June 24, 2025 • 19 mins
It was the day after Christmas and 10 year old Bobby Boyes went to visit some friends. He never came home, and decades worth of investigative efforts still haven't been able to find the truth of what happened to him.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Bobby Boyes, please contact the Maryland State Police Prince Frederick Barracks at 410-535-1400.
Do you have any comments, or a case you’d like to suggest? You’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.
Thank you WMAR 2 News Baltimore, WUSA9, Maryland.gov, NAMUS, NCMEC The Charley Project, The Vanished Podcast, Facebook, Reddit, Websleuths and Wikipedia for information contributing to today’s story.
This episode written by The Certified Roarikle and John Lordan, produced by LordanArts.
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
LordanArts 2025
If you have any information about the disappearance of Bobby Boyes, please contact the Maryland State Police Prince Frederick Barracks at 410-535-1400.
Do you have any comments, or a case you’d like to suggest? You’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.
Thank you WMAR 2 News Baltimore, WUSA9, Maryland.gov, NAMUS, NCMEC The Charley Project, The Vanished Podcast, Facebook, Reddit, Websleuths and Wikipedia for information contributing to today’s story.
This episode written by The Certified Roarikle and John Lordan, produced by LordanArts.
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
LordanArts 2025
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
When painful truths are hidden, whether out of shame, fear,
or a desire to protect, they can twist and contort
the emotional landscape of an entire family, and not just
the immediate members. Children and even grandchildren may grow up
with a seriously mysterious sense that something's wrong, or trying
to piece together parts of conversations they overheard that point
(00:43):
to a dark truth, all trying to figure out if
the people we're supposed to trust the most can even
be trusted at all. Over time, the pain of what
actually happened becomes secondary to the pain of not knowing
the truth, and for those who do try to uncover
the past, like joy Boys, the journey can be both
empowering and isolating, especially when others in that same family
(01:08):
could prefer to just leave things in the dark. I'm
John Lorden, and today we're traveling back to the winter
of nineteen sixty eight to a small wooded corner of
Calvert County, Maryland, where a young boy vanished the day
after Christmas. It's a case that is haunted a family
for over fifty years, and the answers, if they exist,
(01:28):
may lie buried in family secrets, and some deeply troubling behavior.
But there's another possibility with this story. Was the disappearance
of Bobby Boyce simply an accident. Bob Lewis Richard Boyce,
or Bobby to those who knew him, was born on
February tenth, nineteen fifty eight to Richard and Jane Boys.
(01:50):
He was one of five children in the family that
resided on a ten acre farm in Port Republic, Maryland,
a rural, woodsy area about an hour southeast of Washington,
d c. Life on this farm wasn't what you might
picture when you hear the word idyllic. The Boy's family
lived between two homes on the property, a two story
house they used in warmer months and a small, two
(02:11):
bedroom trailer they were treated to in the winter. Things
tended to get a little cramped in those winter months,
with all five kids, Bobby, John, Don Joy, and another
younger sibling sharing one bedroom during those colder months. Some
of the older boys would find their space by hanging
out in the larger home during the warmer daytime hours.
(02:32):
According to Joy, who was only three at the time
of her brother's disappearance, Bobby was the kindest of the boys,
while John and Don were known to wrestle in rough house.
Bobby was more reserved, gentle, patient and loving. Joy says
they were particularly close, often playing together outside in the
woods that surrounded their rural home, and she still remembers
(02:55):
the way he let her comb his hair while he
played with his toys and Bobby was about to receive
some new toys. Christmas in nineteen sixty eight was not
so different from Christmas nowadays. Families still gathered around the tree,
often decorated with handmade ornaments and strings of popcorn, while
vinyl records played holiday classics on the turntable in the background,
(03:16):
songs like Bing Crosby's White Christmas or Nat King Coles
The Christmas Song. Television was a central part of the
holiday celebrations. Shows like Rootolph the Red Nose Reindeer were
must see events. For many kids, the excitement of Christmas
was tied not just to gifts, but to these shared
family moments, watching a favorite holiday movie, listening to festive music,
(03:38):
and playing with new toys that sparked their imagination. And
of course there were those toys. Some kids wanted an
easy bake oven, others g I. Joe action figures or
Barbie dolls, but one particularly popular item that year was
the Fort Apache playset, which captured the excitement of the
old West and cowboys, and a then ten year old
(03:59):
Bobby was lucky enough to get one of those. He
was also given a watch, though we're not certain if
it was a pocket watch or a wristwatch. However, his
sister Joy remembers that Bobby was extremely proud of it
and that he wouldn't take it off even while he slept.
