A quick note before we get into this week's missing person's case:
February 3rd was National Missing Persons Day. In honor and memoriam of those who have gone missing, and their friends and families - who have had to endure the heartbreak of not knowing what's happened to their loved ones - all three blog posts will be devoted to the missing this week. They all deserve answers and/or closure. <3
Joseph Andrew Spisak's case is a mystery to say the least. As of January 27th, he has been missing for 50 years. When researching, I didn't even realize that we were coming up on the anniversary of his disappearance. I feel like this blog and these cases are reaffirming my connection to the universe... and these strange coincidences assure me that I need to be putting this information out there.
On the morning of January 27th, 1974, 11 year old Joseph (born July 21, 1962) had been out doing his paper route. He returned to his home in the 7000 block of McCook Ave, in Hammond, Indiana, around 9:30 am, dropped his newspaper bag and sled on the porch, and left. It is assumed he went to attend mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, just a few short blocks away, as he did regularly. His parents never saw or heard from him again.
When Joseph didn't return for lunch, they weren't too worried as lunch didn't require attendance. They did wonder, though, so they phoned one of Joseph's friends. He informed them that he had seen him playing near Morton School around noon. They were satisfied with that and went about their day.
The only rule they stuck to at home was that everyone must be home for dinner at 5 pm. It wasn't important that they be there for breakfast or lunch, but they absolutely MUST be present for dinner. Parents Donald and Monica Spisak, and younger siblings: Thomas, Steven, and Elsa all followed this rule that day, Joseph did not. (His youngest brother, David, was yet to be born, arriving 7 years after Joseph went missing.) His parents were definitely concerned about this and began calling around. When no one had seen him, they phoned the police.
It has been noted in multiple sources that he was seen or possibly seen walking near the Catholic Cemetery along Kennedy Avenue near the Norfolk and Western Railroad tracks around 5 pm that day. Other reports also put him on the railroad tracks themselves, walking southeast near Hessville Cemetery around 169th and Arizona.
There was an extensive search following the missing person's report including a search of the family's home that evening to make sure he hadn't come home and hidden or fallen asleep somewhere strange. In the days and weeks afterwards, search parties and police explored the neighborhood, the places he was seen and their surrounding areas, as well as nearby neighborhoods, lakes, and woods. The Railroad even sent an inspection car along the tracks, but found no trace of Joseph.
The police don't believe that he ran away, and neither does his family, though there had been rumors surrounding this idea. Three of his friends even told police that he told them he was running away that day. Joseph and his brothers, Thomas and Steven, shared a room and were very close. They say they would have known if he planned to do so. Not to mention, he left with only what he was wearing and five dollars in his pocket. He left behind all of his personal belongings, his favorite things, and his extra pair of glasses. Joesph was also afraid of the dark, meaning that whenever he was out after dark, he always needed a friend or one of his brothers with him. This pretty much seals the deal that this is not a likely theory.
There have been many other supposed theories and possible sightings over the years. An unidentified child's remains were found out west a few months after he went missing. Joseph's dental and medical records were sent out there, and they confirmed it was not him. When serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, was caught and his victims were found, these records were also sent to the Cook County Coroner's office. Joseph just so happened to go missing during the height of Gacy's reign of terror, so this was believed a possibility, but again, this brought no resolution.
Years ago, a tip suggested he was with a man that had been traveling from Milford, Indiana to Hazard, Kentucky. The police followed this tip, all the way up a small mountain in Hazard, where a child matching his description was supposedly living. This child apparently did strongly resemble Joseph, but it was again, not him.
The family had also received many letters over the years; one that was unsigned suggested that they check an old, abandoned restaurant near 169th and Arizona, which was indeed near an area where he had reportedly been seen. It also noted that they had informed the police to check there as well.
Other theories include possible abduction, that he was murdered by a serial killer, or that he enlisted in the military. The latter seems impossible as there would have to be a paper trail.
According to The Resource Center for Cold Case Missing Children's Cases, Joseph's siblings, Elsa and Thomas, began looking for answers as they got older. When they began searching, they said they had received calls from multiple people stating Joseph had knocked on their doors that morning, saying a person in a blue car had been following him during his paper route. This fact was not noted anywhere else, so I am unsure if it is accurate, but felt it needed to be included as I am listing the theories.
