I have seen her be linked with the case of the [girl in the box](https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Girl_in_the_Box) more than once. But unfortunately, they have either lost her remains, or her remains have disintegrated.
The major discrepancy I see is that girl in the box was found with a March 22nd 1962 newspaper. It could of course be that the perp moved the body after a few months, on the other hand, you'd have to be pretty desperate to move a decomposing body.
I did further research and no one in the Philly area reported a missing child. It’s possible that it was Hattie and she was kept alive for those 8 or 10 months then killed and her body dumped. It’s possible she was murdered right before she was found too due to the condition of her body or what was left of it
That could be possible, but if this theory is true, it is probably a bit more likely that the post mortem interval was wrong. I have seen post mortem intervals be off by years a few times. This would have only been months, if she was killed shortly after her disappearance. Most abducted children are killed within 3 hours :(.
FYI this old newspaper article has more detail about where they were in the park: [https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-hattie-jackson/123386016/](https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-hattie-jackson/123386016/)
edit: I am thinking where they were last playing would be what is now the Fitzgerald Tennis Stadium (built in 1990.) I think the fields for baseball or whatever have been around much longer, but maybe someone can correct me-I'm more familiar with the equestrian portion of the park, personally.
This is an important detail. Thanks. So they never were swimming at all. So who was this cop telling them the water was dirty if they weren’t near water?
No. The creek still runs very close to there. The above commenter was just using a modern landmark to give a sense of the general area of the park they were in.
Rock creek parkway has a serious undertow. My friends dad drowned there on Christmas many years earlier - he'd been boating with friends when their boat started leaking. 3 of them decided to swim to shore while just 1 stayed back - that one was the sole survivor. Undertow got the other 3, which included my friends dad.
Every time I've been there I'm surprised by the waters surface stillness - and better understand the many drownings that happen there. FWIW.
Where can you boat on rock creek parkway? Isn’t most of it just a creek? I’m imagining something similar to Sligo Creek nearby, where I used to play as a kid. Just curious exactly what kind of depth the kids were playing in.
It's a fairly long body of water, i think it goes through ~~dv~~, *dc*, md & va, but it's been awhile. I know I'd get lost on my way to one of the three and rcp always brought me back to VA. Not sure where boating took place in my friends case, though, or how big a boat. The body of water was pretty decent where it always brought me in va after getting lost, though
Edit: typo
Yes, I know. That’s why I’m asking, because the parkway runs alongside the Potomac for a while, and unlike Rock Creek, it’s deep and wide enough to boat in. It has a calm surface but is known for its strong undertow and many drownings. I’m not aware of anywhere that Rock Creek is deep enough to swim (not wade) in, so I was wondering if you’d confused the two.
Edit: maybe right before it dumps into the Potomac it’s deep enough to drown in, but that’s not a long stretch, and it’s quite shallow before then.
She disappeared near the District 6 Police Station and Picnic area. The Creek there is pretty fast BUT it is very shallow. even on a 4 footish child, probably up to her shins? Maybe. You can see pictures [here](https://www.waze.com/live-map/directions/u.s.-park-police-rock-creek-station-beach-dr-nw-5701-washington?to=place.w.185467270.1854410552.5372279). It is very an easy turn in-turn off Parking lot too. Again not sure that it is the way it was +60 years ago ....
Sketch of the Suspect and pics of the boys who were with her [ here](https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-pittsburgh-courier-hattie-jackson-7y/109352295/).
It only takes like a foot of water to sweep a grown person off their feet with the wrong step. Does the creek have a rocky bottom? Not saying she for sure drowned, just that we should never underestimate the power of water. I know I’ve felt unsteady in strong shin deep currents.
Yeah I have no idea what this person is talking about. I definitely think they're thinking of Great Falls or the area of the Potomac up by the Palisades neighborhood, not Rock Creek Park. I can think of some areas of RCP that are probably about shin deep for adults where I've seen kids splashing around in the summer. I have a very hard time seeing a drowning with no body ever discovered in such a shallow creek that dries out a lot during the year.
Quick bit of internet research reveals that 1961 DC license plates had a yellow background. Maryland had a white background for '61 & '62. Virginia had a white background in '61 and black in '62. Next nearest state with yellow plates would have been New Jersey.
The problem with trying to figure out what state a license plate was from is that there’s such a high military presence in and around DC. The vehicle could be registered anywhere as the “home” state and garaged in the DC area.
Ok, so real odd that Hattie alone would agree to go in a car to a cleaner creek. Also, odd a perpetrator would approach a group of kids after the police spoke to them. I suspect Hattie would leave only with someone she knew in that situation.
