This is interesting. I think the mother accidently or on purpose killed her mentally challenged son. The father has experience with search teams and would know how to make a body not be found. Jimmy was frail and 2 years old, it wouldn't be that difficult to make him disappear. Camping was a ruse or they disposed of him somewhere out there. The police officer even had his doubts. They mention not seeing child footprints so either Jimmy was carried out or was never there. Psychopaths can easily pass lie detectors so I never really take them into consideration. Plus, with both parents close and recently checked on the children - how could an adult get that close to take a child?
The mother admitted to hitting him because he couldn't stay up with the group and was acting out - who was in this group? Was the family being observed by someone who decided to take the child witnessing him getting hit? The scream is odd that they couldn't confirm it was their child? The cats and younger sister were still sleeping? Seems like a lot of activity to be ignored.
My bet is on the mother killing her son either while camping or before.
Missing in National Parks :: Is David Paulides involved in the Conspiracy/Cover-up?, page 4
Jimmy Duffy
Missing: 10/19/73, 2:15 p.m, Little Wenatchee Ridge, Wenatchee Lake, Wenatchee, WA
Age at disappearance: 2
On October 19, 1973, James and Carol Duffy parked their camper and truck in a clear-cut seven miles northeast of Lake Wenatchee in a location known as Little Wenatchee Ridge. While the entire family took a walk around the area of the camper, Little Jimmy Duffy was misbehaving on the hike and Carol Duffy hit her son for not keeping up with the group, per her own statement in sheriff's department reports. The family then headed back to the camper to put the kids down for a nap. Thirty-two-month old Jimmy and eighteen month old Natalie were left in the back of the camper sleeping while James went hunting in the area and Carol took a walk. After fifteen minutes of hunting the nearby clear-cut, James returned to the camper to check on the children and found them still asleep; Carol was still out on her walk but saw James check on the kids. He then circled the clear cut where they were approximately 150 yards from their children, they heard a scream or screech come from the camper. They ran to a spot where they could see the camper and saw the camper door open. The parents ran to their vehicle and found the back door open. Natalie and their two cats were still asleep inside, but Jimmy was nowhere in sight. James immediately checked the Caterpillar tracks beside the clear cut and Carol checked the road. They found nothing. The time at this point was approximately 2:15 pm.
By3:15 p.m. deputies from the Chelan County Sheriff's Office had arrived and already notified SAR personnel. The deputies and forest service employees searched the soft ground near the camper but could not find any prints in the dirt roads that matched the boy's. At 4:20 p.m. James arrived back at the camper from searching and stated that he had not found the boy. At 4:25 p.m deputies re-interviewed Carol and asked her again to explain the circumstances of the disappearance. She did. At 5:00 p.m deputies interviewed James again, and he repeated the circumstances of the boy's disappearance. He stated that the sound he heard coming from the area of the camper could have been something similar to a baby's cry. The following day canines were brought to the location and throughly searched the area. They found nothing. For five days following Jimmy's disappearance, searchers performed a massive grid layout involving more than 150 men, including rescue units, SAR teams, and the sheriff's posse. Helicopters were also brought in to the area to search cliffs and small valleys. The search produced no evidence of Jimmy Duffy's location. At 8:30 p.m on October 24, the lead deputy from Chelan County called James aside. he told James that he didn't believe his story about his son's disappearance and thought the child had never been in the area. He also told James that he thought the child had been accidentally or intentionally killed and disposed of and that his story was a cover up. The deputy then asked him if his wife had a boyfriend to which he replied, "Not that I know of" At 11:30 the following morning, the formal search operations were terminated.
During the extensive follow up conducted by the Chelan County Sheriff's Office, one witness described Jimmy Duffy as "retarded" and with a very frail build. Most of the witnesses stated that they rarely saw the boy outside the Duffy's home. It's obvious from the reports that Chelan County did a very extensive follow up by contacting the Duffy's neighbors, friends, and child protective services. They also attempted to locate evidence of violence against Jimmy, but nothing was found. At one point investigators requested that Carol and James Duffy take a polygraph test. They agreed. Twelve days after their son went missing in the mountains of Washington, James and Carol Duffy were seated in a police interview room taking a polygraph in an effort to clear their names. Polygraph experts from the Seattle Police Dept. were brought in to question the Duffys and administer the polygraph. Both parents took the polygraph simultaneously in different rooms. In a report written by N. Matzke and D. Gillespie of Seattle PD's polygraph unit, they stated the following after interviewing both parents: "Each subject was given a polygraph examination and it is the opinion that Mr. and Mrs. Duffy do not know the whereabouts of their son Jimmy nor did they conspire with each other to cause the disappearance." The passing of the polygraph hopefully focused the Chelan County Sheriff's Office on finding Jimmy rather than building a case against his parents
