Terrifying & True | The Kidnapping of Bobby Dunbar

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Missing child. That term sends chills
up millions of people's spines, whether they

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have children or not. But in
the nineteen hundreds things were quite a bit

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different. What if they found your
missing child and then years later you realized

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it might not have been yours at
all? What you were about to be

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based on witness accounts, testimonies,
and public record, this is terrifying and

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truth. When it comes to missing
children's stories, here on Terrifying and True.

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I attempt to spread them out a
little bit because reading about missing children,

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about children who've been kidnapped, children
who've been murdered, it's not fun.

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If you're listening to this, you
know that even as a true crime

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aficionado, occasionally you need a cool
breeze to take a breath from and realize,

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Okay, this is not all that
I am. So this story,

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while it is about a missing child
and a child who probably passed away,

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it has a lot more to it
than that, and I found it simply

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riveting. We'll dive into the kidnapping
of Bobby Dunbar after these quick words from

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our sponsors. Bobby Dunbar went missing
when he was just four years old in

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nineteen twelve, After months of searching, they discovered another child, leading to

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what many consider a wrongful conviction,
a custody battle, and at one hundred

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and eleven years later, it truly
is a mystery. Robert Bobby Dunbar was

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born on May twenty third, nineteen
oh eight and Obsoleusis, Louisiana, to

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Lessie and Percy Dunbar. On August
twenty third, nineteen twelve, the Dunbar

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family drove about forty minutes to Swayze
Lake, Louisiana. They went fishing at

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the lake, and Bobby vanished the
same day. Lessie and Percy were compelled

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to look for their son everywhere,
and when they couldn't find him, they

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called the police. Local and state
police officers joined the search for Bobby Dunbar,

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and a nationwide manhunt was soon launched. Bobby was thought to have been

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eaten by an alligator, since the
family had went fishing and Louisiana is known

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for the aquatic predator. They caught
the alligators and dissected them in the hopes

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of discovering something. They even threw
explosives into the water hoping to find Bobby,

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but there was no sign of him. The Dunbars finally get the news

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they were anticipating. Eight months later, authorities in Mississippi discovered a boy who

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matched Bobby Dunbar's description. The authorities
tracked down a man named William Walters,

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who worked as an itinerant handyman and
specialized in piano repair. Walter was going

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through Mississippi with a boy named Charles
Bruce Anderson, also known as simply Bruce.

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Bruce's parents were William's brother and Julia
Anderson, who worked for the Walter

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family. Walters stated the child was
left in his care, which Julia agreed

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to since she needed to go to
work. However, William Walters and Bruce

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Anderson were both taken into custody.
The Dunbars were then called to the station

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to identify the boy as their son. Reports on the reunion of the Dunbars

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and the boy known as Bruce have
never been straightforward. According to one newspaper

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article, when the boy saw Lessie
Dunbar, he shouted mother and race to

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hugger. Other media said that the
Dunbars were skeptical that it was their son

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Bobby. The Dunbars had another son, Alonzo, who was mentioned in newspaper

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articles. According to one witness,
when the boy spotted Alonzo, he recognized

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him right away, rushed to him
and kissed him. According to another newspaper

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article, the boy showed no signs
of recognizing Alonzo at all. Lessie took

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the boy home for the night and
said the next day that he was her

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son because she recognized moles and scars
on his body. Because she was able

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to identify the boy as her son, the police allowed the family to take

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Bobby home. However, that is
not the end of the story. A

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few days later, Julia Anderson arrives
at the police station, claiming that William

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Walters was looking after her child while
she went to look for a job,

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and that the boy was her son, Bruce. She explained that she was

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searching for a new job and that
because she would be busy, she asked

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William Walter to take Bruce for a
couple of days until she found a new

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job. Police then asked the Dunbars
to return Bobby to the station and conduct

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a line up with five boys of
similar ages to see if Julia Anderson could

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identify her claimed son. One would
naturally believe that they could identify their own

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child in a crowd, well,
then it would make sense that they could

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also identify their child in a police
lineup. However, Julia Anderson was unable

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to identify her child. She inquired
whether her son was the boy recovered.

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Police did not respond, and she
then indicated that she was unsure about identifying

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her son. The next day,
she met the boy and was allowed to

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undress him by police, and this
time she claimed unequivocally that this was her

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son, Bruce. By this point
word had spread that she could not identify

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her son the first time, casting
doubt on her character. People also discovered

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that she had three children out of
wedlock, two of whom had died.

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Julia Anderson was unable to afford a
court fee to appear, so she was

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forced to return home to North Carolina, leaving her son with the Dunbar family,

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who have been convinced that they indeed
have their son, Bobby. Julia

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Anderson appeared in favor of William Walter's
during his trial in Louisiana for kidnapping charges.

