WV WV - Victor Shoemaker, 5, Kirby, 1 May 1994

[AgeofAquaruis]

Ants are the scourge of dorm/apartment life in my experience. It's not so bad now that winter is here but in the warmer months I can't leave food out in my room for an hour without ants getting at it.

Writing about cases such as Victor's has convinced me that, if I ever have kids, I will never leave them unattended in the woods for a minute, and I will never let them go hiking by themselves. It's asking for trouble -- even experienced adult hikers should use the buddy system.

I can't even have wrapped cough drops in my room. No joke.

 

[skybluesea]

Bump

 

[mjm076]

Victor Shoemaker was featured amongst other images of "Missing Children" shown after the episode Lost in the series 7th Heaven! The episode aired November 2001.

 

[Shade13]

This definitely needs bumped. Way too long without an answer

 

[spartanx]

very interesting case... I would say one of two things: either he got lost and died of cold, or his cousins did something to him... I don't think there was any external kidnapping, but I can't imagine that an 8-year-old and another 9 years old could do something to him without any trace being found...
and maybe they hurt him unintentionally, or he got hurt somehow unintentionally and they thought they would be blamed, so they made up the story that he had come home...
but passing the lie detector test would be difficult, unless they are sociopaths/psychopaths...

which is also very sad that this disappearance has divided his family... although I do not believe that his parents are to blame, it is evident that they are grieving and probably feel guilty that the children were not supervised... believing that Whether it was their cousins or a child predator, they are deflecting the blame from themselves... people of all ages and experience levels get lost in the woods all the time and succumb to the elements...
either way
rest in peace

 

[Pennysmom1]

archived article May 1, 2024 Hampshire Review

https://archive.ph/fPdtD

Feb 24, 2024

The strange disappearance of J.R. Shoemaker from Kirby in Virginia — StrangeOutdoors.com

Victor Dwight Shoemaker Jr, "J.R.", disappeared May 1 1994, Kirkby, near Short Mountain Wildlife area, West Virginia Revised May 2024 Victor Dwight (or Dewight) Shoemaker Jr, called J.R., was five years old when he went to visit his grandfather, Oscar Wolford. His mobile home

www.strangeoutdoors.com

833DMWV - Victor Dewight Shoemaker

The images on the right have been age-progressed to 18 (circa 2007), 24 (circa 2013) and 32 (circa 2021) years.

<<Just one main road passes through the area, but it is not heavily traveled. Short Mountain is a long, relatively low mountain. There are 8,000 acres to it. Much of it is a public hunting area. Shoemaker is described as a healthy, energetic, very bright boy who listens.

More than 350 volunteers, aided by heat-sensing equipment, combed the mountain for four days under the direction of the Charlottesville-based Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference, but found no sign of J.R.>>


archived article March 16, 2015 Hampshire Review

https://archive.ph/ZflC4