Case Details
- Photo URLs:
-
- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 01/17/1972
- Missing From:
- Missing From Pekin, Illinois
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Male
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 08/15/1958 (66)
- Age:
- Age 13 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’0, 90 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A gold-colored hooded nylon jacket, a long brown ski mask, blue jeans, and green rubber insulated boots.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Dark brown hair, brown eyes.
- Details of Disappearance:
- Richard, a child, disappeared in Pekin, Illinois. He left home around 4:00 p.m. to go sledding at a nearby park, just four blocks away. His friends saw him at the sledding hill at 5:30 p.m., but he vanished. He had a blue plastic sled with him. Police searched everywhere but couldn’t find him. A skull found in Michigan was mistakenly thought to be his, but it wasn’t. They believe he’s dead.
A man named William “Freight Train” Guatney was suspected. He confessed to killing other children, including one abducted very close to where Richard was last seen. But Richard disappeared in winter, and Guatney’s other victims were attacked in warmer weather. Guatney was declared mentally unfit for trial and died in a mental hospital in 1997 without ever being charged in Richard’s case. Richard’s disappearance remains a mystery.
- Agency:
- Pekin Police Department 309-346-3132
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 01/17/1972