Sterling, Illinois — May 28, 1969
For decades, the disappearance of nine-year-old James “Jimmy” Howell has been remembered through one haunting image.
A little boy gathers pieces of wood to build a birdhouse. His sister goes inside to get a hammer and nails. When she comes back moments later, Jimmy is gone.
The wooden boards are still there.
It is a simple story, easy to remember and even easier to repeat.
But the original reports from 1969 tell a much more complicated story.
Jimmy did not simply disappear in the few minutes his sister was inside the house. According to contemporary accounts, he was seen in several places around his neighborhood for hours afterward.
There were witnesses.
There were reported sightings.
There were claims that Jimmy might still be alive and staying with other children.
And then there were clues that led investigators in completely different directions.
Almost six decades later, Jimmy has never been found.
A CHILDHOOD FILLED WITH CHANGE
James Richard Howell was born on October 28, 1959, in Illinois.
He was the third of four children born to Jack and Sharon Howell. His older brother Steve was four years older, his sister Debra was two years older, and his younger brother John was two years younger.
Jimmy’s early childhood was far from stable.
His parents divorced when he was young, and in 1963 his mother was sentenced to the State Reformatory for Women after being convicted of robbing a man at knifepoint.
Jimmy was only four years old.
He and his siblings were placed into foster care.
Steve and Debra eventually went to live with an aunt, while Jimmy and his younger brother John were placed with foster parents Jim and Connie Root.
The Roots raised Jimmy for several years.
For a child who had already experienced so much disruption, they became his family.
But even that arrangement eventually changed.
Jim and Connie separated, and the brothers were divided between them. Jimmy remained with Jim Root, while John stayed with Connie.
Another family disappeared from Jimmy’s life.
Another major change followed.
A BOY WHO LOVED ANIMALS
Jimmy eventually returned to live with his mother and stepfather, Comell Hutch.
By 1968, Sharon had remarried Comell, a Navy veteran who worked in state schools for children with intellectual disabilities.
Jimmy and his sister Debra moved back in with them in Sterling.
The family lived at 1108 West 13th Street.
Jimmy started third grade at Washington Elementary School and began settling into his new surroundings.
Those who knew him remembered a boy who loved animals.
He had a small black dog with a distinctive underbite and curly tail that followed him almost everywhere.
Jimmy was also frightened of insects and was especially afraid of the dark.
He often played around Elkhorn Creek with neighborhood children, but he could also spend time by himself.
His stepfather later described him as energetic and something of a loner, while people in the neighborhood remembered him as kind-hearted.
There was another important part of Jimmy’s childhood.
He had been diagnosed with what his mother described at the time as a “hyperactive nervous disorder” and was taking medication intended to calm him.
Without it, his mother said, he could become extremely nervous and restless.
THE TRIP JIMMY NEVER MADE
On May 28, 1969, Jimmy was excited.
The following day, his former foster grandparents were supposed to pick him up.
He was going to travel to Des Moines, Iowa, where he would visit Connie Root and his younger brother John.
Jimmy was looking forward to seeing John again.
But he would never make that trip.
On that Wednesday afternoon, Jimmy came across an injured white pigeon.
Believing the bird had a broken wing, he decided to build something for it and care for it.
His mother, however, wanted him to try on some new clothes she had purchased for his upcoming trip.
Jimmy was much more interested in the pigeon.
Eventually, Sharon let him go.
It was the last time she would see her son.
JIMMY AND THE WHITE PIGEON
Jimmy’s movements that afternoon provide some of the most important details in the case.
Near the end of his street was a sawmill.
Its owner, Rigo Pettorini, later said that he saw Jimmy near a pile of timber. Because Jimmy was trespassing, Pettorini called out to him.
Jimmy ran toward Scheid Park.
A neighbor, Mrs. Bell, then saw him crossing the field with the pigeon tucked beneath his arm.
At some point, Jimmy apparently found the pieces of wood he wanted and returned home.
His stepfather, Comell, saw him bring the wood into the front yard.
Later, Jimmy was seen in the alley beside the house talking to another neighborhood boy.
The evening was moving on, but Jimmy was still nearby.
THE MOMENT THAT BECAME THE STORY
Around 7 p.m., Sharon and Comell left for the Midway Drive-In.
A babysitter, Mrs. Jenssen, was nearby watching the children.
This was when Debra last saw her little brother.
Jimmy had brought the wood into the yard and asked Debra to help him build a birdhouse.
She went inside to get a hammer and nails.
When she returned, Jimmy was gone.
The pieces of wood were still sitting in the yard.
For years, this moment became the accepted version of Jimmy’s disappearance.
But according to the earlier reports, Jimmy had not disappeared.
