NC Wanted

NC Wanted: Disappearance of Sampson County boys with dogs remains a mystery

Two boys, ages 2 and 4, disappeared from their Sampson County neighborhood while walking a dog, two decades apart. Today, neither family knows what happened to the boys.
Posted 2018-10-21T02:27:10+00:00 - Updated 2018-10-21T14:49:34+00:00
NC Wanted: Similar disappearances of Sampson boys remain unsolved

Two boys, ages 2 and 4, disappeared from their Sampson County neighborhood with their dogs two decades apart. Today, neither family knows what happened to the boys.

In October 2000, there was a desperate search, with hundreds of officers and volunteers looking for 4-year-old Tristen Buddy Myers.

“Well, I just hoped and prayed that he’d be found quickly,” neighbor Mary Peterson said.

Peterson remembers another child in her neighborhood, one who vanished 24 years before Myers, just two miles away. It was the winter of 1976 when 2-year-old Bruce Shearin disappeared.

“It brought back a lot of memories because this has happened under our nose and it’s always been a mystery,” she said.

Investigators do not believe the two cases are connected, but there are similarities. In both cases, the boys disappeared with their dogs. Massive searches ensued, with hundreds of volunteers. When leads dried up, psychics were brought in, but neither boy was found.

“I think it’s very frustrating for law enforcement, because they did everything possible back in ’76, just like law enforcement here in this county has done in the year 2000,” Peterson said.

If still alive, the boys would now be grown men, but their families can only wonder.

Anybody with information about the disappearance of either boy is asked to call 1-866-439-2683.

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