The Soldier's Son

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Michael Woodward, age 9, disappeared from Fort Jackson on April 23, 1972.  It was a Sunday.  His father was outside cutting the grass when Michael vanished sometime between 9AM and noon.  

I haven’t been able to find much on this case, probably because it took place on a military base.  I do know that Michael’s father was Major Joe Woodward and, at the time, was a staff judge advocate at Fort Jackson meaning he was responsible for providing legal support to the United States Army Training Center and Fort Jackson.  

When Michael disappeared a massive search was conducted consisting of 400 soldiers, volunteers on horseback, motorcycles and in jeeps, and three helicopters from the 498th Medical Unit and the Fort Jackson Aviation Division.  No trace of Michael Woodward has ever been found.  

I wasn’t able to find any old newspapers articles pertaining to the search.  However, I was able to find Michael Woodward’s original missing persons poster through Google books.  Apparently it was used in a hearing before the subcommittee on Juvenile Justice regarding child kidnapping and the priorities and practices of the FBI in child kidnapping cases in 1983.  It’s interesting that the missing poster states that he should still be on base and he may be getting help from other people on the base.  Although it was eventually listed a non-family abduction, it makes you wonder why they felt people were helping him stay hidden and what the reason for Michael’s wanting to runaway would be. 




Both Michael’s parents have already passed.  However, there are family members still alive wanting to know what happened to Michael.  In 2014, military commanders gave permission to reopen the case.  Investigators collected DNA from living family members in South Carolina and Texas, just in case they are lucky enough to find Michael.  He is the only person from Fort Jackson who has gone missing and has never been located.  It is important to investigators to find any answers they can.  

This isn’t a long blog post.  Like I said, I tried unsuccessfully to find what I could from newspapers articles and such.  I was able to find an online article from the U.S. Army website regarding the case being reopened.

https://www.army.mil/article/126914/mps_reopen_case_of_boy_who_disappeared_42_years_ago

It has been 47 years since anyone last saw Michael Woodward, but I do think Michael Woodward is still at Fort Jackson.  I don’t know where, but I think it would be hard for someone to snatch a child on a military base unless that child knew who was taking them.  Especially in an officers’ housing area.  

M.

Comments

  1. ECApril 15, 2020 at 1:49 AM

    Wouldn't be hard to snatch a child, even from officer housing. In 1983, military bases were oblivious to women and children. Kids were taught to obey adults. Military brats are quick worship and obey officers. But even a crying kid in the backseat of an officer's car would have been ignored by the low ranking gateguards. You DON'T snitch on the brass even today. Prostitution, Statutory Rape, Rape, Molest, and other sex offenses were/are all very common on and just offbase. Arthritis ointments containing Chloraform were still available, and commonly used as 'boo boo' creams by paedophiles to chemically subdue their victims. As were Codeine cough syrups. Black bag CIA drugs like GHB and rufees were only too availible to those in the know on base, or the nearby redlight district, and raves. However, the use of drugs, even beer can easily kill a child. Pimps who specialize in snatching kids for their clients, and experienced paedophiles will usually return their victims to the site of the abduction or as near to it as possible, alive or dead..Dead kids may be put in a neighbour's vehicle, backyard pool, freezer, washer, or dryer to make the death look accidental. But anybody who has something to hide, is afraid of being accused of murder, or doesn't want his insurance rates to go up, on finding a dead kid on his property is very apt to dump the body elsewhere. That has often led to scenarios where several neighbours, one after another, have found a body on their property and moved it, mucking up the evidence. Then too the kid could easily have been offered a plane, jet or motorcycle ride as 'the guy in back', and then simply never returned. Easy peasy. One of my neighbors was a military brat at the end of Vietnam Conflict. She was 12 when she was "abducted" in exactly that fashion by a crazy jet pilot who wanted company, and didn't want to wait on his copilot. Other than letting her fly the jet on the return trip, nothing happened to her on that occasion, but she had plenty of other bad experiences, and near misses while on base. If Woodward is still alive, he could have been laundered via adoption in another state or country, and could be any where in the world today. Most likely though he died within 4 hours of being abducted, and the body couldn't be returned to the site of the abduction because he had already been reported missing, and searchers were already looking for him. If that's the case then his remains might already have been found in the next county or jurisdiction over, but he was never identified because of the laziness, and lack of communication and cooperation between agencies. ��

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownApril 18, 2020 at 10:51 AM

    Wow! That previous comment. Detailed with such "depth".... Informative, but the "easy peasy", Just makes my skin crawl... 😔

    ReplyDelete

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