LA LA - Robert 'Bobby' Dunbar, 4, Opelousas, 23 Aug 1912

[Noirdame79]

The grave of "Robert Dunbar".

Robert "Bobby" Dunbar (left) and Bruce Anderson

Marilyn Dunbar Cutright investigated the cold case to confirm her grandfather's true identity.

 

[ColyH]

From what I understand Marilyn Dunbar Cutright was treated poorly by some members of her own family for trying to get to the truth. Good for her for taking a stand and clearing an innocent man from a horrible conviction.

 

[Noirdame79]

From what I understand Marilyn Dunbar Cutright was treated poorly by some members of her own family for trying to get to the truth. Good for her for taking a stand and clearing an innocent man from a horrible conviction.

Yes, I read that too. Very sad. I understand that it can be hard to accept, but family isn't just blood. Kudos to her for finding the truth.

 

[OddOneOut]

Robert Clarence Dunbar – The Charley Project

The picture on the Charley Project is actually a picture of Bruce Anderson?

Has the family of Bobby Dunbar submitted DNA samples?

If he didn't drown in the river and really was abducted, he could have descendants appearing on genealogy websites.

 

[Richard]

Bumping this thread up. DNA testing and comparison shows that the boy taken from William Cantwell Walters was NOT Robert "Bobby" Dunbar.

Mr. Walters was tried and convicted of kidnapping Bobby, and the boy he claimed was his nephew was taken from him and given to the Dunbar family - who accepted him as their son Bobby. Mr. Walters' conviction was later overturned, but he went through the rest of his life branded a kidnapper.

The actual Robert "Bobby" Dunbar is still missing 114 years later.

 

[JeffyChewsTheFat]

The explanation I always heard for what happened to the real Bobby Dunbar was that he was alone after he wandered away, fell in the water, and was eaten by an alligator. That seems like a reasonable explanation for why he disappeared without a trace. If he had merely drowned, then they could have found his body or at least traces of it. But not if a good sized gator got him. He would have been swallowed whole.

 

[GracefulD1an]

This case has haunted me since I first read about it. That and Artemus Ogletree’s case. Oh my gods that particular case has permanently carved a corner of my subconscious out. With this case I feel like the big reason why Marilyn has been given the cold shoulder by her family is mainly because the DNA results prove their ancestors committed perjury when they testified the child that she descends from was their son Bobby and they got away with perjury for all those years. Not only that but the Dunbars were a prominent local family in their town so becoming known as a family of liars would really sting. And it’s not like they didn’t have doubts. According to what I read Bobby’s mother did have doubts about whether the child recovered was her son. I think she decided to ignore them because she mentally decided it was better to claim an “abandoned” child as her own than entertain the possibility Bobby really did die out there.

 

[GracefulD1an]

The picture on the Charley Project is actually a picture of Bruce Anderson?

Has the family of Bobby Dunbar submitted DNA samples?

If he didn't drown in the river and really was abducted, he could have descendants appearing on genealogy websites.

I don’t know if they have. I know Marilyn did when she was doing her research into the case. Based on what I know Marilyn really is the sole person in the family who has any interest in resolving the case. Maybe members of the younger generation of Bobby’s brother’s descendants have submitted their DNA for genetic genealogy after the initial testing. I would need to check and see if there has been any movement in this case recently. Genetic genealogy would help but only if Bobby did in fact have children and descendants as an adult.