The Lost Boys

This case isn’t from my hometown, but it is from a place I call home.  It peaked my interest the first time I ever heard about it.  Of course, this first version of the story was 3 young boys went missing by the Airport and were never found.  I started trying to research the story and came up with nothing.  I started to think it was just a “ghost story”.  When I heard about the case again, I received some clarity.  It was two boys that went missing, were eventually found murdered and the case was never solved.  This second time I heard the story, it was from my Aunt-in-Law.  As it turns out, I happened to marry into a family that had a close connection to one of the boys who died.  See if you can follow along.  One of the boys was the uncle of my husband’s aunt’s husband.  With that information, and with an impending research paper due in one of my classes, I started my research again.

Walterboro, South Carolina 1972.                                             

On November 1, 1972, James Allen Crosby (16) and William Edward Huff (14) were dropped off at school by their mothers.  When their mothers returned to school to pick them up at the end of the day, they were nowhere to be found.  The only mention of it in The Press and Standard were in two separate editions.  Neither mentioned that the boys were or could be together and neither notice of the missing boys was on the front page.  Family members of both boys felt that law enforcement did not do enough at the time and just assumed that the boys had run away.  The Sheriff's Department stated they searched as well as they could for the missing boys, which included aerial searches using helicopters.  How much and how long they searched can't really be verified at this point.  There was nothing in the papers about searches and I have not come across anyone from that time that can verify how much and how long they searched, except for the families, who again felt that not enough was done.  Both families have stated that the Sheriff in 1972 wasn't concerned about finding the boys.  He was quoted as saying "They will come home when they get hungry."

Walterboro, South Carolina 1973

Walterboro, South Carolina 1984.

The airport manager for the Walterboro Airport, Barry Collup (Collum) and his friend James Webster were running dogs, searching for game trails on airport property, when they came across two bodies.  When law enforcement was called to the scene, someone just happened to remember that two boys went missing in 1972.  The remains of James Allen Crosby were identified by his mother who recognized the shirt he had been wearing on the day he went missing.  According to the paper, the bodies were found without their skulls, which lead to some speculation regarding a skull that had been found in Ireland Creek in 1973 with a bullet wound.  Dr. Buddin, who was the dentist for James Allen Crosby, examined the skull found in 1973 and determined that it was not the skull of James Allen Crosby.  There is no mention whether it belonged to the William Edward Huff.

Walterboro, South Carolina 1987.

There was another article regarding the case that I found while going through old editions of the Press and Standard.  It was written in December 1987 and involved an incident two years after James Allen Crosby and William Edward Huff went missing.  Four teenage boys, who had decided to cut class one day, apparently came across the bodies of James Allen Crosby and William Edward Huff in the fall of 1974, but never said anything because they were too afraid.  The article doesn't mention their names, as they didn't want to be mentioned.  

Present Day

There were two more articles about this case.  One talks about the lead detective who was handling the case after the bodies were found.  The other talks about the the mothers of the boys and the fact that Mrs. Crosby had four sons, including James Allen, who died violently.  And that is it.  There are no articles which mention the skulls ever being located.  There are no articles to update the public on the investigation or whether there was a determination of how they died.  Nothing.  At least not that I can find.  Now obviously while there is an investigation going on, law enforcement wants to keep things close to the vest.  There's nothing wrong with that.  It is to be expected, but you would think there would have been more in the papers with Walterboro being a small town where everyone pretty much knows everyone.  There were plenty of rumors after all.

While doing my research, I was able to speak with various people regarding the case and I learned a few things. There are people who didn't even know this had happened in Walterboro.  There are people who believe that during the time the boys went missing, the airport was being used to smuggle drugs.  This theory involved the boys witnessing something they should not have since their bodies were found on airport property.  I was told that the area where the bodies were found used to be a party spot for kids skipping school, which stopped after the boys were found.  I was told that both the families were given back the clothes the boys were found wearing instead of being kept as evidence.  The Crosby Family and the Huff family did receive the skulls as part of the remains to properly bury.  And both families were told that the boys had been shot in the head.  Both families also feel that, in the beginning, not enough was done to find James Allen Crosby and William Edward Huff and that law enforcement in 1972 was dead set on the boys being runaways.

