Off The RecordMystery Solved: School Bus Of 15 Missing Children Unearthed Almost 40 Years Later
The call was received shortly after 7 a.m. When the dispatcher’s voice crackled, “Possible find near Morning Lake Pines,” Deputy Sheriff Lana Whitaker was enjoying her first cup of coffee of the day. A school bus appeared to have been struck by crews searching for a septic tank. A cold case matches license plates.
The mug felt warm in Lana’s palm as she froze in the middle of her sip
Off The Record
Mystery Solved: School Bus Of 15 Missing Children Unearthed Almost 40 Years Later
The call was received shortly after 7 a.m. When the dispatcher’s voice crackled, “Possible find near Morning Lake Pines,” Deputy Sheriff Lana Whitaker was enjoying her first cup of coffee of the day. A school bus appeared to have been struck by crews searching for a septic tank. A cold case matches license plates.
The mug felt warm in Lana’s palm as she froze in the middle of her sip.
She knew the case by heart, so she didn’t need to write it down. She had watched from her window as classmates boarded the bus for their last field trip before summer that year, while she was a sick child at home with chickenpox. She has been plagued by that recollection ever since, along with the guilt.
Fog obscured both time and the road on the seemingly long trek to Morning Lake. With serious guardianship, pine trees lined the route. She turned along an ancient road that used to lead to the lakeside camp, passing a ranger station that had been closed. Lana remembered the excitement: a lake, cabins, bonfires, a new summer getaway. She recalled the yearbook picture, with the cartoon bags, Walkmans, disposable cameras, and children waving from the window
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They had forced open the emergency exit.
The air smelled sour and musty. Rot, dust, and silence within. There were still some seatbelts fastened. Beneath a bench was a pink lunchbox. A single child’s moss-covered shoe on the final step. However, no remains were found. Not a bone. The bus was deserted, a buried mystery.
A class list with Miss Delaney’s handwriting in recognizable loops was pinned to the dash at the front. Fifteen names, nine to eleven years old. We never made it to Morning Lake, written in red ink at the bottom.
Lana stepped out into the cool air, her breath misting and her hands shaking. Not so long ago, someone had visited and left a message. She summoned the state detectives and ordered the place to be shut. She then proceeded directly to the county records office via car.
The smell of lemon and mildew filled the old Hallstead County Records building. The clerk pulled out a dusty file box, and Lana waited. Holstead Ridge Elementary, Field Trip 6B, May 19, 1986. shut down five years later. No leads.
Inside are class lists, personal belongings, and pictures of the kids. A final report with a red stamp at the bottom: Presumed lost, missing. NO INDICATION OF IMPROPER PLAY.
