On July 4th, 2026 police announced they had made a second arrest in the April 28th, 1998 disappearance of 17 year old Donna Keogh. Keogh went missing from Middlesbrough, England and at the time investigators who looked into her disappearance strongly suspected she was likely murdered. Despite a 28 year long investigation to this day Keogh’s body has still not been found. The case was relooked into in both 2000 and 2002 after the cases of Vicky Glass and Rachel Wilson occurred and were being investigated.

The investigation had a huge update when on March 31st of 2026 a first arrest was made that of a 64 year old man from the Leeds area on suspicion of murder. They also announced a second arrest had been made in her disappearance this time a 62 year old Manchester man who was arrested on Friday the 3rd also on suspicion of murder. Investigators in this case have focused their investigation in the past few months on the Leeds area which Keogh had traveled to in 1998 prior to her disappearance.

In a recent interview following the arrest investigators have said they suspect her murder occurred shortly after she disappeared. The 62 year old suspect is currently being interviewed by officers while the investigation continues. They have also asked those with information in her disappearance to come forward and speak with officers.

Sources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/bik8z6/the\_murder\_of\_3\_girls\_in\_middlesbroughuk\_donna/?solution=b22d0eda1eb2f988b22d0eda1eb2f988&js\_challenge=1&token=7afd7253fec22262ff1c52b1703fe9ece0643629d76b41f2639ad1abefa53cdd&jsc\_orig\_r=

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70yv87x8kqo

https://news.sky.com/story/man-arrested-over-suspected-murder-of-donna-keogh-17-whose-body-was-never-found-13526363

https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/greatest-hits/teesside/news/second-man-arrested-in-connection-with-the-murder-of-donna-keogh

BACKGROUND: Tamra Jewel Keepness was born on September 1st, 1998. She had a twin sister named Tanis, along with her big sister Summer, big brother Raine, and three younger siblings. She and her her siblings and their mother Lorena Keepness are from the Whitebear First Nation in Saskatchewan. At the time of her disappearance, her siblings, Lorena and the children's stepfather Dean McArthur all lived on 1834 Ottawa Street in Regina, Saskatchewan. This area was not the nicest area for a family to live, as it was riddled with drug and alcohol abuse, sex work and poverty. Tamra's home was only five minutes away from a halfway house for felons, and not far from a Salvation Army shelter where the people that lived there, struggled with drugs and alcohol. Sasketchewan's Child Welfare services had been involved with this family since the oldest child (Summer) was born, in 1993. There had been over 50 reports made to child welfare services about Lorena neglecting the children, her use of drugs and alcohol, and Dean having a history of violence and domestic abuse. Between most of 2001 and 2002, Summer, Raine, Tamra and Tannis lived with their father Troy Keepness or their maternal grandmother. In early 2004, Troy was unable to look after the children, so the children returned to live with Lorena. Two weeks before Tamra's disappearance, Dean had been recently released from jail after beating Lorena while he was drunk.

July 5th, 2004 - last time Tamra is seen: There are conflicting stories about what took place the last time Tamra was seen. On the evening of July 5th 2004, Lorena and Dean were at home with all six of Lorena's children. At 8:30pm that evening they had an argument. Dean left the house and ran into his friend, Russell Sheepskin. Russell also occasionally lived in Lorena and Dean's home, as he would babysit the children. Dean and Russell went to a 7-11 to get a jug of milk for Dean and Lorena's baby (Dean and Lorena had two children together, one born in September 2003, the other born in December 2007.) After they dropped off the milk, Dean and Russell went to a bar to have a few drinks. Lorena on the other hand was at home, the children wanted to go to bed. Lorena says that Tamra went to her upstairs bedroom she shared with her brothers, who were 8 and 4 years old. Lorena left her oldest child 10-year old Summer in charge of the house, as Lorena went to a friend's townhouse, Lorena and her friend left the townhouse to get more drinks, Lorena came back to the house to let Summer know she was going back to her friends home and was going to give Summer the friend's phone number. When she got back to the townhouse, Lorena says she called Summer and gave Summer the phone number. Lorena states that it was around midnight when this exchange occurred.