It's amazing that Joy can recall that, considering that she
was only three years old at the time. The following morning,
(04:20):
Bobby and his older brothers John and Don decided to
walk down the road to visit their friends, the Hants brothers.
There were five children in that family too, all of
them boys, and this family had been around in the
area for quite some time. They lived on wash Hants Road,
named after their family. The Hants home was a common
play spot for the boys brothers just about a mile away,
(04:42):
and that's what they did when they got there. The
kids played for the entire morning, but sometime between eleven
thirty and noon, John and Don decided that they wanted
to head home for lunch. Bobby wanted to stay a
bit longer, and after a brief argument with his brothers,
they decided to leave him there. Bobby stayed at the
hand home for another hour or two and soon decided
(05:02):
that it was time for him to head home. He
was going to start the mile walk, and thankfully he
wouldn't be doing it alone. Walking beside him was his
pet deer, Pete. Yes, you heard that right, Bobby had
a pet deer. No one seems quite sure where Pete
came from, but he and Bobby were inseparable. It was
a quirky, sweet part of the boy's life, and one
(05:24):
that stands out in nearly every retelling of this story.
A member of the Hants family, in some places, reported
to be their mother, recalled watching Bobby and Pete stroll
down wash Hants Road and turning the bend towards the
boy's home. A nearby neighbor also reported seeing Bobby and
Pete at that corner, but that would be the last
(05:45):
confirmed siding of Bobby boys. When John and Donn arerid
home without Bobby, their mother, Jane wasn't immediately alarmed. The
boy's kids were used to wandering the property and the
(06:06):
nearby woods. She assumed Bobby was still playing or exploring.
The kids didn't have to be back home until four
pm for dinner. But four pm came and there was
no Bobby. Of course, the initial assumption was that he
had lost track of time, but should come walking in
the door anytime soon. But more time passed, and then
(06:27):
something happened that really raised the concern about Bobby's whereabouts. Pete,
his loyal pet deer, wandered back home and he was alone.
Jane's concern immediately turned to panic. Richard, Bobby's father, was
reportedly at work that day. When he returned home and
learned that Bobby hadn't come back, he went out looking
for his son, along with his wife and the other
(06:49):
older boys. The family combed the surrounding woods and creeks.
Richard claimed that Bobby knew the woods around their house
like the back of his hand, and there was no
way he would have got lost if he had been exploring.
Their search efforts were fruitless. It was now seven thirty pm.
They didn't know it, but that was seven hours after
the last reported sighting of Bobby. He could be anywhere
(07:12):
by now, and with the weather getting colder, time was
of the essence, the family called police to report Bobby missing.
Authorities responded quickly. Of course, a missing child in such
cold weather was considered a life threatening emergency. They were
out there searching until one am, but there was just
no sign of Bobby. Temperature soon dropped into the low twenties.
(07:34):
Bobby had been wearing a coat, but conditions like that
can turned deadly fast, especially for a ten year old.
Police considered whether he might have fallen into a creek
or wandered into the woods and became lost. They even
went and searched all the summer homes on Chesapeake Bay,
thinking maybe Bobby was in one of them. They also
explored the idea of foul play, but there were no
(07:55):
tire marks and no signs of a struggle found by mourning.
The grew, Police, fire crews, helicopters, tracking dogs, and volunteers
combed a ten square mile area. Not a single trace
was found, not a button, not a footprint, not even
Bobby's watch. The police and volunteers were baffled as to
(08:16):
where Bobby had gone. The formal search for Bobby would
last four days, then it was called off, and with that,
the hope of Bobby ever being seen alive again, was
soon a fading memory. The area was not heavily populated
at the time Bobby vanished, and police felt like had
he been abducted, someone would have seen a suspicious vehicle
(08:37):
in the area and reported it that never happened. The
police also believed if this was a foul play situation,
it was unlikely whoever committed the crime could have buried
Bobby's body, as the ground was frozen at the time.
