Richard David Marlow
| Richard David Marlow | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 February 1935 |
| Disappeared | 18 July 1944 (aged 9) Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Known for | Unsolved disappearance |
| Height | 3 ft 8 in (112 cm) |
| 👴 👵 Parent(s) | John and Gertrude Marlow |
| 👪 Relatives | Five siblings |
Richard David Marlow (born 9 February 1935), nicknamed "Pee Wee", was a nine-year-old Canadian boy who disappeared from outside his family's home on Beta Street in Etobicoke, Ontario, on 18 July 1944. His bicycle was found at the house, but no confirmed trace of him has ever been found.[1][2] His is the earliest of the historical missing-child cases retained by the Toronto Police Service.[3]
Background
Marlow was the youngest of John and Gertrude Marlow's six children. He was small for his age, leading to the nickname "Pee Wee", and was described by his family as shy and afraid of the dark. He was in Grade 3 at the time of his disappearance.[4] He was 3 ft 8 in (112 cm) tall and weighed about 50 lb (23 kg), with blond hair, blue eyes and a scar near the hairline on his right temple.[1]
On the day he disappeared, Marlow's father was stationed outside Etobicoke with the military, while his two eldest brothers were serving overseas during the Second World War.[5]
Disappearance and search
According to the current police account, Marlow was riding his older sister's bicycle in front of the family home on Beta Street while his 15-year-old brother Gerald was inside. Other family members had gone to a cinema. When his mother returned later that evening, the bicycle was in the yard but Richard was gone.[1][4] A 1947 newspaper account gave a somewhat different version, stating that his mother had last seen him returning from a nearby shop and that he never reached home.[6]
Etobicoke police, military personnel, relatives and local residents searched the surrounding area. Creeks were dredged, ponds were drained, and wells and outhouses were examined, but the searches produced no evidence of what had happened to Marlow.[4][5] Police investigated reported sightings over the following years, including reports from Western Canada and Florida in the United States, without confirming any of them.[5] His parents also travelled to morgues when unidentified bodies were recovered in the region, but none was their son.[4]
At the time of his disappearance, Marlow was wearing a dark-blue nylon windbreaker, long blue trousers, a striped jersey and grey cotton socks with a yellow band. He also wore an aluminium ring bearing the letters "K L".[1]
Later developments
Marlow's mother continued to appeal publicly for his return. In December 1947, she told newspapers that the family still placed presents under the Christmas tree for him and lit a candle in a window each Christmas.[6][7] Gertrude Marlow died in 1954, aged 56, and John Marlow died in 1973, aged 80. A burial plot beside theirs at Glendale Memorial Gardens was reserved for Richard.[5][4]
During the early 2010s, Marlow's niece Gayle Dykeman renewed efforts to publicize the case. It was added to provincial and national missing-person databases, and MissingKids.ca distributed his photograph and case information online and on Rogers and CIBC billing envelopes.[5]
The Toronto Police Service's Missing Persons Unit revived public appeals concerning Marlow and several other historical cases in 2019. Police described his disappearance as Toronto's oldest missing-child case and said that they continued to investigate it.[3][8] In 2020, police released a video intended to prompt memories among elderly people who had lived in the Beta Street area at the time.[9]
Marlow remains listed as missing by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and MissingKids.ca. The Toronto Police Service case number is 1944-3968723.D22.[1][2]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Case reference: 2016032179". Canada's Missing. Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Richard Marlow". Missing Children Database. Canadian Centre for Child Protection. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 McDonald, Catherine (3 June 2019). "Sister of missing person who disappeared in 1960 encouraged by renewed interest in Toronto historical cases". Global News. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Monsebraaten, Laurie (1 March 2014). "Richard Marlow vanished 70 years ago. His heartbroken family is still searching". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Reason, Cynthia (13 February 2014). "Family still holds hope for answers, 70 years after Etobicoke boy went missing". Etobicoke Guardian. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Mother Still Waits for Missing Boy". Ottawa Citizen. 23 December 1947. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
- ↑ "Candle Burns for Lost Son". The Windsor Daily Star. 23 December 1947. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
- ↑ "After 75 years, family still looks for missing boy". CityNews. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
- ↑ "Missing since 1944: Richard 'Peewee' Marlow". YouTube. Toronto Police Service. 25 May 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
External links
- Richard David Marlow at Canada's Missing
- Richard Marlow at MissingKids.ca
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