July 6th - Tamra is missing: The second oldest child of all six of the Keepness/McArthur children, Raine Keepness shared the same bedroom as Tamra. He says he felt Tamra get up from the bed sometime possibly in the early morning hours of July 6th. Around 9am that morning, Lois Shepherd, the grandmother of all six children, showed up to the home. Lorena was recovering from a hangover. The two oldest children, Summer and Raine went to summer day camp. When it was time for breakfast, Tamra had not came down from her bedroom. When the family realized Tamra was not inside the home, they began looking at friend's and relatives homes, as well as playgrounds in the area. A family member called the police at 12:16pm that afternoon to report Tamra missing.Aftermath: Tamra's disappearance became national news throughout the entire province. Around 2,000 tips had came in, in the hopes of finding Tamra. There were searches coming in throughout the entire province alone, but she was not found. On July 19th, two weeks after Tamra was reported missing, police had arrested and charged Dean with assaulting Russell the night of Tamra's disappearance. Two days later on July 21st, Tamra's siblings were removed from Lorena's custody by child welfare services and they were never permanently returned to Lorena's custody after Tamra disappeared. Lorena had three children after Tamra went missing (one of the children was fathered by Dean) but they were also taken by child welfare services as well. Russell Sheepskin passed away New Years Day, 2009.
Troy Keepness, the father of Raine, Tamra, Tannis and Cole Keepness, did an interview with CBC in 2019. He says he is guilty of over losing custody of his children in the years leading up to Tamra's disappearance. He says the last time he saw Tamra, Tamra said she wanted to live with him. Troy has 10 other children who are all adults by the time the 2019 interview was done. One son of his, graduated high school. Tannis who is Tamra's twin sister, is in university.
In October 2022, her disappearance became the focus in two episodes of the show "Never Seen Again" which is a documentary series that explores the stories of missing persons. This show gives family members a chance to tell their story, as in her episode, Tamra's mother Lorena along with her siblings talk about their missing daughter/sister.
Lorena Keepness passed away in May of 2023 at the age of 49. Here is her obituary: https://www.speersfuneralchapel.com/obituaries/Lorena-Lyne-Keepness?obId=28865757
Summer Favel, Tamra's sister, went missing days before the 19 year anniversary in 2023, she was reported missing on June 14th 2023. However, police confirmed she had been found safe, days after she went missing. Here is the report that confirms she is safe: https://reginapolice.ca/2023/07/update-missing-29-year-old-summer-favel-located/
Cole Keepness, Tamra’s brother, was shot and killed in September 2023. Here is his obituary: https://www.speersfuneralchapel.com/obituaries/Cole-Keepness?obId=29104351
This year marks 22 years since Tamra’s disappearance. Tamra would be 27 years old if she is still alive, today. Here are some articles/reports on the disappearance of Tamra Keepness:

https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/keepness_tamra/night.html

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6898091
https://thewalrus.ca/little-girl-lost/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/tamra-keepness-anniversary-1.5199573
https://regina.ctvnews.ca/tamra-keepness-family-speaks-together-about-her-disappearance-in-new-documentary-1.6115084

Valentine Sally (or Coconino County Jane Doe) was an unidentified young woman for nearly 40 years whose body was found on Valentine’s Day (February 14, 1982) along Interstate 40 near Williams, Arizona. In 2021, she was identified as Carolyn Celeste Eaton, 17, from Bellefontaine Neighbors (a St. Louis suburb), Missouri.

Carolyn ran away from home around Christmas 1981 after a family argument. She was never officially reported missing at the time. Her decomposing body was found face-down under a cedar tree, about 20-25 feet from the highway. She was wearing only “Seasons” brand jeans (size 9); a red-and-white striped sweater and bra were found nearby. Animals had damaged her face, complicating early identification.

Homicide by asphyxiation/suffocation. No clear evidence of sexual assault. She had a tooth prepped for a root canal (with baby aspirin remnants in the cavity), indicating tooth pain shortly before death.

Last Seen Alive:

On February 4, 1982, waitress Patricia Wilkins at the Monte Carlo Truck Stop (Ash Fork, AZ) served a blonde teen with a toothache accompanied by an older white man (approx. 60) wearing a cowboy hat with a feather (possibly peacock). The girl mentioned heading to New Jersey. Wilkins is believed to be the last person to see her alive.

There was a wrongful identification in 1984 as Melody Cutlip (who was alive and returned home in 1986). Only in 2021, through genetic genealogy (familial DNA), was Carolyn’s identity confirmed.

The killer has never been identified. Suspects include possible serial killers active on I-40 at the time (such as Royal Russell Long, known for a cowboy hat), but nothing proven. The case remains open.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Carolyn_Eaton

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsoctv.com/news/trending/arizonas-valentine-sally-identified-through-dna-genealogy-missing-missouri-girl-after-40-years/4LVWA2JOX5HVDPJLORZ5U2X2NE/%3foutputType=amp

Hello everyone! As always, thank you for all your comments and votes under my last post about the Middlesex County John Doe- I hope that he will be identified soon.

Today I'd like to highlight a disappearance case.

BACKGROUND

Robert Alexander "Alex" Easterling was 30 when he went missing from Pickens, Mississippi, USA.

One article noted that he was a "young father", but no details were given about this part of his life.

DISAPPEARANCE

Alex was last seen on the 20th of April at 8:15 PM on Stockyard Road in Pickens. His mother, Ashley E Martin, had picked Alex from jail and then dropped him off at his acquaintance’s house at Alex's request. Alex's mother had a bad feeling about the place one they arrived, and later described it as a "chop shop".

Before he left, Alex asked his mother to text him when she comes home, so that he'd know that she returned safely. Ashley kept her promise and both called and texted Alex, but recieved no reply. When there was still no word back from Alex by the next morning, Ashley knew that something was wrong.

After Alex was reported missing, Ashley learned how to analyze phone data from a friend who was involved in law enforcement. According to that data, Alex was on his friend's porch, and then, minutes later, the phone appeared to stay in one spot. According to the interpretation of data from Alex's phone, he then ran off the back porch and "fell flat"- the next phone ping was sent at 12:23 AM, and it came from across the street from the friend's residence.

A search party with dogs was meant to search the friend's property, but the friend revoked his permission after he initially granted it. It doesn't seem like any physical clues were found during the search.