He was still somewhere in the neighborhood.
The difference is crucial.
Debra had witnessed the last moment she personally saw her brother.
That was not necessarily the moment Jimmy vanished.
JIMMY REMAINED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
The original reports indicate that Jimmy was seen for several more hours.
As evening approached, he continued moving around the area.
At approximately 9 p.m., Jimmy approached a neighbor and tried to sell him the pigeon for one dollar.
It was a strange development.
Earlier that afternoon, Jimmy had been carrying the injured bird around and wanted to build a birdhouse for it.
Now he was trying to sell it.
The neighbor refused.
He watched Jimmy walk away for roughly half a block.
A short time later came what appears to have been the final confirmed sighting.
Jimmy was in the yard of friends who lived close to his home.
This time, his little dog was with him.
The children’s parents called them inside because darkness was approaching.
Jimmy remained outside.
Then one of the parents went back outside to switch on the yard light.
Jimmy was gone.
His dog was still there.
The child who was known to be afraid of the dark had disappeared.
WHEN THE SEARCH BEGAN
When Jimmy failed to return home, the family became increasingly concerned.
By approximately 10:30 p.m., Debra contacted the drive-in so her parents could be notified.
Mrs. Jenssen contacted the Sterling Police Department.
Sharon and Comell returned home and searched the neighborhood.
Later that night, Sharon went to police headquarters.
There was disagreement over exactly what happened during that early interaction with police, with Sharon later describing the department as indifferent while police records gave a different account.
Whatever happened that night, the search for Jimmy did not immediately become the massive operation people might expect today.
And there was an important reason.
Investigators had received information suggesting that Jimmy might still be alive.
A STRANGE REPORT: JIMMY WAS STILL ALIVE
The first major searches focused on a relatively small section of western Sterling.
Authorities had received reports that Jimmy was still alive and possibly staying with two other boys at an undisclosed address on Avenue L.
Other sightings reportedly placed him with two youths at the Foodlane Shopping Center in nearby Rock Falls and even at Crystal Lake, much farther away.
If these reports were true, Jimmy could have been moving around while police were searching for him.
Forty officers from Sterling and surrounding departments went door to door.
They checked homes, vehicles, sheds, vacant lots and areas beneath bridges.
A loudspeaker was even used to appeal to anyone who might be hiding Jimmy, with authorities indicating that leniency could be considered if he had been treated well.
But the searches produced nothing.
No Jimmy.
No clear explanation.
No definitive evidence that the boy was actually staying with another family.
THE SEARCH EXPANDS
As the days passed, investigators broadened the search.
Police and the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office examined surrounding countryside and waterways.
Men searched Elkhorn Creek and the Rock River in canoes.
Aerial searches were conducted from the Rock Falls airport.
Explorer Scouts searched abandoned properties and vehicles.
Hundreds of people eventually became involved.
By June 8, more than 400 people were reportedly searching for Jimmy.
Then came another possible sighting.
A deputy searching along the railroad tracks reported seeing a small boy matching Jimmy’s description run from a drainage pipe and disappear down the tracks toward Galt.
The deputy could not catch him.
He did notice that the boy appeared to be carrying something under his arm.
It was possible that it was the pigeon.
But none of these sightings could ultimately establish where Jimmy had gone.
LEADS THAT LED NOWHERE
Tips continued coming in.
One caller claimed Jimmy was hiding in bushes in a wooded area.
Another anonymous tip suggested he was underneath a bridge near Indian Ridge.
A cistern was searched after someone reported that Jimmy might have fallen inside.
Investigators also looked into Jimmy’s extended family, traveling to Iowa and Missouri and checking whether he might have been staying with relatives.
Even local businesses were examined for signs that someone connected to the family might suddenly be purchasing additional supplies.
Nothing solved the mystery.
No trace of Jimmy was found.
Not even the pigeon.
By July, investigators had not established whether Jimmy had been abducted, had suffered an accident, had run away, or had been the victim of a crime.
Authorities publicly acknowledged that all of those possibilities remained open.
A FAMILY THEORY
Jimmy’s mother and stepfather had their own ideas about what might have happened.
Sharon continued to believe that Jimmy was alive.
In one newspaper interview, she mentioned Ouija boards when discussing her belief that her son might still be somewhere.
Comell had a different theory.
He believed someone connected to Jimmy’s biological or foster family might have taken the boy because Comell was Black and Jimmy was white.
Authorities investigated the possibility and did not find evidence that a relative had abducted Jimmy.
But Comell’s theory reflected a real concern within the family about the racial tensions surrounding an interracial household in 1969.
There is no evidence establishing that racial prejudice played a role in Jimmy’s disappearance.
