OR OR - Derrick Engebretson, 8, Bonanza, 5 Dec 1998

We have put a lot of time and dedication into searching for Derrick and will never give up doing so. We have done underwater searches for Derricks hatchet. We did land searches with Derricks parents to better learn the path he traveled. All coming up with nothing... Learning more and more from investigating we know are 99.9% sure Little Derrick Engebretson was abducted. The full story is on our forum for everyone to read.

This forum is terrific keep up the good work! :dance:

I'm open to any all all theories and discussion on the Derrick Engebretson case.

I have been involved for quite some time now from e-mailing the media to underwater searches. IN MY OPINION Derrick didn't get lost on that mountain in Rocky point he was kidnapped. Kidnapped by Frank James Milligan.

Anyone who knows about the case I sure hope you'll post your thoughts, questions or theories..

It has been a really long time since I read all the news stories. A few months back I did searches and read all I could find. With all the many cases I have read up on, I would have to really refresh my memory on this one. But, I vaguely remember, wasnt the Grandfather under suspision also?

The media in all their wisdom decided to spin that for us.

The Grandfather has never been the same after Derrick went missing. He felt like he didn't do enough, that he should have found Derrick... He was/is an excellent tracker and felt he let everyone down not finding him and being there when Derrick went missing.

He was never a suspect or anything like that. He's probably harder on himself than anyone will ever be.

To this day nothing has ever been found, no clothes, no hatchet, no remains, nothing...

This brings us to an individual named Frank James Milligan. Through extensive research my research partner (justiceseeker1) and I found the link between this man and Derrick Engebretson. At the time, Mr. Milligan drove a 1998 Black Honda which was spotted in the area of Derricks disappearance just before he went missing. at the time, Mr. Milligan was employed by The State of Oregon counseling trouble juveniles. At the time, Mr. Milligan had already committed sodomy and attempted murder of a 10 year old Salem boy.


Frank James Milligan

HIS CAR

Mr. Milligan drove a 1998 black Honda. The car WAS searched by LE during the investigation of the Salem boy's case with nothing found pertaining to Derricks case. Mr. Milligan's car was spotted in the area of Derricks disappearance at the time of Derricks disappearance by multiple witnesses.

HIS JOB:

Mr. Milligan was employed by the State of Oregon as a Troubled Juvenal councilor. Mr. Milligan often traveled across Oregon counseling troubled juveniles including locations such as Burns, Salem, Portland, etc..

HIS PAST:

On July 2, 1999 Milligan was arrested for sexually molesting an 11-year-old boy in 1997 to whom he had become a "father figure."
His bail was set at $250,000. His mother posted the bail and he was released from jail.

In March of 2000, the prosecutors asked the court to revoke Milligan's bail for associating with children. The judge refused to return Frank Milligan to jail.

On July 14, 2000 Frank Milligan pled guilty to one count of sex abuse, and two counts of attempted sodomy.

On July 11, 2000, a 10-year-old Oregon boy was abducted from a park. His throat was slashed when he resisted the abductor's attempts to fondle him. He was dumped under some bushes in a field near Salem, and left for dead. The boy survived his injuries and flagged down a passing motorist who took him to the hospital.

On August 09, 2000, Frank Milligan was arrested.

On August 11, 2000 Milligan was charged with kidnapping, sex abuse, and attempted aggravated murder for his attack of the 10-year-old boy.

Milligan received a 6 year and three month sentence for the sex abuse conviction on the 11-year-old boy.

In August Of 2001, Frank Milligan pleaded guilty to kidnapping, sexual abuse and attempted murder for the attack on the 10-year-old boy. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

That sentence will begin after he serves the six year sentence for the sexual abuse of the 11-yr-old boy.

Further research by law enforcement showed Milligan had owned books on serial killers John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy and others. He stalked children in e-mails pretending to be a 13-year-old boy and was found to collect child *advertiser censored*.

HIS CURRENT:
Mr. Milligan is currently incarcerated for two different cases. Attempted murder and rape. Mr. Milligan has made a partial confession to Derricks murder but since has recanted. Mr. Milligan is leading LE to believe Derrick is dead and buried in the Burns Oregon area.