CONCLUSION

The info I'll give below comes from Alex's websleuths.com thread from a user claiming to be Ashley. This user has not been verified, so we can't be 100% sure that it is indeed Ashley, but I still found the details provided notable enough to include. Approach these with a grain of salt.

• Alex was in jail due to an outstanding warrant in Hinds County from 2020 for Grand Larceny. He was arrested on the 16th of February. His charge was reduced to a misdemeanor and Alex was released on Pretrial Intervention Program (PTI).
• Alex has struggled with substance abuse issues for a few years before he went missing. His larceny charge was a result of that.
• Ashley didn't know it at the time, but the house she dropped Alex at belonged to a known drug dealer. She said that the place looked "shady" and like "a junk yard with old cars everywhere, high wooden fencing, flood lights, etc".
• An officer went to the friend's house on the 22nd to talk to him about Alex's disappearance. The friend claimed that Alex did come by that evening and that the two talked on the porch. Alex allegedly asked the friend to give him some phone numbers, as he had a brand new phone with no new contacts. The friend allegedly went inside to grab his phone, and when he returned, Alex was gone. When Ashley's father went to talk with the friend a bit later on the 22nd, he said that he went inside to put on a t-shirt, and when he came back, Alex was gone. Even later on the 22nd, a deputy came by to the friend to talk about Alex- the friend claimed that he went in to grab a cigarette, and when he came back, Alex was gone. The friend gave three slightly different versions of the story overall. He hasn't been questioned by the police in an official capacity (at least by the 12th of July 2022, no idea if that has changed since).
• The area where Alex went missing at was looked through using drones and sniffer dogs at the 27th and 28th of April 2022. The friend had denied them access to the property at first, but then changed his mind. The dogs immediately hit Alex's scent and lead the handlers from the front gate straight to the front porch. The dogs then tried to lead the handlers to the back of the house, but the friend said that Alex "didn't go back there" and didn't want to let them through. A deputy was called during the search, but once he arrived at the property, he didn't even exit his car and didn't acknowledge Ashley, her husband, or her father, who were also at the scene.

The friend who owned the house that Alex was last seen at is considered a person of interest.

There is a $10,000 reward for any info in Alex's case.

Robert Alexander "Alex" Easterling was 30 when he went missing and would be 34 now. He is a white man, 5' 9" (69 Inch / 175 cm) and 160 lbs (73 kg). He has brown hair and hazel eyes. He has a large cross tattoo on his back. He wast last seen wearing a black t- shirt with a white Egyptian design on the front, blue jeans, and military style boots.

If you have any info about Alex's whereabouts, contact the Holmes County Sheriff's Department at (662) 834-1511 (case number 289622-HSO).

SOURCES:

1. wlbt.com
2. breezynews.com
3. wlbt.com
4. wjtv.com
5. NamUS.gov

Alex's websleuths.com thread

The Connecticut River Valley Killer (also known as the Valley Killer) is an unidentified serial killer who operated in the Connecticut River Valley region, primarily between New Hampshire and Vermont (USA), from 1978 to 1988. He is believed to be responsible for at least 7 murders of young women, with a consistent pattern: most victims were stabbed multiple times, often with deep cuts to the throat and chest/abdomen. Many bodies were dumped in remote, wooded areas near Interstate 91.

Key victims:

Catherine Millican (27, 1978): Was birdwatching in New London, NH. Found with at least 29 stab wounds near where she was last seen.

Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Critchley (37, 1981): Disappeared while hitchhiking near the MA-VT border. Body found in Unity, NH.

Bernice Courtemanche (17, missing 1984): Nurse’s aide who hitchhiked in Claremont, NH. Remains found in 1986 in Kelleyville with stab wounds and slit throat.

Ellen Fried, Eva Morse, and others found in similar wooded dump sites.

Lynda Moore (36, 1986): Brutally stabbed inside her home in Saxtons River, VT, in a frenzied attack.

Barbara Agnew: Found in Hartland, VT.

Several bodies were discovered in a short period in 1985-1986, alerting authorities to a possible serial killer. Victims were often in vulnerable situations (hitchhiking or alone in isolated areas).

The case became even more notable on August 6, 1988, when Jane Boroski, 22 and seven months pregnant, was attacked in a parking lot in West Swanzey, NH. A man stabbed her 27 times, but she miraculously survived (along with her baby). She is the only known survivor and provided a description of the attacker. The killings stopped after this incident.

The case remains unsolved to this day. There is some debate about whether all cases are definitively linked, but the similarities in MO, locations, and wound patterns are compelling. No conclusive DNA or arrests have been made.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_River_Valley_Killer

https://www.wjhg.com/2022/01/29/mcrae-murders-still-unsolved-after-33-years/

https://apnews.com/general-news-688c5082040045409932af589ed49e9e

The most prominent unsolved murder in Graceville, Florida is the 1989 double homicide of prominent couple Robert (72) and Kathryn (70) McRae. On January 29, 1989, the couple was found executed in their kitchen, each shot in the back of the head. Robbery was quickly ruled out as the primary motive, though money from Robert’s wallet and a ring from Kathryn’s hand were taken, while other valuable jewelry was left behind on the porch. Ski masks containing DNA were recovered but nothing of value has been gleaned from them. Robert was a former director of Gulf Power Company (out of Pensacola, FL) and had been called to testify on the company's former management. I lived approximately twenty miles from their home.

