MN MN - Richard John ‘Dickie’ Huerkamp, 15, Mapleton, 2 Oct 1965

[stone-turner]

Mankato Free Press, October 7, 1965

Missing Boy May Be Alive

A report on a possible sighting of the missing Mapleton boy, Richard Huerkamp, 15, is being checked out today by the Blue Earth county sheriff’s department.

Sheriff Emil Meurer said that a Janesville man reported Wednesday afternoon that he had seen a boy answering the missing lad’s description on hwy. 14 walking into Janesville about 11 a.m. Monday. The boy was small and wearing glasses and he caught the Janesville man’s attention because he wondered why he wasn’t in school at that hour.

Only thing that does not tally in the Janesville description is the clothing. The missing boy was supposedly wearing gear to go hunting – coveralls, duck hunting cap and combat boots – but this is not what the sighted boy was wearing.

Sheriff Meurer contacted the Waseca county sheriff’s department which is making a check of the Janesville area.

The boy, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Mathias Huerkamp of Mapleton, has been missing since Saturday when he left home to go goose hunting three miles south of that village. A search which has been continuing daily since then, centered on the Maple river, was halted today temporarily by rain. Magnets on lines have been used in the river in hopes of catching the gun the boy had with him.

 

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Blue Earth County Enterprise, October 7, 1965

Search Continues for Lad Who Vanished Saturday

Up to Wednesday night the whereabouts of Richard Huerkamp, 15, remained unknown after four days of intensive search for him along, near and in the Maple river south of Mapleton.

The news that he had not come home from a Saturday goose hunting trip was spread Sunday just before noon and brought hundreds of people to the spot on County Highway No. 7 where his bicycle, and uneaten lunch and his empty gun case were found. This was at the east side of the road about a quarter of a mile south of the McGregor bridge across the river. From there the searchers tramped through corn fields, pasture land and along the river banks as far south as the county line. The sheriff’s office sent a deputy and the river was dragged for some distance with grappling hooks. A powerful magnet was also used to see if the gun could be located under water.

Monday two bloodhounds from Osseo were brought to the scene while the search meanwhile continued. The dogs followed a scent that led northward back across the bridge, then westward on the road past the Frank Jaeger farm recrossing the river at the Miller bridge, on the west to the next crossroad, then south to the next intersecting road and back east to County Highway 7. At points along this big rectangular trail, the dogs circled into spots where the boy might have gone seeking geese. Back near their starting point both dogs followed a scent eastward to the river where the trail ended.

Tuesday the hunt continued as on Monday with searchers going over the territory again and far down river as well. Among them were a group of high school students and teachers.

Wednesday a powerful outboard motor belonging to Gary Sellers was taken to the river by Walter Dietz and Louis Fritz and the boat to which it was attached was headed into the banks and the water churned up by the propellers but without dislodging the body if the boy is in the river.

Rumors that the boy had been seen in Mapleton Saturday and also that he had been in Beauford township to the north were carefully checked by Chief of Police Harold More, but proved unfounded in fact. More has spent most of the daylight hours since Sunday checking possible leads but without results.

Richard was to go hunting at five a.m. Saturday with Gary Fitzpatrick, Jerry McGregor and George Johnson, but when they called for him he was still sleeping so they left. When he woke up he started out on his bicycle. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Mutzie Huerkamp thought he might be staying at the Stanley Healy home when he did not return Saturday night and finally notified Harold More Sunday morning when, by phone, they learned that he had not been seen at the Healy farm.

Richard is small for his age, weighing only 78 pounds. He was dressed in coveralls and wearing combat boots and a hunting cap. The river has been searched and dragged for some distance and although it is high, it is not considered likely that it’s slow current would have carried his body far if he fell in and drowned. Neither his cap nor his gun has been found, nor any trace of him in a large area around the spot where his bicycle was left. Repeated radio appeals for anyone who might have seen him or picked him up in a car to notify the sheriff have gone unanswered. Where is Richard?

