LA LA - Robert 'Bobby' Dunbar, 4, Opelousas, 23 Aug 1912

[folieadeuxnola]

Time Picayune Article - 09/01/1912

View attachment Dunbar.pdf

 

[folieadeuxnola]

05/17/1913

View attachment Dunbar 2.pdf

 

[GracefulD1an]

It could be a case of identical stranger. Did Bruce and Bobby resemble each other? If so then this would mean Bruce was Bobby's doppelgänger, his lookalike, despite not being related to one another.

 

[ColyH]

Julia Anderson and William Walters never had a chance in a town that had already decided that the boy in question was a Dunbar which already put the idea in people's mind that Walters had to have kidnapped him.

What happened to the real Bobby Dunbar? I know that the popular theory is that he drowned but you would think they would have found a body. From what I read they went all out looking for him and only found footprints near the railroad trestle. I wonder if he wandered farther away and died where the searchers didn't look or someone picked him up.

 

[Laura_Bean]

Ok I’ve been researching this case. No one seems to have the same story.

I’ve read: Bobby’s parents, in a desperate bid to get out of the hot city, went to what they thought was a lake but it turned out to be a swamp.

: Bobby’s parents decided to take the family to the cabin they owned, where they liked to fish.

:Bobby disappeared in the middle of the night from the family’s flimsy tent.

: Bobby was upset his father had to go to work, and asked if he could go with his uncle, and brothers. He disappeared on the way back.

: Bobby was walking with both of his parents, and disappeared they waited several hours before calling police, because they thought he must be just wandering around.

And more, it’s very hard to piece together what happened when we can’t figure out his last moments.

And, with no straight story, how do we believe the family didn’t do this?

 

[Laura_Bean]

I mean, this is so full of contradictions.

1. Did the family go there on a whim? Had they never been there? This is important. If they didn’t know the area and had no idea it was a swamp, with alligators, and had no clue where they were going, than they didn’t know the area. They would not be able to search well on their own. If Bobby went missing in an unfamiliar place, the family would not wait for hours to get help. If they had no clue of the dangers, and believed they were headed to a safe and fun lake for swimming, fishing and boating, etc they’d be ill prepared for dangers....

2. Did they know the area, and have a nice cabin they’d owned for possibly years? If they knew the area why didn’t they keep a better eye on the kids? Alligators eat people and are very dangerous. Or, did they or the uncle mistakenly believe these animals were not dangerous? For example, firefighters in Florida several years back had been feeding the local gators and thought these things were somewhat tame. Until one of those very gators killed a child at the nearby resort at Disneyworld. Could the uncle have been feeding them, maybe the dad did too? Perhaps the kids liked feeding them, or watching them get fed.

3. Did the child leave in the middle of the night? Did he sneak out of a flimsy tent? Or did he leave the family cabin? Did the boy disappear on the way back from an outing with his uncle? Or was it an outing with mom and dad that he wandered away?

All of this makes a huge difference.

 

[ColyH]

The Dunbars were on a fishing trip with some friends when a family friend took Bobby and some other kids on a hike. It is known that Bobby was with the group on the way back from the hike but when the group got back to the cabin they realized that Bobby was missing.

 

[Elainera]

so has there been DNA testing done regarding the Anderson family to see if this chap was indeed Bruce Anderson biologically at least.

That's what I also wonder.

Fascinating case.

 

[LadyL]

bizarro world

 

[Richard]

The child raised as Bobby Dunbar standing in front of a car.

LINK:

Disappearance of Bobby Dunbar - Wikipedia

 

[Laura_Bean]

So here’s 1 version:

The Eerie Story Of The Boy Who Vanished Then Came Back As A New Child

 

[Laura_Bean]

That says Bobby was in the water when he disappeared.....

 

[Laura_Bean]

This says Bobby left from his tent in the middle of the night.....

 

[Laura_Bean]

Bobby Dunbar mystery solved? DNA test puts 100-year-old mystery to rest

Sorry this one says he disappeared from his tent in the middle of the night

 

[Laura_Bean]

This says he went missing during a fishing trip....

Mistaken Identities: The Disappearance of Bobby Dunbar - Scare Street

 

[Laura_Bean]

A simple test solves the 100-year-old cold case of a boy who went missing in a swamp | Worldation

This simply states he disappeared in the middle of the night....

 

[Laura_Bean]

The Mysterious Disappearance Of Bobby Dunbar

This claims Bobby went missing during a picnic

 

[Laura_Bean]

The Sad, Surprising Truth Behind the 1912 "Kidnapping" of Bobby Dunbar

This says he was watching a man named Paul Mizzi shoot fish at the lake and went missing sometime on the way back

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Robert Clarence Dunbar – The Charley Project

 

[Richard]

Bruce Anderson

Bruce Anderson (right) with his mother Julia Anderson (left), circa 1912
Born
Charles Bruce Anderson
c. 1908[1]
Died March 8, 1966
(aged 57-58)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Other names Bobby Dunbar
Robert Clarence Dunbar, Sr.
Known for Being mistaken for Bobby Dunbar
Spouse(s) Marjorie Geraldine Byars
Children 4
Parent(s) Julia Anderson (mother)

LINK:

Disappearance of Bobby Dunbar - Wikipedia