Found Deceased OH - Harley Dilly, 14, walking to Port Clinton High School, 20 Dec 2019 #4

[PJFL]

Thank you, @alyssa5597 .

Press Conference - Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Chief Hickman:

• Harley Dilly was recovered last evening at 507 Fulton St
• Multiple leads were exhausted. Yesterday afternoon, a repeated canvas of the neighborhood, led investigators to the house. House has previously been checked multiple times
• Windows were locked, doors secured, lockbox on rear door, no evidence of forced entry
• Pursued entry into the house
• Entered at 16:10 hours and searched
• Harley's coat, glasses were discovered on second floor, next to brick chimney
• Discovered Harley caught in chimney
• Family notified and it appears to be accident
• No foul play expected, autopsy being conducted this morning
• Appears Harley climbed antenna tower to roof and entered chimney
• Once in the chimney, glasses and jacket were pushed from the chimney through a flue into the second floor of the house
• Chimney was blocked between second and first floor and trapped Harley
• Chimney is 9x13 inches in size

Questions:

• At one point did you enter house for the first time? - "That would be yesterday at 16:10 hours."
• Any discussion about going into that particular house in the last couple weeks? - "Again, through the course of the beginning of the investigation, the house was secured, there was no sign of forced entry, and it was actually double locked. So nothing led us to believe that anyone was inside the house."
• What led you back to this house? - "Again, with any investigation, we start back from the beginning, and just re-canvas everything that has already been checked."
• What led you upstairs? - "We cleared the house to make sure no one was in there, and through that, once we got to the second floor, we noticed the coat and the glasses"
• Who owns the house? - "Um, at this time, I've got no comment on that.
• Do you believe he threw the glasses/coat down or they fell down or? - "Right now, this is an ongoing investigation and the coat and glasses were outside the flue of the chimney."
  
• How long do you believe Harley was in the house? - "Again, I can't comment on that because we still have no determination from the coroner."
• Did dogs search around the house? - "K9 units were used the entire time that Harley has been missing. From multiple agencies."
• "Did those homeowners come home in the past four weeks?" - "It is a summer home that they are currently remodeling."
• Did the Dilly's have any relationship with the owners? - "Not that I am aware of."
• Are you aware of Harley ever being in the house? - "Not that I am aware of."
• Any video or surveillance that led you there? - "The video surveillance that we got came from next to the house. And that's the photo we shared on our Facebook page."
• Is it the working belief that that was Harley Dilly seen in the surveillance video Friday morning? - "Yes."
• "What spurred you to go back to that house?" - "I've already answered that. Folks, I'm done."
• What is the family's state of mind? - "I'm gonna try to answer that the best I can. What would your state of mind be if you lost your 14 year old. I can't put words to that, can you?"

CONTINUING TO LIVE UPDATE THIS POST, PLEASE GIVE ME A SECOND

 

[Periwinkl3]

Terrible and bizarre, as presented. Hackers can defeat lockbox codes. Youtube and likely hacker forums have videos. HD was online a lot.

 

[Diddian]

I was only able to see part of it.

I assume an autopsy is being conducted to eliminate the possibility of staging to conceal an event involving others (as would be assumed if manner of death doesn't match being trapped in a chimney)?

It concerns me that the jacket was left hanging on a door after being retrieved by LE. That would indicate heavy investment in the accident presumption.

 

[LietKynes]

Just horrifying. If they checked the house the first day they would have seen his jacket on the floor and could have saved him.

bbm
Yes, IF.
It's hard to fathom. But msm says the parents went out to eat Friday night, knowing their child was missing.
Unbelievable.
I couldn't go to a different city, no less, and dine and drink at Texas Roadhouse whilst knowing my child was possibly kidnapped or god knows what.
Who does that ?

 

[IceIce9]

The chief seemed to be saying, he checked the outside and it was secured so there was no need to enter. But then he noticed much later, a lock box which would give entry to the home without any visible signs of forced entry

So if there was a lockbox and he had the code he wouldn’t have attempted to enter the chimney.

 

[OhioLocal7725]

I didn't hear no foul play.
I heard "appears to be an accident" and "ongoing investigation".

Hickman got very emotional and ended the conference.

If you think about it logically, it’s extremely extremely unlikely it was anything other than an accident. It would be near impossible to climb an antenna or even a ladder carrying a body, just to dispose of it down a chimney.... no one would go through those lengths... especially in that area, which is under a lot of observation, just to dispose of a body.

 

[Hatfield]

I am so upset like others.

The excuse he gave about not entering the house before yesterday because they did not see forced entry is just plain stupid IMO. Lets say a window was open and he had crawled inside and then locked the window. Or like what happened with the chimney.

Sorry but that excuse fails miserably. I know they are human and make errors so I forgive them for any errors they made. But I also know if I am ever needing to search for someone, I am going to arrange my own personal search party no matter what LE tells me. Time was of the essence and perhaps he could have been saved if they had gotten there in time.

Gonna sit on my hands and cry for awhile.

