Missing person cases generally should go either one of two ways. You find the person or you don't. But as you soon see, this story actually somehow kind of breaks that rule. It's the first one I've come across that does so. And what happened in the way everything unfolded, it was just so unbelievably ridiculous and bizarre that it would end up as one of history's most infamous cases.

So without further ado, settle down, get yourself comfortable. Grab yourself a nice cold ox tongue to slurp on. Welcome back, guys. My name is Andy Chang, and this is it in stories on the morning of August 23rd, 1912, a man named Percy Dunbar, his wife Leslie Dunbar, and their two young kids, Bobby and Alonzo, decided to go on a nice family fishing trip to a place called Sweetie Lake in Louisiana.

They were staying at a family cabin they owned, along with a few other families and friends. And on the very first day, Bobby, who was apparently very, very bored from the very start, decided to ask his mom whether he could go fishing with his adult friend, a man named Paul Mitzi. Now, although Bobby was only four years old, Paul was a very close family friend.

He hung out with Bobby a lot in the past and would take them horseback riding and even had a very, very fun and affectionate nickname for him. Heavy, which is a bit weird, but that's what it was. As such, since Bobby's mom both knew and trusted Paul, she decided to let Bobby go with them. So Bobby and Paul, they got a group of guys and off they went to go fishing.

They all had a really fun time. The water was very cool and refreshing. There was a nice breeze and the sun was out, but it wasn't extremely hot since they were on the lake. They all had a really great time. But after they had finished and they were starting to slowly make their way back to the cabin, that's when something happened.

Now the details are a bit fuzzy. It's not exactly known for certain what happened, but what Paul remembers was that he at one point was holding Bobby's younger brother, Alonzo, on his shoulders, and he was staring at Bobby, facing Bobby and sort of in a joking way to tease at him. He said, Get out of the way, heavy or run you over.

Bobby then replied, You can't do it. You ain't no bigger than me. In fact, according to Paul, was the very last time he saw Bobby. Some newspapers even quote that as being Bobby's very last words when the group had successfully made their way back to the cabin. Let's see Dunbar immediately realized that his son Bobby was no longer with them, was no longer with the group.

So she asked Paul was Bobby, where did Bobby deal? I thought he was with you guys. And Paul at this point is completely confused as well. He was like, I thought Bobby was just he was just here. He was just with us. And let's see. Obviously, understanding how dangerous and all the all the potential dangers that were out there on this lake, such as alligators and potential areas where you could fall within the swamp and just drown.

She immediately started panicking, sort of yelling and crying out for Bobby and Paul, who was also just very, very at this time shocked almost that Bobby was completely gone, also began just yelling and crying Bobby's name, trying to see if he would just miraculously appear from behind and was just by accident, had been left behind a couple of steps.

But as they called and called and combed the nearby areas to Lizzie Dunbar's horror, no one answered, and he found no sign of Bobby. After more than an hour had gone by and Bobby was still nowhere to be found. Lesley Dunbar was so terrified and was so worried sick that she just fainted into the ground. And although everyone from the cabin began coming out and helping, searching all around Swasey Lake and the nearby trails, by nighttime, there was no sign that the boy had even ever been there.

In the first place since, as I mentioned earlier, the lake could be extremely dangerous with deadly alligators in its fairly deep water in certain areas, especially for Bobby, who couldn't swim well when the police showed up the next morning to help out with the investigation, they'd been looking for Bobby's body just instantly. They brought these massive hooks and dropped them into the lake and had them drag along the bottom of the lake so that any corpses that were down there would be cut and picked up.

And when that didn't work, they decided to drop, telling them way into the lake so they could temporarily blast aside the water and see whether there was anything down there. But when that didn't work, either, they even sent divers down into the lake and to really just comb through everything super, super, concisely and precisely to see if they could find anything.

And they also had people on the land while that was happening. Take these alligators that were nearby and kill them and cut into their stomachs to see if Bobby or some digested part of flesh was inside them. After all, the two most likely outcomes at the time was that Bobby had either drowned or had been eaten by an alligator.

But after all of these methods had been done, the boy was still nowhere to be felt. By the next day, 500 men with bloodhounds were searching far and wide for Bobby. By this point, there were feelings of confusion and even a little bit of disbelief in the air among the people who were searching. The amount of time between when Bobby had disappeared and when it was actually discovered that he was missing was a fairly short amount of time.

