NY NY - Steven Damman, 2, East Meadow, 31 Oct 1955

[ilovemew]

One of the articles said that the man and Pamela have had their DNA checked privately, and that the DNA said that they are probably related. Now the FBI is checking their DNA. Maybe this private DNA test is the information that makes the father think it is probably his son?

I hope it is. I always thought Steven Damman was probably dead. I never really trusted the mother's story. If he is, it is a bittersweet ending. Good that his father is still alive; sad that they've missed so much of his life.

I did not see that article and I read like 7 of them LOL.
I asked earlier but I'll try again, is Steven's mother still alive?

 

[Proud Country Gal]

It would be wonderful news if it is him!

 

[Sheromom]

I SOOOOOOOOOOOO hope it's true, too. I think we could all use some good news after all the little missing/injured ones lately. And it is true, people were not really so careful in the 50's and even 60's as they are now; there was no reason to be.

 

[Julessleuther]

That would be wonderful if this is true. An interesting thing to note about the article is that is was so common for mothers to leave baby carriages outside the stores while mothers shopped. We certainly would not do that today, would we? Life seemed so much simpler 50-60 years ago, but was really not.

 

[joellegirl]

This is incredible news! I sure hope it is him, and not some scammer. There have been several cold cases solved in recent months including, Everett Ruess(sp?), that couple from Nebraska who went missing in 1965, (wasn't there some teenaged girl who went missing in the 1970's who was also found?) and possibly Steven Damman! This gives new hope that some other frozen cold cases could be possibly be solved!

 

[cleo612]

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/19767120/detail.html

He may have been found!

And if this does turn out to be him, the question would then be: Where is his mother? According to this snippet, she cannot be located:

Damman said he has tried to call the man twice since a report of his claim was published Tuesday in the New York Daily News. Jerry and the missing child's mother divorced a few years after their son's kidnapping. His ex-wife could not located for comment.

 

[PattyCake]

Stephens mother is still alive but ailing apparently. And the father Jerry has not met this man who claims to be his son. It is police who say there seems to be a resemblance. This article was far more helpful than most I read. I have no opinion yet but if Pamela did a DNA test with Stephen and it was likely they were related, then I lead toward this being something quite amazing. Looks like the man 'FOUND' himself. I wonder what kind of life he lead.


DARN! POSTED WRONG LINK

This is NEW LINK with better info.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6514677.ece

 

[cleo612]

I did not see that article and I read like 7 of them LOL.
I asked earlier but I'll try again, is Steven's mother still alive?

Bolded by me...


That is what I was wondering too.

And if this does turn out to be him, the question would then be: Where is his mother? According to this snippet at one of the links posted above, she cannot be located:

Damman said he has tried to call the man twice since a report of his claim was published Tuesday in the New York Daily News. Jerry and the missing child's mother divorced a few years after their son's kidnapping. His ex-wife could not located for comment.

 

[SeekingJana]

Hmmm. Now this makes me wonder when and why the ex-wife/ mother became " unreachable" and exactly who has tried to locate her. FBI or just family?

 

[PattyCake]

SeekingJana... if you look at my post above, it seems the mother is very ill?

I do not believe she's not 'located', I think she is simply unavailable for comment. Quite possible dementia or other illness?
I can only hope if this is her son, she is aware of her surroundings... I'd like to hope she's not on her deathbed and can hold her baby once again. I really am hoping against hope this is true!

If it is, what has that man gone through for all these years.

 

[gitana1]

And if this does turn out to be him, the question would then be: Where is his mother? According to this snippet, she cannot be located:

I think it just means the mother's whereabouts were not easily determined by reporters seeking comment. I'm sure LE knows where to find her. Other than leaving her children outside unattended, I do not think this lady has anything to do with her son's disappearance.

 

[Mr. E]

That would be wonderful if this is true. An interesting thing to note about the article is that is was so common for mothers to leave baby carriages outside the stores while mothers shopped. We certainly would not do that today, would we? Life seemed so much simpler 50-60 years ago, but was really not.

Both my aunt and my father visited northern Europe several years ago (80s/90s). Both said that it was very common to see lines of prams outside of stores. I wonder if this is still a common practice? I know I couldn't do it. I had a friend who used to leave her baby in the car while she "ran inside." Nothing ever happened; in fact, that baby just graduated from high school, but, again, I could never do it.

 

[Mr. E]

I'm really curious about this one. Steven Damman was nearly 3 when he disappeared. If this man's parents were his biological parents, they would have three years worth of baby pictures to prove it.

