MN MN - Richard John ‘Dickie’ Huerkamp, 15, Mapleton, 2 Oct 1965
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Loyola Catholic School offers a scholarship called the Richard Huerkamp Memorial Fund to students who participate in the Loyola band or choir and demonstrate financial need.
The scholarship description states that Dickie served as an altar boy in his Catholic church, and also played clarinet in his school band.
The scholarship description states that Dickie served as an altar boy in his Catholic church, and also played clarinet in his school band.
Brightchaser47
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Obviously folks thought highly of him. If he was indeed accidentally shot by one of his would-be hunting buddies, someone has been carrying an awful weight around all these years. I wonder if they were to be interviewed now, whether there would be a confession.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is now investigating this as an open case, in conjunction with the Blue Earth County Sherrif's Office.
The possibility of a hunting accident will likely be considered, along with other theories regarding Dickie's disappearance.
Two of the three high school boys who planned to hunt with Dickie that morning in 1965 are still living in Minnesota. They are now in their 70's. Perhaps they can shed some light on this old case.
RICHARD JOHN ‘DICKIE’ HUERKAMP, age 15
Missing since 2 October 1965 from Mapleton, Blue Earth County, Minnesota
Sex: Male
Race: White
Date of Birth: September 1, 1950
Height: 4’9”
Weight: 78 pounds
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Clothing: Grey coveralls, a red shirt, blue jeans, a hunting cap and hunting boots with high buckles. He was carrying a 12-gauge shotgun that hasn’t been found.
...
LINK:
Minnesota's Clearinghouse for Missing and Unidentified Persons has photos for 106 cases.
For some reason there are some cases NOT included on their website.
Dickie Huerkamp's disappearance from Mapleton is not in their list of cases. Another is the 1944 Disappearance of Jackie Theel from Paynesville.
LINK:
Richard Huerkamp
Clipping found in The Minneapolis Star published in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 3/9/1966. Richard Huerkamp
www.bing.com
Dickie Huerkamp went missing on 2 October 1965. A large search effort was conducted, with no success in locating him, or in determining his fate. A new initiative has been started to look into the case by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), in conjunction with the Blue Earth Sheriff Department.
Below is a link to the Minnesota Missing Persons Clearinghouse website. Note, however, that Dickie's case and photo have not yet been added:
Below is a link to the Minnesota Missing Persons Clearinghouse website. Note, however, that Dickie's case and photo have not yet been added:
Bunny1998#
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I just registered for this site. I lived a few blocks away from the Huerkamps. I remember Dickie as a loner. He rode his bike around the neighborhood alone, and we never saw him playing with friends. One might consider him a Special Needs child. My Mother always thought he was in a abusive family. My gut feeling is someone in the family knows what happened. I pray it is solved some day.
Welcome to Websleuths and to this thread about Dickie Huerkamp. It is good to have someone posting here who actually knew him and the community in which he lived.
Your having seen him often riding his bicycle explains why he rode off on a bicycle just prior to going missing. It was obviously his usual way of traveling. The fact that he had to borrow his sisters bike (according to newspaper accounts) probably meant that his own bike had a flat tire or was in some way mechanically impaired. He was certainly persistent in his efforts to go hunting with his friends.
If, in fact, he was a "special needs child", it might have been because he was emotionally disabled to some extent. His mother's comments about him crying when he overslept and missed the car ride with the other boys has been commented on, as well as her having given him "a licking" for arriving home late the night before. He may have been somewhat underdeveloped/delayed behaviorly as well as physically, since he was 15 years old, yet her comments sound like she is describing a much younger child.
While investigators should definitely pursue the possibility of Dickie coming to harm from a family member, the family's story about him preparing for hunting, making a lunch, borrowing a bicycle from his sister, etc. tends to have been somewhat verified by the other boys he wanted to hunt with.
There were, however, some inconsistencies and open questions which need to be checked into and resolved.
Main Street, Mapleton Minnesota, 1960s
Aerial view, Mapleton Minnesota, 1977
LINK:
Mapleton Minnesota Gallery
Mapleton Minnesota Gallery. Recent and historical photos of the Mapleton area.
