MD MD - Solomon Rose, 3, Baltimore, 1 April 1972

[Beekarina]

Such a cute little kid.

His ears really do seem to match the UID, but if both have DNA on file, and it was a rule out, you would think that was the way? Anything is possible though.

Is that shopping center still around? Assuming the Sears was an anchor type store, where he could have also wondered right out easily? In 1972, televisions may have been on display prominently, near an entrance. Being a 3 year-old boy, Solomon might have easily been excited by something he saw outside and darted off. (A cool truck of some kind, a dog, a toy, anything other than a boring store.) My boys were little escape artists at that age, so just a thought that came to mind. He could have been taken or something happened outside of the shopping center, which would also explain a lack of witnesses.

 

[Beekarina]

Mondawmin Mall - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Mondawmin Center was built as an urban retail hub. It was an open-air complex of 58 store spaces, featuring a spiral staircase, a three-level Sears, a G.C. Murphy 5 and 10, and Food Fair and Penn Fruit supermarkets. Jim Rouse's brother Willard Goldsmith Rouse arranged the initial leasing, which included "The White Coffee Pot", a store that opened as a segregated establishment.[7] The center was fully enclosed during renovations that started in 1963 and its name was changed to Mondawmin Mall.[8][9][10]

 

[Beekarina]

Very odd. That resource also indicates Sears left after the riots in 1968.... and it does sound as though a lot of construction was going on at the Center/Mall, possibly around the time he disappeared. After the 1968 Baltimore riots produced white flight, the mall revenues declined and Sears left. Vacant space was occupied by the department of social services, where 35 people were held hostage in May 1977 by an unemployed man facing court action.[11]

 

[Beekarina]

ALso, there appear to be bodies of water nearby. I'm not sure of the distance, or if they are natural, manmade, were there when Solomon disappeared, but could he have wandered off and drowned?

 

[Ozoner]

ALso, there appear to be bodies of water nearby. I'm not sure of the distance, or if they are natural, manmade, were there when Solomon disappeared, but could he have wandered off and drowned?
View attachment 352208

I don't think that he would have wandered far enough to reach those large bodies of water. I personally doubt that he was ever at the mall. The disappearance from the mall sounds like story concocted to cover a child-abuse-related death, in my opinion. We had a similar case here in Michigan—the D'Wan Sims case—and in our local case, mall security cameras showed that the boy was never at the mall from which his mother claimed he had disappeared.

As for the rule-out, there could be a flaw in the process—for instance, maybe they compared the Baby Doe's DNA to someone assumed to be a blood relative of Solomon's but who actually isn't a blood relative (due to a secret adoption or whatever), or the Baby Doe simply may not be Solomon.

 

[StarrChance]

Seems her sister and sisters boyfriend where at the mall as well.

 

[Beekarina]

Seems her sister and sisters boyfriend where at the mall as well.

This provides a lot more information.

They were on the 3rd floor of the Sears, so my theory of Solomon walking out into the street/world doesn't fit.

It sounds like the televisions were right there when they entered the store, and maybe Sesame Street was on? (Little kids being entranced by a monster sounds like that to me, JMO.) It also provides a bit more context sadly on the check cashing--i.e. the mother was nearby in the same store. Not a choice I would make, but different era, and a bit more understandable, IMO. I do not think she was involved in any way. I think she saw the children's programming, and thought "OK, this will be nicer/faster than dragging him in the line with me. They can both sit here for a minute or two and watch the show."

I wonder if there was a multi-level parking garage attached to the Sears? If the family entered from there and he could have been quickly taken the same way? Maybe a predator bought him the record player his cousin mentioned him looking at?

So sad.

 

[StarrChance]

Part two

 

[Beekarina]

Wow....I wonder if that "unknown security guard" was a creep dressed as one? A pretty common was to convince people, especially children, to "come with me please..." by posing as a police officer, or someone "official."

 

[skittles185]

Was the match above ever submitted? The ears especially seem so close.

Both Solomon and UP have DNA on file that's how they were ruled out. 461UMVA

4115DMMD - Solomon Gomile Rose III

 

[skittles185]

This toddler was found 2 months later an hour away. Height and weight are off but I still think worth looking into.
461UMVA

Solomon has been ruled out as being UP.

 

[skittles185]

I came here to post the same boy!

I think he looks like him too!

Isn't him I wish it was but he was ruled out through DNA.

 

[skittles185]

I cam here to post him too! Lorton, VA is only an hour away from Baltimore.

What got me was the resemblance in the ears.

Isn't him

 

[saoirselouise]

Even in the early 90s, my mom would often leave us to sit and watch the televisions at a department store like that while she did her business. Very often they would be showing children’s programming, so I think this was probably pretty commonplace, or at least something intended by design of the stores.

I do not think family was involved, and I do think Solomon was at the mall. What most likely happened is that the niece became distracted, let go of his hand, and he wandered away.

 

[saoirselouise]

Very odd. That resource also indicates Sears left after the riots in 1968.... and it does sound as though a lot of construction was going on at the Center/Mall, possibly around the time he disappeared. After the 1968 Baltimore riots produced white flight, the mall revenues declined and Sears left. Vacant space was occupied by the department of social services, where 35 people were held hostage in May 1977 by an unemployed man facing court action.[11]

I know this reply is over a year old, but the Sears didn’t close in 1968. It didn’t close until 1973, an entire year after this situation took place.

 

[ifindedout]

This provides a lot more information.

They were on the 3rd floor of the Sears, so my theory of Solomon walking out into the street/world doesn't fit.

It sounds like the televisions were right there when they entered the store, and maybe Sesame Street was on? (Little kids being entranced by a monster sounds like that to me, JMO.) It also provides a bit more context sadly on the check cashing--i.e. the mother was nearby in the same store. Not a choice I would make, but different era, and a bit more understandable, IMO. I do not think she was involved in any way. I think she saw the children's programming, and thought "OK, this will be nicer/faster than dragging him in the line with me. They can both sit here for a minute or two and watch the show."

SBBM
Since "Poon" was last seen about 6 p.m., that was right at local newstime with other local stuff, I Love Lucy, plus Esther and the King on what's now ABC2. Of course that monster could've been part of a commercial too.

Article clipped from The Baltimore Sun

Clipping found in The Baltimore Sun published in Baltimore, Maryland on 4/1/1972.

www.newspapers.com

Esther and the King - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org