With no physical evidence and no leads, investigators began looking
more closely at the boy's family itself. Investigators asked whether
(08:58):
Bobby might have run away to other family members. Richard
said that he had relatives in New Jersey and Florida.
Jane may have had some family in California, but it's
unclear if that was confirmed. Officers reached out to contacts
in all three states. No one had seen Bobby. Some
hadn't even heard that he was missing. One strange detail
(09:20):
has been reported, apparently, Richard told police not to contact
his own mother, Valerie or her husband Clarence in New Jersey.
He said that they didn't get along and didn't need
to be involved. That comment raised some eyebrows. Most parents
would want everyone, especially family, alerted in the search for
their missing child. On December thirty, first police interviewed Bobby's teacher.
(09:45):
She painted a picture of a kind boy, quiet, thoughtful,
but sometimes distracted. He had great attendance, however, she would
make him sit in the front as he had trouble
focusing and would often delay in starting his assignments. She
noted that Bobby often came to school with his hands
and face dirty and was wearing clothes that looked as
though he had slept in them. She would sometimes ask
(10:06):
him to clean up in the bathroom before class started,
and without incident, he would. She also told the police
she nor the principal had ever met Bobby's parents. This
is something odd because in most rural communities where everyone
knows everyone, the parents have usually been to the school
and met their child's teacher. Police canvas neighborhoods and heard
(10:28):
similar things. Most barely knew the boy's family. However, some
did recall seeing the children out playing, and the one
neighbor would again tell of watching Bobby and Pete the
deer round the corner to the boy's home. The police
would question one neighbor that no one had talked to
Yet this unknown person told police that he knew of
(10:49):
Bobby and the family. However, he went to work the
morning Bobby vanished, and he stayed and slept overnight at
the farm that he had been working at. It's been
reported that the police verified this account, but Richard apparently
had his doubts about this person's story. Richard claimed that
neighbor had come to their house two weeks earlier and
threatened the family with a shotgun. The allegation was never substantiated.
(11:14):
The police were still at a loss, so on January first,
nineteen sixty nine, they asked Richard and Jane to take polygraphs.
It was said that Jane was found to be truthful
in hers. However, Richard's polygraph showed he was deceptive. All
the questions he was asked are not known, but two
of them are the ones that showed deception. Those questions
(11:35):
were do you know where Bobby is? And do you
know what happened to him? The polygraph examiner's opinion was
that Richard either knows where his missing son is or
has knowledge of what happened to him that day. Richard
would go on to tell police that he believes he
did know what happened to Bobby, that the neighbor had
indeed taken him. The polygraph administrator believes that this could
(11:59):
have been a reason for Richard to be showing deception
on his polygraph if he truly believed it, But other
investigators weren't so convinced, and they kept digging. As detectives
dug deeper, they discovered a troubling history of violence and
instability within the boy's household. Valerie, Richard's mother, eventually agreed
to speak with the police. She told them that Richard
(12:21):
and Jane had married young, struggled financially, and often fought.
Valerie had supported several of Richard's failed business ventures over
the years. When he wanted to buy the Maryland property,
he asked Valerie for thirty five hundred dollars. She and
her husband drove down from New Jersey and viewed the land. Ultimately,
she and Clarence did not think that it was a
(12:42):
good investment, and having a history of funding her son's
numerous failed get rich quick schemes, she refused to help
him buy the property. This started a rift in the family,
but Richard somehow figured out how to purchase the land
without her help. After he bought the land and Clarence
came down again to visit the family and see what
(13:03):
had been done with the homes on the land. Richard
was remodeling the two story home, and things seemed to
be going well with the family visit until Richard and
Clarence left to get more beer. That's when Clarence told
Richard why his mom had not loaned him the money,
claiming that he had not paid her back several times before.
