One of the items that has traveled with Lehigh County Sheriff Joe Hanna over the years as he has risen through the ranks of law enforcement is a picture of Louis Mackerley, a 7-year-old Allentown boy who seemingly disappeared in broad daylight 41 years ago.
“This case for me is unfinished business,” Hanna said. “There is no investigator worth their salt that doesn’t have an unsolved case that bothers them that they carry on their shoulders. This is one for me.”
Over the years, a number of detectives have worked the Mackerley case. The newest is Allentown police Detective Miguel Villa, who got the case a few months ago. Even with the passage of time, Villa said he holds out hope new leads and fresh information will come in, and the case will be solved.
“The chances of solving a cold case naturally decrease significantly with the passage of time,” Villa said. “However, it’s not impossible, and there are several factors that can influence the solvability of a case. Just because time has passed does not mean we stop trying to solve the case.”
Mackerley was last seen around 4 p.m. June 7, 1984, near Fourth and Gordon streets in Allentown. He was wearing blue jeans, a maroon and green striped shirt, brown shoes and a belt with a small train belt buckle. According to Villa, Mackerley’s babysitter saw him when he got home from school about 2:15 p.m. and declared he was going to go visit a neighbor. The last known confirmed sighting was by a business owner that afternoon.
“He was reported as being very friendly and uninhibited as far as attaching himself to strangers. At the time he went missing, his four front, upper teeth had recently been extracted,” Villa said.
“Louis had some medical issues,” added Hanna, who was the third detective to work the case in the late 1980s. “He was diagnosed as hyperactive and was prescribed Ritalin. He was a very quiet and kind boy. As a result of his hyperactivity, the Ritalin actually kind of suppressed his personality.”
Mackerley’s parents, who have since died, were deeply affected by their son’s disappearance, Hanna said. “I remember the mother, Sheila, was very distraught and I remember Harold was somewhat stoic and subdued.”
The investigation revealed that Mackerley told multiple people that he had been sexually molested by a man and woman who were never publicly identified beyond their first names, Hanna said.
“Myself and my FBI counterpart, we backtracked and started from the beginning,” Hanna said. “What we did find, through the police reports and the prior investigations, and our recap of what was found was that Louis had admitted not only to his parents, but also to a school psychologist that he had been molested, on more than one occasion by two individuals. … In one case, he [allegedly] was molested outdoors down near the Jordan Creek where he would frequent, which was in close proximity to his home, and in another case, they [allegedly] took him to a house or an apartment, and they transported him in their station wagon.”
Hanna said he believes Mackerley was telling the truth about the abuse.
Villa said, like Hanna before him, he plans to go back through records meticulously, offering new eyes on the investigation. He also hopes to reignite interest in the case, perhaps prompting new witnesses to step forward. Technology advances over the last 40 years could also play a significant role, in solving the mystery.
Thousands of children go missing every year, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Last year, according to its website, the organization assisted in 29,568 reports of missing children. That included 987 cases in Pennsylvania, 882 of which were resolved; 105 cases remain active. Most cases involved runaways or family abductions, but 104 last year were nonfamily abductions.
While missing children are often quickly located — the center reported 91% of the cases it assisted in last year were resolved — some cases can have happy outcomes years, or even decades later. Jaycee Dugard, who was 11 when she was abducted while walking to a school bus stop in 1991, was found alive in 2009. Last month, two sisters who were 1 month and 1 year old when they went missing were found living in California, thanks to advanced investigative techniques, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said.
The center did not respond to requests for comment about the Mackerley case.
Investigating a child’s disappearance “is the most challenging and emotionally draining aspect of police work, especially when the case remains unsolved for years,” Villa said. “We have continued to investigate this case and hope that renewed interest in the case by the public can help move it forward. We want the public to know that we do not stop investigating cases just because time passes. No matter how small of a tip they have we will investigate it and not stop until the case is solved.”
After all these years, Hanna said he still often thinks about Mackerley. He has so many things he would like to say to him if he’s still alive, starting off with “Welcome home, Louis.”
“This case is near and dear to my heart,” Hanna said. “The important thing is even after 41 years, this case and thoughts of Louis stay revived even as time goes by. I’m always hopeful and that may not be a pragmatic statement. I’m always hopeful that someday somewhere, and perhaps under a different name, a 48-year-old man will step in and say, ‘I was abducted by and raised by these strangers, but I’m really Louis Mackerley who was picked up in Allentown back on June 7, 1984.’ ”
Sunni Battin is a freelance writer.
