IL IL - James 'Jimmy' Howell, 9, Sterling, 28 May 1969

Satch

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Greetings Everyone,

Did not see a previous thread, so I am starting a new thread to help find out information concerning the disappearance of James, "Jimmy" Howell. A nine year old boy, who vanished while playing outside his home in May of 1969, when his sister went inside to look for tools, as they were going to build a birdhouse together. Here is what Charley Project has on the case:

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/howell_james.html

Satch
 
James Howell, 9, Missing 28 May 1969 from Sterling, IL

-------------------------------------------------------

James Howell
Missing 28 May 1969
From Sterling, IL

Vital Statistics

Age: 9
DOB: 28 October 1959
Sex: Male
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 4 ft 5 in
Weight: 79 lbs

Source
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Hotline: 1-800-843-5678
 
I-Team: Several Illinois children missing for more than 35 years

There are currently 25 cases of Illinois children who have been missing for a decade or more like three girls who were recently found in Cleveland.

[snip]

James Richard Howell has been missing for 44 years. Howell was only 9-years-old, living with his family in Sterling in western Illinois. He was outside their home playing with his sister. She went inside to get something and he vanished.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=9093935
 
NCMC872770e1.jpg


http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...aseNum=872770&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US
 
What I remember about this case,

Were some of the conflicting accounts I read about. Some reports say Jimmy was actually seen by neighbors later in the day. Some say that Jimmy was seen earlier in the day carrying a pigeon under his arm before he vanished. If he was seen later in the day, if those accounts are true, I have often wondered, why didn't friends or neighbors call out to him and say, "Jimmy, your parents have been looking all over for you?" I have read accounts that people SAW him, but none CALLED OUT TO HIM. Some accounts I remember reading say that there's inconsistent information as to who else was home at the residence when Jimmy vanished.

It is said that Jimmy's sister went inside the house for "just a minute" and the boards were scattered along the side of the street. Had Jimmy walked out to the presumably the front of the house and was possibly lured into a car within a microscopic amount of time? Could Jimmy have been snatched from behind, causing the him to drop the boards in a horrified and startled state? Was Jimmy's sister possibly inside their house for more than a minute or so, and over the years, she has said only a minute because of the horror of what happened? If she was inside for a longer period of time. maybe it would be too painful for her to think she felt she neglected to watch her brother?

If the time interval was as short as it was, this creates an awareness of the pain and devastation of how quickly an abduction can occur. I am not placing any accusations of neglect on anybody! I would like to try to get some confirmation of evidence concerning what responsible persons, (of reasonable age to watch little kids) or adults were home at the time this incident happened?

Satch
 
Greetings Everyone,

Did not see a previous thread, so I am starting a new thread to help find out information concerning the disappearance of James, "Jimmy" Howell. A nine year old boy, who vanished while playing outside his home in May of 1969, when his sister went inside to look for tools, as they were going to build a birdhouse together. Here is what Charley Project has on the case:

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/howell_james.html

Satch

One thing that seems off to me,

Charlie Project says, "a neighbor reported Jimmy's disappearance to police, after his parents spent all day searching for him." Wouldn't the parents be the ones to call the police with the initial report?

The case, according to Charlie Project, was active in 1998 with the family taking and passing polygraph tests. That seems a long time to take a polygraph test! Did anyone in the family take a previous polygraph test? What were the results? I am not placing any blame on the family, just observations related to this sad case.

Satch
 
One thing that seems off to me,

Charlie Project says, "a neighbor reported Jimmy's disappearance to police, after his parents spent all day searching for him." Wouldn't the parents be the ones to call the police with the initial report?

The case, according to Charlie Project, was active in 1998 with the family taking and passing polygraph tests. That seems a long time to take a polygraph test! Did anyone in the family take a previous polygraph test? What were the results? I am not placing any blame on the family, just observations related to this sad case.

Satch

Here are some things that are known and others that are contradictory:


JAMES HOWELL
DETAILS
When Debra went into the house for the hammer and nails, to help her brother build a birdhouse. She had no idea it would be the last time she would ever see her brother Jimmy.

There have been conflicting reports as to what happened that day.

From, the parents being home, when it happened, to them not being home.

Jimmy being chased away from a nearby field by an unknown man.

His stepfather said he had seen Jimmy with a neighborhood boy a short time later.

A woman from the neighborhood reported seeing Jimmy walking across a field with a gray pigeon under his arm.

His third grade teacher said,"It is not like James, something has either happened to him, or someone is encouraging him to stay away."

There were several searches, including mounted patrol, surrounding area police departments, Boy scout troups. A trip to Missouri, to check out relatives there. Also Des Moines, Iowa, where James was to visit his brother the day after his disappearance.

The FBI, were also contacted, as well as a possible helicopter search. No further reports were available about either of those.

In 1998 the police were able to clear family members of any involvement through polygraph examinations.

His sister Debra Flynn, 41 at the time of the article, told the Daily Gazette, the police were not helpful at the time. She said it took them a week before they actually got involved. Yet in the articles I have from the paper, the dates imply that they were working the case.

I, personally do not understand why it took until June 5th to make the front page of our paper. If I have my information wrong, I apologize. But I do not think so.

Debra had also contacted Unsolved Mysteries, but nothing came from her effort.

An odd thing happened shortly after James went missing, his dog came up missing as well. The dog would follow James to school and wait in the school yard until he came out.