I was also an employee of Gulf Power Company at the time and a lot of the allegations the company had been involved in a multimillion-dollar tax fraud scheme and making illegal political donations eventually were proven. The company has since been sold.

On July 2nd 2026 officers with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama announced that skeletal human remains discovered on March 21st at a wooded area behind a residence in the 5000 block of County Road 10 had been identified as 51 year old Robert Deshawn Childers missing from Florence, Alabama.

Childers disappeared on September 17th, 2016 after his roommate last saw him, reporting to police on the 19th of September that sometime between 9AM and 12:00 PM he left home near Highway 141 from Florence. The roommate told authorities that Childers locked his truck before walking down the road without saying where he was going and away from the home. When those who knew him were interviewed they were worried that he may have been disoriented when he walked off.

Investigators at the time of the case labeled the case foul play. The case was investigated by the FBI and listed in the Vicap (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program). Childers had his remains identified using DNA recovered from the remains matched in CODIS. Despite the identification a death investigation has been opened as authorities try to determine how Childers ended up there. As of now no persons of interest has been named in the case.

Sources:

https://abc3340.com/news/local/human-remains-identified-as-missing-north-alabama-man-nearly-10-years-after-disappearance-lauderdale-county-sheriffs-offuce-robert-deshaw-childers

https://www.waff.com/2026/07/02/remains-found-lauderdale-county-identified-man-missing-since-2016/?outputType=amp

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/missing-persons/robert-deshawn-childers

https://www.waff.com/video/2026/07/02/lauderdale-county-sheriff-remains-identified-2016-missing-person-case-still-active/

https://whnt.com/news/shoals/remains-found-in-lauderdale-county-identified-as-man-reported-missing-nearly-10-years-ago/amp/

https://charleyproject.org/case/robert-deshawn-childers

https://people.com/remains-of-man-missing-for-a-decade-found-behind-alabama-home-12011693

Hey, all! This might be a nothing burger.

This is about the Max Headroom Broadcast Incident, which occured in late November of 87. A group of unknown perpetrators hijacked WGN/WTTW Chicago stations, and in place of regular programming was a man dancing in a Max Headroom mask.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but between 1:46-1:47 you can faintly see the man's face holding up the Max Headroom mask (from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25cDEvvTg08

From what I could tell, he has dark hair. I know this doesn't do much, but it would narrow the search.

If anyone has the software to enhance this, that'd be amazing.

On Christmas Eve 1945, in Fayetteville, West Virginia, five of George and Jennie Sodder's ten children vanished during a house fire. The official story: they died in the flames. But no human bones or teeth were ever recovered from the ash — and the wood-frame house had burned for only 45 minutes.

Multiple details never added up:

- The family ladder, always kept against the house, was found 75 feet away in the brush

- The phone line to the house had been cut, not burned through

- Both of George's trucks — used hours earlier — refused to start

- A life insurance salesman had threatened George two months before the fire, telling him his house would "go up in smoke" and his children would be "destroyed" — and later served on the coroner's jury without disclosing the threat

- A woman at a rest stop between Fayetteville and Charleston reported seeing five children with two men and two women eating breakfast on Christmas morning, next to a car with Florida plates

- 23 years later, Jennie received an anonymous letter postmarked Central City, Kentucky. Inside was a photograph of a man around 30 years old who looked exactly like her son Louis would have looked as an adult

- The case is technically still open

Sylvia Sodder, the youngest sibling who survived because she was in her mother's arms that night, died in 2021. Their surviving grandchildren are alive today. If any of the missing five children survived and had families, their descendants could potentially take a DNA test.

I spent two months building a full 28-minute documentary on this case using AI narration and AI-generated period visuals. Every fact is sourced from Smithsonian Magazine, NPR, and the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Sources listed in the video description.

Would love to hear this community's take.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuSgwgl_SyU

On Monday, the 8th of May 1967, brothers William Francis Hoag (who went by both Bill and Billy) and Joel Wise Hoag (who went by both Joe and Joey) were exploring a cave known Murphy’s Cave, in Hannibal, Marion County, Missouri; the cave was close to the construction site on Highway 79, and a worker spotted the boys. This worker told Billy and Joey to leave the cave alone as it was dangerous, but no known precautions were actually taken to prevent other explorers from entering the cave.

Billy and Joey did not listen to the worker, and instead returned to Murphy’s Cave, having snuck out to go to the cave, on Tuesday, the 9th of May, with two of their friends (some sources say that Craig was with them on the 9th, but i am unsure if that is confirmed or not). Billy and Joey returned home later that night with their clothes covered in red clay mud, leading them to be scolded by their mother, Helen, and being told by her to wash their clothes. Both Helen and Mike told them that they were to not ever go to the cave again, and if they did they would be in big trouble.

The next day, Wednesday, the 10th of May 1967, Helen and Mike left the Hoag residence to go to a meat market, giving their eldest children strict instructions to thoroughly watch their younger siblings and make sure that Joey and Billy did not leave the house. When Joey returned from school that day, he was greeted by DeDe, with Billy already being in the house (i’m not sure if Billy had simply arrived home earlier or was off sick that day) before entering the house and going into his bedroom to change out of his school clothes.

