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A book came out last year, written by Bobby Dunbar's granddaughter, and a journalist, who is also a playwright. The book is called A Case for Solomon, which was the title of a revisiting of the case published at the time of the Bobby Greenlease kidnapping. I'm only halfway through it, but it's very, very good.
The Bobby Dunbar case, as a court case, is 100 years old this year-- Bobby Dunbar disappeared in 1912-- and not many people have heard of it, as it was eventually eclipsed by the Lindbergh kidnapping, but in 1913, it was a news story followed by everyone in the US, and the Dunbars were famous at all before the case.
Here's the Wikipedia article on the case.
Basically, a 4-year-old boy disappeared while on a family picnic near a lake, and searchers looked for several days, including dragging the lake, but came up with absolutely no trace, not a thread, even though they came up with a partial corpse of a drowned deer (or one that was victim to an alligator). They didn't come up with a shred of clothing, and couldn't find his hat, even though a similar hat, left to float on the lake, stayed there for a day, without sinking. They found what they thought were his footprints, ending near a railroad track, which led to a kidnapping theory.
However, there was never a ransom demand.
All over a three state area, people with small blond boys were being stopped and questioned, but it wasn't until a man was found soliciting with a little boy, whom he admitted was no relation, did authorities have a boy who stood any hope of being the missing boy. William Walters, the man who had him said he was Bruce Anderson. Julia Anderson, whom Walters said was his mother said that yes, she'd given Walters permission to take her son, but on a one-day trip, not for 13 months. Oddly, or maybe not so, because the Dunbar's were offering a substantial reward, authorities contacted the Dunbars, and not Julia Anderson, to come and see the boy. The Dunbars took him home, in spite of witnesses who said they had seen him with Walters before Bobby disappeared.
There was some evidence that Walters had physically abused the boy, so the fact that he wasn't offering his own opinion about where he belonged, is perhaps, understandable. He may have thought that saying he was Bruce Anderson meant going back to Walters. As to why Julia Anderson hadn't been looking for her son, she probably didn't know where to begin, and she was very poor.
First, there was a bit of a circus of a custody case, where the boy was eventually awarded to the Dunbars. Then there was a kidnapping trial where Walters was sentenced to life in prison, but eventually released when he won an appeal.
Bobby Dunbar/Bruce Anderson grew up as Bobby Dunbar, and died in the 1960s as Bobby Dunbar. There was no DNA test until 2004, but it revealed that Bobby Dunbar, jr., and his supposed cousin on his father's side, were not related at all. Further testing revealed that he was, in fact, related to the children of Julia Anderson.
Aside from the mystery, which isn't a mystery, because we're told up front about the DNA tests, there is so much in the book. Bobby Dunbar, sr., himself, is a fascinating man. He was an excellent father, and a good citizen, and his daughter points out that if ever anyone had an excuse to point to childhood trauma for misdeeds, he did, but he didn't. The mother of Bobby Dunbar came unglued after his disappearance, and you wonder if his father didn't know the whole time that he had the wrong child, but he was desperate to "fix" his wife.
Then, you have to wonder what Walters wanted with Bruce Anderson for 13 months. And the mystery of what happened to the original Bobby Dunbar. The authors suggest he really was dinner for an alligator, but there's some gory stuff I'll not go into, that leave a margin for doubt. A lot of things are possible-- that someone hit him with a car, and hid the body. And, he may really have been kidnapped by a pedophile, although that's pretty unlikely.
Anyway, highly recommended.
The Bobby Dunbar case, as a court case, is 100 years old this year-- Bobby Dunbar disappeared in 1912-- and not many people have heard of it, as it was eventually eclipsed by the Lindbergh kidnapping, but in 1913, it was a news story followed by everyone in the US, and the Dunbars were famous at all before the case.
Here's the Wikipedia article on the case.
Basically, a 4-year-old boy disappeared while on a family picnic near a lake, and searchers looked for several days, including dragging the lake, but came up with absolutely no trace, not a thread, even though they came up with a partial corpse of a drowned deer (or one that was victim to an alligator). They didn't come up with a shred of clothing, and couldn't find his hat, even though a similar hat, left to float on the lake, stayed there for a day, without sinking. They found what they thought were his footprints, ending near a railroad track, which led to a kidnapping theory.
However, there was never a ransom demand.
All over a three state area, people with small blond boys were being stopped and questioned, but it wasn't until a man was found soliciting with a little boy, whom he admitted was no relation, did authorities have a boy who stood any hope of being the missing boy. William Walters, the man who had him said he was Bruce Anderson. Julia Anderson, whom Walters said was his mother said that yes, she'd given Walters permission to take her son, but on a one-day trip, not for 13 months. Oddly, or maybe not so, because the Dunbar's were offering a substantial reward, authorities contacted the Dunbars, and not Julia Anderson, to come and see the boy. The Dunbars took him home, in spite of witnesses who said they had seen him with Walters before Bobby disappeared.
There was some evidence that Walters had physically abused the boy, so the fact that he wasn't offering his own opinion about where he belonged, is perhaps, understandable. He may have thought that saying he was Bruce Anderson meant going back to Walters. As to why Julia Anderson hadn't been looking for her son, she probably didn't know where to begin, and she was very poor.
First, there was a bit of a circus of a custody case, where the boy was eventually awarded to the Dunbars. Then there was a kidnapping trial where Walters was sentenced to life in prison, but eventually released when he won an appeal.
Bobby Dunbar/Bruce Anderson grew up as Bobby Dunbar, and died in the 1960s as Bobby Dunbar. There was no DNA test until 2004, but it revealed that Bobby Dunbar, jr., and his supposed cousin on his father's side, were not related at all. Further testing revealed that he was, in fact, related to the children of Julia Anderson.
Aside from the mystery, which isn't a mystery, because we're told up front about the DNA tests, there is so much in the book. Bobby Dunbar, sr., himself, is a fascinating man. He was an excellent father, and a good citizen, and his daughter points out that if ever anyone had an excuse to point to childhood trauma for misdeeds, he did, but he didn't. The mother of Bobby Dunbar came unglued after his disappearance, and you wonder if his father didn't know the whole time that he had the wrong child, but he was desperate to "fix" his wife.
Then, you have to wonder what Walters wanted with Bruce Anderson for 13 months. And the mystery of what happened to the original Bobby Dunbar. The authors suggest he really was dinner for an alligator, but there's some gory stuff I'll not go into, that leave a margin for doubt. A lot of things are possible-- that someone hit him with a car, and hid the body. And, he may really have been kidnapped by a pedophile, although that's pretty unlikely.
Anyway, highly recommended.