Never Seen Again

06/10/2026

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04/10/2026

On 1 July 1991, 18-year-old Thomas Grant Jacoby said goodbye to his father and drove away in his mother's car. Nobody knew it would be the last time they saw him.

Thomas was an intelligent, athletic young man with a love of hunting, fishing and the outdoors. He had just graduated from high school, was preparing to attend college, and appeared to have his future mapped out ahead of him.
But beneath that ordinary summer was something nobody fully understood.

Thomas had been struggling for some time. He mailed a series of increasingly troubling letters, including one telling his girlfriend that she might never see him again. Then came the discoveries.

His camping gear was found abandoned beside a remote Maine road. Months later, his car turned up by a remote lake. There were reported sightings of a young man matching Thomas' description on a bicycle, and then an extraordinary photograph taken along the Appalachian Trail which appeared to show Thomas himself, sitting beside a brook and fishing!

If it really was him, he was alive months after he disappeared.

And then, just as mysteriously, the trail began to disappear too.

Thomas' bicycle was eventually found abandoned in a remote area near Baxter State Park. His backpack, his father's .38 revolver and other belongings were never recovered.

Did Thomas deliberately walk away from his old life and successfully disappear into the wilderness?

Did he intend to start again somewhere far from home?

Or did something happen to him out there in the vast forests of Maine?

More than three decades later, nobody knows for certain where Thomas went, or why.

Thomas Grant Jacoby has never been found.

DATE OF LAST CONTACT: 1st July 1991
MISSING FROM: Piscataquis County, Maine
DATE OF BIRTH: 4th January 1973
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 18
HEIGHT: 5'10 - 5'11
WEIGHT: 165 - 170 lbs
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male. Brown hair. Hazel eyes. He has a small birthmark near his right eye. Thomas is left-handed.
CLOTHING: Unknown. Possibly carrying a .38 caliber revolver.
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: South Londonderry Township Police Department & Piscataquis County Sheriff's Office
AGENCY CASE NUMBER: 18-0002458
NAMUS: MP53579

To read the full story please follow the link below to the Never Seen Again website and please share to spread awareness:
https://neverseenagain.wordpress.com/2026/10/04/thomas-jacoby/

20/09/2026

On a cold February night in 1973, eleven-year-old Guy Heckle was doing exactly what he had been looking forward to for weeks; spending his first overnight campout with his Boy Scout troop beside the Cedar River in Iowa.

Then, sometime during a game of Capture the Flag, Guy disappeared.

The search was enormous. Hundreds of people combed the surrounding woods, ravines and riverbanks. Dogs were brought in. Divers searched the water. Aircraft were used. Search-and-rescue specialists travelled from California.

But Guy was nowhere to be found.

Then, weeks later, a fisherman found something caught on a log in the river.

Guy's blue quilted jacket….

….And it was still zipped!

For investigators, the jacket pointed towards a tragic accident in the freezing Cedar River. But for Guy's family, it raised more questions than answers. How could Guy have slipped out of his jacket if it was still zipped shut? There were troubling reports of a possible Scout initiation hazing, a frightening incident involving Guy’s tentmate, and inconsistencies in the accounts of what happened that night.

More than half a century later, Guy Heckle has never been found.

Was the river responsible for his disappearance, or did something happen that night. Something about which nobody has ever spoken.

DATE OF LAST CONTACT: 3rd February 1973
MISSING FROM: Kiwanis Cabins near Minnie Lane along the Cedar River, Linn County, Iowa
DATE OF BIRTH: 20th December 1961
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 11
HEIGHT: 4'5 -4'7
WEIGHT: 80-90 lbs
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male. Ear-length dark brown hair with bangs/fringe. Hazel eyes. Freckles. Slender build. Guy wears glasses but wasn't wearing them at the time he disappeared.
CLOTHING: A Boy Scout shirt, striped maroon jeans, chukka boots (ankle length leather or suede boots) and a blue nylon quilted parka (later found)
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: Linn County Sheriff's Office
AGENCY CASE NUMBER:73-53
NAMUS: MP4018

Please click the link below to read Guy's full story and details of his disappearance with photos and maps! And please share to spread awareness!
https://neverseenagain.wordpress.com/2026/09/20/guy-heckle/

08/09/2026

On 5 September 1944, six-year-old Victor John “Jackie” Theel walked into school for the very first time.

He was excited. He could barely finish his breakfast. Dressed in his faded blue sailor suit and new black shoes, he set off for his first day of school.

It would also be his last.

Jackie was supposed to be home for lunch. Instead, when the hours passed and he still hadn't returned, his family realised something was terribly wrong.

What followed was an enormous search for the little boy, with townspeople, police, farmers, boys from the local Scouts and even bloodhounds joining the hunt. Yet despite the effort, Jackie seemed to have simply vanished.

