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

[holtzmann]

This chief is trying to cover for himself and his department and is very TERSE in answering LEGITIMATE QUESTIONS.

The investigation is still ongoing and they don't have all the answers yet. He doesn't want to give anyone the wrong information if he assumes or projects something that isn't certain yet.

Wouldnt he have been screaming for help?
He should have had a phone dang it.
Jacket and glasses outside the flute? So in the pit the fire place?
Hmmm I know nothing about chimney, stays pretty warm here

Unfortunately, getting stuck in a chimney often can put you in a position where you are constricted and can't breathe properly to scream. Even if you could, my guess is the brick was sufficiently soundproof to keep him from being heard.

 

[Evilactionfigure]

I really wasn't buying the theory he climbed into the chimney. I stand corrected! How awful for his family. Poor HD what a tragedy.

I wasn't buying it it either.
How and why would I have any reason to think a child that bathed 5 times a day would every consider entering a home via climbing an antenna tower to the roof, and going through the chimney?
I too am standing corrected.

 

[TropicalTapioca]

Wouldnt he have been screaming for help?
He should have had a phone dang it.
Jacket and glasses outside the flute? So in the pit the fire place?
Hmmm I know nothing about chimney, stays pretty warm here

In the past I’ve seen similar accidents and what happens is once the person gets so constricted, breathing shallows and the person eventually passes that way. Not sure if this is the case of Harley, but I can only hope he wasn’t in the chimney suffering for the two days before he was reported as missing.

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

Oh. My. God. Harley. I am so sorry! And I don't believe they checked "multiple" times, either.

"Thorough" investigation? Not when a child has been there over a month and you just found him yesterday. They knew how smart he was. They did NOT search that home.

Where did they say they checked multiple times?

Questions:

• At one point did you enter house for the first time? - "That would be yesterday at 16:10 hours."

 

[rosie_lee]

Rest In Peace Harley
This is horrible!

 

[Rotten apple]

I’m confused- how did his coat and glasses get pushed to the 2nd floor if he was trapped between floors? What was it blocked by? I need a visual aid I think, I can’t wrap my head around the logistics. In any case, RIP Harley- you have much love surrounding you

 

[Syxanthi]

Well the psychic said gypsum when he did his reading for Harley , guess he was right.

 

[TropicalTapioca]

Wouldnt he have been screaming for help?
He should have had a phone dang it.
Jacket and glasses outside the flute? So in the pit the fire place?
Hmmm I know nothing about chimney, stays pretty warm here

In the past I’ve seen similar accidents and what happens is once the person gets so constricted, breathing shallows and the person eventually passes that way. Not sure if this is the case of Harley, but I can only hope he wasn’t in the chimney suffering for the two days before he was reported as missing.

 

[Gardenista]

I want to know if Harley had been living there. Evidence of food, books, etc.
Had he been going in and out?
Was the first trip down the chimney his last?

Maybe he'd been down before, had a growth spurt and didn't realize he would not fit anymore.

 

[LietKynes]

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

If he HAD entered Harley would be alive.
Stuck and embarrassed, but still living.
What an incompetent.
Maybe the parents would've been hesitant to search the home, but a LEO would have had the authority to check inside !!

 

[TropicalTapioca]

The

I’m confused- how did his coat and glasses get pushed to the 2nd floor if he was trapped between floors? What was it blocked by? I need a visual aid I think, I can’t wrap my head around the logistics. In any case, RIP Harley- you have much love surrounding you

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

 

[scdiv]

I'm so sad. This is so tragic. He must not have wanted to go to school that day and figured he would just hang out there. Poor kid. Hard to think about.

 

[squareandrabbet]

Oh, poor plucky Harley... And the poor parents... Mom didn't even get a last good look at him, by her own admission.

RIP, little dude.

 

[Gunslinging Granny]

"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.

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

 

[Mandrew]

We won't know what he died of until the autopsy, but if he climbed down it's likely he died of "positional asphyxia," a condition in which the contortion of your body prevents the normal in-and-out motions of your diaphragm.

In other words: if you don't get out of that position, you're going to die from lack of oxygen. And, in a chimney, there's not enough room to get out of that position. "positional asphyxia," a condition in which the contortion of your body prevents the normal in-and-out motions of your diaphragm.

And, in a chimney, there's not enough room to get out of that position.

So that means he could've been dead with 15 minutes of climbing in the chimney.

 

[Spellbound]

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.

just after he said “this appears to be an accident” he said “at this time there does not appear to be any foul play expected’

 

[Cortne]

In the past I’ve seen similar accidents and what happens is once the person gets so constricted, breathing shallows and the person eventually passes that way. Not sure if this is the case of Harley, but I can only hope he wasn’t in the chimney suffering for the two days before he was reported as missing.

Ok thank you so much

 

[IceIce9]

Where did they say they checked multiple times?

They said they checked the house perimeter several times. They saw it was locked, with no open windows so they did not enter inside to look for him.

 

[holtzmann]

I'm really shaken up by this. I'm roughly the same size as Harley and I can't imagine how absolutely dreadful that chimney must have felt to be in. My arms would have to be up over my head for my shoulders to fit in that span. 9" x 13". Fuuuuuu.

 

[Curiousobserver]

We don't know the circumstances yet, of course, but I am bit surprised that a nearby vacant home wasn't searched earlier, other than the perimeter, it sounds like. I only have experience with one missing child, but the police in that situation definitely searched inside homes that were under construction or for sale in the area, so it does seem strange to me that no one thought to look inside a nearby vacant home that has been vacant for years and that Harley presumably knew was vacant.

There will be some explaining to do for sure. Perhaps they did search the (outside) house and it was in-fact locked and intact- in which case they would need a warrant and/or permission. LE might have deemed it a low priority.