DeDe recalled telling Joey and Billy to: “You stay in the yard now, you hear me?”, but she said that Billy did not answer her. Tim (who was 15 at the time) and DeDe (who was 16 at the time) were obeying their parents’ orders to watch both Billy and Joey, though at some point they lost track of the boys, and the two had gone back out to see Murphy’s Cave, taking a flashlight, a homemade lantern (some sources say it was a homemade lantern, others say a homemade ladder, it could have been both, but again, it changes depending on the source), and a shovel with them. Over the course of the afternoon, Joey and Billy would be seen with several of their friends, including 14 year-old Edwin Craig Dowell. Craig went by his middle name, and it is unknown if he was actually a friend to the boys or just an acquaintance, but Craig and Joel both attended Hannibal Junior High. Billy and Joey had asked another friend of theirs, 11 year-old Greg Henderson, to go with them to the cave, but he couldn’t as he was called in for dinner (though i want to note that, like many other details of this case, the reason why Greg couldn’t come changes depending on the source, and it’s also said he couldn’t come because he was grounded and confined to his room).

The timestamp of when the boys were exactly last seen is contradictory, apparently they were in Murphy’s Cave at around 4:35 P.M., but they were spotted several more times around town between 4:40 P.M. and 5:15 P.M., sometimes together and sometimes separately. Likewise, the story of who had exactly last seen them was blurred too; “One source said the last known sighting of the boys was by a teenage girl. Another says it was a teacher. Yet another says they were last spotted on top of a cliff called Lover’s Leap by a janitor at their school. This was the latest reported sighting of the boys; after 5:15, all traces of them were lost.” (taken from: https://maryhallberg.wixsite.com/maryhallberg/post/the-lost-boys-of-hannibal-missing-for-55-years).

Around 5:15 P.M., a friend of Billy and Joey stopped by the Hoag house to see if they were home. Helen and Mike, who had came back from the meat market, said that they weren’t there, but told this friend to tell Billy and Joey to come home immediately if they saw them. When Billy and Joey weren’t home by 5:45 P.M., their brother Tim began looking for them; he went to Murphy’s Cave and saw some of the boys’ friends there, and these friends told Tim that they saw Billy, Joey and Craig go into the cave earlier. Tim did enter the cave but found nothing. Shortly before 6:30 P.M., Helen called the police to report Billy and Joey missing.
That same day, the construction work nearby had caused a cave-in at Murphy Cave, and investigators feared that the boys were inside of the cave when it had happened and ended up trapped with no way out (though this hasn’t been confirmed and remains speculation).

Along with the police, groups like The Mark Twain Emergency Squad, the National Speleological Society, Civil Defence Workers, and The Missouri National Guardsmen, were brought in to help search for the boys. Over 200 cave explorers, both professional experts and amateur enthusiasts, from Missouri, Illinois, and Washington D.C., searched through Murphy’s Cave, mapping it as they went along. It was noted that some of the passages they searched were so narrow that one of the more petite searchers, who weighed 98 pounds, could barely squeeze in. The Hoag family, Helen and Mike and their other nine children, as well as a score of relatives, all remained present during the searches and insisted, pleaded and demanded that rescuers divide their forces and search other caves to the Southeast (this was noted to be done but, from what i could find, only in Murphy’s Cave itself, not any other caves), with Helen specifically urging for greater efforts to be made, climbing the hills around Hannibal herself, and staying, watching the search, and hoping during the long day and night hours. Two police dogs, one from Hannibal and another from St. Louis, were brought in to aid in the search, though their efforts ended at the base of a rockfall ceiling off of one section of the cave. A non-police dog, a small, mostly-Dachshund dog named Tike, from the Hoag neighbourhood, also failed to help locate the boys. The ground disruption/equipment from the construction work also uncovered two new cave entrances about 400 yards to the East, one entrance was filled in, but the other was open; these weren’t the only new tunnels discovered, the construction work unearthed more and more each day, Murphy’s Cave itself was described as a Labyrinth, and The Mark Twain Emergency Squad said there was a slide in a cave passage about 20 feet to the right of the entrance that blocked rescue teams from entering a section of the cave running along the face of the bluff. The only real “clue” was that a lone sock, thought to belong to Craig, was found in a quarry by members of the Mark Twain Emergency Squad, along with a red substance believed to be blood.

Eventually, all of these searches turned up nothing, and the boys were never seen again.

The latest lead was in 2006, when construction workers building a new Elementary School on Highway 79 found a small cave about 50 feet long. Authorities checked it to see if the Hoag brothers or Craig were there, but this new search also turned up with nothing.

Joel Wise Hoag

Joel Wise Hoag was born on the 25th of July 1954 to mother Helen Hoag and father Mike Hoag; Joel had ten other siblings, 6 brothers and four sisters, with Billy, Tim, Michael Jr., Roberta Rae, Robin Jay, and Deborah (who went by DeDe) being the only ones named. Joel went by Joey and Joe, and according to his sister DeDe, he was quite a serious boy, (atleast more serious than Billy, who was described as being very mischievous) who was very interested in science, particularly astronomy; he kept a “meticulous” journal that he signed each night: “Amateur Astronomer Joel Hoag”. Joel was very adventurous, and enjoyed exploring with his classmates and young neighbours. DeDe noted that Joel was often seen with his telescope watching the stars. Joel also wanted to be the first man on the moon.