So it was completely unrealistic that he had gotten far. I mean, he had to be nearby, but nothing was found. And it almost really seemed like this guy, this four year old child, had just disappeared into thin air as days went by and still no progress was being made. Bobby's mom, let's see, who had grown extremely depressed and sick, was forced to return home to their hometown of Opelousas, Louisiana.

Bobby's dad, Percy, along with a few other adults such as Paul. Mitzi, who had been the last adult to actually see Bobby alive, continued to search. They did eventually make progress. Bobby's how was eventually found washed up on the swamp specks, although this didn't really tell them anything because this could have been because Bobby fell into the lake.

Or it could have been because Raymond had washed Bobby's hat from another place down to this lower area. A single bare set of footprints were also discovered heading out of the swamp. But again, this didn't really help them too much because it may or may not have been Bobby's. But when weeks had gone by, not only had none of the leads amounted to anything, Bobby was still missing.

Bobby's dad, Percy Dunbar, had distributed over 700 copies of Bobby's picture earlier to surrounding areas with a detailed description of Bobby's unique features such as the mole on his neck and how his left foot had a scarred big toe that was smaller than his right big toe. But no one had seen anyone matching that description. And despite day after day, the growing likelihood that Bobby was no longer alive, the Dunbar's hometown of Opelousas managed to stay strong to support the family and held out hope that Bobby would eventually be felt.

The townspeople were so kind to and supportive of the Dunbar's that together they managed to all pitch in and raise $1,000, which is around $22,000 today. To donate to the person who could be able to actually find Bobby Dunbar. But after eight months had gone by and Bobby was still a ghost. In April 1913, all hope that anyone had left.

Every shred of hope was dashed. It was by then it was ready, completely gone. And the reward money was even returned back to the townspeople who had donated it. But coincidentally, just one week, one week later, a massive new discovery came to light in the case. Now, this is where it gets interesting. Strange, but interesting. Someone had reported seeing a boy who looked exactly like Bobby Dunbar.

He had a mole on his neck. He had a swollen and scarred left toe that was smaller than its fato. And he had blond hair and blue eyes. And he looked about four years old, which were all features that resembled Bobby Dunbar. But when this report came in, it had already been so long at that point since Bobby had been missing, that his parents were completely skeptical because they had already, in their minds, fully convinced themselves that their son was dead.

That was their world, though. And there was they fully convinced themselves that there was no chance he would ever come back. It wasn't until an actual photo of the boy was sent over to the Dunbar's that they finally started to become a little interested because the boy in the photo, although it wasn't an immediate and clear recognition. Oh, like, oh, this is my son.

It was close enough of a resemblance that Bobby's mom and dad immediately booked the ticket. Or, I guess, traveled. I don't know if they were booking tickets back in the day. They traveled down to Mississippi to see for themselves. Now, this boy who might have been Bobby Dunbar, had been found with a man, an adult man named William Walters.

Although William was immediately suspected of kidnaping Bobby Dunbar, he repeatedly insisted that this kid was not Bobby and was, in fact, a different kid named Bruce Anderson, who belonged to a woman, according to him, named Julia Anderson. He claimed that Julia had had the child with his brother and that she had willingly consented for him to take care of the boy, which is why the boy was actually with him.

And when the woman named Julia Anderson was found and asked about this, she confirmed that, A, this was her son, Bruce Anderson. And B, that she had consented for William to take care of the boy. But she also said that William had told her that he had only wanted to take the child for a few days back in February 1912.

That was more than a year ago. And in her own words, I have not seen the child from that day to this. I did not give him the child. I merely consented for him to take my son for a few days. Now, despite this inconsistency, they both did agree and firmly insisted that this child was not in fact, Bobby Dunbar and was actually Julia son, Bruce.

And when Bobby's mom, Leslie Dunbar, actually came to Mississippi to see this boy in person, to see whether it was or wasn't her son, the boy didn't immediately respond to the name Bobby. And when he tried to hug the boy, the boy refused to let her and pushed her away. Leslie herself was quoted as saying, I do not know.

I'm not sure. And she and Bobby's dad, Percy, literally had to ask some of their friends, Hey, does this look like my son? But although this first encounter was a bit rough, the very next day, let's see. We asked to see the boy again. So she came and she was allowed this time to actually have a bath with the boy.

And when she actually was able to see this boy completely clean and see all the little details on his body, allegedly, that's when she was fully convinced that this was her son, this was Bobby. She knew without a doubt this was Bobby. She was said to be completely overcome with emotion and said to everyone, Thank God it is my boy.