 

[NuttMegg]

1) the thief hatch CW shoved his little girls into was 8" diameter. The diameter of my electric counter top water boiler. This chimney was rectangular 9" x 13". I wonder if that is where he got caught, or if the whole chimney is that size. 2) he pushed his glasses and coat through a "flue" on the 2nd floor. I wonder if the chimney used to open also on that floor, and some subsequent remodeling changed that. Otherwise why would a flue be opening onto the second floor. Or maybe the chimney was blocked by the owner just above the 1st floor fireplace. These houses can lose a lot of warm air through an open chimney. 3) Maybe they can tell from the autopsy, but I bet he died that first night after being seen at school.

 

[IceIce9]

bbm
Yes, IF.
It's hard to fathom. But msm says the parents went out to eat Friday night, knowing their child was missing.
Unbelievable.
I couldn't go to a different city, no less, and dine and drink at Texas Roadhouse whilst knowing my child was possibly kidnapped or god knows what.
Who does that ?

A dysfunctional home life for sure.

 

[Spellbound]

Thank you everyone for being here and giving some explanations of how he could have died rather quickly.

I need to take a break now

 

[squareandrabbet]

Not if he was trapped upside down. Inverse/inverted suspension deaths occur within hours.

I don't think he would go that way though; would he? He'd want to be in at least some control of his rate of descent; and probably would be smart enough to figure out that if he goes down head first too fast, he could break his neck on the floor.

 

[lonetraveler]

As a poster mentioned removal of a dry wall; there could have been trace evidence on it if he was harmed by someone that lured him there or someone Harley invited there to hang out with him.

Or LE could have used a scope with mirror located him wedged inside the chimney at the 2nd floor level, cut through drywall and chimney wall to remove him. JMO

They're saying it appears to be an accident pending the autopsy.
The chimney was 9 x 13"
Glasses and coat pushed through the chimney to the second floor.
He has said "ongoing investigation" several times.

Are they going to investigate their investigation?

 

[BlueShoe]

Yeah, they didn't search that house. It appeared from the outside that it was secure, but damn, i think you'd want every vacant house searched. I get that's quite a feat, but my gosh.

Yes, I agree. Just because a house appears secure from the outside does not mean that someone could not be inside and have secured it. There can certainly be ways to do so. It should have been checked out. MOO

 

[hey-Debbie]

The



there was a flue on the second floor, where they had fallen down ahead of him, is what I assume.

Does this mean there was 2 fireplaces? I guess I don't understand. A flue is just the internal pipe or whatever of a chimney right?

 

[sallye818]

"Appears".
Even if it was accidental, if they'd looked that Fri. night after he didn't show up at school --he'd be ALIVE.
It would've taken a while for him to die. Most likely two weeks or more.
He basically starved to death.

PLEASE don't say that...I can't bear to hear that

 

[NuttMegg]

bbm
Yes, IF.
It's hard to fathom. But msm says the parents went out to eat Friday night, knowing their child was missing.
Unbelievable.
I couldn't go to a different city, no less, and dine and drink at Texas Roadhouse whilst knowing my child was possibly kidnapped or god knows what.
Who does that ?

Didn't they say he often didn't come home at night? Not sure about that word "often".

 

[Curiousobserver]

Thinking someone hid his body in the chimney. I know Harley seemed to be the type of kid that could innocently find trouble but I do think that kid was smart enough to know he cannot possible go down a chimney. You know how sometimes people will actually give neighbors keys to their houses thinking that they trust them. I mean just in case they are out of town and something happens. People do it all the time. What are the chances the Dilly's happened to have a key to their neighbors house to check on it now and then? Maybe the Dilly's knew these people that owned the home and even Harley could have know them. That could easily be hidden until they speak with the home owners and if anyone locally had a key to their house.

Or someone else had that key and hid him in the chimney- I cannot imagine why he would get in the chimney on his own.

 

[holtzmann]

I don't think he would go that way though; would he? He'd want to be in at least some control of his rate of descent; and probably would be smart enough to figure out that if he goes down head first too fast, he could break his neck on the floor.

The VICE article linked earlier has a good explanation of this, but essentially, if you think back to the classic animated Grinch special, where the Grinch's upper body descends faster than his feet and legs as he's descending, and he gets stuck, that's a plausible way he could have been trapped as well.

 

[TropicalTapioca]

1) the thief hatch CW shoved his little girls into was 8" diameter. The diameter of my electric counter top water boiler. This chimney was rectangular 9" x 13". I wonder if that is where he got caught, or if the whole chimney is that size. 2) he pushed his glasses and coat through a "flue" on the 2nd floor. I wonder if the chimney used to open also on that floor, and some subsequent remodeling changed that. Otherwise why would a flue be opening onto the second floor. Or maybe the chimney was blocked by the owner just above the 1st floor fireplace. These houses can lose a lot of warm air through an open chimney. 3) Maybe they can tell from the autopsy, but I bet he died that first night after being seen at school.

Police Chief said the fireplace was blocked from 1st/2nd floor.

 

[Gunslinging Granny]

Here's another case where a boy was found deceased inside a chimney after 7 years.
Body of missing Joshua Vernon Maddux found in a chimney on Thunderhead Ranch | Daily Mail Online