I keep reading that there is a strong family resemblance. I wonder if they will ever publish a picture of the man?

 

[PFF]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/16/ny.missing.boy.mystery/index.html

 

[WhyaDuck?]

I'm really curious about this one. Steven Damman was nearly 3 when he disappeared. If this man's parents were his biological parents, they would have three years worth of baby pictures to prove it.

I keep reading that there is a strong family resemblance. I wonder if they will ever publish a picture of the man?

Not necessarily - photos weren't quite as accessible in the 50s as now, nor were many parents as trigger-happy with the camera as now. My brother, who was born in 1968, was a sickly baby who people thought might not live. My parents, being an odd sort, decided not to have baby photos taken of him - we have nothing from him before he was in elementary school.

And, yes, I would like to see photos of him now and pics of his dad while a young man.

 

[raeann]

Interesting case for many....as a matter of fact, there are now FOUR thread started on this, perhaps the mods could merge them. One is in Missing children, one is in Up to the Minute, and the other in Located/Identified.

 

[Trino]

Not necessarily - photos weren't quite as accessible in the 50s as now, nor were many parents as trigger-happy with the camera as now. My brother, who was born in 1968, was a sickly baby who people thought might not live. My parents, being an odd sort, decided not to have baby photos taken of him - we have nothing from him before he was in elementary school.

And, yes, I would like to see photos of him now and pics of his dad while a young man.

A camera in the mid-1950's was much like an expensive TV or cell phone today. Not everyone could afford one; many people used Sears/Penny's for their children's photos and only for special occasions. If you look carefully at the online picture of SD as a child, I'm guessing this was a photo taken by a professional photographer rather than a "home grown" photo. Still, one would think there would be school pictures. Or, what about the extended family who raised him and who he thinks aren't his real parents? Doesn't anyone remember this man as a child? Did he have any siblings from this family?

 

[Mouse]

I agree that there may be valid reasons not to have photos from his childhood; fire, flood damage, loss in a move...there are lots of reasons why you might not have a lot of photos from 50 years ago. And before the digital age, when a photo was gone, it was gone. When I got married 20 years ago, I remember asking the wedding photographer how long he would keep the negatives on file, just in case.

I hope this is the missing case, because it would lovely for the family to have some answers while there's still time. But something about this just seems off to me. Several articles mention that the elder Damman has tried to call the man twice, to no avail. That sets off my hinky meter right there. I think I remember in the Shannon Sherrill hoax case that the family could never get hold of the woman, that she would call them but they could never reach her if they tried to call back? (Maybe I'm remembering that incorrectly.) Also, one of the linked articles says that the man's alleged biological mother was incoherent and on morphine when she mumbled something that MAY have been, "You're not my biological son." Who knows what she said or meant? If he has family and resentment issues, she could have said any number of unintelligible things that he chose to interpret as something to validate his "never fitting in." Even if she did say that, she could have meant, "Your father was married once before, to your mother, but we never talk about that because she committed suicide/ran away with a traveling salesman/was committed to an institution," or "My sister gave birth to you as an unmarried teenager, but since we didn't talk about those things in the 50s, you were given to the married daughter to raise as her own."

It is weird that the daughter and stroller were found, but he wasn't. My thought is that whoever snatched the children started to worry that they weren't getting away fast enough--too suspicious to start running down the street, but they were getting worried that the mom might come out and raise the alarm. So they didn't want to waste time unstrapping the girl from the stroller, so they just abandoned the stroller and ran off with the boy. Easier to hop in a waiting car with one child, too, instead of wrestling a stroller into the car. One of the articles said that there were several strollers lined up outside of the store; if one stroller is obviously missing, that's going to be the first thing that catches your eye, since a stroller (esp. the 1950s ones) is so large. Easy to scan the street and see that someone has your stroller; not as easy to tell from a distance that someone walking in the opposite direction has your child in their arms.

 

[PattyCake]

merge 2 threads mods please
Possible Match NY-Steven Craig Damman may have been found! - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

 

[Trino]

The 1950's strollers were "tanks," heavy and awkward when compared with today's strollers. Unstrapping the girl may have been difficult and more time-consuming than the perp realized, so he/she just took the boy.

How much do you recall as a child? My first memory was somewhere around age two/three when I awoke from a nap and couldn't find my mother who was just outside the front door. For me, not being able to find my mom was a tramatic event. Would this man have a similar recall because kidnapping and separation from his family certainly is tramatic?

I'm still wondering about this man's family who raised him. Where do they stand on his beliefs? Are they alive? Isn't there someone who knows this man who's speaking out?