Then came the sightings.

A little boy walking alone. A child apparently lost and crying. And, several hours later, a boy in that same distinctive sailor suit climbing into a mysterious car with a tall man wearing a military uniform.

The stranger was a soldier. He had been travelling through Minnesota, apparently accompanied by a young boy he claimed was his brother.

But the police never actually spoke to him.
Before they could find him, the car had disappeared.

More than eighty years later, nobody knows who that soldier was, who the boy in his car really was, or what happened to Jackie Theel after he walked away from his first day at school.

And somewhere in the tangled trail of clues left behind in 1944 may be the answer to what happened to a little boy who was simply trying to find his way home.

DATE OF LAST CONTACT: 5th September 1944
MISSING FROM: Paynesville, Stearns County, Minnesota
DATE OF BIRTH: 15th February 1938
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 6
HEIGHT: 3'1
WEIGHT: 45 lbs
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. He has a scratch on his cheek under his eye, a 1 inch scar on the back of his head, and a cut on the inside of his thumb.
CLOTHING: A faded blue navy suit with a square cut collar and three stripes on each wrist. Long pants buttoned to the waist with a safety pin replacing the back button. No undergarments. New black shoes with a seam from the toe to the instep. Short brown socks.
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: Stearns County Sheriff's Office
AGENCY CASE NUMBER: 32719
NAMUS: MP5298

Please follow the link below to read Jackie's story and the full details of his disappearance complete with photos, maps and media reports! Don't forget to like and share to spread awareness!
https://neverseenagain.wordpress.com/2026/09/08/victor-jackie-theel/

06/09/2026

He vanished into the swamp. Then his shoes came back.

On Earth Day 1990, 17-year-old Chris Temple spent the day drinking beers, smoking w**d, and listening to music with friends in Michigan. By nightfall, the group had gathered around a campfire at the isolated Rose Lake Wildlife Area — a place of dark woods, hidden bogs, and deceptive “floating sod” that can swallow a person whole.

At around 9 p.m., Chris stood up, mumbled something, and walked into the darkness.

He was never seen again.

His friends searched. Police searched. Dogs, helicopters, boats, and volunteers combed the area for days. Nothing. Not a footprint, not a jacket, not a body. Investigators eventually shrugged and suggested he’d simply run away.

Then, 18 months later, hunters found Chris’s New Balance shoes lying in the swamp just yards from the campfire site — untied, weathered, and 100 feet apart in an area that had already been searched repeatedly. Nearby, police found clumps of strawberry-blonde hair that didn’t belong to Chris, fuelling rumours of murder and cover-up.

Did a drunken teenager stumble into the bog and vanish beneath floating peat? Were the shoes planted later to mislead investigators? Or did Chris encounter someone in the darkness that night — someone who made sure he never left Rose Lake alive?
Thirty-six years later, Chris Temple is still missing. And the swamp is still keeping its secrets.

DATE OF LAST CONTACT: 22nd April 1990
MISSING FROM: Rose Lake State Wildlife Area, Bath Township, Clinton County, Michigan
DATE OF BIRTH: 18th May 1972
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 17
HEIGHT: 5'7
WEIGHT: 130 lbs
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male. Brown hair. Hazel eyes. Has a small scar on his nose. Wears contact lenses. His nickname is Chris.
Last seen wearing: A black T-shirt with the Pink Floyd logo on the front, a faded denim jacket, jeans and New Balance running shoes.
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: Bath Township Police Department
AGENCY CASE NUMBER: 895-90
NAMUS: MP6715

Please follow the link below to read Chris' story and the full details of his disappearance complete with photos, maps and media reports! Don't forget to like and share to spread awareness!
https://neverseenagain.wordpress.com/2026/06/16/christopher-temple/

01/09/2026

You won't have heard of little Johnny Navickas.

But in 1948, almost everybody in Chicago knew his name.

Nine-year-old Johnny went to the Stockyards on a hot July morning to see the cows. He was supposed to be home for supper. Instead, he vanished.

What followed was a massive search. The newspapers followed the case across the country. The FBI became involved, his neighbours raised a huge reward and police searched the Stockyards, abandoned buildings, empty lots, sewers and even the Chicago River. There were conflicting stories, unexplained sightings and a mysterious truck. Months after Johnny disappeared, his mother received an anonymous letter claiming that someone had seen him alive.

Johnny's mother refused to believe that her little boy was dead. His grandmother spent years watching the trucks passing through the Stockyards, convinced that one of them might somehow lead her back to him. At Christmas, Johnny's presents were still wrapped and waiting beneath the tree.

Then the years passed.

