It makes me wonder what in 'ell is up with the boots. We keep hearing about them, but to what purpose? Is it to keep us believing they would have fallen off, kept him from wandering? What is the point? Why put boots like that on the child in the first place. The boots have a certain smell for me, and it ain't leather.
My opinion only
Well, as long as the boots aren't found and since they were "too big" they should have been (in all other scenarios), it brings abduction closer to the forefront, IMO.