I just went to your site and read the 911 transcript. All I can say is that I agree with the parents and I would be pissed! That search and rescue guy, Wilson, was more concerned about breaking up his Christmas party than searching for a little lost boy.

Do the parents, or others go out there every year and search? I still have more reading to do to refresh my memory. They think they have proof, the snow Angel, that he made it to the road, is that correct?

Ya they still go out but not nearly as often as the used to. Yes the snow angel proved that derrick made it back to the road. In my opinion this is where he had a chance encounter with Frank Milligan.

Bless him, so just to clarify you mean they think he was just genuinely separated from his family at one point, then made it back to the road where the abduction took place?

nixon said:

The media in all their wisdom decided to spin that for us.

The Grandfather has never been the same after Derrick went missing. He felt like he didn't do enough, that he should have found Derrick... He was/is an excellent tracker and felt he let everyone down not finding him and being there when Derrick went missing.

He was never a suspect or anything like that. He's probably harder on himself than anyone will ever be.

Click to expand...

HE'S (bob) NOT THE EXCELLENT TRACKER! It's the mother's dad "BEN" who is the great tracker. BEN was the first one to spot the footprints of Derrick.

After speaking with someone who actually had inside information, no he's never been the same BUT they've all gone on with life and is doing ok. Of course he's hard on himself, they all are. And yes, he was questioned a couple of times as a potential suspect because his story changed a lot.. with slight details - but still his story changed.

bump...


Question - were the police certain that it was Frank's 1998 black Honda in the area or just that someone reported a newish black Honda in the area?

If it was proven to be Frank's Honda I'd have to say this case is most likely solved.

Does anyone know if Milligan originally supplied an alibi for the day Derrick went missing?

According to his Charley Project page they found blood of an unknown origin, I wonder if they did a DNA test on it?
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/e/engebretson_derrick.html

8 Years ago today a boy, his father and grandfather went to look for their christmas tree........ one of them would never return home.....

Derrick was kidnapped 8 years ago today. I still think of him everyday and have him and his family in my prayers today.

Please bring Derrick home!

Date: Dec. 5, 1998

Victim: Derrick Engebretson

Synopsis: Missing person

Probably Klamath County's most highly publicized missing person case in recent years is the case of 8-year-old Derrick Engebretson.

The Bonanza boy, called “Bear Boy” by his family, went hunting for a Christmas tree with his dad and grandpa at Pelican Butte near Rocky Point when he vanished without a trace. Investigators say Derrick disappeared after telling his grandpa he wanted to go up a hill to his father.

“Grandpa came down, dad came down, but no Derrick,” said Klamath County Sheriff's Detective John Dougherty, who has followed the case since its beginning.

The boy's disappearance occurred during a winter storm that blanketed the area with several feet of snow, which hindered the search that involved hundreds of people, including the boy's family. After two weeks, search and rescue officials didn't turn up a single trace of him.

Over the years, authorities have returned to the same spot in spring and summer months, hoping to find clues. Bones and blood were found on a few occasions, but were later tested and determined to be from an animal. In addition, authorities found a pair of boots, but they weren't Derrick's.

“It's very frustrating to not have closure for hundreds of people involved in this case,” Dougherty said.

The detective believes the boy's disappearance could be either a missing person case or a criminal investigation - he hasn't ruled either out.

In 2002, Frank J. Milligan, a convicted rapist and attempted murderer serving time in prison, became a suspect after he confessed to murdering the boy, but he later retracted his statement. Investigators could never link him to the area at the time of Derrick's disappearance. Yet Dougherty said the link between Milligan and the boy is still a possibility.

Investigators still seek closure for Derrick's family in a case that's haunted Dougherty since 1998. And it haunts his family - the boy's father, Robert Engebretson, still walks the area where his son vanished, Dougherty says.

“I have no idea what they're going through, but I imagine it's hell.”

http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2007/02/11/news/local_news/local1.txt

Mr. Milligan IS THE ONLY person the police should be looking at........ HE DID IT! I am 99.9% sure of it!

Bumbing for Derrick.

In a couple weeks it will TEN YEARS since he disappeared and his families nightmare began.