And when the police heard about this, they just took her word for it and immediately arrested William Walters for kidnaping despite his and Julia Anderson's repeated insistence and desperate protests that they'd gotten it all wrong, that this was Bruce Anderson and not Bobby Dunbar. But their protests fell upon deaf ears and to both of their horror, Leslie Dunbar was allowed to take the boy who was now Bobby Dunbar, back home to Opelousas.

Well, by this point, both Lisa and her husband Percy seemed fully convinced that this was their son. This was Bobby. Not everyone in the town was as fully convinced. It seemed highly suspicious to many that the first time Leslie saw her own kid, she failed to recognize him. And since Bobby also didn't seem to recognize his own mom at first, or even his own name.

How in the world could this be? The report? As one person put it. I sincerely believe that the Dunbar's have Bruce Anderson and not their boy. If this is their child, why are they afraid for anyone to see or interview him privately? I would see nothing to fear. And this seems strange. He had been gone eight months. Do you think his features would be so changed that they would not know him only by moles and scars?

This is a force. If the numbers do not know their child who has only been gone eight months by his features. Why? They don't know him at all. A local newspaper seemingly agreed, and they actually arranged to bring to the Anderson l to Opelousas, Mississippi, so they could get the whole thing settled once and for all. However, Julia was immediately fighting a losing battle.

She was stepping on to the Dunbar's hometown and territory, essentially enemy territory, where everyone, most of the town people, had already completely embedded in their minds that this boy was Bobby Dunbar. They could not be convinced otherwise. In fact, it was even worse than a losing battle, since the townspeople were so happy to finally have Bobby Dunbar back that they literally had a massive parade for him and had him sit on top of this fire truck that was decorated with flowers and had them drive through the entire city as people shouted and chewed his name.

He was also showered with gifts such as a new pony and a new bicycle. So this four year old boy was being completely and utterly pampered, treated like a king with the Dunbar's to the point where any reasonable child would be pretending, Oh, I am this boy. I am this boy. Now, considering the fact that by this point it had been nearly 15 months, half her son's life, since the last time she had seen her son because of William Walters.

It's no surprise that when she was allowed to actually meet her son, the boy did not react well to her. He was extremely cold to her. And just like his first impression with Leslie Dunbar refused to let her hug him. But what really ruined Julia's credibility for good was that also similarly to Leslie Dunbar, she at first had trouble identifying who her son was in a lineup of Forts, although she did eventually identify her son correctly.

Unlike the well-liked, wealthy and high class Leslie Dunbar, whose initial failure to recognize her son had largely just been completely glossed over. The lower status Julia Anderson, was not given the same kindness. The townspeople had found out that Julia was not only a single mom who worked as a field hand, but that she also had three children without ever marrying, which was seen as one of the most awful and disgusting things a woman could do back then.

As such, the press just completely trust her character heavily, implying that she was a prostitute, calling her illiterate and naive, and even going so far as to describe her as a big, coarse countrywoman. The locals also pointed out that Julia had lost all three of her children within just one year. One daughter had been put up for adoption.

There was a baby who had died a sudden death and then her son, who had been taken from her as such with the whole world seemingly against her and her side. And also because she wasn't able to afford a lawyer, the courts eventually decreed that this boy was, in fact the missing Bobby Dunbar, not Julia son, Bruce Anderson.

As a result, despite her protests, Julia was forced to leave town. She would eventually marry and have seven more children, but never stopped thinking about her son, Bruce. She would bring up the subject pretty often for the rest of her life and always insisted that the Dunbar's had kidnaped her son from her. To many, however, the court ruling seemed that it had proven irrefutably that Bobby Dunbar had actually returned.

This missing child had been felt as a result of this development. William Walters was sentenced to life in prison for kidnaping, but was released after just two years due to a technicality while appealing. However, as a result of his arrest and trial, his reputation took a huge hit and he suffered greatly because of it. He always maintained his innocence and that the boy was not who everyone thought he was.

But legally the boy who was found was now Bobby Dunbar. And he grew up, got a job and lived his life as Bobby Dunbar. He eventually fell in love, married and had four children before passing away in 1966, always believing he was Bobby Dunbar. Now, this story could have easily ended there. By this point, Bobby Dunbar was dead.

His parents were dead. William Walters was dead. Julia Anderson was dead. All the main parties involved were dead. And pretty much everyone else who was alive still outside of Julia Anderson's family that she had left behind, of course, was firmly convinced of Bobby Dunbar's identity, that he was just Bobby Dunbar. That was it. But despite that, there was one person who was not only not fully convinced, but she also took it upon herself to find out the truth.