Brightchaser47
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That's a small town. I wouldn't think there would be that many secrets. jmo
Main Street, Mapleton Minnesota, 1960s
Aerial view, Mapleton Minnesota, 1977
LINK:
Mapleton Minnesota Gallery
Mapleton Minnesota Gallery. Recent and historical photos of the Mapleton area.www.lakesnwoods.com
ETA: Nice photos!
Bumping this thread up. This coming October 2nd will mark the 59 year anniversary of the disappearance of Dickie Huerkamp.
Hopefully the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) will have some success in their investigation of this cold case.
Hopefully the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) will have some success in their investigation of this cold case.
Brightchaser47
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If authorities are able to re-interview family members and the gentlemen Dickie was to hunt with and compare to original case files, there should be something to work with, imo.
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59 years ago, 1 October 1965 was a Friday. Dickie Huerkamp attended school that day and made plans with two or three other boys to go Goose hunting the next day, Saturday. The boys were going to drive to Dickie's house very early the next morning to pick him up and proceed to the hunting area.
Dickie played Clarinet in the High School Band. Did he have a football game to play at that afternoon or evening?
That evening Dickie was out with friends and they witnessed or were at the scene of a car accident. He arrived home (or at the Huerkamp tavern) later than he was supposed to have, and his mother "gave him a licking" for it. He helped his parents clean up the tavern, and prepared for his hunting trip by making his lunch and laying out his hunting clothes and equipment. He borrowed an alarm clock from his mother so that he would awaken in time to get dressed and be ready when his friends came for him.
His hunting buddies claimed to have arrived at his house and rang the doorbell, but that nobody answered their ring. This, they said was around 5am or earlier. No one in the Huerkamp home claimed to have heard the doorbell, but (according to Dickie's parents) Dickie woke up late and claimed that the alarm clock did not work. He was upset and crying because of having missed the ride with his friends. He borrowed his sister Ann's bicycle and left home with his lunch, a box of shotgun shells, and a borrowed 12 gage shotgun in a case. The time of his departure was estimated by various sources as being 5 am.
This was the last known or official sighting of Dickie. He was described as wearing gray coveralls, a red shirt, blue jeans, a hunting cap and hunting boots with high buckles.
Dickie played Clarinet in the High School Band. Did he have a football game to play at that afternoon or evening?
That evening Dickie was out with friends and they witnessed or were at the scene of a car accident. He arrived home (or at the Huerkamp tavern) later than he was supposed to have, and his mother "gave him a licking" for it. He helped his parents clean up the tavern, and prepared for his hunting trip by making his lunch and laying out his hunting clothes and equipment. He borrowed an alarm clock from his mother so that he would awaken in time to get dressed and be ready when his friends came for him.
His hunting buddies claimed to have arrived at his house and rang the doorbell, but that nobody answered their ring. This, they said was around 5am or earlier. No one in the Huerkamp home claimed to have heard the doorbell, but (according to Dickie's parents) Dickie woke up late and claimed that the alarm clock did not work. He was upset and crying because of having missed the ride with his friends. He borrowed his sister Ann's bicycle and left home with his lunch, a box of shotgun shells, and a borrowed 12 gage shotgun in a case. The time of his departure was estimated by various sources as being 5 am.
This was the last known or official sighting of Dickie. He was described as wearing gray coveralls, a red shirt, blue jeans, a hunting cap and hunting boots with high buckles.
But Mapleton is 1 hour and 42 minutes from Minneapolis the chances of Outside visitors going through a no light town @ 5:30 AM is slightOn Saturday, 2 October 1965, the day that Richard J. "Dickie" Huerkamp disappeared, the University of Minnesota hosted the University of Missouri for a home game in Minneapolis. There was, therefor, an influx of out-of-state visitors that day from Missouri.
Also, of note, is that on the following Wednesday (6 October 1965) the first game of the World Series between the Minnesota Twins and the Los Angles Dodgers would be played in Minnesota. Again, many out-of-state visitors would be arriving.
LINK:
1965 World Series - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Very true. It was very early, before daylight. The distance that Dickie had to travel to where he usually hunted, and where the bicycle was found, was only a few miles south of town. He could have traveled that distance in 15 to 20 minutes on a bicycle. So not only were the time of day and distance from a large city factors to consider - but also the "window of opportunity" for a driver encountering him on a low traffic road was very small.
Although abduction by a stranger is a possibility, it is a very small one.
Well 59 years, not 60.