area murder cases that had previously been stalled by lack of evidence or viable leads.

In total, Amarillo currently has 49 unsolved homicides dating back to the 1950s. According to the police department, evolving technology has made it possible to find new evidence in cases that were previously unsolved.''

rbbm.
Read More: The Unsolved Murder Cases in Amarillo, Texas | These Are The Victims of Unsolved Murders in Amarillo, Texas
''There is an unproven connection between Jackson's murder, the unsolved murder of Gloria Ann Covington (not featured in this list due to no available photograph) and the well-known disappearance of Dorien Thomas, who vanished in October 1997.

From the charleyproject.org,

"Dorien was one of the children who discovered the body of Gloria Ann Covington in August of 1997, more than one year prior to his disappearance. Dorien was playing in Hilltop Park in Amarillo with friends when they came across Covington's remains behind the YMCA building. She had been stabbed to death.

Covington's friend witnessed her murder and was assaulted herself during the crime. She said that Covington was attacked inside a light-colored pickup truck before her murder. Linda Gayle Jackson was killed one month after Covington's death. Witnesses reported that she entered a vehicle similar to the truck involved in Covington's case. Both women's homicides remain unsolved."


ETA new threads.. ( possibly associated with one another as referenced in articles.)

 
Last edited:
While efforts to have his life and legacy commemorated by having a street or park named after Dorien, which you can read about here, there is also interest in this case for “The Macabre Club”.
 

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