 

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Mankato Free Press, October (?), 1965

Hope Ebbs For Lost Area Boy

The chance that a boy seen near Janesville may have been a missing Mapleton lad turned out to be a false lead, Blue Earth county Sheriff Emil Meurer reported today.

A boy who looked a lot like Richard Huerkamp, 15, of Mapleton, missing since Saturday, was seen walking on the outskirts of Janesville Monday morning and there were some hopes aroused that it may have been Richard.

However, a phone call to the sheriff from a Nicollet man Thursday punctured that lead. He said the boy was a Nicollet student at the Southern School of Agriculture at Waseca who bears a close resemblance to Richard.

In the meantime, the search continued today along the Maple river south of Mapleton near where the bicycle of young Huerkamp, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mathias Huerkamp of Mapleton, was found Sunday morning.

 

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Mankato Free Press, October 9, 1965

Sheriff: No Skin Divers Used in Hunt

Blue Earth county sheriff Emil Meurer today labeled as incorrect a metropolitan news report that Mankato fire department skin divers are taking part in the search for a missing Mapleton boy.

He said he has no knowledge of skin divers going into the Maple river to hunt for Richard Huerkamp, 15. Meurer said there is too much debris in the river to do it safely. The Mankato fire department also reported that it has no knowledge of any of its men going out as skin divers.

The search along the Maple river south of Mapleton has been continuing daily since last Sunday for the son of Mr. and Mrs. Mathias Huerkamp of Mapleton, who had gone goose hunting alone the day before.

 

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Mankato Free Press, October 18, 1965

May Ask Helicopter Search for Lost Boy

Consideration was being given today to employing a military helicopter in the search for Richard Huerkamp, 15, who disappeared without a trace Oct. 2 while on a hunting expedition along the Maple river near his home at Mapleton.

Meurer said the probing of the Maple river is continuing daily, but that he and his staff are completely frustrated at the lack of any clues as to the boy’s whereabouts or whether he is alive or dead.

Maple river probing has been on the theory the boy may have fallen into the then swift current and drowned.

But failure to turn up any bits of clothing, or the heavy shotgun Meurer theorized should have been turned up by magnets used in the probing, have led him to question whether the boy may have fallen victim to a hunting accident away from the river, somewhere in the scores of cropped and wooded square miles of surrounding countryside.

Missing persons bulletins, appeals to transportation authorities and checks with relatives an friends elsewhere have all proven fruitless.

Meurer said he intends to contact military authorities at earliest opportunity to learn if a helicopter search of the Mapleton area can be negotiated.

 

[stone-turner]

October, 1965 (Name and date of Mankato newspaper not copied)

Still No Trace of Boy Missing Since Oct. 2

No further trace had been found up to Wednesday night of 15-year-old Richard Huerkamp, who disappeared a week ago last Saturday after leaving his home in Mapleton early that morning to hunt geese. His bicycle, empty gun case and an uneaten lunch were found the next morning on the east shoulder of County Highway No. 7, a little over three miles south of the village, near the Maple river.

Search of the area around that spot has continued the past week both by the sheriff’s deputies and Mapleton police and by individual citizens and groups, but in smaller numbers. The intensity of the hunt has lessened, simply because the searchers have no further clues as to where to look next.

Rumors and reports that the boy might have been seen at various locations after the date of his disappearance have been investigated, but none of them have turned up any information.

 

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Blue Earth County Enterprise, October 21, 1965

Still No Trace Of Lost Boy

Nearly three weeks have passed since the disappearance of Richard Huerkamp, 15-year-old Mapleton boy and the search for him has virtually come to a standstill.

The Maple river was dragged again with no results last Sunday in the vicinity of the spot where his bicycle was found Sunday, October 3. He left home early the previous day to go goose hunting.