The headlines stopped. The family eventually left Chicago. Johnny's name faded from the newspapers and, somewhere along the way, even his original police case file disappeared.

Almost eighty years later, Johnny Navickas is still missing.

What happened to the little boy who went to see the cows - and how did a case that once captured the attention of an entire city almost completely disappear from history?

Nearly eighty years later, little Johnny Navickas is almost forgotten. I don't think he should be.

DATE OF LAST CONTACT: 2nd July 1948
MISSING FROM: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
DATE OF BIRTH: 7th July 1939
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 8
HEIGHT: Unknown
WEIGHT: Unknown
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male. Sandy Brown hair. Brown eyes. He has freckles and is described as slender. Went by the nickname 'Johnny'.
Last seen wearing a red and white striped polo shirt and had recently had a hair cut.
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: Chicago Police Department
AGENCY CASE NUMBER: Unknown (The case file has not been located)

Please follow the link below to read Johnny's story and the full details of his disappearance complete with photos, maps and media reports! Don't forget to like and share to spread awareness!
https://neverseenagain.wordpress.com/2026/09/01/john-navickas/

22/08/2026

On 10 February 2009, fourteen-year-old David Fortin walked out of his home in Alma, Quebec. He was never seen by his family again.

But David had already been disappearing for years.

Not physically. But little by little, the relentless bullying he endured was stripping away the happy, gentle boy his family knew. He was mocked, taunted and humiliated simply for being different. He was called names. He was cornered. He was made to feel that there was something wrong with him.

And David was only fourteen.

Yet behind all of that was a boy who still found wonder in the world. He loved Disney, fantasy, decorating the house for Christmas and Halloween. He loved family gatherings and babies. He could be almost childlike in the things that delighted him. He was quiet, gentle and deeply affectionate towards the people he loved.

It is difficult to reconcile that boy with the teenager who eventually told his cousin, "I'm really at the end of my tether. I can't take it anymore."

Then, on a cold February morning, David left home.

He did not take much with him. He did not say goodbye. And when he failed to arrive where he was expected to be, a desperate search began.
But David didn't simply vanish.

There were sightings. A trail leading south. A mysterious older man who may have taken David under his wing. Reports from Montreal. Strange messages. Claims that David had entered the LGBTQ community and was living under a new identity. Some clues were dismissed. Others led nowhere. And despite an investigation spanning years, nobody has ever established what happened to him.

Almost two decades later, David Fortin remains missing.

But beneath the rumours, dead ends and unanswered questions, one possibility refuses to disappear:

David may still be out there.

And if he is, perhaps the boy who spent his childhood being told that he didn't belong finally found somewhere that he did.

This is the story of David Fortin.
DATE OF LAST CONTACT: 10th February 2009
MISSING FROM: Alma, Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean Region, Quebec, Canada
DATE OF BIRTH: 9th June 1994
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 14
HEIGHT: 5'8
WEIGHT: 165 lbs
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male. Brown hair. Brown eyes. David has a speech impediment.
He was wearing a red and black winter/snowmobile jacket with 'Polaris' written on the back, blue jeans, a black hooded sweatshirt, beige sneakers, red gloves and a grey toque/beanie (knitted woolen cap)
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: Surête du Quebec (SQ)
AGENCY CASE NUMBER: 252-090210-013

Please follow the link below to read David's story and detailed info about his disappearance complete with maps, photos and media coverage.
And don't forget to give him a like and share to spread awareness!

https://neverseenagain.wordpress.com/2026/08/22/david-fortin/

01/08/2026

On 28th May 1969, nine-year-old Jimmy Howell disappeared from Sterling, Illinois. Nearly sixty years later, nobody knows what happened to him. Most accounts tell a simple story: a little boy vanished from his front yard while building a birdhouse for an injured pigeon, leaving only a few scattered wooden boards behind.

But that isn't the whole story - not even half!

Jimmy was seen throughout the day by neighbours, local businessmen and friends. Police later searched house-to-house after receiving reports that he was alive and living with another family just blocks from his own home. His stepfather feared prejudice had cost him his son. Years later, Jimmy's sister received a mysterious telephone call from someone claiming to be her long-lost brother. Somewhere along the way, these remarkable events faded from the narrative, leaving behind only a single remembered moment - a pigeon and scattered wooden boards.

This is the forgotten story of Jimmy Howell's disappearance - a story of overlooked witnesses, abandoned leads and unanswered questions. Nearly sixty years later, Jimmy's fate remains unknown, but perhaps the greatest mystery of all is how so much of his story came to be forgotten.