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William was in court attempting to show
that the boy he was with was

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Bruce Anderson, Julia Anderson's son.
The court then delivered its decision finding William

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Walters guilty of kidnapping Bobby Dunbar,
and the boy the Dunbars took that day

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went by the name Bobby Dunbar.
Bobby Dunbar showed signs of remembering his home

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when he was returned to it,
and he adjusted well to the people he

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lived with and even played with his
brothers. Julia Anderson established a new life

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in Poplarville, Mississippi, where she
married and had seven children. She became

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a devout Christian, assisted in the
establishment of a church, and worked as

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a nurse and midwife. Her children
reported that while she was content with the

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life she had established for herself and
her family, she frequently spoke about the

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loss of her son, Bruce,
and the family always assumed that the Dunbars

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had kidnapped him. Julia Anderson passed
away on February first, nineteen forty and

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was laid to rest in Poplarville.
William Walters had been imprisoned for two years

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for kidnapping, but after his attorneys
successfully appealed his conviction, which was reversed

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by the Louisiana Supreme Court, Walter
was subsequently given a new trial, but

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due to the high cost of the
first trial, they chose not to try

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him again and he was released.
Walter returned to his pre arrest lifestyle after

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being released from prison, and then
William Walter died on April seventh, nineteen

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forty five, and was laid to
rest beside his wife in Pueblo, Colorado.

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The boy raised by the Dunbars married
and had four children before passing away

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on March eighth, nineteen sixty six, and was buried in Obsoletius, Louisiana.

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Margaret Dunbar Cutwright, one of Bobby
Dunbar's grandchildren, began examining the events

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that occurred years later. She interviewed
Julia Anderson's children and reviewed the documents and

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evidence from the William Walter's trial,
but the results left her with far more

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questions than answers. In two thou
four, the Associated Press interviewed the family

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about the story. Bob Dunbar Junior
contributed his DNA to finally put the mystery

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to rest. The results revealed that
Dunbar Junior was not related by blood to

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his alleged cousin, Alonzo Dunbar,
Bobby Dunbar's younger brother, that is,

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the boy the Dunbar's said was their
son. Bobby Dunbar was wrong. The

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Andersons were overjoyed to learn that the
test had revealed the truth. The evidence

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against William Walter was later exonerated,
filling the family with happiness. On the

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other hand, what happened to Bobby
Dunbar remains a mystery even after one hundred

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and eleven years. Many people believed
he was eaten by an alligator or simply

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drowned. Some believe Lessie and Percy
Dunbar did something to their son and then

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covered it up by claiming their son
was missing and using Bruce Anderson as a

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cover up. Police claimed to have
discovered footprints leading away from the lake,

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and many locals claimed to have seen
a suspicious looking man with Bobby Dunbar,

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but nothing was ever proven, and
one hundred and eleven years later, the

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mystery persists with the same question,
the same chilling curiosities. What truly happened

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to little Bobby Dunbar. Stories like
these come up a lot when you're researching

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true crime missing children. It's a
terrifying concept and one that is a true

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nightmare to all parents, or even
aunts and uncles, or even just you.

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And me. But in the past, before DNA, before general forensics,

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even justice wasn't even nearly as efficient
as it is now. And don't

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get me wrong, the justice system
is still full of flaws, but this

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seems to have really truly failed everyone
involved. Although the Dunbars did in a

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way get their boy back, it
just wasn't exactly theirs. It was a

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child who hadn't developed enough to be
able to truly connect with its blood family.

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Does this sound terrifying to you,
because this sounds terrifying to me.

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Have you ever sat with your family
members, your loved ones, and thought

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maybe I don't fit in here,
but then you go, oh, no,

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no, no, no, no
no, these are my family.

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Well, little Bobby Dunbar as he
was called, may have gotten that feeling

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many times, but simply shook it
off and decided to enjoy his Thanksgiving dinner.

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But what do you think? How
do you think this was handled?

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And do you think these misdeeds were
purposeful? Terrifying and True is narrated by

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Enrique Kuto. It's executive produced by
Rob Fields, produced by Daniel Wilder,

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with original theme music by Ray Maddis. If you have a story you'd like

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us to cover on the program,
send us an email at Weekly Spooky at

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gmail dot com. And if you
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little as one dollar a month,
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keep the Spooky rolling and rolling and
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big thank you to our Patreon podcast
boosters, folks who page us a little

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bit more to hear their names on
the show. And they are bobble Topia,

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Megan Hua, Julia Kirsch, christ
For Sullivan, Brent mccolaugh, Gino

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Lyons, Steve King, Karen We
met, Jack Ker and Craig Cohen.

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Thank you all so very much and
we'll see you next Monday,