#walter collins

[elizabethanism]

Thinking about the time in 1928 when the LAPD couldn’t find a missing child, publicly “reunited” the mother with some random kid to save face, and then institutionalized the mother when she tried to tell people it wasn’t her son rather than admit their mistake.

Other fun facts:

- the police told her to “just try the boy out”

- she won a lawsuit but was never paid

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Walter Collins

Single mom Christine Collins reported her nine-year-old son, Walter, missing in March 1928 from their home in Los Angeles. Five months later, the police brought “Walter” back to Christine, except it wasn’t Walter, and Christine knew it. Although she had dental records and backing from friends to prove her case, Collins said the officer in charge accused her of being a bad mother and bringing ridicule to the police and had her committed to a mental hospital. 

Later the officer in charge did question the boy, who admitted to being 12-year-old Arthur Hutchens, Jr., a runaway from Iowa. Hutchens was picked up by police in Illinois, and when asked if he was Walter Collins, he first said no, but then said yes. He said his motive for posing as Collins was to get to Hollywood so he could meet his favorite actor, Tom Mix. Collins was released ten days after Hutchens admitted that he was not her son and filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department.  Collins won a lawsuit against Jones and was awarded $10,800, which Jones never paid.

The real Walter Collins was never found, and over time, authorities came to believe he was one of the victims of convicted child-murderer Gordon Stewart Northcott, although Northcott’s mother offered a confession for killing Walter. Whatever happened to Walter Collins, his body was never found, and no one ever learned what really happened. Nor has it been established with any certainty why the police were so invested in covering up the boy’s disappearance that they brought a different child back to Christine and tried to convince her and the rest of the world that it was Walter.

[lookingforprairie]

El nuevo fondo de pantalla del iPhone de Prairie.

//@thedreamsofwaltercollins

[hopejacksonworld]

@thedreamsofwaltercollins

[thedreamsofwaltercollins]

—Pues si te emociona Pray al hacer el amor es mucho más que mantener sexo con ella... ¿no crees?

—¿Eso crees?

—No lo creo, lo sé. Esa emoción solo la causa el amar.

—A lo mejor...

—A lo mejor no es una respuesta a lo mejor pueden ser muchas cosas.

—A lo mejor pueden ser muchas cosas...

—Es tanto todo lo que puede ser que es como si no dijeses nada.

[moonlightmurder]

The Los Angeles Time - August 19, 1928.

9-year-old Walter Collins disappeared in March 1928 after his mother, Christine, gave him money to go to the theater. 5 months later, a boy claiming to be Walter was found by Illinois authorities. Christine Collins paid herself the travel expenses to get the boy back in Los Angeles. Pictured in the newspaper are “Walter” and Christine after being reunited. Upon seeing him though, Christine claimed that the boy wasn’t her son. The boy eventually confessed that he actually was Arthur Hutchins, 12 year-old runaway.

The real Walter Collins might have been a victim of Gordon Stewart Northcott, as clothes were found at the farm, and Gordon’s mother confessed to the crime.

This story inspired the movie Changeling, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie.

[buzzfeedunsolved-archive]

from “The Puzzling Disappearance of Walter Collins” [season five, episode seven of True Crime] posted on May 3rd, 2019

[iaindenson]

Para mis amigas

@findingwonderlandagain

@lookingforprairie

@stepwolff

@ishaangarland

@thedreamsofwaltercollins