A family in Louisiana has finally discovered what happened to the 4-year-old child that went missing more than 100 years ago. Until now, everything was a mystery and the results have revealed a shocking truth. Robert Dunbar Jr. agreed to a DNA test to put his mind to rest and find out what actually happened back in 1912. The story will leave you speechless, as two families want to find out the truth about the identity of the missing child.
20. A Beautiful Summer Day Out
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August 23, 1912, is the day when Percy and Lessie Dunbar, the parents of Bobby and Lorenzo went fishing near the Swayze Lake. They were a middle-class family who raised their boys in the early 20th century like any American from the Deep South. But what started as a beautiful day, it soon turned into a nightmare.
19. Fishing Turns Into Nightmare
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As the family wanted to prepare for lunch, they noticed that their four-year-old son, Bobby, was no longer around. They started searching for him, but he was gone. The Dunbars alerted the authorities when they saw Bobby was nowhere to be found. The police even found some evidence that led elsewhere.
18. Bobby Was Nowhere to be Found
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People even sliced open alligators to see if Bobby has been eaten by one. But the police found footprints that led to railroad tracks. You won’t believe what other heartbreaking evidence came to light!
17. People Believed the Boy Was Kidnapped
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Rumors have started to appear, and someone also mentioned about a man that was spotted near the lake when Bobby disappeared. But was the boy kidnapped?
16. Police Admitted the Possibility of a Kidnapping
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The police started thinking that the boy has been kidnapped, as there was no body found. The police searched for the boy the following eight months throughout the country and couldn’t find him. But the next year surprised them all!
15. Bobby Dunbar Appears the Next Year
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In April 1913 someone saw a nomadic man that traveled with a boy that looked like Bobby Dunbar. The man was called William Walters and the authorities doubted his claims. This was later going to transform into chaos.
14. Was the Boy Bobby Dunbar or Another Woman’s Child?
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William Walters claimed that the boy he was traveling with was called Charles Bruce Anderson and his mother Julia Anderson was his family’s servant. The mother allowed him to travel with the boy. But the police didn’t believe it… What they did next surprised everybody!
13. Local Newspapers Won’t Help Much With Solving the Case
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Walters was arrested by the police, as they didn’t believe him and then the Dunbars were called to come and see if the boy was their son. The newspapers from that time tell two different stories.
12. ‘Mother!’
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It seems that a newspaper tells us that the boy called Lessie Dunbar ‘Mother!’ and ran to her. Another newspaper says that the boy cried when he was told that those are his parents and that Lessie wasn’t that sure if that was Bobby or not. What his mother had to say was even more infuriating.
11. Lessie Was Sure the Boy Was Hers
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But, as Lessie started bathing the boy, she recognized the scars and moles that Bobby used to have, and she was sure that the boy was her son. They all returned home to celebrate their reunion with the long-lost son. But they would soon face other difficulties.
10. Julia Anderson Claims the Boy is Her Son, Charles Bruce Anderson
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Back in Louisiana, Julia Anderson came to find her son and couldn’t convince the law that the boy was hers. Neither Walters could prove his innocence, as Julia had made a scandalous confession. This is what she said…
9. Authorities Didn’t Trust Julia Anderson
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Julia Anderson was not married and had three children, and at that time it was considered revolting. Moreover, she said that she allowed Charles to go with Walter for an excursion of two days, but it lasted about 13 months. What Julia did next, stunned us!
8. Was Julia’s Son Living Another Life in Another Family?
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At the line-up, she couldn’t recognize her own son! In the court, at Walter’s trial, Julia couldn’t convince the prosecutors that the boy was her son. Her boy now lived in Louisiana and was called Bobby Dunbar, who seemed to have returned home from a terrible adventure.
7. William Walters Was Condemned for The Rest of His Life
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The nomadic man ended up behind bars for the rest of his life for kidnapping a child. The boy grew up as Bobby, he married and had children of his own. Meanwhile, in Mississippi, Anderson raised her own family and her acquaintances always remembered Charles being ‘stolen’ by the Dunbars. You won’t believe what happened after Waters was released from prison!
6. Walters Was Released from Prison
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Two years after Walters has been sentenced, he received an appeal and was released from prison. Until 1930, when he died, he kept maintaining his innocence. Bobby was suspicious of his real origin too, as he grew up. You won’t believe what he did to put his mind at rest.
5. Bobby Didn’t Find Out Whose Son He Was
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Julia Anderson’s children, Hollis and Jules said that Bobby used to come by and talk to them. Unfortunately, Bobby didn’t find out whose son he really was, and the secret perhaps died with him in 1966. But the story doesn’t end here!
4. Bobby’s Granddaughter Begins a Personal Investigation
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Bobby’s granddaughter, Margaret Cutright conducted her own research to find out the end of this whole mystery. She went on to try and prove that her grandfather really was Bobby. But little did she know that her investigation would prove otherwise.
3. Margaret Wanted to Prove that Her Grandfather Was Indeed Bobby
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Margaret Cutright started reading the newspapers articles on the case, the legal notes and she also talked with Anderson’s family. She started having some doubts about the official conclusion reached by the authorities at that time. Was Bobby, in fact, Charles Anderson?
2. DNA Tests Show a Different Result – Bobby isn’t the Real Bobby Dunbar
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In 2004 a journalist persuaded Bobby’s son, Robert Dunbar Jr. to take a DNA test. A cousin from Alonzo Dunbar’s side took the DNA test too and they were both compared. The man that lived his whole life as Bobby Dunbar was someone else and it looks like the real Bobby wasn’t found after all.
1. Opening Up and Closing Old Wounds and Mysteries
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Both families were finally at peace since they found the truth. Some of the Dunbar family wasn’t pleased about the investigation Margaret Cutright started, as she opened up some old wounds. But Margaret was happy to have solved a mystery that wouldn’t stop haunting both the Dunbar and the Anderson families for more than 100 years.