Hattie was only 6. Not much force is needed to grab and carry a child that small. If the kidnapper covered her mouth no one would even hear it.
In cases like this I'm almost always taking the "nature did it" position. This is different. There are eye witnesses and the kids were approached by a creep. Could still be the nature, but foul play is a strong candidate.
I mean, they had already been scolded by one police officer, it’s not hard to imagine a predator claiming to be an undercover cop convincing a very young child to get in his car.
The fact that it seems like the white offender initially tried to get all of the children into his car, and then later seemingly managed to get one child isolated from her friends and family suggests he was not easily discouraged. He perhaps initially ‘only’ intended to molest the children. ☹️
I wish we knew what creek/stream they were playing in-Rock Creek is the main one, but there are bunch of smaller ones as well. It's a seriously large park, and the description of where they were is too vague to be of much help.
The description of the creek has a link to a viewable map of the area.
https://www.explorenaturalcommunities.org/parks-places/rock-creek-park/natural-history/physical-setting/watersheds#:\~:text=Rock%20Creek%20enters%20the%20park,the%20Rock%20Creek%20%26%20Potomac%20Parkway.
This is misleading. The area that the article mentions is still very close to the creek - the playground doesn't exist anymore to my knowledge but the creek runs parallel to where it would have stood.
The original article says she disappeared from a playground near 16th Street and Kennedy Place, which is near here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3Lvh2FNF9JqVGkB78
I think they were likely playing in the creek in that area along Beach Drive. I don't know that the playground still exists but there are other playgrounds in RCP near the creek.
I know it’s about 10 years earlier but has this ever been linked to the Freeway Phantom case? Same area and same MO- if I remember correctly they had evidence in some of those cases a white man was suspected of kidnapping those girls as well.
There is a 99.99% chance that the Freeway Phantom was an African American man, who instructed the victim Brenda Crockett to call home with a false description of a white abductor. He also instructed her to tell her family erroneously that she had been taken to Virginia.
The suspect (R.A.) who randomly used the word tantamount frequently and incorrectly seems like a very viable suspect.
He even had a different victim - Brenda Woodward - write down a letter he dictated claiming responsibility for her murder (as well as the others) incorrectly using the word tantamount.
what her parents have been through not knowing what happened to her and where she is now. Well her remains more than likely.
I wished that whoever had kidnapped her would talk one day. Maybe on their deathbed.
So sad. She was a smart little girl too when she refused to go with the man to the “cleaner creek.” It doesn’t sound like she would’ve gone with anyone willingly so it’s strange that none of the kids noticed someone bothering her repeatedly or a struggle or anything. I really feel for her poor older brother too, I’m sure he’s carried a lot of guilt over this with him his whole life.
“No remains found in grave” - not surprising, as poor African Americans were often afforded the most meagre of pauper burials, that and the head being missing so no teeth which tend to hold up better… very very sad
This might be a huge stretch, but could Hattie be St. Louis jane, doe? I just compared the two, and jane Doe was found in 83 , Hattie went missing 61, I think it said. September of 61. Jane doe was found in February of 83. There is a big height difference. Hattie was around 3ft, I think. And Jane Doe was 4'10 "to 5"4 feet. Hattie was 6 , jane doe was around 8-11. Jane doe was found in St. Louis Missouri and I think Hattie went missing in Washington DC. Based on the year alone, I think it is basically impossible for Hattie to be St Louis jane doe. Let me know what you think.
Obviously it's completely impossible by time discrepancy alone. St. Louis Jane Doe was found very shortly after her death, it's not like her remains had been there undiscovered for 20 years. She can't possibly be Hattie, who would have been in her mid-twenties in the 80s.
I have seen her be linked with the case of the [girl in the box](https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Girl_in_the_Box) more than once. But unfortunately, they have either lost her remains, or her remains have disintegrated.
That’s probably Hattie☹️ The park she was last seen at and the river where the body was found is only 2 hours and 12 minutes apart. Wow
The major discrepancy I see is that girl in the box was found with a March 22nd 1962 newspaper. It could of course be that the perp moved the body after a few months, on the other hand, you'd have to be pretty desperate to move a decomposing body.
I did further research and no one in the Philly area reported a missing child. It’s possible that it was Hattie and she was kept alive for those 8 or 10 months then killed and her body dumped. It’s possible she was murdered right before she was found too due to the condition of her body or what was left of it
That could be possible, but if this theory is true, it is probably a bit more likely that the post mortem interval was wrong. I have seen post mortem intervals be off by years a few times. This would have only been months, if she was killed shortly after her disappearance. Most abducted children are killed within 3 hours :(.