Richard said that he was her blood and that's all
(13:24):
that should matter, and when they headed back to the house,
an altercation ensued. Richard lost it. He allegedly grabbed a
shotgun and assaulted Clarence, leaving him with a broken rib
and other injuries. Richard was convicted of assault and battery
and placed on probation with one unique stipulation. Valerie had
to be allowed to see her grandchildren, something that she
(13:46):
struggled with in her previous disagreements with her son. Police
also learned of another oddity. Richard worked at a small
electronics store in Saint Leonard at the time that Bobby vanished,
and while the family claimed Richard was at work that day,
no one else would confirm this. One witness even came
forward and told police that he had seen Richard hanging
(14:06):
out behind a church around the time that Bobby had vanished.
Another neighbor reportedly told police that she visited Jane several
times a week, and Jane had a temper. She would
hit the kids for very minor things, and she also
had a drinking problem. When asked about this by the detectives,
Jane stated that she had an issue with wine. However,
(14:27):
since Bobby vanished, she had not been drinking at all.
The police would note that Bobby's parents seemed very cold
at times and sometimes irritated by the questioning. All this
added to a growing list of strange and hard to
verify details. If all that wasn't strange enough. Sometime after
Bobby's disappearance, but before the year nineteen seventy, the family's larger,
(14:49):
two story home burned down. Richard claimed the dog had
knocked over a lamp and started the fire. The dog
perished in that fire. However, one of the boys, John
later said that his brother Don had accidentally set the
couch on fire while playing, but thought that he had
put it out. Jane had her own theory about the fire,
(15:11):
though she believed Richard set the fire on purpose. Of course,
none of those stories were ever proven, but it meant
that any potential clues hidden in the main house were
now gone for good. In nineteen seventy, Jane gave birth
to another child. While she was in the hospital, her daughter, Joy,
now about five years old, told her something that would
(15:33):
change everything and shake her to her core. Joy said
that she had seen her father photographing young male relatives
naked on a mattress outside. Jane was horrified. She began
to piece together things that she had overlooked. Soon she
had opened the door to a truth that she could
never unlearn, and within two weeks of returning home, she
(15:56):
packed up her children and fled to San Diego, where
her sister lived. Richard called, demanding custody of the boys.
Jane refused. She filed for divorce and never looked back.
The FBI would become involved and uncover more disturbing claims.
Several sources alleged that Richard had kept pornographic images in
a shed on the property, images that could suggest involvement
(16:20):
in child exploitation. However, nothing was ever officially confirmed, and
no official charges were ever filed. Richard moved to Florida, remarried,
and started a new family. In nineteen ninety six, he
died at the age of fifty nine. Before his death,
police asked him to include any knowledge of Bobby's disappearance
in his will so the truth could be known after
(16:42):
his death. Apparently he didn't. Any secrets about Bobby that
were known by Richard went to the grave with him.
Jane continued on raising her remaining children alone. She would
pass away in twenty nineteen. Now it's Joy, Bobby's sister,
who continues to push for the truth. She remembers how
(17:03):
isolated the family was, how Richard wouldn't let Jane drive,
how he insisted on doing the shopping, how he spoke
for the family at every opportunity. Joy believes that he
was responsible for Bobby's disappearance and possibly much worse. One
thing sticks with her, something her grandmother, Valerie used to say,
let it go for now. When I pass away, you'll
(17:26):
inherit everything and you can use that money to investigate.
Joy believes Valerie suspected Richard too, but like many others,
she also stayed silent. Bob Lewis Richard Boyce was ten
years old when he vanished on December twenty sixth, nineteen
sixty eight. He stood at four feet tall, weighed about
(17:46):
eighty pounds, and had brown hair and brown eyes. He
had a scar on his upper lip and was last
seen wearing dark pants, a plaid shirt, a dark blue
hooded coat, and brown boots. And he was wearing his
favorite Christmas present, a watch that has still never been recovered.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Bobby Boys,
please contact the Maryland State Police Prince Frederick Barracks at
(18:09):
four to one zero five three five one four zero zero.
