10th March 1928: The vanishing of Walter Collins.

 

On March 10th 1928 Christine Collins handed her son Walter, aged 9, some money to go and see a movie in The Mount Washington Area of Los Angeles. Christine, who worked as a telephone operator, would report him missing 5 days later on March 15th, claiming that this was the last time she had seen her son. The city of Los Angeles started a massive campaign to try and locate Walter and reported sightings came in from all over the state of California. In one unusual reported sighting, somebody claimed to have seen a boy who looked like Walter standing outside a gas station in Glendale wearing nothing but newspaper. However, nothing of value came of any of the sightings for the next five months. 

In August 1928 a boy matching Walter's description was found in DeKalb Illinois, almost 2000 miles away from Los Angeles. The boy claimed to be Walter Collins from Los Angeles and gave the police a story of having been abducted but gave no real details about how he had ended up on the other side of the country, where he had been kept, who had kidnapped him, where he was taken from or any details of any value to substantiate his claims. Letters and photographs were exchanged and Christine spoke to the boy on the phone before she was satisfied that this boy was her son and she paid $70 for him to be flown the 2000 miles home. When the boy arrived Christine claimed that it was not her son but police detective J.J. Jones told her to "try the boy out" and she as told to take him home.

Christine waited a further three weeks, she knew it was not her son but still, police argued with her over this fact and told her with absolute certainty, This Was Her Son. Christine still could not accept this to be true, this boy was one inch shorter than Walter had been when he went missing and she used dental records to show that this was not Walter but even still, police insisted. Police were under immense pressure at the time to find Walter as this was the second missing child from the Los Angeles area in a short space of time. A 12 year old girl Marion Parker had been kidnapped and murdered in Los Angeles in December of 1927, police were determined to find a happy resolution to the Walter Collins story to restore public faith in the police and justice system. Christine was not making this easy for police, she claimed that the personality of Walter had been that of a quiet and well behaved boy who had always called her "Mother" but this boy called her "Ma" was rather difficult to handle. J.J. Jones was so fully committed to convincing the public that Walter Collins had been found safely that he had Christine committed to a psychiatric hospital simply because she would not go along with the story he was trying to tell. He questioned Christine on the matter: "What are you trying to do, make fools out of us all? Or are you trying to shirk your duty as a mother and have the state provide for your son?" 

Eventually J.J.Jones had no option but to bring the boy in for questioning, he admitted that he was not Walter Collins almost straight away. He was in fact Arthur Hutchins Jr. He was a runaway from Iowa who had made his way to Illinois hitchhiking. When police picked him up, they questioned if he was Walter Collins and although he initially claimed not to be Walter, upon further questioning he said he was in fact Walter. Arthur had realised that Walter was from California and he had his own motives for wanting to go to L.A. He wanted to meet his favourite actor Tom Mix and he thought that if he could get as far as L.A. it would put him in a good position to achieve his dream. 

Sadly, Arthur never did get to meet his hero although he did move back to California as an adult where he worked as a horse trainer and jockey. 

Walter CollinsArthur Hutchins Jr.

When the news broke, Christine Collins was released from the hospital on the 13th of September and she filed a law suit against The L.A.P.D. As a result of this J.J.Jones was suspended from duty and ordered to pay $10,800 to Christine for the abuse she suffered from the officer. J.J.Jones was reinstated after 4 months and he never made any payment to Christine. 

But, Walter Collins was still missing. 

Walter's father, Walter J.S. Collins who was serving time in Folsom Prison for robbery at the time was convinced that Walter's disappearance was a result of a kidnapping due to a dispute he had with another inmate. 

A more likely theory came to light with the discovery of Gordon Stewart Northcott who lived on a chicken farm with his mother 40 miles away from L.A. Both Gordon Stewart Northcott and his mother Sarah Louise were brought to the attention of immigration when a Canadian boy Sanford Clark was reported to have been smuggled across the border from Canada. It was disclosed to Sanford's sister when she went to visit him on the farm that he was physically and emotionally abused at the hands of Gordon Stewart Northcott but the story went deeper. By the time police had gathered enough information The Northcotts had fled. Police uncovered that The Northcott's chicken farm had become the location of many young boy's deaths. The boys would be killed before their body's were dissolved in calcium oxide. Police found blood soaked ground and the remains of bodies around the farm along with different items belonging to victims. 

Sanford was taken safely from the farm and he identified Walter as having been a victim of the farm. 

The Northcotts were arrested in Canada on September 20th and extradited back to The US. 

Sarah Louise Northcott claimed that she had killed Walter Collins with an axe and buried his body but police could never validate this story as the body was not found on the property as she had claimed in her statement. 

Gordon Stewart Northcott admitted to the deaths of 9 boys but was only charged with three as there was not enough evidence to charge him with the other. He was sentenced to death for his crimes in October 1930. He claimed that he did not know Walter and he had not killed him before claiming that he had not known the boy. What makes this story all the more heart breaking for Christine is that she received a telegram from Gordon claiming that he would tell her the truth about Walter if she came to visit him. She arrived to the San Quentin Prison on the eve of the execution only to be told that Gordon was refusing to see her. 

While Christine never found out for sure what happened to her son it is widely accepted that Walter Collins was killed on the chicken farm. Christine was given a small glimmer of hope when five years after the execution of Gordon Stewart Northcott, one of the victims that was believed to have been killed on the farm turned up alive and well. 

Christine died aged 75 in Los Angeles California having never given up hope that her son would one day return to her safely.