<modsnip> It has more twists than any other cold case I've tried to help solve. Might need Vidoq help at this point. incredibly frustrating
**Summary**
13 yr old Patrick Cress went missing on Sat April 30th after he failed to meet with
his parents at a local grocery store after spending the night at a friend's house.
He was discovered 18 days later on May 18th in a watery ditch loosely covered in straw about 1/4 mile from where he spent the night. Massive cranial fractures.
But here's the twist...
Detailed rumors spread about his demise at his Junior High school the following Monday May 2nd! "Pat's dead his head is bashed in" rumors were all over. A class note between two Jr High girls said "Don't tell the police what you know cause that may be wrong"
It is believed the rumors originated at a weekend party.
The family he stayed at moved shortly after, no contact to express sympathy, nothing....
The case suffered from some pretty depressing setbacks from the get go.
1) The police treated it as a runaway case from the beginning. Had they treated as possible foul play before his body was found based on the school rumors they would have probably solved it by now
2) The first detective was a robbery Sgt. All the good homicide detectives were pulled away to work the famous Green River Killer investigation in King County.
3) The case was not really taken seriously until 2008 a local guy now a detective attempted to get answers. He has suspicions but the case is now ice cold and we could use any help possible. I have some details of the investigation I can share since I highly doubt the police will ever get back to it unless there is some major break.
Here is a link to the last update on the case, and my FB group dedicated to help solve this frustrating case. Thank you!
Patrick Cress killing: Source of a rumor could solve teen’s decades-old murder
<modsnip - no posting Facebook links>