Hitchhiking Was Never Safe

Dunbar, West Virginia, is a small town of about 7,500 people in Kanawha County, in the south-western part of the state, inside the panhandle that gives West Virginia its frying-pan shape. The land was originally occupied by Native Americans and was later granted to George Washington for his military service. The town is said to be named either after Mary Dunbar, who inherited the land from Washington, or after a banker called Dunbar Baines. It was a farming community through the 1800s, then glass and bottling plants opened around 1912 and industry took over. That same year the county was the scene of the Bloody Mine Strike, when 7,500 miners, 41 companies of them unionised, struck for fair weighing and union recognition and were met by more than 300 Baldwin-Felts guards; the fighting ended only after Governor Henry Hatfield intervened, at an estimated cost of $100 million. Dunbar was incorporated in 1921. details of the account remain covered until revealed The population peaked at 11,000 in 1960 and has fallen since.

On the night of June 24th, 1971, four boys from the Dunbar area hitchhiked home along State Route 3 after a baseball game in Hamlin. They were John Triplett, Paul Roberts, Guy Anderson Plumley and David Lee Mullins, aged between twelve and fourteen. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it They agreed. this part of the story is covered for now There he told them he had a gun and that they were kidnapped. Plumley was put in the boot. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The boys reached the first house they could find and the police were called.

A warrant was issued on June 27th. this part of the story is covered for now The boys were brought to the Hamlin State Police Headquarters and identified him one at a time in a show-up rather than a line-up. He was taken to Huntington for lie detector tests, then back to the barracks.

The police had another case on their minds. Daniel Collins, a thirteen-year-old paper boy, had disappeared on March 24th, 1971, while delivering his afternoon route in Dunbar. His body was found the next day near Fraser's Bottom, an unincorporated area of Putnam County, about a mile off US 35 on Plantation Road, by a school bus driver. He had been sexually assaulted and strangled, and his body was covered with sand and water. Dunbar residents raised a $1,500 reward, but by the middle of April the investigation had reached a dead end and profilers had been brought in.

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The photograph turned out to be of a man who had passed out drunk at a party. this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed On June 29th he was taken to a wooded area at his own suggestion, supposedly to look for items connected with the killing. Afterwards he signed a waiver and gave a written statement, and he admitted to sexually assaulting and killing Collins. He said Collins had asked him for money and that he became angry. He also said the boy was still breathing when he put him under the water. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now A guard was forced to watch as inmates stabbed, strangled, beat and burned him with cigarettes, cut his throat twice and stabbed him more than eighteen times, then dragged his body up and down the cell block. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now