Although the area had been covered by groups of searchers also with no clues turned up, hunters, farmers harvesting beans and a few search parties have continued to seek some trace of the boy but none had been found up to Wednesday night.

 

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Mankato Free Press, October 26, 1965

Seek Air Search for Boy Missing 3 Weeks

Word from military authorities was being awaited today by Blue Earth county sheriff Emil Meurer whether helicopters will be available for a major search effort in connection with the baffling disappearance of a Mapleton boy.

Meurer said he has filed a formal request with the governor for the air search to be authorized.

Richard Huerkamp, 15, has been missing since Oct. 2, after he told his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Mathias Huerkamp, he was going hunting.

His bicycle and other articles were found on the bank of the Maple river near Mapleton, but three weeks of search, including exhaustive probing of the river and a widely broadcast missing persons alert, have failed to turn up any trace of the boy, or his shotgun.

Bloodhounds employed in the search after searchers had trampled part of the area, repeatedly led to the river bank.

Scores of snags have been removed from the river and the sheriff now seriously questions, in view of the exhaustive efforts, that the boy may have been a drowning victim. Meurer reasoned that the probings and the use of magnetic equipment should have brought up at least the shotgun, if the boy had fallen into the then swift-moving river, because the shotgun should not have been carried away by the current.

Theory behind the air search request is that the boy may have been fatally injured in a hunting accident, some distance from the river and his parked bicycle. Meurer indicated that several square miles of cropped and wooded area will be subjected to the low altitude, meticulous search, if helicopters are made available.

 

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Mankato Free Press, October 27, 1965

‘Copter Search Failure

A United States navy helicopter joined in the search for a missing Mapleton boy near that community this morning. A two-hour search ended at noon, still unsuccessful.

The helicopter was made available in short order after a telephone request made by Sheriff Emil Meurer to the governor and to the commander of the naval air station at Wold Chamberlain field Tuesday.

A navy helicopter from the same source was the lifesaver in rescuing an elderly man stranded on a shed in the Blue Earth river during last April’s floods.

This time it was searching for Richard Huerkamp, 15, who has been missing since going hunting Oct. 2.

The aircraft, with deputy sheriff Leroy (Pete) Wolff aboard as an observer, flew low over fields about three miles south of Mapleton where the boy’s bicycle was found near the Maple river.

Sheriff Meurer had advanced the theory that it may be possible to spot the boy from the air in the event he was fatally injured by an accidental discharge of his gun while hunting through fields in that vicinity.

Exhaustive searching of the Maple river nearby has produced no results.

 

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Mankato Free Press, October 28, 1965

At Dead End in Lost Boy Search

Blue Earth county Sheriff Emil Meurer was up against a blank wall today in the search for a missing Mapleton boy after a helicopter attempt failed to turn up any clues Tuesday.

The navy helicopter flew slowly over the four-mile radius area south of Mapleton searched previously by foot. Both the Maple river and fields were scanned for some sign of Richard Huerkamp, 15, missing since going hunting Oct. 2.

Deputy LeRoy (Pete) Wolff who flew with the navy crew said that it provided a good view and that the craft hovered at a low altitude for closeup observing. Fish could be seen swimming in the river below.

Sheriff Emil Meurer considered any possibilities of foul plan – such as kidnapping or another hunter shooting him accidentally and burying the evidence – as remote.

Meurer feels it more likely that the boy is in a field, a victim of accidental discharge of his own shotgun, probably covered by corn stalk or grass that would make discovery of him difficult unless someone came directly on the spot.

To cover the eventuality that the boy may have wandered off and left the area, his description has been put out on all “all points” bulletins covering Minnesota and nearby states. The sheriff believes, however, that a boy of his small size trying to make his own way would have been noticed by someone by this time if that were the case.

In water search, the Maple river has been dragged, probed and covered by boat seven water miles downstream and four miles upstream from where the boy’s bike was found. On foot searching has even extended down beyond the county line into Faribault county.

