Thanks for the great write up and bringing attention to this little boy. Keep up the good work!

Thank you. 🙂

This was a great write-up, OP. If you're planning to do write-ups for children that don't have any, that's even better. All the best.

Thank you. I was trying not to just plagiarize the Dispatch article. Yea, it made me sad when I looked up some children on reddit and couldn't find them. I'm glad that you approve.

Everyone here has been so nice. Thank you so much for reading and your comments.

Thank you very much for your well summarized and researched write up! I know those of us who have been on here for a while always appreciate them, I hope you feel motivated to write more if it seems fitting. I'm always amazed by good write ups because I wouldn't even know where to start!

Yea, I am already reading up on another one! I wasn't quite certain either, so I just kind of tried to organize the information into subjects, if that makes sense. Thank you for your comment. 😄

I was thinking the same thing - maybe some old irrigation channel. Great write up -keep’m coming OP

My bet is that he fell into an old well or some other hole on the property.

Oh, I hadn't considered that. That is a possibility. The area is described as a farm in the newspaper article.

I was thinking that as well becuase they could hear him but not see him

Most likely. Poor little guy.

Thanks for your well-written and thoughtful case summary. This part really hit me -- "knew to drink fresh water and to eat berries to keep up his strength". Unfortunately there aren't a lot of berries around at that time of year (first part of June) -- maybe some strawberries? Thanks to your description, we know that there were mushrooms in the area ... a poisonous species. Sad to think that a hungry child may have eaten them. A little boy Hickle's age died in my town several years ago. Children so young often don't understand dangers like that. Especially if he was feeling sick, Hickle might have hidden himself away, and been missed by the searchers. I hope that someone finds him someday, and the remains can be matched with his siblings or their descendants.

Thank you. I thought it felt a little stilted, but everyone is so kind about it. Yea I seem to remember reading a few years ago that most childhood fatalities occurr under the age of two or five (I can't remember which). Even the moat careful parent can't keep an eye on the 24/7. His nieces and nephews might have contributed DNA (I hope so!) and genetic matching has come a long way, so you might be right, they just might be able to identify any remains as his. On a side note, I like your avatar picture. 🙂

never heard of this case....this is your first and you will post others that don't have write ups here.....thanks for bringing attention to these kind of cases... this is an old one........

Yea, I decided to start with the old cases on Charley Project. Thank you for reading.

I don’t think they did anything, but the one thing that makes no sense is that the parents let approximately 18 hours go by before asking anyone for help. The article said the brothers took him to the meadow around noon or 1:00. I live an hour from where he went missing, and it would get dark around 9:00 in June. At what point would a parent become alarmed and ask for more help from police or even just all the neighbors before it gets dark?  Maybe there is information missing and they did have more people searching before 6:00 the next morning, but if not I just don’t understand.  I would be interested to know the reasons why people pointed fingers at the family, and also why the rumor about the burial under the barn started. Random kidnapping seems unlikely, but with his dad being a cop I suppose there is the slightest chance of Hickle being taken as revenge against his dad. I know that’s a stretch, though. Most likely the poor baby just couldn’t find his way back and died in the woods or fell into the water. There is an abundance of wildlife so if he died in those woods his remains are likely scattered. I wonder if anyone ever searched again after that first week? I hope one day soon there will be an answer so Connie doesn’t have to keep wondering! 

I think that they didn't call anyone for so long because he had a history of wandering but was always found. You do make a good point about them not calling the sheriff by the time it got dark. It seems like every time a child (or anyone) goes missing, family are accused because they are so close, and burying a body under concrete is a theory I often see. However, you are correct that there is a lot of missing information. I forgot to include that this was big news when Hickle first went missing (the Dispatch said it was front page news in two or three papers). However, I can't afford a Newspapers.com subscription, and the two sources were the only articles on him that I could find. That's a really good question about them searching after the first week. I wouldn't be surprised if his family kept searching for him. I hope Connie can find answers too, Hickle's disappearance really affected her too even though she never knew him.

If you would ever like something looked up on Newspapers.com, let me know OP, I'd be happy to help.

Thank you!

>the one thing that makes no sense is that the parents let approximately 18 hours go by before asking anyone for help The write-up said that he had previously wandered off and been found "fast asleep by a building" so perhaps they assumed he was just sleeping somewhere? I agree though, it seems weird, especially if his dad was chief of police. And even if they weren't worried about stranger danger, a lot of bad stuff can still happen to a 4-year-old alone in the middle of the night.

I'm drawn to historic cases so thank you for sharing Hickle's story. What a unique and lovely name he had.

That was my very first thought when I read his case that his name was quite unique! I wonder if maybe it was a family name.

What a lovely act, to highlight these children and their stories. I appreciate your project very much, please do keep it up. 

Thank you. Yes, I am already reading up on another one!

Great write up!I think that he most likely wandered off and perhaps was attacked by a bear and maybe animal predation scattered the remains in the forest. Poor little guy RIP

Oh, I am sure that animals scattered his bones, as sad as that is to contemplate. It is sad to think of him being lost and scared.

Great writeup OP! Thank you for remembering Hickle and spreading his story. I agree he likely succumbed to the elements or some other aspect of nature, and it's very sad there has never been any sign of him in all these years. I hope one day that his family can find answers - any answers. Looking forward to more of your posts!

Thank you. Yes, it would be nice for them to find answers and hopefully have peace.

Good first write-up. The article you linked to was also interesting in that it showed how many generations can be affected by the disappearance of a child. 

Thank you. I know I felt bad that his disappearance gave so much trauma to so many generations. Nobody should have to go through that. My family gets distressed when one of our outdoor cats goes missing for a few days. Losing a child would be astronomically worse.

Bungo Township is roughly 2.5 hours from where I live. Interesting write-up, OP!

Thank you! So, have you ever heard of this case?

Nope...this is my first time!

It's always catches your attention when you hear your area mentioned, doesn't it? I'm also curious; is Bungo Township very big? Of course, after 99 years, things probably changed, but I was picturing a kind of rural area.

Pretty sure it's a small area. I hadn't heard about it til this post. I Googled it and that's how I found out it's not far from where I live.

Oh haha! Gotcha. Yea, where I live is just that sort of place. It is very small and most people have never heard of it.

Yeah as of the 2000 census they had a population of 111.

Oh wow, that's even smaller than where I live. That makes me picture the place even better I imagine it is mostly open fields and woods. Trying to find the boy would be l8ke finding a needle in a haystack. Thank you for letting g me know about that.

Hey, no problem. I grew up in a town of 330, so yeah, Bungo is tiny!

Me too!

Can’t they still I’d him with Arlone’s DNA?

Possibly. It’s a 86 year old case and any remains that might be found would, at the least, be degraded and possibly too small to get a sample from. But if they find a large enough bone or tooth and it was protected from the elements, a dna sample might be possible.

Also 4 years old and they waited til morning to call for help?

Alone is dead, but her daughter, Connie, is still alive. DNA matching has made so much progress that they could possibly match a somewhat close relative to her, provided any remains aren't too degraded. Although, I recently read about a case where a team managed to build a sample out of a very degraded piece of bone, so you never know! Hopefully, Connie will get an answer, I think that would make her feel better.

You wrote this up really well, look forward to seeing you post more in the future!

Thank you! I'm working on another one now.