OH OH - John Hundley & James McQueary, both 9, Fairfax, 15 Oct 1964

[JusticeWillBeServed]

I-Team Unsolved: What happened to Johnny Hundley and Jimmy McQueary?

http://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/i-team-unsolved-what-happened-to-johnny-hundley-and-jimmy-mcqueary-the-2-kids-who-vanished-in-1964

Were Johnny Hundley and Jimmy McQueary killed by the neighborhood teen who confessed to stabbing them, only to retract that confession later?

The disappearance of the Fairfax School third-graders in 1964 is the oldest cold case in Tri-Staters’ memories, and one of the most baffling. Fairfax police Det. Mike Murphy, who has worked on the case over several decades, says there have been “50 to 60 different rumors.”

[video=youtube;5l3ksamfsg8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l3ksamfsg8"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l3ksamfsg8[/video]

 

[Bootsctr]

Good to see some local interest in Johnny's and James' case! It sure would be a blessing if LE could come up with an answer for Johnny's sister!

 

[HelpingHeart]

Bump. This case is one I think of time to time. I wish they would search more areas between the Frisch’s, school and neighborhoods. Is the sister still around the thread?

 

[dotr]

Missing in Ohio

 

[Ozoner]

Yes he had a sister named Barb McKee that l worked with at Frisch's. He also had an older brother, l don't know his name, but was told he was gay. I don't know if he ever married. Never thought to ask that. My brother Bobby & Jimmy's brother Pat both had problems with Gary. I really didn't know him only by name. I am older than my brother & the 2 older boys. His sister was a very nice person!! The case is stilll open. I just talked to the detective handling it the other day. He said they have had leads but proved to be useless. I completely agree that McKee should be requestioned!! I asked about the other boy implicated & the detective said he'd never heard that before. Shoddy police work back in 1964 & 67 is a mild description of what went wrong. Those boys never ran away...they had no reason too, at least Johnny didn't. Doing something like that was way out of his character!!

If I had to venture a guess about what happened, I'd have to lean towards McKee having killed the boys for their money.

However, I would like to know whether McKee's gay older brother was ever looked at. Some of McKee's behaviors could constitute acting out following sexual abuse.

Maybe the real accomplice was McKee's older brother. Maybe McKee inserted another boy's name because he wanted to confess but didn't want to round on his own brother or didn't want to admit to participating in the sexual abuse of the boys.

 

[Richard]

John E. Hundley

• 
• 

John, circa 1964

• Missing Since 10/15/1964
• Missing From Fairfax, Ohio
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Male
• Race White
• Date of Birth 01/13/1955 (65)
• Age 9 years old
• Height and Weight 4'0, 85 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A white t-shirt, black pants and white sneakers.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. John's nickname is Johnny.
• ---------------------------------------------------------------------
• James A. McQueary Jr.
  • 
  • 
  • 
  James, circa 1964
  
  • Missing Since 10/15/1964
  • Missing From Fairfax, Ohio
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Male
  • Race White
  • Date of Birth 11/03/1954 (65)
  • Age 9 years old
  • Height and Weight 3'6, 65 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue and yellow horizontally striped polo shirt, brown pants and tan high-top shoes.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue/gray eyes. James's nickname is Jimmy. His two upper front teeth protrude slightly.
  Details of Disappearance
  James McQueary disappeared with his best friend, John Hundley. The boys were last seen walking to John's Fairfax, Ohio home from the Frisch's restaurant in the 4700 block of Wooster Pike in Cincinnati, Ohio at 4:00 p.m. on October 15, 1964. Neither of them have been heard from again. They were reported missing at 10:30 p.m.
  Both boys were in the third grade at the time of their disappearances and were often together. Prior to going missing, John reportedly told some friends he planned to run away.
  
  Operating on the idea that they had hopped on a freight train and ridden out of town, the local police alerted law enforcement across the nation. The runaway theory was eventually discarded, however, as time passed without any trace of the children.
  