 

[stone-turner]

Blue Earth County Enterprise, October 28, 1965

Helicopter Finds No Trace of Boy

The Blue Earth county sheriff’s office obtained use of a United States navy helicopter Wednesday morning as it continued its search for Richard Huerkamp, 15, who vanished October 2 after leaving the village that morning on his bicycle to go goose hunting.

The ‘copter, from the naval air station in the Twin Cities, had deputy sheriff Leroy Wolff aboard as an observer. It spent two hours flying back and forth over fields south of Mapleton in the area where Richard’s bike was found Sunday, October 3, about one-half mile south of the Maple river.

Nothing to indicate what may have happened to the boy was seen and about noon the helicopter returned to its base.

 

[stone-turner]

Blue Earth County Enterprise, October 6, 1966

Letter Envisions (?) Body’s Location
But Boy Stays Lost

A week ago last Sunday the St. Paul Pioneer Press published a story reviewing the disappearance one year ago of 15-year-old Richard Huerkamp of Mapleton. The next day, September 26, a letter was written to Mapleton police chief, Harold More. It was unsigned and it was mailed from St. Paul.

Not much belief could be put in the unknown writer’s claim to sometimes be able to project him or herself beyond conscious knowledge and picture what happened to a person who has disappeared. But the claim to be able to sometimes do this is interesting and nothing that could be done to solve the mystery of the boy’s disappearance should be left undone. The hazy descriptions given by the letter writer were studied and the area which the letter attempted to describe was carefully examined. No clues or evidence of any kind was found.

The letter follows:

25 Sept. 1966
St. Paul, Minn.

To: Police chief Harold More
Mapleton, Minn.

Dear Sir:

I saw the article in the Sunday paper and I wanted to help if I could. I know this sounds nuts, but I am able to write things about persons, places, and things without consciously thinking about it. When I see something like this article, I figure that it can’t hurt to try, and this is why I am writing to you instead of the parents.

I don’t want to be known for this if it is true, but I wrote this description in about ten minutes in my office without any knowledge other than the article. I hope that it will be helpful but please understand, I don’t know if it is true or not.

Many of the things I have written this way have come to be true, but some have not so it would be important to not attach too much credence to it. If it does happen to be true, I will have used this ability to a good end.

What happened to Dick Huerkamp when he disappeared?

He was killed accidently by a discharge of his gun. He was found by a man who thought that the boy was still alive and the man decided to try to get him to a doctor. The boy was dead and when the man realized that the boy may have died in his car, he might be accused of manslaughter.

This man had the goodness of humanity in him to try to save the boy’s life, but with the possibility of his being held in prison decided to hide the body and pray that his soul be commended to God. He took the boy’s body out of the car on a back road and pulled him into a clump of small trees where the body has lain exposed in the open, but where now only the skeletal remains are left.

The man drove about five miles on the road where he found the boy and took the next left side road that went to a series of farm homes. He went slowly for about ten minutes before he saw a likely clump of trees. The trees are of the scrub oak variety and they have been overgrown with all grass and weeds at their bases. The body has been decomposed for quite some time and the remains are difficult to see.

This is what happened to the body. A shame too that he wasn’t left in a more noticeable place.

God bless you all.

 

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Mankato Free Press, July 19, 1983

Still Missing

Michael Larson
Free Press Managing Editor

On Oct. 2, 1965, a Saturday, Richard Huerkamp had planned to hunt geese near Mapleton with some friends.

“When the alarm went off in the morning,” his sister remembers today, nearly 18 years later, “he turned it off and went back to sleep.

“When he did wake up, he asked my sister to use her bike so he could ride out to where he was supposed to meet two other guys.”

HUERKAMP PEDALED the bike to the Maple River south of town.

His friends apparently had waited for a short while. “At the last minute, they decided to go off somewhere else, so he ended up out there by himself,” says Huerkamp’s sister, Kathy Beyer, who now lives in Waseca.

