Found Deceased OH - Harley Dilly, 14, walking to Port Clinton High School, 20 Dec 2019 #5

[JerseyGirl]

Harley Dilly was last seen at Port Clinton High School wearing maroon puffer jacket on Friday. The teen is reportedly 4 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 101 pounds.

Port Clinton teen reported missing

MEDIA MAPS & TIMELINE *NO DISCUSSION* thread

Previous threads:
OH - OH - Harley Dilly, 14, enroute to Port Clinton High School, 20 Dec 2019
OH - OH - Harley Dilly, 14, walking to Port Clinton High School, 20 Dec 2019 #2
Thread #3
Thread #4

Link to poll
POLL - Harley Dilly Disappearance

Websleuths Rules can be found here. Please read them and post in accordance with them.

 

[Cniedz]

First of all, Rest in Paradise, Harley! You are now surrounded by unconditional love that you so deserved!

One of my first thoughts after finding out how Harley died was why didn't he just break a window, it would have been so much easier. Then I remembered one of his videos. The one where he is locked out of his house. His mom told him she called the police on him. He was hungry. His mom left him there, in the yard, in the cold. His mom wasn't answering her phone. Lastly, he said if his mom called the police one more time, he would be taken away for 30 days. I can't imagine the weight of the world that Harley felt day in and day out. Teens have to deal with school, homework, peers, social media, fitting in, bullying and so much more. That's plenty enough for one person to have to deal with but with Harley, he had so much more he was dealing with than the average teen. It breaks my heart with what he had to face on a daily basis. He deserved to be loved. He deserved to have a place he felt safe and loved. He is a year younger than my youngest and I can't imagine waiting 41 hours to call for help if my son was missing. Heck, I've called the school when the bus has been 10 minutes late just to double check it's running late. But I do agree with others, by the time help was called, it was too late.

Poor Harley. As sad as we all are, you, my friend, are in a much better place surrounded by love. Love that you deserved in your time on earth. This is hard to deal with on so many levels. My hope is that he didn't suffer. He suffered enough.

 

[BecauseWeCan]

It’s so surprising the chimney was that narrow considering the age of the house, built in 1852 according to the current owners. Back in the day, chimneys were larger to accommodate a small person to clean it. Efficiency wasn’t the name of the game back then. It does not surprise me that a kid would try to go down it. We tell them about Santa from an early age, it was Christmas time so he could have seen a movie that gave him the idea the day prior. He was young for his age in a lot of ways. That house would have made a good hiding spot with a visual vantage point of his corner to know if someone was onto him, if it had worked.I feel so bad for Harley and wonder how long he was stuck before he died. A working cell could have saved his life better than LE in his town.

 

[scdiv]

‘Our family is heartbroken over this’: Owner of home where Harley Dilly’s body was found speaks out

Jan 15, 2020

"I was quite confident that there was no way anybody got in that house or they would have been able to tell because it was pretty secure," he said.

Jim says he and his parents were stunned when Port Clinton police called Monday, asking for keys to get inside and information about the home's layout and renovation details.

He says it would be extremely difficult to enter the home through the chimney as police believe Harley tried to do.

"There was no openings in that chimney other than, like eight-inch diameter openings in different places throughout. You know, on the first floor and the second floor for a stovepipe to go into it," said Jim.

He also says the home does not have a fireplace.

"The chimney hasn't been used in years, so there used to be a gas stove that went into it and there's been nothing since," Jim said.

Jim says his family's future plans for the house are uncertain.

^^bbm

ETA: If not for evidence that Harley also dropped his coat down the chimney, I probably would have thought he dropped his glasses while looking down the chute and thought he could retrieve them.

Do you think it's possible that Harley pushed his jacket and his glasses through the hole with the intent to leave clues that he was inside? I can't imagine a puffer jacket just slipping through an 8 inch diameter hole. And the Chief did use the words "pushed."