It remained a theory.
THE DOG DISAPPEARS
Then something else happened.
Jimmy’s little dog disappeared.
The dog had been one of his closest companions and was known for following him everywhere.
Its disappearance occurred after Jimmy was already missing.
There is no proof connecting the two events.
It could have been nothing more than coincidence.
But because the dog had been left behind on the night Jimmy vanished, its later disappearance became another unexplained detail surrounding the case.
THE STRANGE CAR
About a year after Jimmy disappeared, Debra reported another unsettling incident.
She was walking with a friend when a dark-colored car with tinted windows began following them.
When Sharon called Debra inside, the vehicle drove away.
Comell searched for the car but could not locate it.
Debra later believed that the people responsible for her brother’s disappearance might have returned for her.
There was never evidence establishing that connection.
But the incident stayed with her.
THE PHONE CALL IN 1975
Six years after Jimmy vanished, another mysterious event occurred.
By then, Debra was married and living elsewhere in Sterling under a different surname.
She did not have a telephone at her home.
One day in 1975, a neighbor told her that her brother had supposedly called.
The caller claimed to be Jimmy.
He said he was in town and intended to visit Debra at around 3 p.m.
Debra checked with her other brothers.
Neither had made the call.
The caller never arrived.
Debra remained convinced that the voice had been Jimmy’s.
Whether it was actually him, a cruel prank, or someone pretending to be her missing brother has never been established.
A DEVASTATING LOSS OF EVIDENCE
In 1986, Sterling police selected Jimmy’s disappearance as the department’s first “Crime of the Month.”
But when investigators went looking for his case file, they discovered something shocking.
It was gone.
A former police chief had reportedly ordered old unsolved case files destroyed after taking over in 1972.
That meant investigative notes, witness information, leads and other records connected to Jimmy’s disappearance had been lost.
Police had to reconstruct the investigation using newspaper reports and people’s memories.
Whatever information had been contained in that original file was no longer available.
For a case already filled with uncertainty, the loss was enormous.
THE CASE NEVER CLOSED
Despite the missing records, Jimmy’s disappearance continued to be treated as an active case.
The Sterling Police Department and Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office continued checking databases and following potential leads.
Sheriff Butch Kimmel, who had been involved in the original search, continued to keep the case close throughout his career.
A $1,000 reward was eventually offered for information.
Investigators also looked into whether serial killer John Wayne Gacy could somehow have been connected to the case, but Gacy was incarcerated on the day Jimmy disappeared.
Over the years, Jimmy’s sister Debra continued working with investigators.
DNA was preserved in case Jimmy’s remains were ever discovered, and age-progressed images were produced to show what he might have looked like as he grew older.
In 1998, the family eventually agreed to polygraph examinations and passed them.
WHAT HAPPENED TO JIMMY?
There is no confirmed answer.
No suspect has ever been established.
No definitive person of interest has emerged.
Jimmy could have been abducted.
He could have suffered an accident.
He could have been taken by someone known to him.
He could have encountered a stranger.
There are theories, but no theory has been proven.
The reports of Jimmy living with two other boys remain one of the most intriguing parts of the early investigation.
So does the reported sighting along Alternative Route 30.
So does the mysterious telephone call received by Debra years later.
And so does the unexplained disappearance of Jimmy’s dog.
Each detail raises questions.
None provides the answer.
THE BOY BEHIND THE CASE
It is easy, after nearly six decades, for Jimmy Howell’s story to become nothing more than an old missing-child case.
But before the headlines, searches and theories, Jimmy was a nine-year-old boy who loved animals.
He was excited about visiting his younger brother.
He found an injured pigeon and wanted to help it.
He had a little dog that followed him everywhere.
He was afraid of the dark.
And on May 28, 1969, he walked away from his neighborhood and never came home.
The image of scattered wooden boards has become permanently connected to his disappearance.
But the original story was much larger.
Jimmy was seen after that moment.
He moved through his neighborhood.
He spoke to people.
He played with friends.
He carried a pigeon.
And then, as darkness settled over Sterling, he disappeared.
NEARLY SIX DECADES WITHOUT JIMMY
James “Jimmy” Howell disappeared on May 28, 1969.
Nearly sixty years later, his family still does not know what happened to him.
The case has survived generations, despite missing police records, conflicting reports, unconfirmed sightings and theories that were never proven.
The scattered wooden boards may be the image most people remember.
But they were only one moment in a much longer story.
Jimmy’s final confirmed movements remain uncertain.
His ultimate fate remains unknown.
And somewhere within the unanswered questions surrounding that night may be the missing piece that explains what happened to a nine-year-old boy who simply vanished into the darkness.
Leave a Reply