Do you have any comments or a case you'd like
to suggest, You'll find a comment form and case submission
link at lordenarts dot com. Thank you, wm R two
News Baltimore, WUSA nine, Maryland dot gov. NamUs Nick Nick
The Charlie Project, The Vanished Podcast, Facebook, Reddit, Webslooth's and
(18:32):
Wikipedia for information contributing to today's story. This episode was
written by The Roracle and John Lordon and produced by
Lorden Arts. Thank you to our audience here for the
live recording session hosted on the YouTube channel Lorden Arts
Studio two Special thanks to seriously mysterious financial supporters, the Nassas, Candy,
Bishop Robert Martin and Indigo Twin. Most of all, thank
(18:55):
you for listening. We will be off next week, but
please join me again in two weeks for another case
I know you'll find seriously mysterious
When painful truths are hidden, whether out of shame, fear,
or a desire to protect, they can twist and contort
the emotional landscape of an entire family, and not just
the immediate members. Children and even grandchildren may grow up
with a seriously mysterious sense that something's wrong, or trying
to piece together parts of conversations they overheard that point
(00:43):
to a dark truth, all trying to figure out if
the people we're supposed to trust the most can even
be trusted at all. Over time, the pain of what
actually happened becomes secondary to the pain of not knowing
the truth, and for those who do try to uncover
the past, like joy Boys, the journey can be both
empowering and isolating, especially when others in that same family
(01:08):
could prefer to just leave things in the dark. I'm
John Lorden, and today we're traveling back to the winter
of nineteen sixty eight to a small wooded corner of
Calvert County, Maryland, where a young boy vanished the day
after Christmas. It's a case that is haunted a family
for over fifty years, and the answers, if they exist,
(01:28):
may lie buried in family secrets, and some deeply troubling behavior.
But there's another possibility with this story. Was the disappearance
of Bobby Boyce simply an accident. Bob Lewis Richard Boyce,
or Bobby to those who knew him, was born on
February tenth, nineteen fifty eight to Richard and Jane Boys.
(01:50):
He was one of five children in the family that
resided on a ten acre farm in Port Republic, Maryland,
a rural, woodsy area about an hour southeast of Washington,
d c. Life on this farm wasn't what you might
picture when you hear the word idyllic. The Boy's family
lived between two homes on the property, a two story
house they used in warmer months and a small, two
(02:11):
bedroom trailer they were treated to in the winter. Things
tended to get a little cramped in those winter months,
with all five kids, Bobby, John, Don Joy, and another
younger sibling sharing one bedroom during those colder months. Some
of the older boys would find their space by hanging
out in the larger home during the warmer daytime hours.
(02:32):
According to Joy, who was only three at the time
of her brother's disappearance, Bobby was the kindest of the boys,
while John and Don were known to wrestle in rough house.
Bobby was more reserved, gentle, patient and loving. Joy says
they were particularly close, often playing together outside in the
woods that surrounded their rural home, and she still remembers
(02:55):
the way he let her comb his hair while he
played with his toys and Bobby was about to receive
some new toys. Christmas in nineteen sixty eight was not
so different from Christmas nowadays. Families still gathered around the tree,
often decorated with handmade ornaments and strings of popcorn, while
vinyl records played holiday classics on the turntable in the background,
(03:16):
songs like Bing Crosby's White Christmas or Nat King Coles
The Christmas Song. Television was a central part of the
holiday celebrations. Shows like Rootolph the Red Nose Reindeer were
must see events. For many kids, the excitement of Christmas
was tied not just to gifts, but to these shared
family moments, watching a favorite holiday movie, listening to festive music,
(03:38):
and playing with new toys that sparked their imagination. And
of course there were those toys. Some kids wanted an
easy bake oven, others g I. Joe action figures or
Barbie dolls, but one particularly popular item that year was
the Fort Apache playset, which captured the excitement of the
old West and cowboys, and a then ten year old
(03:59):
Bobby was lucky enough to get one of those. He
was also given a watch, though we're not certain if
it was a pocket watch or a wristwatch. However, his
sister Joy remembers that Bobby was extremely proud of it
and that he wouldn't take it off even while he slept.
It's amazing that Joy can recall that, considering that she
was only three years old at the time. The following morning,
(04:20):
Bobby and his older brothers John and Don decided to
walk down the road to visit their friends, the Hants brothers.
