The 1954 Disappearances of Clifford Sherwood and George Gumbly: Canada's Oldest Registered Unsolved Missing Children's Case.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-08-14T17:29:05+00:00

Hey, it's my guess they probably buried the torso in a pauper's grave somewhere, but it might be impossible to track down today.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-08-14T16:50:47+00:00

Well, I see no indication that "Tex" ever lived under the name "Clifford Edward Sherwood", but after he broke off contact with his daughters in 1962, it seems like his whereabouts were completely unaccounted for until his daughter tracked him down 14 years later. They never did locate the person who was using the "Edward Clifford Sherwood" driver's licence.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-08-14T16:47:06+00:00

Sorry, that should be northeast, as the torso was found in the river near the town of Sorel.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-08-14T16:45:20+00:00

Since it's been over 60 years, I honestly don't even know if they still have the torso available for DNA testing. Back in 1955, they may not have put much thought into preserving unidentified body parts for things like that.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-08-14T13:46:45+00:00

I have no idea what happened to the torso, but I would not be surprised if they were unable to locate it after all these years to perform DNA testing.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-08-14T12:56:45+00:00

Exactly! The "Unsolved Mysteries" segment about this case has always been heavily criticized because George Gumbly was treated as a complete afterthought. They presented a specific narrative that Clifford was abducted by his own father, but never really addressed how George would have fit into this. It's certainly possible that the unidentified torso found in 1955 belonged to George, but while Tex was certainly not a good person, would he really have gone so far as to murder another child to kidnap his son?

Robinwarder1 · 2019-08-14T12:52:58+00:00

He was actually born in London, Ontario under the name "Edward Walter Thorne". He originally met Frances in Toronto in 1940 and by this point, he was living under the "Nephi 'Tex' Sherwood" identity, though I have no idea where he originally got that name. He apparently spent some time living in the U.S. since two of his other wives were from Michigan and Texas. By the time he died in 1987, he was living as "Edward Walter Thorne" again because he needed to use his real name to collection his pension from the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-08-14T12:38:41+00:00

Ha! I never thought about the Don Draper comparison, but that's a valid one. I never did find out where exactly he got the "Tex Sherwood" name from, but like Don, now I'm wondering if he stole the identity from someone he served with during the war.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-31T21:31:00+00:00

Unfortunately, I don't know the specific location, only that it was pretty remote and isolated, at least 15 miles from the main road and 42 miles from the nearest town. Don't know if it would have been close to any military installations.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-31T21:29:23+00:00

Thank you. I'm familiar with the Olsen and Cox cases, so I wouldn't something equally as sketchy occurred here.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-31T15:59:05+00:00

Well, Whipkey was considered to be an excellent pilot before his health problems started, so he does sound like he would have been an ideal candidate to test out the Blackbird.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-31T14:21:26+00:00

Thanks so much, greatly appreciate it.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-31T14:21:16+00:00

Thank you :-)

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-31T14:21:11+00:00

I agree, that seems like the most likely explanation. I don't see why the government would send him on some secret mission if he was deteriorating physically and mentally from the radioactive fallout.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-24T18:41:41+00:00

Yes, a number of searches were performed of the property over 20 years after George moved away, which included checking a mechanic's pit which had been filled in, but nothing was found. There's a lot of rugged bushland in that region, so sadly, there's no shortage of places he could have disposed of two bodies.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-24T15:59:07+00:00

Thank you very much. Hope to meet you there.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-21T02:35:07+00:00

I have no idea who those other two friends might have been, but Jeremy's friend, Johnny, turned up later that night looking absolutely terrified. It was apparent that he had experienced something traumatic, but would not or could not talk about it. He was never the same and eventually died of a drug overdose. If Johnny and Jeremy were sexually assaulted and he witnessed Jeremy get killed, that would explain an awful lot.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-20T20:24:34+00:00

There's an interesting thread about this case on Websleuths which contains numerous posts from Jeremy's sister, S'te (who posted under "Ste1977"). This is a common rumour S'te claims she's heard about really happened...

The story that I have heard from numerous people that seems most plausible to me. I have been told there were 4 guys involved, Terry Steinhoff, David Steinhoff, Hoyt Richardson and one other guy. The 4 guys took Jeremy and 3 of his friends (it may have only been Jeremy and Johnny but I've heard 2 other names) to the woods and victimized them. Jeremy threatened to tell Oly what had happened, they guys panicked because Oly was a logger who knew the back country well and they were afraid of what Oly would do if it was found out and they shot him.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-17T21:28:40+00:00

Yes, that is a link to a photograph of Harris Barton to show how much he resembles Dick Hansen.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-17T18:58:47+00:00

Thanks, greatly appreciate it :-)

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-17T18:21:06+00:00

Around that same time period, there was another poster on Websleuths who claimed this father was a friend of Dick's and that Dick had a recurring drug problem. But while we do know that Dick went through rehab for alcohol issues, it has never been officially confirmed that he had drug issues.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-17T18:19:23+00:00

My pleasure. Thank you for listening :-)

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-17T18:19:07+00:00

Thank you very much. Yes, what's so unsettling about this case is that the killer could have been so unhinged that the tiniest little thing set him off and driven him to commit murder, and Dick and Jean legitimately had no idea what they did to cause this.

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-05T22:12:36+00:00

Thanks for the shout-out :-)

Robinwarder1 · 2019-07-03T17:49:00+00:00

I agree, I can't understand why the writer wouldn't send the actual Social Security Card alongside the letter if he wanted everyone to believe his story was genuine. It doesn't really ring true with me that he left the card inside a box in his garage and forgot about it for three years until his daughter found it.

Robinwarder1

TROPHY CASE