MA MA - James W Rogers, 14, Hanson, 18 Oct 1981

[jgfitzge]

Thanks for the follow up. I checked the Lakeside Avenue address that was mentioned in the article. There was no 18 Lakeside in Hanson Massachusetts. I’m not sure if they got the number of the address wrong or if the house was leveled at some point in the last 20 years.

also, I could find no information on mother, using the name Emma Rogers. No she may have remarried and goes by a different name however in a lot of searches you still would come up with the former name.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

@ohthatkatgirl
Thanks for caring. He was a vulnerable kid back in 1981 (simply because of his age), and there are plenty of cases from the 70's and 80's in NamUs and even being worked -on, so it's curious...

I am wondering if they closed the case for reasons like the case files have all been lost,
there are no identifiers available, no leads, and no relatives can be located? (Purely pondering possibilities here... All JMO.)

 

[ohthatkatgirl]

jgfitzge

I found exactly what you did, which is nothing. No house and no sign of his Mother. The first is easily explained using the reasons that you’ve already stated.

The absence of information on his mother is more perpelexing to me as usually some kind of paper trail through public records can be found. Perhaps in the article, her name and/or the relationship that is given is incorrect?

 

[ohthatkatgirl]

I am wondering if they closed the case for reasons like the case files have all been lost,
there are no identifiers available, no leads, and no relatives can be located? (Purely pondering possibilities here... All JMO.)

Unfortunately, it’s sadly very possible. It doesn't take long when reading articles on long- term recently identified does to find cases where files have been lost. He was and still is vulnerable as both a person and now as a case (due to such limited information being available). Another possibility is that he was located, and the news never made it those still listing him as missing. It would be good to know exactly why his case was closed.

 

[Liv27]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Here he is in NamUs.

 

[Liv27]

Do y’all think he could possibly be the Essex County John Doe found in 1992? The Doe had been there for a long time. Similar clothes.

1070UMMA

 

[ohthatkatgirl]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Here he is in NamUs.

Which means there must still be a case open on him. So that clears up those questions.

 

[theshadow45]

James has been missing for 41 years today.

 

[LucyOso]

Following

 

[spartanx]

poor boy and worst of all is that there is almost no information about him is very little .. there is not much to say just hope that at the time of his death he did not suffer so much
rest in peace

 

[theshadow45]

James has been missing for 42 years today.

 

[theshadow45]

Bumping, today is James’s birthday.

 

[JSolt1210]

Do y’all think he could possibly be the Essex County John Doe found in 1992? The Doe had been there for a long time. Similar clothes.

1070UMMA

Totally possible. The age and location are a match, and the time frame might be also, given that 1070UMMA has no estimated year of death or PMI. But I think there are more differences than similarities.

Newburyport, MA, where 1070UMMA was found, is about 2 hours away from either Hanson or Halifax. But it is along a major highway, so if James hitchhiked, his killer could've disposed of his body easily on this route.

However, 1070UMMA was found wearing size 32x30 Levi's jeans. According to Levi's website, a 30" inseam is for men who on average are 5'6"–5'8" tall, but James was apparently 5'2"–5'3". Maybe James cuffed his jeans, but I don't know how common that was back in 1981. Also a 32" waist for someone like James who weighed about 110 lbs seems a little large for me.

Also, 1070UMMA "had an impacted molar which had grown sideways and out through the jaw. Forensic Anthropologist said it must have been very painful." That really does sound painful! I feel like if this was James, it would've been hard not to notice or report such a detail.

And lastly, "State Police believe that the youth was a runaway as his description did not match that of any teenagers reported missing locally." If police didn't see a connection, maybe we shouldn't either. But then again, maybe police didn't seek to connect 1070UMMA to a disappearance that happened 11 years prior.

 

[jgfitzge]

There is definitely not a lot of information on this case. No mention of siblings or friends. I did a cursory search, but couldn’t come up with anything. The high school is a regional high school that combines the town of Whitman and Hanson And with him being 14 years old, I doubt he would show up in the yearbook. The other thing that may or may not hamper research is the name Rogers gets misspelled with the other way to spell Rodgers (like Aaron Rodgers) with a D

 

[John/Jane Doe]

James W. Rogers – The Charley Project

 

[jgfitzge]

This one’s a puzzler. I checked the 1981 calendar, October 18 was a Sunday. I don’t know whether he went to the friends house in the daytime or at night. It said he had a paper route, so not sure whether he delivered daily papers or Sunday as well

This is probably speculation, but I am guessing that he did not come from a large family. There seems to be no siblings or parents championing his case.

I would love to find students who went to Whitman Hansen regional high school between 1979-81 that knew Jimmy.

 

[Mysteries1974]

I think his case is open. I noticed on the updates page on For The Lost that it mentioned removing him from the closed cases page because his case had been reopened. I do hope they find some answers in this case and more attention is given.

 

[rg143]

I just noticed his age is listed as nine years old on the Doe network posting. I believe that should be corrected to 15 years old.

Again, this one doesn’t have a lot of information out there. Hanson and Halifax are down on the south east part of Massachusetts, there are cranberry bogs in the area. The towns are also landlocked between routes 3 and 24.

My Uncle knew jimmy Rogers. My uncle was close to his parents.

 

[rg143]

I also submitted his case to NamUs over the weekend, but it was deleted as per other attempts, most likely because his case is closed.

The only time I have seen files, on rare occasions, being closed on a still missing person case is when an underaged person, considered by LE to be a runaway, has aged up and become an adult (note: this was in cases from the 90s and earlier). Obviously, this is not the case here as his case was closed in 2004.

I’ll do some research and see if I can come up with an explanation as to whether he is still missing or another reason is responsible for his case being closed.

He is still missing.
My uncle knew him and his parents. they were very close. the parents looked for him for years and years
there was a Red van in the area that was seen by many individuals.
Back then hitch hiking was a common thing.
I live in Massachusetts.

 

[rg143]

This one’s a puzzler. I checked the 1981 calendar, October 18 was a Sunday. I don’t know whether he went to the friends house in the daytime or at night. It said he had a paper route, so not sure whether he delivered daily papers or Sunday as well

This is probably speculation, but I am guessing that he did not come from a large family. There seems to be no siblings or parents championing his case.

I would love to find students who went to Whitman Hansen regional high school between 1979-81 that knew Jimmy.

My uncle knew jimmy Rogers and his parents. they were very close. Jimmy was at my uncle's often.
The parents looked for him for years and years