There were five children in that family too, all of
them boys, and this family had been around in the
area for quite some time. They lived on wash Hants Road,
named after their family. The Hants home was a common
play spot for the boys brothers just about a mile away,
(04:42):
and that's what they did when they got there. The
kids played for the entire morning, but sometime between eleven
thirty and noon, John and Don decided that they wanted
to head home for lunch. Bobby wanted to stay a
bit longer, and after a brief argument with his brothers,
they decided to leave him there. Bobby stayed at the
hand home for another hour or two and soon decided
(05:02):
that it was time for him to head home. He
was going to start the mile walk, and thankfully he
wouldn't be doing it alone. Walking beside him was his
pet deer, Pete. Yes, you heard that right, Bobby had
a pet deer. No one seems quite sure where Pete
came from, but he and Bobby were inseparable. It was
a quirky, sweet part of the boy's life, and one
(05:24):
that stands out in nearly every retelling of this story.
A member of the Hants family, in some places, reported
to be their mother, recalled watching Bobby and Pete stroll
down wash Hants Road and turning the bend towards the
boy's home. A nearby neighbor also reported seeing Bobby and
Pete at that corner, but that would be the last
(05:45):
confirmed siding of Bobby boys. When John and Donn arerid
home without Bobby, their mother, Jane wasn't immediately alarmed. The
boy's kids were used to wandering the property and the
(06:06):
nearby woods. She assumed Bobby was still playing or exploring.
The kids didn't have to be back home until four
pm for dinner. But four pm came and there was
no Bobby. Of course, the initial assumption was that he
had lost track of time, but should come walking in
the door anytime soon. But more time passed, and then
(06:27):
something happened that really raised the concern about Bobby's whereabouts. Pete,
his loyal pet deer, wandered back home and he was alone.
Jane's concern immediately turned to panic. Richard, Bobby's father, was
reportedly at work that day. When he returned home and
learned that Bobby hadn't come back, he went out looking
for his son, along with his wife and the other
(06:49):
older boys. The family combed the surrounding woods and creeks.
Richard claimed that Bobby knew the woods around their house
like the back of his hand, and there was no
way he would have got lost if he had been exploring.
Their search efforts were fruitless. It was now seven thirty pm.
They didn't know it, but that was seven hours after
the last reported sighting of Bobby. He could be anywhere
(07:12):
by now, and with the weather getting colder, time was
of the essence, the family called police to report Bobby missing.
Authorities responded quickly. Of course, a missing child in such
cold weather was considered a life threatening emergency. They were
out there searching until one am, but there was just
no sign of Bobby. Temperature soon dropped into the low twenties.
(07:34):
Bobby had been wearing a coat, but conditions like that
can turned deadly fast, especially for a ten year old.
Police considered whether he might have fallen into a creek
or wandered into the woods and became lost. They even
went and searched all the summer homes on Chesapeake Bay,
thinking maybe Bobby was in one of them. They also
explored the idea of foul play, but there were no
(07:55):
tire marks and no signs of a struggle found by mourning.
The grew, Police, fire crews, helicopters, tracking dogs, and volunteers
combed a ten square mile area. Not a single trace
was found, not a button, not a footprint, not even
Bobby's watch. The police and volunteers were baffled as to
(08:16):
where Bobby had gone. The formal search for Bobby would
last four days, then it was called off, and with that,
the hope of Bobby ever being seen alive again, was
soon a fading memory. The area was not heavily populated
at the time Bobby vanished, and police felt like had
he been abducted, someone would have seen a suspicious vehicle
(08:37):
in the area and reported it that never happened. The
police also believed if this was a foul play situation,
it was unlikely whoever committed the crime could have buried
Bobby's body, as the ground was frozen at the time.
With no physical evidence and no leads, investigators began looking
more closely at the boy's family itself. Investigators asked whether
(08:58):
Bobby might have run away to other family members. Richard
said that he had relatives in New Jersey and Florida.
Jane may have had some family in California, but it's
unclear if that was confirmed. Officers reached out to contacts
in all three states. No one had seen Bobby. Some
hadn't even heard that he was missing. One strange detail
(09:20):
has been reported, apparently, Richard told police not to contact
his own mother, Valerie or her husband Clarence in New Jersey.
