The Arizona Daily Star is doing a series on cold cases, and they just ran an article on James Hendrickson, a twelve-year-old boy who disappeared from Tucson in 1991. The case has not received much publicity — most boys’ cases don’t — and it’s not really clear what happened to him, but probably it was nothing good.
Twelve or thirteen seems to be a common age for a stranger abduction. A child that age is typically given some independence (walking alone to school and stuff) and no longer watched constantly by their parents. Also they feel quite grown up and think they can handle anything that comes along, but they’re pretty naive still. When I have time perhaps I’ll go back through the Charley cases and determine if a significant percentage of presumed abducted children are that age.