Law enforcement officials later followed the boy’s tracks to the edge of the river. That’s the last trace they would find of him.

A newspaper account from Tuesday, Oct. 5, three days after Huerkamp left his home, included a report that “bloodhounds led searchers repeatedly to the river’s edge in the hunt for [the] missing Mapleton boy Monday, and that’s where efforts are concentrated today.”

HUERKAMP HAD JUST turned 15 when he disappeared.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Mathias Huerkamp, he was a sophomore at Mapleton High School. He would have been 33 this September.

“The boy is small for his age, actually appearing several years younger than his 15 years,” an Oct. 6 newspaper account read. “He is 4 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 80 pounds. He has brown hair, brown eyes and wears glasses.

Would his sister recognize him if she saw him today? “I doubt it,” she says. “Whether he’s changed or not, I don’t know.”

HUERKAMP HAD RIDDEN his bike along County Road 7 to the “edge of a cornfield on the Archie McGregor farm in Mapleton Township,” according to newspaper accounts.

Mrs. Beyer says he had brought along his gun in its case and a sack lunch. His guncase, his unopened lunch and several shells were found with the bike.

“Clothing the boy was wearing when he disappeared include herring-bone coveralls, a duck-hunting camp and combat boots with a buckle on top,” the newspaper said on Oct. 4.

Authorities found no clues. They did not find his gun. “His hunting hat, which floats, was never found,” Mrs. Beyer says.

HIS FAMILY had expected Huerkamp to stay with some friends at a nearby farm home. They contacted authorities when they discovered he was not at the farm.

About 300 people helped the Bue Earth County Sheriff’s Department hunt for the boy. Three airplanes flew low overhead. And on the river, eight boat operators maneuvered their crafts to drag for a body.

Emil Meurer, then Blue Earth County sheriff, told reporters that on at least two occasions, bloodhounds “went from the bicycle at the edge of the cornfield to the banks of the Maple river.”

But the searches uncovered nothing, not a solitary clue.

IN ADDITION to the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigated the case. LaRoy Wiebold, now the county sheriff, said there was never any evidence of foul play.

“At the time,” Mrs. Beyer says, “there was no reason to suspect he would run away from home. There was no reason that he would.”

Newspaper accounts told of the Maple River swelling beyond its banks, with the river flowing 6 to 8 feet deep in some places. He could have gotten into trouble there, but again, any theories are pure conjecture

HUERKAMP’S DISAPPEARANCE proved difficult for his family, “and it still is,” Mrs. Beyer says.

Huerkamp was the oldest child in the family. His two sisters are now aged 30 and 31. His father died of a heart attack in 1968.

Family members think of the missing boy often, Mrs. Beyer says.

Other people do, too.

In 1968, Huerkamp’s classmates dedicated their yearbook to him.

When Meurer retired as sheriff, he reportedly called the case one of the most frustrating, and said it still bothered him that it hadn’t been solved.

Wiebold says it remains “an open missing person’s case,” and he would like to see it solved.

“I would hope someday something would turn up,” he says. “I don’t’ like open cases, whether I inherit them or not.”

 

[Richard]

Stone-turner, thanks for these great articles. They pretty much confirm and clarify much of the previously posted information.

Great work finding that information. I suggest that you provide the Blue Earth Sheriff with a copy of that file.

Note that the articles mention early on that an empty gun case was found along with the bicycle, lunch, and shotgun shells. This was not mentioned in the early reports of other newspapers.

The description of the dog search using blood hounds is interesting. Note however that they were not brought in until Monday 4 October 1965 more than 48 hours after Dickie went missing, and after people had walked the fields the day before searching from where the bicycle was found. Could the dogs have picked up the scent of one of those Sunday searchers?

Also, interesting is how the first article states so strongly that Dickie was intending to go goose hunting and that "He was to go with a group of friends but when he wasn't up when they arrived they went on ahead".