About a year later, Debra spoke of a dark colored car, with dark windows, they pulled up near her and a friend. It started to follow them. It left when Debra's mother yelled for them. The car was never found.

In 1975 Debra was married, and had a different last name. Living in another part of town, and no phone. A neighbor send he had gotten a call from her brother. The man said he would be in town around 3:00. But he never came. Debra had asked both Steve and John, if they had called. They said they hadn't.

Taken from:

http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t7419.htm

Satch

PS. This is also in one of the links above, but I thought it might be easier for us to see it posted here directly.
 
Is it possible it was a hit and run, except they snatched the body? That could account for boards being in the street.

It could be. I think Debra was inside for longer than a minute or so. A fatal hit and run accident over an abduction? Consider Jimmy possibly doing all of following:

1.) Ran out into the street.
2.) Get struck by a car.
3.) Driver panics and hides the body.
4.) Or, what if horror of horrors, this poor kid was hit by a car and than dragged along the road? Eventually the driver sees this, but when is unknown and the car and the horrible hit and run are out of the area by the time Debra returns?

Depending on how fast the car was going, if Jimmy was struck and not abducted, the tragedy could have been out of the immediate viewing area of the Howell's street by the time Debra came back outside. Most likely, if the boards were in the street and scattered, it was by force or sudden impact. I never really thought about this until the poster above said this, but this could have been a tragic hit and run because of the boards being in the street.

Satch
 
I don't know. There are some similarities but it would be a lot of growth for 2 years time. 4 ft. 5 inches and 79 lbs to 5 ft. 2 and 120 is a lot for a boy between 9 and 11. If he was a little older I might buy 8 inches in 2 years but that is a lot for a 9 year old. I looked at the growth charts and it would be moving from around the 75% for height to the 97th. It is possible but not typical. Kids normally stay along their own growth curve.
Here is a link to the chart in case I'm reading it wrong, because I'm really bad at reading them. https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set2clinical/cj41c071.pdf
 
The hit and run possibility never occurred to me until now. It makes a lot more sense that Debra spent more than a minute inside the house. If she was getting a hammer and nails (as reported earlier), she may have had to go to the garage/tool shed/something of that nature to get them, my point there being that the tools probably weren't right inside the house. Jimmy could've walked into the road to look at a bird or animal, not realizing there was a car coming. If he were struck and killed/severely injured, the boards would've gone flying. The driver could've panicked and decided to cover up the accident and put the body in his car. Even if Debra was only gone for 3-5 minutes, this could've happened without her or anyone seeing anything.

My only problem with the theory is that none of the neighbors reported seeing or hearing anything. I'd think there would've been screeching tires or something. It still makes a lot of sense to me, though.
 
My son looks exactly like Jimmy. It's absolutely haunting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
How long after he went missing, did the dog disappear also?
It makes me wonder if someone came back to get it for Jimmy.

I wonder how much the former foster parents were looked at. It sounds like there was still one brother staying with the foster mother, could there have been people who felt Jimmy would be better off staying with someone other than family?

When Jimmy disappeared, where was his dog at the time? It sounded like the dog was very attached to him. If he had been hit by a car, I would expect the dog to be very upset if it had seen that happen.
 
I wonder if it was just a sick pedophile or kidnapper that had been kind of watching them. And then as soon as his sister went inside, he made his move.
I hope they figure this out one day.
 
JHowell.jpg
JHowell1.jpg

Left: Howell, circa 1969; Right: Age-progressed image to age 50 (circa 2010)

James Richard Howell
Missing since May 28, 1969 from Sterling, Whiteside County, Illinois.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

    • Date Of Birth: October 28, 1959
    • Age at Time of Disappearance: 9 years old
    • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'5; 79 pounds
    • Distinguishing Characteristics: White male. Brown hair; brown eyes.
    • Clothing: Blue jeans and a white T-shirt. White tennis shoes.
    • AKA: Jimmy
Circumstances of Disappearance

Howell and his sister, Debra, were playing in the front yard of their home on West 13th Street in Sterling, Illinois on May 28, 1969. Jim was going to build a cage for his birds. Deb went into the house to get some nails and a hammer. When she returned about a minute later, the boards Jim had with him to build the cage were scattered along the street in front of the residence and Jim was gone.

Newspaper reports from days, months and a year after Howell's disappearance reveal several supposed sightings of the boy.
A newspaper account states Howell's stepfather saw him a short time after he apparently left home looking for wood to build a birdcage, across the alley with another boy from the neighborhood, and a neighbor reported seeing him walk across a nearby field with the pigeon under his arm.

Police were notified the following day, after the boy's mother and stepfather apparently had spent the night searching for him. A neighbor called at 22:35 on May 28, 1969, to report Howell's disappearance.

An ensuing search included a 400-person air and ground search party that worked its way through the area west of town where Howell reportedly last was seen by his stepfather, a search of Elkhorn Creek and the Rock River, and divers searched gravel pits and water areas, with no results.

Investigators

If you have any information concerning Howell's whereabouts, please contact:
Whiteside County Sheriff's Office
Detective Pat Carney
815-772-4044

You may remain anonymous when submitting information to any agency.

Agency Case Number: M00A7263
NCIC Number: M530524219
NCMEC Number: NCMC872770

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children

SVN NEWS REPORTER
NamUs MP #6194
The Doe Network: Case File 239DMIL
 

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