At the time of disappearance, Joel was 12 years old (he was turning 13 in July, but every source lists him as being 13); he was 5’6 feet tall and weighed about 100 lbs, he had a scar on his forehead and a dark complexion. His hair and eye colour are both noted to be brown. His clothing description is a white t-shirt and blue jeans.

William Francis Hoag

William Francis Hoag was born on the 4th of October 1955 to mother Helen Hoag and father Mike Hoag. William had ten other siblings, 6 brothers and four sisters, with Joel, Tim, Michael Jr., Roberta Rae, Robin Jay, and Deborah (who went by DeDe) being the only ones named. William went by Bill and Billy, and was described by DeDe to be a “funny little thing” as well as being very mischievous. William was very adventurous, and enjoyed going on his adventures and exploring with his classmates and young neighbours. He was also described by an (unnamed) sister to have liked to do whatever Joel liked to do.

At the time of disappearance, William was 11 years old, he was 5’5 feet tall and weighed 80 lbs. His hair was red/auburn, and described as being crew cut, his eyes were blue. William had fair skin with freckles, and a scar under his right arm in the shape of a V from a picket fence incident. William’s clothing is described as a white t-shirt and blue jeans.

Edwin Craig Dowell

Edwin Craig Dowell was born on the 29th of December 1952; as far as i could see, all of Craig’s family members are unnamed, but he did have three brothers, and lived with his family. He was affectionately described by his mother to be “crazy about bicycles”. Instead of Edwin, he went by his middle name, Craig.

At the time of disappearance, Craig was 14 years old, he was 5’0 feet tall and 100 pounds, characteristics like hair colour and eye colour aren’t listed, and The Doe Network and The Charley Project list his exact height, weight, eye colour and hair colour as all being unknown.

Theories

Abduction Theory and JWG Theory:

There’s been speculation that the boys did not enter the cave at all, and were abducted instead, with a new(er) theory suggesting that John Wayne Gacy was responsible: “A new book written by John Wingate, a Hannibal native, suggests that the boys might have been slain by serial killer John Wayne Gacy. John was convicted of murdering 33 boys and young men in the Chicago, Illinois area between 1972 and 1978. The theory is that John encountered the three boys near the caves and offered them a lift home. Instead, he took the boys to a nearby wooded area where he assaulted and killed them. The possibility also stands that he might have buried them in that location as well. Wingate started to heat from 3 different psychics when he started making trips to both Hannibal and Illinois to sign his book.
The 3 psychics suggested that Gacy was actually responsible for the boys demise. The first psychic showed up at Wingate’s book conference and became visibly upset because she felt the boys presence as he spoke. Several weeks later, another psychic called one the sisters of the Hoag brothers and said she believed without a doubt that John Wayne Gacy was in fact responsible for the deaths of her two brothers and their friend. Another woman from Wyoming who is a psychic claimed that when she was looking at photos of the three boys, she saw visions of the boys being assaulted and slain by Gacy.
Apparently, this wasn’t the first time that Gacy’s name came up in connection to the three boys in Hannibal. When he was arrested for his crimes in 1978, many rumors and questions went around as to whether Gacy could’ve been in Hannibal at the time they disappeared. It was discovered that Gacy was living and working in Waterloo, Iowa in 1967 while his mother was living in Little Rock, Arkansas at the time. If Gacy was to go and visit his mother, he would take Highway 61 which takes you right through Hannibal. There is also the fact that during the huge search for the boys in 1967, man people in Hannibal reported seeing a “mystery man” hanging around the cave entrances for a couple of days while the road construction took place. The boys were known to be playing in the caves in the days before they disappeared. The man was never seen again after the boys disappeared. There was some skepticism towards the 3 women all sensing a connection to the boys and Gacy but it’s been noted that they all corroborated each other’s information independently. Two of the psychics did tell Wingate that the mystery man was actually Gacy. John would’ve been 35 years old when the boys went missing in 1967. He also drove each of the women around Hannibal to see if they indicated any areas of interest in August and September of 2018. He said all 3 of them indicated some of the same areas and locations in relation to Gacy and the boys. He said “In all three cases, we’d find ourselves standing at the same location on three different days” and described it as beyond coincidental. One of the psychics also suggested that Gacy could’ve been responsible for two other disappearances in the Monroe City area. John Wagner was last seen in Monroe City after he dropped his little brother off at a school dance in February of 1968. In June of 1977, Rickey Enochs left his home in Monroe City with an unidentified individual in a vehicle with Illinois license plates and was never seen again. Both boys remain missing. Gacy has not been proven to be the killer of the Hoag brothers and Edwin but there’s much speculation that he was involved. He was executed by lethal injection on May 9th 1994. He was a diagnosed psychopath who showed no remorse for any of his crimes.”