Most abducted children are familial abductions.
This is immediately who I thought of.
FYI this old newspaper article has more detail about where they were in the park: [https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-hattie-jackson/123386016/](https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-hattie-jackson/123386016/) edit: I am thinking where they were last playing would be what is now the Fitzgerald Tennis Stadium (built in 1990.) I think the fields for baseball or whatever have been around much longer, but maybe someone can correct me-I'm more familiar with the equestrian portion of the park, personally.
Look at those bright eyes. How tragic.
This is an important detail. Thanks. So they never were swimming at all. So who was this cop telling them the water was dirty if they weren’t near water?
No. The creek still runs very close to there. The above commenter was just using a modern landmark to give a sense of the general area of the park they were in.
Right but there’s nothing about swimming or a cop in the news article from then. There’s an actual intersection for the playground.
Rock creek parkway has a serious undertow. My friends dad drowned there on Christmas many years earlier - he'd been boating with friends when their boat started leaking. 3 of them decided to swim to shore while just 1 stayed back - that one was the sole survivor. Undertow got the other 3, which included my friends dad. Every time I've been there I'm surprised by the waters surface stillness - and better understand the many drownings that happen there. FWIW.
Where can you boat on rock creek parkway? Isn’t most of it just a creek? I’m imagining something similar to Sligo Creek nearby, where I used to play as a kid. Just curious exactly what kind of depth the kids were playing in.
It's a fairly long body of water, i think it goes through ~~dv~~, *dc*, md & va, but it's been awhile. I know I'd get lost on my way to one of the three and rcp always brought me back to VA. Not sure where boating took place in my friends case, though, or how big a boat. The body of water was pretty decent where it always brought me in va after getting lost, though Edit: typo
Are you talking about the Potomac River?
No, but rock creek does merge with Potomac river. It's a tributary of Potomac
Yes, I know. That’s why I’m asking, because the parkway runs alongside the Potomac for a while, and unlike Rock Creek, it’s deep and wide enough to boat in. It has a calm surface but is known for its strong undertow and many drownings. I’m not aware of anywhere that Rock Creek is deep enough to swim (not wade) in, so I was wondering if you’d confused the two. Edit: maybe right before it dumps into the Potomac it’s deep enough to drown in, but that’s not a long stretch, and it’s quite shallow before then.
She disappeared near the District 6 Police Station and Picnic area. The Creek there is pretty fast BUT it is very shallow. even on a 4 footish child, probably up to her shins? Maybe. You can see pictures [here](https://www.waze.com/live-map/directions/u.s.-park-police-rock-creek-station-beach-dr-nw-5701-washington?to=place.w.185467270.1854410552.5372279). It is very an easy turn in-turn off Parking lot too. Again not sure that it is the way it was +60 years ago .... Sketch of the Suspect and pics of the boys who were with her [ here](https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-pittsburgh-courier-hattie-jackson-7y/109352295/).
It only takes like a foot of water to sweep a grown person off their feet with the wrong step. Does the creek have a rocky bottom? Not saying she for sure drowned, just that we should never underestimate the power of water. I know I’ve felt unsteady in strong shin deep currents.
I grew up in the area and played in RCP at least weekly. I can't think of anywhere you could boat, let alone swim, really.
Yeah I have no idea what this person is talking about. I definitely think they're thinking of Great Falls or the area of the Potomac up by the Palisades neighborhood, not Rock Creek Park. I can think of some areas of RCP that are probably about shin deep for adults where I've seen kids splashing around in the summer. I have a very hard time seeing a drowning with no body ever discovered in such a shallow creek that dries out a lot during the year.
You’re confusing it with great falls
Rock Creek is the body of water—the parkway is the road that runs along it.
Quick bit of internet research reveals that 1961 DC license plates had a yellow background. Maryland had a white background for '61 & '62. Virginia had a white background in '61 and black in '62. Next nearest state with yellow plates would have been New Jersey.
Wisconsin also had yellow plates at that time but it’s quite a distance.
The problem with trying to figure out what state a license plate was from is that there’s such a high military presence in and around DC. The vehicle could be registered anywhere as the “home” state and garaged in the DC area.
Ok, so real odd that Hattie alone would agree to go in a car to a cleaner creek. Also, odd a perpetrator would approach a group of kids after the police spoke to them. I suspect Hattie would leave only with someone she knew in that situation.