  A four-year-old girl disappeared from Fairfax in August 1964, two months before John and James, and was found murdered a few days later. A thirteen-year-old neighbor boy confessed to the crime. There was speculation that her murder and the boys' disappearances were related, but authorities stated they could found no connection.
  
  Three years after John and James disappeared, a seventeen-year-old Marine stationed in California confessed to their murders. He had lived in Fairfax in 1964 and said he stabbed the boys to death and buried their bodies. The suspect later recanted his statement and said he'd made up the story to get out of the military. He passed a polygraph and still maintains his innocence.
  
  Little evidence is available in James and John's disappearances. They lived about three blocks apart in 1964. Authorities believe their bodies are probably somewhere in the Fairfax area.
• 
  
• 
  Investigating agency
  • Fairfax Police Department 513-271-7250
  Source Information
  • WKRC-TV Cincinnati
  • The Charleston Daily Mail
  • The Independent Press-Telegram
  • The Newark Advocate
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • NamUs
  • The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
  • The Doe network
  • John E. Hundley – The Charley Project
    
  • James A. McQueary Jr. – The Charley Project

 

[Satch]

I remember when this happened in 1964 and then resurfaced in 1967 when the marine initially alleged he had killed the boys and then said he had made up the story. I have previously offered some comments on this case on these pages. I appreciate John Hundley's sister posting here and providing what she remembers and her opinions even though it is a very sad memory for her.

I would like to inquire on her opinion that John and Jim never left the grounds of Fairfax School on that day. A previous retrospective report on local Cincinnati media on this case indicated that the two of them were seen at the nearby Frisch's Mainliner restaurant that day where one of them was paying a bill he owed to the manager. That report stated they were last seen by the manager walking west across the Frisch's parking lot (which is in the opposite direction from where each of them lived). Does she have any comments on that sighting and also any further thoughts on why she feels they never left the school?

Thanks to her and everyone who are keeping this story active on this website.

How far was Frisch's Mainliner Restaurant from the Fairfax School? My feeling is that either the marine did this, of which I am about 60% sure, or the boys had an accident near a river or construction site, fell in/covered up and died/drowned. I put that at 40%. I don't think that the marine's past polygraph test lets him off the hook. If the boys befriended and trusted the marine, he might have lured them into a false sense of safety and "friendship" that led to a tragedy. We need to know if the marine had a history of violence and other mental problems. If it turns out that this was the man who gave the boys the $20 to pay the $1.04 restaurant tab, I think that goes beyond a reasonable doubt that the marine killed the boys.

We need to find out if the marine is still alive, previous arrests, convictions, and mental history. I am 100% sure that the boys did not run away. Something bad happened to them.

Satch

 

[dotr]

Missing Persons Project - Google My Maps
''To map child abduction cases to see if there could be links between cases''
James A. McQueary 10-15-1964 - 9yr

 

[Satch]

What Fairfax Ohio looks like today. Via, Google Maps and Google Earth View Options:

Google Maps

Note that there is a Firsch's Big Boy Restrauent nearby here, but I don't think this is the same one that the kids went to back in 1964 when they vanished. Google Maps

Satch

 

[Richard]

Possibly not related to this case, but only three months earlier in Northwest Detroit, two boys were shot to death for no known reason while in a neighborhood park frequented by other youngsters.

LINK:
MI - Francis "Pat" Brown, 17, and Sheldon Miller, 14, Shot to death 3 July 1964, Detroit, MI

 

[Richard]

Here is a link to some history on Frisch's Big Boy and earlier restaurants like the Mainliner.

Our Story about Frisch's Big Boy | Frisch's Big Boy

 

[dotr]

Here is a link to some history on Frisch's Big Boy and earlier restaurants like the Mainliner.

