Child Taken By ‘The Bogeyman’

William Ebeneezer Jones Jr. lived with his parents and two siblings on Taylor Avenue in Vineland, New Jersey. The 3-year-old, better known as Billy, loved dogs. The family had a Basset hound and a Collie. He was particularly close to the Basset hound, Babycakes. Billy had a vaccination scar on his left arm that resembled a giraffe.

On December 17, 1962, Billy and his 2-year-old sister Jill were playing behind their house with the dogs. Their father was at work and their mother, Evelyn, was inside making lunch and taking care of the youngest child, 1-year-old Bart. Evelyn occasionally checked on Billy and Jill from the window.

At 1 PM, Evelyn heard a knock on the door. She opened the door and found Jill by herself holding a plastic potted poinsettia. When asked where Billy was, she said ‘the bogeyman’ had taken him. Evelyn rushed outside and searched for Billy.

Moments later, a man in a green car asked Evelyn, “Are you Mrs. Jones?”. She didn’t know the man and thus ignored him and kept looking for her son.

The last person to have seen Billy was a neighbor. Around 11:45 AM, Billy had been outside the neighbor’s house and they had told him to go home.

At first, the family was also unable to find Babycakes. Oddly, the dog soon appeared soaking wet.

During the next few days, hundreds of people searched for Billy in the woods and nearby bodies of water. This included volunteers, authorities, national guard troops, Navy helicopters, and boats. Bloodhounds were also employed. The dogs lost Billy’s scent near the family home likely because so many people had been wandering around the area.

Initially, authorities believed that the plastic poinsettia Jill had brought home was an important detail. There had been reports of two women selling them in the area. However, authorities concluded that the poinsettia had been found in the neighbor’s trash and had been passed around by several local children.

From this, it was theorized that Billy had somehow ended up in the trash can, possibly crawling in or his body being dumped there. Authorities spoke to the men who collected the trash on the day of Billy’s disappearance, between 1:30 and 2 PM. They said they would have noticed if a child were in the trash, nevertheless, authorities searched the landfill. No sign of Billy was found.

Given that Babycakes was soaking wet when they were found, it has also been suggested that Billy may have drowned in a nearby body of water, possibly Little Robin Branch. Perhaps Babycakes tried to save the child after he fell in or maybe Billy had gone in the water after Babycakes. Nevertheless, Billy’s family says he would have done anything for a dog.

With no clues as to Billy’s whereabouts, the family turned to a local psychic. The woman said Billy was still alive, having been kidnapped by a man whose wife was grieving the death or disappearance of their toddler son. According to the psychic, Billy was being raised in an Amish community in Pennsylvania.

A couple of years later, a different psychic gave authorities a description of the car and the man who she believed accidentally struck and killed Billy. She claimed the man had buried the body near the area where he vanished.

As an adult, Jill was put under hypnosis in hopes of remembering more details of the day her brother vanished. She recalled holding hands with Billy as two men fought in front of an oil-drum fire at the Palace of Depression — a landmark made of junk near the family home. The place was searched but no evidence was found.

From Jill’s memories, it was theorized that Billy may have wandered into the Palace of Depression or been hit by a car and disposed of in there.

Despite hundreds of tips, Billy has been missing for 57 years. There has never been a credible sighting or any arrests. Billy’s family moved to another town shortly after the disappearance and rarely spoke of the incident.

Billy’s parents and younger brother have passed away. Jill is still alive and continues to search for her brother — she believes he was kidnapped by a couple who wanted to replace their lost or deceased son.

If alive, Billy would be 60-years-old.

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Check out Cat Leigh's Medium publication for more true crime stories: True Crime by Cat Leigh.