In 1999, Bobby Dunbar's granddaughter, Margaret Dunbar, cut right, who had always been incredibly intrigued about the family legend of her grandfather's kidnaping, about what had really happened and whether it was true or not. Decided to start looking into the story, she had been left a scrapbook with over 400 articles covering the Dunbar case from the very start, when Bobby went missing to the very end, and over the next few months she spent hours.

Every single day, piece by piece, trying to put things together and work out what it really happened. Almost immediately after she began to do this, she instantly began to notice some pretty big discrepancies in how different newspapers were covering the events around the story. For example, there were at least two different versions of Let's See in Bobby's first reunion.

One paper stated that Leslie recognized Bobby immediately, while the other described Lacey as being more unsure. In addition, a lot of newspapers actually reported that Percy, unless he had originally told them that the boy didn't look anything at all like their son and that his eyes were too small. Some other newspapers also reported that Bobby didn't recognize his father, mother or brother Alonzo at first either.

Now, this finding instantly made Margaret incredibly suspicious, but she was made even more suspicious by the extremely biased and disgusting descriptions of Julia Anderson and help from Julia's perspective. And it always seemed like the Dunbar's were the one who had kidnaped her son. At this point, Margaret was sure there had to be more to the story. She diligently, almost obsessively sought out and read through a variety of different sources from a variety of different places, researching at local small town libraries, archives and courthouses all across the South.

But eventually, she had dug through so many articles that she came to the realization that she would never actually get a certain answer from them. And the only way to 100% know the truth was to use DNA testing. Since by that point, Bobby Dunbar, her grandfather, was already dead. So she decided to go to her father, who was Bobby Dunbar, Jr, who agreed to give her a DNA sample to compare to her great uncles, who was 100% at Dunbar since he was the son of Alonzo, who was Bobby Dunbar's brother.

This was actually seen as an extremely controversial decision by the rest of the Dunbar family, and there were several family members who were straight up very, very upset with both of them for not leaving the past alone. Margaret's own brother, Swin Dunbar, called her actions selfish and said she was going up against the entire family to roll. Dunbar, one of Margaret's uncles, agreed, saying No matter how a DNA test turns out, there's going to be a sense of loss.

What is there to truly be gained? But Margaret, determined to learn the truth once and for all, pushed forward with the tests. And when they came back to everyone's sock, they did not match proving that Bobby Dunbar Junior was not a Dunbar and that his father, in turn Bobby Dunbar, also was not a Dunbar. This was huge news.

And it basically confirmed that Lisa and Percy Dunbar had not only kidnaped essentially kidnaped this random child, they had raised this random child and lived with this random child for their entire lives, thinking it was their son. Now, this discovery allowed Julia Anderson's family to finally receive the closure and validation that Julia Anderson had been right all along.

William Walters family also received closure in the fact that their son was now exonerated. But while these two families had received closure, the Dunbar family had theirs taken away in one moment. Their entire family identity and what they had taken in as fact for their entire lives was completely shattered. Understandably, they were surprised, hurt and confused, and many of them wish they could just go back to a time where they didn't know any of this.

Many of them also resented Margaret and felt that she had disrespected their entire family's history and in turn them in a very public way. To this day, she is yet to be completely forgiven, although Bobby Dunbar, Junior, Margaret's dad, was also just completely shaken by these findings. He had a different perspective in his own words. My intent was to prove that we were Dunbar's.

The results didn't turn out that way, and I've had to do some readjusting of my thinking, but I would do it again. He admitted that there had been signs all along indicating that even his father knew Bobby Dunbar. But really, Bruce Anderson may have known that his identity was wrong. Bobby Dunbar Junior remembers one time asking his dad how he was so certain he was Bobby Dunbar.

His dad replied in a very vague way. I know who I am and I know who you are. Nothing else makes a difference. While these findings did solve one mystery, they simultaneously reopened another. If that kid had been Bruce Anderson all along, what in the world had happened to the real Bobby Dunbar? It's a chilling mystery that to this day has yet to be solved and very, very likely never will be.

With that being said, I hope you found today's story interesting. If you're new here. My name is Andy. I tell strange and often completely unbelievable true stories. Once a week, I personally guarantee you that every single story I cover will be just as interesting as this one. So stick with me. I'll see you guys soon.