Our Story about Frisch's Big Boy | Frisch's Big Boy

From link, this sounds charming..
''…For older teens who could drive, Frisch’s was the place to cruise. They could show off their wheels and meet up with their friends, and there was always the promise (usually unfulfilled) of meeting someone new of the opposite sex. You could park under the wavy, corrugated awnings and actually order food. Each parking space had its own mounted menu and intercom, a waitress would deliver food right to your car…

…But however much Frisch’s may have been a place where teens could be teens, it was also a place where we could start to feel like the adults we were about to become. The waitresses treated us like adults, calling us “sir” and “ma’am” and coming by mid-meal to ask if everything was okay. We didn’t have to pay for the food until we had finished eating, and we learned to leave the tip before we left the table. We were each given a menu, a set of stainless steel utensils and a glass (not a plastic cup) of water. The food was served on real dishes and was hot from having just been cooked which is very different from food that has been kept warm under a light..''

 

[Richard]

Here is what the logo of Frisch's Big Boy looked like:

• 

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

This is the same location for Frisch's in Fairfax as it was when the two boys vanished. Although the building itself has been remodeled, it is in the same location since the mid-1950's.

 

[Richard]

The 1964 disappearances of John Hundley & James McQueary, and a recanted confession

Unresolved Disappearance
On Thursday 15th October 1964 in Fairfax, Ohio, best friends Johnny Hundley and Jimmy McQueary disappeared. They were both 9 years old.

Johnny had come home from school and at around 3.30pm he left the house to exchange some coke bottles at the store. Around 4pm he was seen with Jimmy at the nearby Frisch's restaurant. Some accounts state that Jimmy's mother had given him exact change, $1.04, to settle a bill there, but the boys paid with a $20 bill which they said they had found. They left the restaurant walking in the direction of Johnny's house, but that was the last confirmed sighting. Johnny's family contacted the police that evening to report him missing.

The explanation preferred by the police, both then and now, was that the boys had died accidentally while playing in one of many construction sites in the area, and had been buried by dirt or other building materials. Searches have been carried out over the years without success.

The boys' families believed that they would not have - and would have had no reason to - run away. A railway worker reported that he had seen two boys matching their description near some freight cars on the Friday. There was another reported sighting of the two at Lunken airport.

Almost three years after the boys disappeared, a 17 year old marine who grew up in Fairfax walked into a church in California and confessed to the reverend that he had murdered Johnny and Jimmy. The reverend called the police. The marine told the police that he and another boy had lured the two younger boys into the woods, stabbed them to death and hid their bodies, motivated by a dispute with Jimmy McQueary's older brother. He told police where the murder weapon was buried. When he returned to Fairfax with police to show them where the bodies were buried, he recanted his confession and claimed he only said it to get out of the service. Police did not find a murder weapon. The marine passed a polygraph test and he was never charged.

So, if the confession was false...

LINK:
[Unresolved Disappearance] The 1964 disappearances of John Hundley & James McQueary, and a recanted confession : UnresolvedMysteries

 

[ChatteringBirds]

It doesn't make sense that if Jimmy's mother gave him $1.04 to pay the bill at Frisch's, and then the boys somehow obtained $20, that they'd pay with the $20. They'd have paid with the $1.04. IMO it must be a huge clue, if true.

I wonder about the marine's confession. I don't place any meaning in polygraph results. I think polygraphs are worthless as far as actually determining guilt or innocence. MOO.

 

[Ozoner]

It doesn't make sense that if Jimmy's mother gave him $1.04 to pay the bill at Frisch's, and then the boys somehow obtained $20, that they'd pay with the $20. They'd have paid with the $1.04. IMO it must be a huge clue, if true.

I wonder about the marine's confession. I don't place any meaning in polygraph results. I think polygraphs are worthless as far as actually determining guilt or innocence. MOO.

They might have paid with the $20 in order to break it and split the money between themselves.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

They might have paid with the $20 in order to break it and split the money between themselves.

Thanks, I didn't think it through. I wonder if and how the $20 plays a role in their disappearance.

 

[LissaLee]

After reading through all 7 pages, and having my boyfriend think I'm completely out of my league here, I am going to continue compiling notes, and constructing theories. I'm also going to visit both sites, Columbia parkway and the school of it's still there, try to find people who were around at that time, and if possible find and interview class mates of both the boys and McKee.

@lostbrother if you're still around, I am so sorry about your brother. You deserve closure amd justice.

 

[LissaLee]

Also, I found an article that I thought was interesting