When Michael Dunahee, a four-year-old boy with blue eyes and blond hair vanished from a school playground in Victoria, his parents and police hoped the case would be quickly solved.
But 15 years and about 13,000 tips later they are still looking.
"You never give up hope," Victoria police Constable Rick Anthony said yesterday as he announced a new $100,000 reward in the case that has haunted the city since March 24, 1991.
"It still sits as a very open sore in this community," Constable Anthony said. "Unless we find some resolution, we will never forget it."
The boy was playing near swings and slides at Blanshard Elementary School while his parents were at a nearby field enjoying a softball game when he vanished. There was no commotion, no call for help. When they looked up, the child was gone.
"This is a case that has troubled me and everyone who's worked on it," Constable Anthony said. "We are still looking for that one good tip that will lead us to a solution. . . . Somebody knows something, somewhere."
He said that over the years "a very large filing cabinet" has been filled with reports generated by all the tips that have come in.
"People have contacted us from around the world on this case," he said. "And every tip has been checked. . . . Sometimes you think, 'Oh, this has got to be it,' but then it just doesn't pan out."
Constable Anthony said police officers who worked on the file, but who retired years ago, are still interested. As is every new officer who joins the force.
"There's all kinds of speculation [as to what happened]" he said.
One theory had the boy abducted by a pedophile. Others thought that he might have been taken by someone "looking for an instant family," and that he might be alive somewhere, raised under a false name.
He said the Dunahee family continues to hold out hope that Michael is alive.
"It's not over yet," Constable Anthony said.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Victoria Police Department at 250-995-7444 or Child Find at 1-800-387-7962.
Mark Hume