He said that they didn't get along and didn't need
to be involved. That comment raised some eyebrows. Most parents
would want everyone, especially family, alerted in the search for
their missing child. On December thirty, first police interviewed Bobby's teacher.
(09:45):
She painted a picture of a kind boy, quiet, thoughtful,
but sometimes distracted. He had great attendance, however, she would
make him sit in the front as he had trouble
focusing and would often delay in starting his assignments. She
noted that Bobby often came to school with his hands
and face dirty and was wearing clothes that looked as
though he had slept in them. She would sometimes ask
(10:06):
him to clean up in the bathroom before class started,
and without incident, he would. She also told the police
she nor the principal had ever met Bobby's parents. This
is something odd because in most rural communities where everyone
knows everyone, the parents have usually been to the school
and met their child's teacher. Police canvas neighborhoods and heard
(10:28):
similar things. Most barely knew the boy's family. However, some
did recall seeing the children out playing, and the one
neighbor would again tell of watching Bobby and Pete the
deer round the corner to the boy's home. The police
would question one neighbor that no one had talked to
Yet this unknown person told police that he knew of
(10:49):
Bobby and the family. However, he went to work the
morning Bobby vanished, and he stayed and slept overnight at
the farm that he had been working at. It's been
reported that the police verified this account, but Richard apparently
had his doubts about this person's story. Richard claimed that
neighbor had come to their house two weeks earlier and
threatened the family with a shotgun. The allegation was never substantiated.
(11:14):
The police were still at a loss, so on January first,
nineteen sixty nine, they asked Richard and Jane to take polygraphs.
It was said that Jane was found to be truthful
in hers. However, Richard's polygraph showed he was deceptive. All
the questions he was asked are not known, but two
of them are the ones that showed deception. Those questions
(11:35):
were do you know where Bobby is? And do you
know what happened to him? The polygraph examiner's opinion was
that Richard either knows where his missing son is or
has knowledge of what happened to him that day. Richard
would go on to tell police that he believes he
did know what happened to Bobby, that the neighbor had
indeed taken him. The polygraph administrator believes that this could
(11:59):
have been a reason for Richard to be showing deception
on his polygraph if he truly believed it, But other
investigators weren't so convinced, and they kept digging. As detectives
dug deeper, they discovered a troubling history of violence and
instability within the boy's household. Valerie, Richard's mother, eventually agreed
to speak with the police. She told them that Richard
(12:21):
and Jane had married young, struggled financially, and often fought.
Valerie had supported several of Richard's failed business ventures over
the years. When he wanted to buy the Maryland property,
he asked Valerie for thirty five hundred dollars. She and
her husband drove down from New Jersey and viewed the land. Ultimately,
she and Clarence did not think that it was a
(12:42):
good investment, and having a history of funding her son's
numerous failed get rich quick schemes, she refused to help
him buy the property. This started a rift in the family,
but Richard somehow figured out how to purchase the land
without her help. After he bought the land and Clarence
came down again to visit the family and see what
(13:03):
had been done with the homes on the land. Richard
was remodeling the two story home, and things seemed to
be going well with the family visit until Richard and
Clarence left to get more beer. That's when Clarence told
Richard why his mom had not loaned him the money,
claiming that he had not paid her back several times before.
Richard said that he was her blood and that's all
(13:24):
that should matter, and when they headed back to the house,
an altercation ensued. Richard lost it. He allegedly grabbed a
shotgun and assaulted Clarence, leaving him with a broken rib
and other injuries. Richard was convicted of assault and battery
and placed on probation with one unique stipulation. Valerie had
to be allowed to see her grandchildren, something that she
(13:46):
struggled with in her previous disagreements with her son. Police
also learned of another oddity. Richard worked at a small
electronics store in Saint Leonard at the time that Bobby vanished,
and while the family claimed Richard was at work that day,
no one else would confirm this. One witness even came
forward and told police that he had seen Richard hanging
(14:06):
out behind a church around the time that Bobby had vanished.