1972 was a very long time ago.  The sheriff at the time, John I. Seigler, died in July of 1988.  Mrs. Crosby passed in 2014.  The mother of William Edward Huff is still alive and we are planning on getting together soon.  I have talked to Jimmy Crosby's sister and Billy Huff's sister.  Aside from that, there isn't anyone around from 1972 that I have been able to find that was involved with the case.  I even posted on social media some time ago looking for people who knew the boys from school and did not receive a single response.  There are still plenty of people around from 1984, including the lead detective on the case.  From what I gathered, he did the best job he could based on the fact that the bodies had been outdoors for twelve years before they were found.  DNA testing wouldn't begin until 1985 and the first person to be convicted in a trial using DNA wasn't until 1987.  The sisters and the detective stated that the clothes the boys were found in, even after all that time being outdoors, looked as if they could be washed and worn again.  I was also told that their bodies were found up against a tree.  Other people mentioned in the newspaper, as being involved with helping recover the bodies in 1984, don't really remember anything about it.

I was allowed some time ago to visit the Walterboro airport and the area where the bodies were found.  I didn't expect to find anything and I didn't, but I will say the area itself is incredibly secluded.  I found a couple of pieces of metal, an old sign, one empty soda bottle, deer corn and a deer stand made from a tree.  It is certainly eerie out there and incredibly overgrown in some areas which would explain why the bodies were not found for so long and their clothing seemingly protected from the elements.  Aside from those few things I found, there are no signs of life out there at all.  I didn't even see a single bug.  It was a little unsettling for sure.  I have intentions of going back if I can pinpoint the exact location where the bodies were found. 

I've recently emailed a Freedom of Information Act Request to the Colleton County Coroner's Office requesting documents from 1984 when the bodies of the two boys were found.  I have yet to hear anything back, but they have twenty (20) days to respond to the request and that deadline has not passed.  

Questions

I have a few questions myself regarding this case that will probably never be answered, but I have them nonetheless.  

The first one is, DNA or not, why would you give evidence back to the families?  I understand that the bodies endured 12 years of the outdoors, but if their clothes looked almost brand new after that 12 years, could it be possible that along with the material being protected, evidence could have been, too?  With the advances in science and technology today, who is to say that one small fiber doesn't contain the answer to their murder?  

My second question is the determination of their death.  The families said they were given the skulls and were told that both boys were shot in the head.  Other people I have talked to stated that they never found the skulls or determined how the boys were killed.   

Next concerns the four teenagers who had apparently come across the bodies in 1974.  When the article was written in 1987, they did not want their names mentioned.  I can understand wanting that anonymity.  However, why not go to the police about what you saw in 1974?  They very well could have after the article was written in the Press and Standard, but if they did, that information has eluded me through my research.  It also begs the question, if those paths were used frequently by people cutting school, how many others saw the bodies of James Allen Crosby and William Edward Huff and never came forward?

Lastly, why wasn't there more information regarding the boys in 1972 when they went missing?  Two small pictures, in separate editions, hidden in the pages of the local newspaper was all there was.  No articles about searches being done or anything being done really.  With two young boys missing in a small town, how could that be?

Conclusion

Two young boys lost and forgotten until they are found murdered, then forgotten again.  It would seem they were the only friend each other had which makes it harder for people to remember them, except their families, of course.  I don't think we will ever really know what happened to James Allen Crosby and William Edward Huff unless someone who knows the truth decides to speak.  I don't know if this will help them do that.  For all I know, the person responsible or the person with the truth is already gone from this world, but the story of James Allen Crosby and William Edward Huff needs to be remembered.  It's heartbreaking thinking that their families have been the only ones remembering them and that there has never been any sort of justice for what happened to them and that there may never be.

Truthfully, I have this fear of being forgotten which I think is what drew me to this story, as well as the other stories I plan to write about in this blog.  Someone needs to remember.  Someone needs to tell their stories so people don't forget, even if it's just a girl living in a small town with a Starbucks and True Crime addiction.

M.