DATE OF LAST CONTACT: 28th May 1969
MISSING FROM: Sterling, Whiteside County, Illinois
DATE OF BIRTH: 28th October 1959
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 9 years
HEIGHT: 4'5
WEIGHT: 79 lbs
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male. Brown hair, Brown eyes. Jimmy is hyperactive and requires mild tranquilizers to control his condition. He was wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers.
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: Whiteside County Sheriff's Office & Sterling Police Department
AGENCY CASE NUMBER: M00A7263 (WCSO), M13B4888 (SPD)
NAMUS: MP6194

Please follow the link below to read Jimmy's story and the full details of his disappearance complete with photos, maps and media reports! Don't forget to like and share to spread awareness!
https://neverseenagain.wordpress.com/2026/08/01/james-jimmy-howell/

17/07/2026

On a hot July afternoon in 1991, eleven-year-old Arlin Henderson climbed onto his bicycle after telling his mother, "Save me some Polish sausage." Minutes later he was gone.

He disappeared just a block and a half from home in a tiny Missouri community where everyone knew everyone. No screams. No witnesses. No trace.

Then the mysteries began.

A stranger had reportedly been photographing Arlin months before he vanished. An unknown car had been seen watching his home. Three months later, his bicycle mysteriously appeared seven miles away in a soybean field—clean, with an unidentified fingerprint still on the handlebars. False confessions, dead-end suspects, an infamous child abductor, and decades of heartbreaking twists only buried the truth even deeper.

But perhaps the most extraordinary part of this story isn't the investigation.

It's Arlin's mother, Debra.

After losing her husband, then later another child to unimaginable tragedy, she refused to surrender hope. She left notes on her door in case Arlin came home while she was out. For years she kept Polish sausage in the freezer, believing her little boy might still walk through the door asking for the supper he'd promised to return for.

Thirty-five years later, the mystery remains unsolved.

Was Arlin targeted? Who left his bicycle in a lonely bean field? And does the answer still lie hidden among the people who lived in Fountain N' Lakes that summer?

This is one of the most heartbreaking disappearances I have ever researched.

DATE OF LAST CONTACT: 25th July 1991
MISSING FROM: Fountain N' Lakes, Lincoln County, Missouri
DATE OF BIRTH: 16th March 1980
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 11
HEIGHT: 4'5
WEIGHT: 75 lbs
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male. Blonde hair worn in a crew cut. Blue eyes. He has a scar near his left eye, on his bottom lip and on his thigh. He has noticeable gaps between his teeth.
He was last seen wearing a camouflage t-shirt, camouflage pants with a hole in the left knee, grey socks and black sneakers.
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and The Federal Bureau of Investigation
AGENCY CASE NUMBER: LCW007472
NAMUS: MP6037

Please follow the link below to read Arlin's story and the full details of his disappearance complete with photos, maps and media reports! Don't forget to like and share to spread awareness!
https://neverseenagain.wordpress.com/2026/07/17/charles-arlin-henderson/

04/05/2026

You turn your back for a moment. Just a moment.
And when you look again… your child is gone.

In the summer of 1963, four-year-old Bobby Panknin vanished from a quiet logging trail near Deep Lake, Washington—barefoot, standing less than a few steps from his family. His mother and brothers were gone for no more than a few minutes. Maybe less. There were no screams. No struggle. No witnesses.
Just… nothing.

What followed was one of the largest search efforts the region had ever seen. Hundreds of volunteers. Bloodhounds tracking scents that twisted and vanished. Divers scouring the lake. Search lines combing through dense forest, rotten timber, abandoned mines, and tangled undergrowth. Every theory was explored—accident, abduction, even the unthinkable possibility of an animal attack.
And yet, despite it all… not a single trace of Bobby was found.
No clothing. No remains. No trail.
Only questions.

One barefoot footprint in a dry creek bed—disputed. A scent trail that led nowhere. A landscape so treacherous it seemed to swallow evidence whole. Some believed he simply wandered off and succumbed to the wilderness. Others wondered how a child so close—within sight, within reach—could disappear so completely.

His father would later say it best:
“It’s as if Bobby climbed to the top of a tree and just kept climbing.”

Decades later, the silence remains.
Did Bobby lose his way in the forest… or did something else happen in those missing minutes?

Because children don’t just vanish into thin air.
Do they?

DATE OF LAST CONTACT: 3rd August 1963
MISSING FROM: Deep Lake, Stevens County, Washington
DATE OF BIRTH: 1959
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 4 years
HEIGHT: 2'8
WEIGHT: 30 lbs
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male. Blonde hair. Bobby is allergic to chocolate and susceptible to severe ear and bronchial infections.
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: Stevens County Sheriff's Office
AGENCY CASE NUMBER: 1102650
NAMUS: MP53261

You turn your back for a moment. Just a moment. And when you look again… your child is gone. In the summer of 1963, four-year-old Bobby Panknin vanished from a quiet logging trail near Deep Lake, W…