Another neighbor reportedly told police that she visited Jane several
times a week, and Jane had a temper. She would
hit the kids for very minor things, and she also
had a drinking problem. When asked about this by the detectives,
Jane stated that she had an issue with wine. However,
(14:27):
since Bobby vanished, she had not been drinking at all.
The police would note that Bobby's parents seemed very cold
at times and sometimes irritated by the questioning. All this
added to a growing list of strange and hard to
verify details. If all that wasn't strange enough. Sometime after
Bobby's disappearance, but before the year nineteen seventy, the family's larger,
(14:49):
two story home burned down. Richard claimed the dog had
knocked over a lamp and started the fire. The dog
perished in that fire. However, one of the boys, John
later said that his brother Don had accidentally set the
couch on fire while playing, but thought that he had
put it out. Jane had her own theory about the fire,
(15:11):
though she believed Richard set the fire on purpose. Of course,
none of those stories were ever proven, but it meant
that any potential clues hidden in the main house were
now gone for good. In nineteen seventy, Jane gave birth
to another child. While she was in the hospital, her daughter, Joy,
now about five years old, told her something that would
(15:33):
change everything and shake her to her core. Joy said
that she had seen her father photographing young male relatives
naked on a mattress outside. Jane was horrified. She began
to piece together things that she had overlooked. Soon she
had opened the door to a truth that she could
never unlearn, and within two weeks of returning home, she
(15:56):
packed up her children and fled to San Diego, where
her sister lived. Richard called, demanding custody of the boys.
Jane refused. She filed for divorce and never looked back.
The FBI would become involved and uncover more disturbing claims.
Several sources alleged that Richard had kept pornographic images in
a shed on the property, images that could suggest involvement
(16:20):
in child exploitation. However, nothing was ever officially confirmed, and
no official charges were ever filed. Richard moved to Florida, remarried,
and started a new family. In nineteen ninety six, he
died at the age of fifty nine. Before his death,
police asked him to include any knowledge of Bobby's disappearance
in his will so the truth could be known after
(16:42):
his death. Apparently he didn't. Any secrets about Bobby that
were known by Richard went to the grave with him.
Jane continued on raising her remaining children alone. She would
pass away in twenty nineteen. Now it's Joy, Bobby's sister,
who continues to push for the truth. She remembers how
(17:03):
isolated the family was, how Richard wouldn't let Jane drive,
how he insisted on doing the shopping, how he spoke
for the family at every opportunity. Joy believes that he
was responsible for Bobby's disappearance and possibly much worse. One
thing sticks with her, something her grandmother, Valerie used to say,
let it go for now. When I pass away, you'll
(17:26):
inherit everything and you can use that money to investigate.
Joy believes Valerie suspected Richard too, but like many others,
she also stayed silent. Bob Lewis Richard Boyce was ten
years old when he vanished on December twenty sixth, nineteen
sixty eight. He stood at four feet tall, weighed about
(17:46):
eighty pounds, and had brown hair and brown eyes. He
had a scar on his upper lip and was last
seen wearing dark pants, a plaid shirt, a dark blue
hooded coat, and brown boots. And he was wearing his
favorite Christmas present, a watch that has still never been recovered.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Bobby Boys,
please contact the Maryland State Police Prince Frederick Barracks at
(18:09):
four to one zero five three five one four zero zero.
Do you have any comments or a case you'd like
to suggest, You'll find a comment form and case submission
link at lordenarts dot com. Thank you, wm R two
News Baltimore, WUSA nine, Maryland dot gov. NamUs Nick Nick
The Charlie Project, The Vanished Podcast, Facebook, Reddit, Webslooth's and
(18:32):
Wikipedia for information contributing to today's story. This episode was
written by The Roracle and John Lordon and produced by
Lorden Arts. Thank you to our audience here for the
live recording session hosted on the YouTube channel Lorden Arts
Studio two Special thanks to seriously mysterious financial supporters, the Nassas, Candy,
Bishop Robert Martin and Indigo Twin. Most of all, thank
(18:55):
you for listening. We will be off next week, but
please join me again in two weeks for another case
I know you'll find seriously mysterious
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