OH OH - Beverly Potts, 10, Cleveland, 24 Aug 1951

[Lilachaze]

Just to review-if we accept that it was not a stranger crime and if we believe Beverly was very leery of men, then we could conclude that this was a disappearance which could have been caused by a woman in the neighborhood.

What about her own mother?

I agree, what about the women who lived on her street. I don’t believe her disappearance had anything to do with her immediate family.

But I know from having a sister who is very leery of men that a woman seems safe and she will talk to a woman. Was Beverly like my sister? Willing try and help a woman who ask even if it’s a stranger.

 

[amber1]

I am so haunted by this case. It happened in a seemingly small and safe place, and during innocent times.
I have always felt she was taken by someone in the neighborhood...basement floors were dirt back than, has that ever been looked into?

 

[Claudette]

I don't believe so, there would need to be a warrant today for a search of that kind of thing and we've nothing to go on...it is a theory here though.

 

[amber1]

Hmm. I wonder if maybe another child harmed her and the parents covered it up?
Or did anyone in the area have a criminal record? any predators in the area?

 

[Penny Lane]

Going on the idea that she may have stopped at a house-did her Patsy live on the same street, in a house Beverly would've passed on her way home? Or perhaps she was followed home by a teenager that lived in the neighborhood. Realizing the person behind her may have given said person the upper hand in subduing her, such as a quick blow to the head knocking her unconcious.

JMO

 

[Penny Lane]

Typo I was unable to edit through conventional means: Recognizing not *Realizing*. My apologies!

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Going on the idea that she may have stopped at a house-did her Patsy live on the same street, in a house Beverly would've passed on her way home?

Patsy Swing and her mother and father lived right next door. Beverly would have had to pass that house on her way home from the park.

 

[Robin Hood]

Hospital attendant claims to have killed Beverly
Starts on front page
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=2433,4743296&dq=beverly+potts&hl=en

Engineer reports seeing Beverly with boy of about 14 and descrition of Beverlys clothes
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=2127,6634852&dq=beverly+potts&hl=en

Couple report seeing youths hoisting bungle over a bridge
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAAIBAJ&pg=4399,18025&dq=beverly+potts&hl=en

Girl spotted in Maryland and anon letter sent to Mayor. Un named girl sees Beverly swinging on car door handle.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=975,6679269&dq=beverly+potts&hl=en

 

[Robin Hood]

Police interview man who they claim abducted Beverly but without more evidence they have to let him go.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=6512,4026895&dq=beverly+potts&hl=en

Case re-opened and suspect named
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=5262,4956029&dq=beverly+potts&hl=en

There's lots more to see in the archives, I posted just a selection.

 

[joellegirl]

I've often wondered about older siblings of her friends. I read somewhere Patsy had a teenaged (or early 20's) brother...I agree with many of you that I feel someone on her street took her, and she is still on the that street somewhere..I wish they could demand an excavation of every basement and garage floor. Expensive and not easy to get everyone to agree to have their homes torn up. It would have been easier to have done all this back then..when the case was huge and all anyone talked about..maybe people would have been more compliant...

 

[Marilynilpa]

I've often wondered about older siblings of her friends. I read somewhere Patsy had a teenaged (or early 20's) brother...I agree with many of you that I feel someone on her street took her, and she is still on the that street somewhere..I wish they could demand an excavation of every basement and garage floor. Expensive and not easy to get everyone to agree to have their homes torn up. It would have been easier to have done all this back then..when the case was huge and all anyone talked about..maybe people would have been more compliant...

I agree that someone local may have snatched Beverly. It wouldn't have been too hard given how dark the street apparently was. I wonder if there was anyone who lived alone who would have been able to grab Beverly and hold her in the house without anyone knowing it.

I don't think she would have been buried in a basement or garage, though, because the perp probably knew a search would ensue. I think he dumped Beverly elsewhere.

I am still curious about Beverly's fear of men. I'm no psychologist, but friend is and she says this behavior is very typical in girls who are sexually abused. However it could also just be that Beverly was just a shy girl.

 

[amber1]

I have always thought someone local took her, and I still think she could be somewhere nearby. I just wonder about the type of person who took her. Did they kidnap/murder/abuse any other kids? Were they passing through town, saw her than grabbed her? Did they do this anywhere else? Was it someone locally who was interested in Beverly? Why did they take Beverly, out of all the girls there, there has to be a reason it was her!
I read the book on her disappearance, and it noted she was very shy of boys and men. I wonder, in a place with people, how they were able to take her? Maybe she was so shy, she wouldn't fight back to someone taking her?
I have always wondered if another child/teen or woman took her, because of the fact she was shy with men. Just so many questions!!!!

 

[mrsfauller]

I think chances are high that someone spotted her on her way home and called her inside where they kept her and killed her.

There are so many ways to get past her shyness. It has been said before but the excuse of bringing something back for her parents or claiming there was an accident and her parents tasked said neighbour with watching her.

I think it had to have been a man or woman who would have been looked at as an adult. You are taught to trust and respect your elders.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

From all that I have read on this case, the police really checked the immediate family as to whether they might have been responsible, but did not check other residents of the street as much as they should have. The more and more that you read about missing children, it seems that the answer(s) aren't far from where they were going to or coming from.

 

[Marilynilpa]

From all that I have read on this case, the police really checked the immediate family as to whether they might have been responsible, but did not check other residents of the street as much as they should have. The more and more that you read about missing children, it seems that the answer(s) aren't far from where they were going to or coming from.

That's true. We know so much more about child abductions now than we did back then, and also more about investigating these horrible crimes.

If this had happened now, the nearby residents would have been looked into closely (sex offenders would be top of the list).

 

[melodyl]

I wanted to make sure I bumped for Beverly close to the 61st anniversary of her disappearance. Its so sad that she was never found and put to rest while any of her family was alive.

 

[amber1]

Thinking of Beverly and her family<3

 

[nerosleuth]

On this date on Friday August 24, today is the 61st anniversary of the disappearance of Beverly Potts.

Last night I finished reading the book Twilight of Innocence by James Jessen Badal. It is a very well written book about the disappearance of Beverly Potts on the evening of August 24, 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio.

From reading this book, what caught my attention was the other incidents that had occurred in the same area prior to Beverly's disappearance.

In May 1951, two little girls were molested in Halloran Park. And weeks before Beverly disappeared; three different women were targets of sex attacks in areas near where the Potts Family lived.

On the evening of Beverly’s disappearance, it was reported that there was a large crowd attending the Showagon event at Halloran Park.

One possibility that I cannot discount is that Beverly may have left the park by herself at a different entrance to get around the large crowd. Perhaps she left Halloran Park at the West 117th Street entrance instead of the Linnet Avenue entrance.

Here’s what I think happened on the night that Beverly disappeared.

Some time after the Showagon event ended, Beverly had an encounter with someone either in the park or somewhere on her way home. It could have been someone from her neighborhood that she knew and trusted.

Or worse, it could have been a predator that was impersonating an authority figure, such as a police officer or a minister that a child would trust and let their guard down.

I believe that whoever snatched Beverly that night had to be someone that lived within two miles of Halloran Park. And if it was a predator that snatched Beverly, it was most likely that the predator didn't have an arrest record and wasn't on LE's radar at all during the investigation.

The sad part is that Beverly has never been found and her family never knew what happened to her. I will be thinking about Beverly tonight.

 

[coco36]

How sad that there are still no solid leads after all these years.

Were the sightings of her walking back along her street confirmed? Maybe someone enticed her at the showagon with offers to see "backstage" or behind the scenes.

 

[amber1]

Were there any similar cases to Beverly after she went missing in the area?