 

[BecauseWeCan]

Thanks, but they probably wouldn't need to go on the roof. Just as SOP, in the immediate area, canvass, talk to neighbors, look in abandoned homes and lots, sheds,etc. Repeat - in the immediate area. If any empty buildings in the immediate vicinity are locked up, contact owners and enter them for a search. It wouldn't have saved Harleys life in this case, but they didn't know at the time. Maybe next time a search like that will save a life. Worthwhile considering some kids have been found in homes nearby their own.

So true Betty
And if I was a bad guy that abducted someone and was hiding in an empty house, I would lock all the doors . So a locked door shouldn’t mean everything’s cool, move on searchers. If LE told those 80 yr old h9me owners who lived out of state that LE must search every home, those old people would have believed them complied and the house could have been searched that day.

 

[Mandrew]

Do not name or sleuth the homeowners; they are considered innocents. They were not named in MSM
Thanks.

The homeowners were named by mainstream media. There are lots of sites with their name but just Google it.

 

[Seattle1]

Do not name or sleuth the homeowners; they are considered innocents. They were not named in MSM and WS does not allow sleuthing of individuals other than victims and officially named POIs/suspects.

You may sleuth away behind the scenes, but do not post your findings on the thread.

Thanks.

The homeowners were named by mainstream media. There are lots of sites with their name but just Google it.

In both recorded voice media and MSM print news linked on WS, homeowner/son identified only as "Jim," specifically asked that his last name NOT be used. You can hear him say it for yourself at the link below.

‘Our family is heartbroken over this’: Owner of home where Harley Dilly’s body was found speaks out

 

[v0x]

 

[MyBelle]

It’s so surprising the chimney was that narrow considering the age of the house, built in 1852 according to the current owners. Back in the day, chimneys were larger to accommodate a small person to clean it. Efficiency wasn’t the name of the game back then. It does not surprise me that a kid would try to go down it. We tell them about Santa from an early age, it was Christmas time so he could have seen a movie that gave him the idea the day prior. He was young for his age in a lot of ways. That house would have made a good hiding spot with a visual vantage point of his corner to know if someone was onto him, if it had worked.I feel so bad for Harley and wonder how long he was stuck before he died. A working cell could have saved his life better than LE in his town.

I think there was no need to "clean" chimneys back then because they only served as exhaust outlets for wood or gas stoves. My son's house was built in 1898 in Illinois and it has two chimneys: one for the fireplace and one for the bedroom wood stoves/later converted to gas stove in the kitchen. That chimney was dry-walled over upstairs after central heat was installed but it still exists next to the gas kitchen stove.

Do we know where and how Harley entered the house? Because I still have my doubts it was from the roof/chimney.

JMO

 

[Seattle1]

Do we know where and how Harley entered the house? Because I still have my doubts it was from the roof/chimney.

^^sbm

There's no evidence that Harley ever entered the house -- he was found trapped inside the chimney, and the house doors and windows as secure as the owner left them in November when he was last there.

Reportedly, Harley's coat and eyeglasses were located when investigators went inside but no statement where or whether they fell to the floor from the chimney flue opening or found hanging from the cap opening.

 

[MyBelle]

^^sbm

There's no evidence that Harley ever entered the house -- he was found trapped inside the chimney, and the house doors and windows as secure as the owner left them in November when he was last there.

Reportedly, Harley's coat and eyeglasses were located when investigators went inside but no statement where or whether they fell to the floor from the chimney flue opening or found hanging from the cap opening.

I don't believe this case has anything whatsoever to do with the owner of the property. As you point out, there have been no statements from LE about the "details" about where Harley's belongings were found.

JMO

 

[ChatteringBirds]

This case seems to me one in which everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Harley's parents, because who among us has not said something regrettable while stressed or angry? What child doesn't sometimes vent dramatically about their parents? It doesn't mean we get to judge his overall home life.

And LE, who did a great job in bringing in as much help as possible to explore all possibilities at once, which is something most missing teens are not given. And because they were being thorough in going back to recheck and reassess, he was found.