The Charley Project: Derrick James Engebretson
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/e/engebretson_derrick.html

Moved from LTWH board to discussion board, posted by dreamweaver

http://findcarrie.conforums.com/inde...num=1098280365
Derrick Engrebretson
http://www.missingkids.com/missingki...archLang=en_US age progression photos
Convicted child molester top suspect in ....
« Reply #2 on: Nov 15th, 2004, 07:30am »
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man convicted of raping and slashing the throat of a 10-year-old boy is the prime suspect in the disappearance of another young boy nearly six years ago during a family Christmas tree hunt along Upper Klamath Lake, according to a newspaper report.
The Oregonian said in its Saturday editions that investigators have linked Frank J.Milligan to the disappearance of 8-year-old Derrick Engebretson on Dec. 5, 1998.
The Bonanza third-grader was searching for a Christmas tree with his father and grandfather when he wandered away in the snowy mountains above the lake near Klamath Falls. His disappearance led to a massive search with dogs, snowmobiles and hundreds of volunteers.
Derrick was never found and was presumed to have frozen to death in a snowstorm. But law enforcement officials now say they believe Derrick found his way to the roadside, where he was picked up by Milligan.
http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/...local#continue

moved to discussion board from LTWH, originally posted by dreamweaver
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs...NEWS/812050327
December 05, 2008
By Chris Conrad
Mail Tribune
It's been a decade since 8-year-old Derrick Engebretson disappeared in the woods near Klamath Falls while Christmas tree hunting with his family.
Police hope another 10 years won't go by before closure is brought to Lori and Robert Engebretson, who continue to hold onto a shred of hope their son made it off Pelican Butte alive that night.
"We don't know anymore," Lori Engebretson said. "For a while I thought maybe we would find him on the mountain. We also wonder if someone may have taken him."
The couple, who live in Bonanza, still search Pelican Butte on occasion, but the steep, rugged terrain near the northern end of Upper Klamath Lake has become an impediment. The couple used to spend much of their time combing the mountain in the years after a massive search effort by several police agencies failed to turn up any sign of Derrick.
"I am not as young as I used to be," Lori Engebretson said.
Derrick was on the hunt for a Christmas tree with his parents and grandfather when he wandered off and disappeared into the snowy woods about 30 miles from Klamath Falls.
His family attempted a hasty search immediately after it became clear the boy had become separated from his grandfather. They called authorities, who descended on the area over the next few weeks with hundreds of volunteers, snowmobiles and search dogs.
Eventually, the search teams drifted away, leaving the Engebretsons without answers.
A Christmas tree decorated with teddy bears and ornaments remains near the spot where the family pickup was parked that day. The spot could hold some clues about what happened to Derrick, Lori Engebretson said.
"We know he made it back to the truck because we found some wood he had chopped with his little hatchet near there," she said. "We also found a snow angel he had made near the road, so we know he made it out of the woods at some point."

The mystery took a turn six years ago, when Lori Engebretson received word from Salem police saying a man lodged in the Marion County Jail had bragged to a cellmate that he had kidnapped and murdered the boy, according to stories in The Oregonian.
Jack Milligan, who is serving 36 years in prison for raping and assaulting a 10-year-old boy in Dallas, Ore., continues to be a suspect in Derrick's disappearance, Lori Engebretson said.
Klamath County Sheriff's Office Det. Jeff Lord would not comment on whether he has singled out Milligan as a suspect. Lord said the case remains open and he is working with Oregon State Police to solve Derrick's case.

That is the first time I have heard they knew Derrick made it back to the truck or that they saw a snow angel he had made. That definitely throws a wrench a in the idea that he froze to death on the mountain. Of course he could have turned around and went back into the woods but I think he was old enough to know that he should wait by the truck. What a stroke a bad luck and timing that a young boy gets separated from his parents only to run into a child molester and killer - if that is the case.

For The Missing: Pacific Northwest
‎8-year-old Derrick Engebretson has been missing from Oregon for 12 years today, after simply looking for a Christmas tree with his family. Please share his info.


Derrick James Engebretson - Bonanza OR, 1998
‎8-year-old Derrick Engebretson has been missing from Klamath County OR since Dec 5, 1998. He was looking for a Christmas tree with his dad & grandfather when he got separated from them. An extensive search turned up no sign of Derrick. He may have been abducted after becoming lost.