My Opinion(s) On This:

The theory that JWG was responsible is easily debunked by these factors: you can easily suggest JWG as a suspect, but the case wouldn’t even match his M.O., and JWG didn’t start killing until 1972. You can say that we don’t know when he started killing for sure, that would be somewhat valid, but it’s very unlikely (and unreal to suggest that) he killed 3 young boys in 1967. Whether you believe psychics or not, it’s insanely easy to blame one of the most, if not the most, famous serial killer for the boys’ disappearances, and i imagine for quite good pay too. I wouldn’t even say that it was odd that all of the psychics came to the conclusion that JWG was responsible, if they blamed someone like Dean Corll (which is just an example, not a suggestion. Dean definitely did not do this, and i don’t think any killer did either, for that matter) then maybe i’d think “hey, it probably wasn’t him, but it’s odd they got it three times!”, but again, everyone knows the name of JWG, and it’s so easy to stick his name onto this case, or literally any case involving a boy going missing.

- End of Theories (Edit: To prevent confusion, none of those theories come from me; i put whatever sort of theory i can find under there, and remember that every theory is just a theory, unless theres hard evidence to prove its true, which in this case, there isn’t).

Authorities believe that all of the boys are deceased today, even if it didn’t happen in the cave; though the most likely scenario is that the boys died within the cave, and it is pretty obvious that is what happened.

There is a memorial marker for the boys inside of the cave. In 2010, author Charles Stewart published a book about them, A Sorrow of the Heart.

Ending Note: I apologise for any potential misspellings this post may have, i did proofread but i am sorry if i missed any typos. If any of what i said is hard to understand, let me know and i’ll try to clear up what it means and edit the post to make it clearer. I also apologise if the layout of this does not look so good on other devices, i wrote this on mobile, so i acknowledge it may potentially be a bit of an eyesore on computer.

Sources:
https://rcccmcc.com/2020/04/17/william-francis-hoag/

https://charleyproject.org/case/william-hoag

https://rcccmcc.com/2020/04/17/joel-wise-hoag/?amp=1

https://maryhallberg.wixsite.com/maryhallberg/post/the-lost-boys-of-hannibal-missing-for-55-years

https://charleyproject.org/case/joel-hoag

https://charleyproject.org/case/edwin-craig-dowell

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149044005/edwin_craig-dowell

https://rcccmcc.com/2020/04/17/edwin-craig-dowell/?amp=1

https://websleuths.com/threads/mo-edwin-dowell-14-joel-13-william-hoag-11-hannibal-10-may-1967.174595/

https://www.trailwentcold.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-340-the-lost-boys-of-hannibal/

https://medium.com/the-mystery-box/the-mystery-of-the-lost-boys-of-hannibal-b7b19fbd0d6c

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8a5WAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA11&dq=billy+hoag&article_id=4236,3826499&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjjkO7l_rSVAxVQVfEDHX5jO0cQuwV6BAgMEAc#v=onepage&q=billy%20hoag&f=false

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mq0rAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=william+hoag&article_id=5615,1385309&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi2kZ2N_7SVAxXFAtsEHQnmGM4QuwV6BAgNEAc#v=onepage&q=william%20hoag&f=false

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/mp-main.html?id=4945dmmo

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/mp-main.html?id=4946dmmo

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/mp-main.html?id=4947dmmo

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149044014/william-hoag

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149044012/joel-hoag

https://www.foxnews.com/us/the-lost-boys-mississippi-river-town-haunted-by-unsolved-disappearance-50-years-later.amp

Paul was 33 and lived in Feltham, West London. He was murdered on Wednesday 22 or Thursday 23 August 1990.

He was gay and his landlady was Sylvia Robinson, who met him through her son and took him in when he had nowhere to stay after he arrived from Bournemouth. She described herself as "treated more or less like a mother [by him]" and Paul as "very lonely" and "never able to mix with people". The police, in their summing up, described him as "very effeminate in his manners and speech".

His daily routine was to get up late then, in the evening, do the rounds of local pubs. It was not stated what he did during the day but, in the evening, he did informal bar work and was known by sight to a lot of people as a result. At the time of his murder he appeared to be looking for work during the day, but someone who was supposed to be meeting him about a job told him that there was no job and, in fact, that the whole thing was a wind-up.

Unusually, on the 22nd, in his first pub of the evening, he asked his landlady to leave the front door off the lock, then went to a second pub (The Tankerville Arms in Hounslow, demolished in 2005) and was seen at about 1900 being bought drinks by a man in his late teens or early 20s. Later, he was met by three men, one of whom was in his late 30s with "piercing blue-hazel eyes", bought him drinks and was clearly in deep conversation with him. The first pub was not named, although it may have been The Hussar in Hounslow (demolished in 2022).

Someone else then saw him in The Chariot in Hounslow (demolished in 2012) with the three men gone but with who the reconstruction suggests was the original man, who Paul introduced to them as his brother. (To introduce all sorts of people as being his brother was a trait of Paul's). He was last definitively seen at 2200 by the barman, who noted that Paul bought two pints, rather than his usual half-pint(s). Unfortunately, the barman didn't see who the second pint was for.

Nobody knows who Paul was with or what he did after that, but he was known to have been in Southall, three miles away to the North, late that night or early next morning. Other than walking, he would have had to get there by bus, taxi or car. (It is not clear how this sighting was made or confirmed given that the barman of The Chariot was explicitly said to be the last person to see him alive).

