Bobby Dunbar was an American boy whose disappearance at the age of four and apparent return was widely reported in newspapers across the United States in 1912 and 1913.


Bobby Dunbar was an American boy whose disappearance at the age of four and apparent return was widely reported in newspapers across the United States in 1912 and 1913. 

After eight months of nationwide searching, investigators believed that they had found the child in Mississippi, in the hands of William Cantwell Walters of Barnesville, North Carolina. 

Dunbar's parents claimed the boy as their missing son. However, both Walters and a woman named Julia Anderson insisted that the boy with him was Anderson's son Bruce. 

Julia Anderson could not afford a lawyer, and the court eventually ruled in favor of the Dunbars. 

Percy and Lessie Dunbar retained custody of the child, who proceeded to live out the remainder of his life as Bobby Dunbar.

In 2004, DNA profiling established in retrospect that the boy found with Walters and "returned" to the Dunbars as Bobby had not been a blood relative of the Dunbar family. 

This makes most believe that the boy was in fact Bruce Anderson and had been wrongly identified by Dunbar's parents. 

Julia Anderson had no means to contest the Dunbars' decision but always maintained the child was her son. 

However, this does not solve what happened to the true Bobby Dunbar. Bobby Dunbar is presumed dead in absentia.

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