54-Year-Old Missing Boy Mystery Solved?

(AP)  A Michigan man said Wednesday that pictures he found online led him to believe he could be the 2-year-old boy who vanished more than a half-century ago from a stroller outside a bakery on New York's Long Island.

John Robert Barnes told The Associated Press that he was doing online research within the past year to try to figure out who he really was, saying that from childhood he never felt as though he fit in with the family that raised him.

Barnes, who is in his 50s, saw pictures of the missing boy's mother when she was a young adult, thought the woman resembled himself at the same age and started to believe he might be Stephen Damman, who disappeared in 1955.

"I don't know if I'm related to the Dammans or the Barneses. I'm just waiting for the DNA results," Barnes said during an interview at his trailer home, located on a dirt road in Kalkaska, about 195 miles northwest of Detroit.

Police in New York's Nassau County have said a Michigan resident contacted their office in the past few months, saying he believes he is the missing toddler. The case was referred to the FBI. Barnes said the FBI took a sample of his DNA via a cheek swab and he's now "waiting for the FBI to tell me who I'm related to."

Stephen Damman's mother, Marilyn, left the boy and 7-month-old daughter, Pamela, waiting outside a bakery while she went inside to shop on Oct. 31, 1955, according to police and news accounts at the time. After 10 minutes, Marilyn came out of the bakery but could not find the stroller or her children, authorities said. The stroller, with only her daughter inside, was found around the corner from the market a short time later, authorities said.

The description of the child that vanished said the boy had blond hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. It also said the boy walked with his toes turned out, and that he had a small scar underneath his chin. Barnes has a faint line, less than an inch, that runs below his chin and slightly up the right side of his face.

Investigators learned that the Michigan man who approached New York authorities also reached out to the woman he believes may be his sister, said Nassau County Police Lt. Kevin Smith, and the two conducted a private DNA test in March that found they could be related. Barnes said he did reach out to a sister in Kansas City, Mo., and that the two have become close.

Sandra Berchtold, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Detroit, declined to comment the case Wednesday.

The father of the woman and the missing boy, Jerry Damman of Newton, Iowa, has said he's hopeful the man is his son. Damann divorced the boy's mother a few years after the kidnapping and now lives on a farm with his wife, Charlotte.

"After all those years, you kind of lost all hope," Damann said Tuesday.

Barnes said he traveled to Iowa last year to see the man he believed was his biological father, but they never spoke. Damman's wife said that a man came to her door last fall and asked for Damann, and she gave him directions to another farm where he was working, but the two didn't connect.

"I didn't want to, you know, say, 'Well, I'm your long lost son,"' Barnes said. "I just wanted to get a look at the guy."

Barnes said he doubts he will establish ties with the family if the DNA test indicates he is the missing child, although he'd like to meet Jerry Damman.

"I'm really glad that I'm finally finding all of this out, finding out who I'm related to. Because I didn't want to get old and die and not know. I was convinced that I was not one of the Barnes.

"You just know things like that."

[mahdeealoo]

Is his mom still alive? She would be the one he might want to see!

[naj1953]

Things were different in the 50's, people weren't like they are now. Even so I remember as a kid my mother teaching us not to talk to strangers, don't ever get in someones car etc. etc. I lived in small town in Iowa. We would run the streets and never have problems...

[tomrobla]

It was on episode of Without A Trace: Lost and Found.
Grown girl searches internet to find out she was abducted as a baby and go to cops.
Cops find birth mother. Girl meets birth mother in the end.

[danhughes1]

As for leaving children outside stores, check this out:

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/ads/ap.html

---Dan Hughes, http://danhughes.net

[debinok1]

What has happened to society? Is it the mass media of today? Is it too many people? You tell me.
by cruxsade

IMO, This is what the Bible calls the times of sorrows, if so then things only get worse from here. Not everyone agrees, I only call it as I see it.

[cruxsade]

I was 10 years-old in 1957. Yes, I believe (and statistics show) that it was generally safer back then. I as a 10-year-old never new or heard of the word 'homosexual', 'gay', 'pedophile'. In fact, all my friends never used, or heard of the word '******'. I use to run the streets of Philadelphia back then until midnight (looking out for the red police cars, of course). I was never accosted or molested in any way. Yes, even in Philadelphia, Pa. back in 1957 we left our doors and windows unlocked all night. What has happened to society? Is it the mass media of today? Is it too many people? You tell me.

[debinok1]

IMO, this is what is meant to happen. Some believe in the prophecies of the Bible and some don't. I happen to be one that does. Everything happening in the world today screams the end of times. I too grew up in a much gentler time, where kids rode their bikes and played outside without the fear of being abducted or molested or even killed. At 7-8 years old I walked to the store several blocks away by myself, now I don't let my 5 year old play outside unsupervised. I firmly believe we are in what the Bible calls the time of sorrows. The things still to come only get worse. But again this is MO, not everyone believes as I do.

[debinok1]

It was the 50s, geesh, the world was not the perverted, pedophile filled, murderous place it has become. Kids and parents had much less to fear back then. Neighbors watched out for everyones kids in the neighborhood, it was a very different time even in NY. The people who took him, didn't kill him, from the looks of things they possibly raised him. Which raises the question, if the people who raised him, took him, will they be charged with kidnapping?

[rhs648]

Life was definitely different in the 1950's. People did not lock their homes or cars and often left the keys in the ignition. We all hitchiked without fear. Children would play outside all day and freely wander through different neighborhoods. It was not uncommon to feed hobos and homeless people who would come to your door. Drugs were virtually unheard of and robberies were few and far between. American society was far different just after WWII than it is today. Parents often left children in strollers while thet ducked into bakeries and butcher shops even in big cities. That type of abduction would have been extremely rare in the 1950's and most parents would feel secure leaving their children alone for a few minutes. Living in today's world makes it hard to believe how different our society is from the 1950's

[randomlybanned]

To answer the question by TheMasses. I guess people did leave their babies outside of shops because in the movie "The Bishop's Wife" she did that while shopping. It seems ridiculous to me and I guess in a small town it would have been safer but they were in NY!!!

[TheMasses0003]

In 1955
------------
1955?
People left their babies in carriages outside of stores while they shopped?
With this reasoning; they should have left the infants with side arms to protect themselves.

`eye roll`


OUCH!

[mahdeealoo]

Even 25 years ago, here in Small Town, Iowa, you could leave your child in the car with the car running to dash into the store for milk. Way less than 5 minutes, and feel perfectly safe. Now, doors are locked and you either have groceries delivered or take kids in with you. The secure days are gone thanks to the few who choose to act on base urges and commit crimes against other humans.

[TheMasses0003]

54-Year-Old Boy
-----------------------
Is this a racist slander?
I am glad Bubba was reunited with pop Cletus.

[fred-mertz]

Not racist. The sentence was, "54-Year-Old Missing Boy Mystery Solved". That means the "MYSTERY" is 54 years old, not the "boy". The mystery is: "What happended to the missing boy, 54 years ago?"

Your reading comprehension is pathetic.

[rhs648]

Read the line again. It is grammatically correct. There is nothing racist about it. Hopefully you are just joking.