Thomas Eldon Bowman -- Missing in California Since 1957

Details from NamUs**: 

"Thomas was last seen walking with family members on a trail in Arroyo Seco Canyon. Thomas ran ahead to the family vehicle and when his family members arrived at the vehicle the child was not there."

Missing Person: Thomas Eldon Bowman
Last-contact date: March 23rd, 1957 at about 5pm

• This could be disputed as there were witnesses that claimed to have seen him later than the time mentioned above. However, March 23rd, 1957 at about 5pm is a non-challenged sighting time.

The area where the MP was last seen: Altadena, California near the Arroyo Seca Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains above Devil's Gate Dam.
Link to government source: NamUs MP 

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Age at time of disappearance: 8 years old
Birthdate: Thomas Eldon Bowman was born between March 24th, 1948, and March 23rd, 1949 based on his reported age at the last date of reported contact.
Hair: Blond/strawberry
Eyes: Brown
Scar: No scars known
Height/weight: 4'0" and 50 pounds

Thomas Eldon Bowman, a missing person, was last seen on March 23rd, 1957 when he was 8 years old. This missing person case is a part of a series of cases that I decided to group together that are unified by the theme of hiking or trails. Thomas was last seen on a hiking trail.

What happened, according to the early journalism, is that he was part of a six-person hiking excursion that included his father, Eldon Bowman, and "four youngsters."  Thomas "became separated" from the group, he was not found before dusk, and then the father summoned the authorities to help. The area that the boy was lost was in is the San Gabriel Mountains above Devil's Gate Dam. Below is the earliest journalism I found that mentioned the missing boy.

24 Mar 1957, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com

This individual has now been missing for about 64 years as of the original publication date of this blog post. There was a lot of journalism in this case for the weeks that followed the disappearance. This case went from being a lost child-hiker to an expected abduction. Furthermore, someone tried to extort the father.

The clothing was a clue in this case. One witness said he saw Thomas Eldon Bowman in the company of a dirty/transient man. Thomas had a Davy Crockett belt buckle, a t-shirt, and jeans. The belt buckle was described by the ten-year-old witness who thought he saw Thomas.

When I read the NamUs description, this seemed like a parking-lot abduction. I didn't come across anything in the journalism that made me think otherwise. There was a ruddy transient who was known to hang around in the area of the parking lot. He was seen the night that the child disappeared but was not seen in the area afterward.

26 Mar 1957, Tue News-Pilot (San Pedro, California) Newspapers.com

29 Mar 1957, Fri The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com

This case is a little different than most of the missing person cases that are associated with trail hiking. Thomas's disappearance has a little more to do with the parking lot than the trail in my opinion.

Furthermore, many missing trail hikers are adults that, I think, usually face dangers while hiking or they hike in an unsafe manner (ie. alone). However, Thomas is a young minor who, according to the prevailing theory, was likely abducted. If anything, the case reminds me of the disappearance of Trenny Gibson, however, even that case is very different.

Thomas Eldon Bowman had the following distinctive characteristic: 'missing two teeth.' This characteristic of his would only be relevant if he died close to the time of his abduction. If he aged at all then it stands to reason that his teeth would have matured in kind.

You can click the "trail hiking series" hashtag at the end of this blog post to bring up all the missing person cases profiled on this website that have something to do with nature trails or nature hiking.

Author: @UncoolNegated on Twitter

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

@UncoolNegated on Twitter is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of March 2021.

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*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Text might be paraphrased. If taken verbatim, then grammar or spelling errors are not necessarily corrected from original sources.
Disclaimer: Whenever possible, government sources are preferred for getting the details of a missing persons case. However, any source that the article writer deems reputable may be used.

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