Things often seem more obvious in hindsight, but that's a trick our minds play on us in tragedies because they by nature are so difficult to accept, IMO.

 

[osu]

Public questions Dilly investigation
Sandusky Register

 

[JaneEyre]

I think there was no need to "clean" chimneys back then because they only served as exhaust outlets for wood or gas stoves. My son's house was built in 1898 in Illinois and it has two chimneys: one for the fireplace and one for the bedroom wood stoves/later converted to gas stove in the kitchen. That chimney was dry-walled over upstairs after central heat was installed but it still exists next to the gas kitchen stove.

Do we know where and how Harley entered the house? Because I still have my doubts it was from the roof/chimney.

JMO

The homeowner has said that there was no way for him to enter the chimney from inside, that there are only very small openings from inside (likely the caps that have been posted).

 

[katydid23]

The end quote from Carrie Nelson..wow. IMO very intelligent, and very deep. I completely agree also.

I completely disagree with her comment. I think it is disgusting to berate him personally and call him a failure. Yes, the poor boy was recovered 170 feet away from his home, in a chimney.

But look at how many other places he may have been, if you do a circle of 170 feet from the family porch. Endless amount of potential places he may have been found. Looking for a missing child is like finding a needle in a haystack. Was he hiding, or being held hostage or on a greyhound or in a friends garage apartment? The police were not just looking at places in his neighbourhood.

Hindsight is 20/20, so NOW we know he was stuck in the chimney. But she is calling the chief of police an utter failure because he didn't figure that out sooner? IMO, that is taking a cheap shot at a man who probably spent 60 to 80 hours a week , 7 days a week, trying to find this missing child.

It is pretty easy to sit back and then pounce on him after the child is found. No matter where he would have been found, someone would have criticised the chief and said he failed. I find it disturbing. JMO

 

[HelpingHeart]

Haven’t been on here to read lately. Oh my, he was stuck in the chimney? Poor thing? Sad

 

[lindaromas]

It really bothers me that his family didn't report him missing for 2 days!

 

[Stripehaven]

I can’t fault LE for not zeroing in on this property right away. It would certainly not be my first thought that a kid in his way to school would detour to break into someone’s secured house. And if LE thought Harley was a victim of foul play - which they didn’t, and he wasn’t - I really doubt they would immediately expect that the murderer would break into a secured home ti abandon a body.

Didn’t most of here think that, due to his online presence, Harley may have crossed paths with a wrong one he met online? Or that he was trying to avoid school that day due to some threat? Or that his possibly volatile parents who didn’t report him missing for a couple of days played a part? Did anyone think he would break into a secured home to hang out? In chasing down the possibility that he WAS hunkered down somewhere, surely LE first checked all the places in the area that had easy access - garages, sheds, friends’ homes, etc. On top of chasing down all the other leads relating to more typical possibilities.

It seems that in every case when a body is found after some length of time, the reaction is, “Why didn’t they look there before?” In this case, tragically, poor Harley was found in the least likely of places - especially given that his life and circumstances presented so many other possibilities.

What I wonder is why they finally did search this house. Was there a tip, or had they exhausted every other lead and this seemed a complete long shot?

 

[whatsnext]

Sorry, but in my opinion when you have a missing kid, you will search the unoccupied houses at least in the immediate area, no matter if there is a sign of forced entry or not. Sadly in this case it would'nt have made a difference, because Harley was reported missing so late. JMO

 

[Hatfield]

Sorry, but in my opinion when you have a missing kid, you will search the unoccupied houses at least in the immediate area, no matter if there is a sign of forced entry or not. Sadly in this case it would'nt have made a difference, because Harley was reported missing so late. JMO

It was literally just across the street. Empty home within view of his own home.

Weeks went by.

Yeah I agree, Someone should have checked inside it way before now.

The reason they gave about it being locked up does not hold water. A door or window could have been originally open, person walks in and locks door behind themselves. It didnt happen that way but it easily could have. And he was there afterall. Gotta check it when its that close to his home.