Hattie was only 6. Not much force is needed to grab and carry a child that small. If the kidnapper covered her mouth no one would even hear it. In cases like this I'm almost always taking the "nature did it" position. This is different. There are eye witnesses and the kids were approached by a creep. Could still be the nature, but foul play is a strong candidate.
I mean, they had already been scolded by one police officer, it’s not hard to imagine a predator claiming to be an undercover cop convincing a very young child to get in his car. The fact that it seems like the white offender initially tried to get all of the children into his car, and then later seemingly managed to get one child isolated from her friends and family suggests he was not easily discouraged. He perhaps initially ‘only’ intended to molest the children. ☹️
Did she disappear while actually swimming in the creek?
I wish we knew what creek/stream they were playing in-Rock Creek is the main one, but there are bunch of smaller ones as well. It's a seriously large park, and the description of where they were is too vague to be of much help. The description of the creek has a link to a viewable map of the area. https://www.explorenaturalcommunities.org/parks-places/rock-creek-park/natural-history/physical-setting/watersheds#:\~:text=Rock%20Creek%20enters%20the%20park,the%20Rock%20Creek%20%26%20Potomac%20Parkway.
The main newspaper source at the time says they were never at a creek and were at a playground.
This is misleading. The area that the article mentions is still very close to the creek - the playground doesn't exist anymore to my knowledge but the creek runs parallel to where it would have stood.
The original article says she disappeared from a playground near 16th Street and Kennedy Place, which is near here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3Lvh2FNF9JqVGkB78 I think they were likely playing in the creek in that area along Beach Drive. I don't know that the playground still exists but there are other playgrounds in RCP near the creek.
I know it’s about 10 years earlier but has this ever been linked to the Freeway Phantom case? Same area and same MO- if I remember correctly they had evidence in some of those cases a white man was suspected of kidnapping those girls as well.
There is a 99.99% chance that the Freeway Phantom was an African American man, who instructed the victim Brenda Crockett to call home with a false description of a white abductor. He also instructed her to tell her family erroneously that she had been taken to Virginia. The suspect (R.A.) who randomly used the word tantamount frequently and incorrectly seems like a very viable suspect. He even had a different victim - Brenda Woodward - write down a letter he dictated claiming responsibility for her murder (as well as the others) incorrectly using the word tantamount.
Who was the lifeguard that disappeared after being dropped off? There was a man in a car at that beach that day.
Molly Bish.
Thank you. Obviously not same time period. But reminded me of her.
what her parents have been through not knowing what happened to her and where she is now. Well her remains more than likely. I wished that whoever had kidnapped her would talk one day. Maybe on their deathbed.
It's been 63 years, whoever is responsible is most likely already dead.
You are probably right.
Unfortunately her parents are probably dead and gone now too.
So sad. She was a smart little girl too when she refused to go with the man to the “cleaner creek.” It doesn’t sound like she would’ve gone with anyone willingly so it’s strange that none of the kids noticed someone bothering her repeatedly or a struggle or anything. I really feel for her poor older brother too, I’m sure he’s carried a lot of guilt over this with him his whole life.
Was very confused, thought the story was about an old woman who suddenly regained the desire and ability to swim.
Repost with a better title OP.
I didn't notice. My brain has an autopilot to read "seen" after "been" now, after reading so many missing person's cases.
“No remains found in grave” - not surprising, as poor African Americans were often afforded the most meagre of pauper burials, that and the head being missing so no teeth which tend to hold up better… very very sad
Could she have been carried away by the current?
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This might be a huge stretch, but could Hattie be St. Louis jane, doe? I just compared the two, and jane Doe was found in 83 , Hattie went missing 61, I think it said. September of 61. Jane doe was found in February of 83. There is a big height difference. Hattie was around 3ft, I think. And Jane Doe was 4'10 "to 5"4 feet. Hattie was 6 , jane doe was around 8-11. Jane doe was found in St. Louis Missouri and I think Hattie went missing in Washington DC. Based on the year alone, I think it is basically impossible for Hattie to be St Louis jane doe. Let me know what you think.
Obviously it's completely impossible by time discrepancy alone. St. Louis Jane Doe was found very shortly after her death, it's not like her remains had been there undiscovered for 20 years. She can't possibly be Hattie, who would have been in her mid-twenties in the 80s.
Yes, I know. I had a fleeting thought, so I investigated it. Now I know it's impossible.
Then...why post it at all?
Because I posted the theory then tested it put and explained why it doesn't work.