At 0600 on the 23rd someone cycling to work on the Grand Union Canal towpath near Hayes and Harlington station saw "a great big patch of red blotches" on the grass, stopped, came across a body floating at the side of the canal then cycled off and contacted the police in person. It was Paul. He had £20 in his pocket. It was not said how he was murdered in the reconstruction, but other sites state that he was battered to death with blows to the back of his head, probably about two hours before he was found.

There were various straws in the wind, such as a statement that Paul had had "sexual contact" with "a man or men" on the night or the night before (once again, which is unclear) he was murdered, and a witness claimed to have seen him where he was murdered three weeks before his death although he was not known to frequent Southall.

The next month's Crimewatch UK reported that 80 calls had been received - historically, a fairly low number but far from the lowest - and that one particular call had "very much taken the investigation forward". Evidently that, and the other clues, came to nothing. There was allegedly a short second reconstruction in 2002, but I cannot find it.

So who killed Paul, and why?

Caveat 1: Someone identifying themselves as Paul's niece posted in the YT comments to the reconstruction and stated that "no family" and "very lonely" was untrue and probably playing for the camera, as he had many dealings with his family and even worked for his parents in their nursing home from time to time; also, the last time the police contacted his family members was "over 20 years ago" - in other words, before 2000 given the date of the comment. Another site claimed that he usually lived with a brother in Hounslow West and was only occasionally living in Feltham.

Caveat 2: The bus journey from Hounslow High Street to Southall Broadway, in 2026, is very indirect and requires a change. I do not know whether that was the case in 1991.

As an aside, Paul and Sylvia apparently lived in Hunter House in Feltham, and that exceptionally grim block of flats shown at the start of the reconstruction, which I remember well from old railway journeys, has been thoroughly refurbished.

Crimewatch UK reconstruction (November 1990)

Appeal (2002)

Crime Immemorial summary (2024)

My map

We need one of these:

Red: Where Paul stayed with his landlady.

Blue: The two known pubs he visited in Hounslow (almost next to each other).

Green: Southall Broadway, plausibly where he was seen about 3 hours after the last known sighting.

Black: From the reconstruction and a bit of guesswork, the murder site.

John Doe 41 off of the ECAP (Endangered Child Alert Program) with the FBI has been one of the cases that has plagued my mind as of recent. For those who don't know the FBI's ECAP is a list of child sex offenders who were found in videos or images of CSAM. Their photos are cropped and often very limited to hide the faces of the victims. One case that has been going since 2008 I believe finally got resolved (John Doe 5). and I believe there is a chance these people can be identified if it was more wide spread. Theres been a post about him here before but I was wondering if anyone new potentially had information about him? I tried reverse image searching him but not much came up. Is there anywhere I could potentially cross post this for better chances. I think all of the people on the list deserve to be arrested for these crimes, this is just one that has "captivated" me unfortunately.

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/ecap/unknown-individual---john-doe-41

Edit: I know the soap or face cream and mouthwash in the video have been identified, but they aren't local or regional and can't be pinned to a specific area.

Janet, a 51-year-old married research nurse in Oxford was a mother to three children Zara, Benedict, and Roxane but only Roxane her youngest was still living at home at the time. Janet's husband Dr. Grahaem Brown, worked away in Switzerland as a senior executive and medical doctor for the pharmaceutical company Ciba-Geigy.

On April 10th 1995 Janet was home alone in Chiltern Hills, near Radnage in Buckinghamshire, as her daughter Roxane was staying at a friends house she went to bed early around 8 pm and not long after someone broke in, handcuffed her and hit her on the head repeatedly with a heavy object, no signs of sexual assault but she was found naked and police couldn't rule out a robbery gone wrong as a motive but nothing was stolen so it seems more likely this was a targeted attack for whatever reason.

Builders arriving for renovations discovered her naked body at the bottom of her stairs the next morning She was wearing lot's of Jewelry which police found odd since she was naked and had been in bed around the time of the murder and again since none of that was stolen robbery seems unlikely, the killer likely broke in by cutting and smashing a patio door.

During the attack, Mrs. Brown managed to trigger a bedroom panic alarm, but the killer took his time at the scene to wash his hands and roam the house. Thames Valley Police have identified an unknown DNA profile from the scene. So far no match has been found on the national DNA database which holds the DNA of almost six million people.

Forensic psychologist Paul Britton suggested that while 51-year-old Janet Brown was not sexually assaulted during her 1995 murder, the unknown killer's primary motive may have been sexual sadism. He theorized the attacker derived sexual gratification from dominating, terrorizing, and humiliating his victim.

The cold case investigators have also seen and eliminated more than one thousand other men as being the source of the DNA.

Mr Beirne said "It's very frustrating we haven't had a result as of yet, but we're optimistic and our hope is that the next time we knock on someone's door their DNA matches.

It has been 31 years since Janet's brutal murder and hopefully one day this will be solved since there is DNA.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgppplzze5o

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Janet_Brown

CrimeWatch reconstruction of Janet's murder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIKg5OJw9ZI

What do you think the motive was for her murder?