The worst theory put out there - mostly because of the the extra stress theories like this can cause for families of missing children - was the rumor that Joseph's family, and especially his father, were responsible for his disappearance. This rumor said that he was buried under the garage... that wasn't built until five years after the fact. Adam Clark, a veteran of the Hammond Police Force, and lead detective on the case since 2012, wanted to finally put a stop to this rumor - whether it was true or false. He was able to borrow ground-penetrating radar equipment from the Indiana State Police (dates on when are conflicting as it's listed as 2012 in one article, and 2017 in another) and while they did find some anomalies, all they found were some old toys. In his own words, according to an article written in 2019 by Lauren Cross and The (Northwest Indiana) Times, and published on The Associated Press's website, Clark says, "The kid's not back there."
Clark has been working very hard to close this case. Having gone to school with Joseph's younger brother, Dave, Joseph's disappearance has always stuck with him... So much so, that when he joined the police force, he asked if he could look into it. He obtained a DNA sample from the family, which was sent to a lab in Texas. They specialize in matching DNA with the country's database of unidentified remains. He's been looking into sexual predators that lived in that area at that time. Unfortunately, there was no sex offender registry at that point, so this has been a difficult task. He also had an age-progressed photo of Joseph completed in 2019. This is what he may have looked like when it was completed, at age 56/57.
Joseph's father, Donald, passed in 2006 without ever knowing what happened to his son. In Cross's article, his mother, Monica, was noted as saying "(Donald) was always out walking out by the Railroad tracks looking for him." This makes it even sadder that it was rumored that he was possibly involved, as this seems to show that he cared deeply for his son and missed him very much. They've tried to carry on as normally as possible, but after all these years, they are still eager for answers and have never given up hope. Both Thomas and Steven have memorialized Joseph through their sons; Thomas's oldest is Andrew, while Steven's youngest is Joseph.
In multiple sources, his family has said that the Indiana authorities call every so often and ask that they declare him legally dead. They said they will refuse to do so until they have proof that he is gone.
When Joseph went missing, he was described as 4'0", 65 lbs., with brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a knee-length, tan trench coat with a dirt spot on the back; and a brown, corduroy, hooded shirt underneath it; green rubber hunting boots with yellow tops; and he also had on his glasses.
His dental records, medical records, and DNA are available for comparison. He is noted as having very distinct dental impressions because of his wide smile, and had previously broken/fractured his arm (I could not find a source that listed which arm) at age 5, which would be noticeable.
If you have any information about Joseph or his disappearance, please notify the Hammond Police Department at (219) 852-2906. Case #74H3983.
Photos:
*Top and bottom - NamUs #MP55162
*Age-Progression - The Doe Network #5451DMIN
Sources:
*NamUs
*The Doe Network
*Cross, Lauren and The (Northwest Indiana) Times. "Family Holds Out Hope They'll Find Boy Missing for 45 Years". Associated Press, 30 Jan. 2019. apnews.com/general-news-4fd6f7be4b884234a88e38ea4b849cb5. Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.
*Jacobs, Becky. "An 11-year-old Hammond boy disappeared in 1974 while delivering newspapers. His family hasn’t stopped looking for him." Chicago Tribune, 1 Mar. 2019. www.chicagotribune.com/2019/03/01/an-11-year-old-hammond-boy-disappeared-in-1974-while-delivering-newspapers-his-family-hasnt-stopped-looking-for-him. Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.
*"Boy Still Missing". Newspapers, The Times, 3 Feb. 1974. www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-joseph-spisak-missing/138559631. Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.
*"No Sign of Missing Boy After 85 Days." Newspapers, The Times, 22 Apr. 1974. www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-joseph-spisak/138559726. Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.
*Franklin, Lu Ann. "We've Never Given Up Hope." Newspapers, The Times, 10 May 1998. www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-joseph-spisak/138952466. Accessed 17 Jan. 2024.
*"Boy Hunt Expanded". Newspapers, The Times, 1 Feb. 1974. www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-joseph-spisak/138952695. Accessed 17 Jan. 2024.
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