16 Magazine - April 1970 (typed by Julie S.)

Bobby Kidnapped Whole True Story

The other evening while visiting my parents at their home in Van Nuys, California I had a really weird experience! We were all sitting around the kitchen table, reminiscing about my childhood, when Mom told me a strange story that I had completely forgotten! She told me about the day I was kidnapped! I guess I was really too young at the time the incident took place to realize what was going on, but it's an event my mom will never forget. She said it was the most terrifying day in her life!

THAT TERRIFYING DAY - This all took place one afternoon when I was two years old. Mom and I were in our backyard. She was sitting in a lawn chair, reading a magazine, and I was involved playing with one of my favorite toys - a big rubber ball. When the phone rang inside the house, Mom went to answer it. Since we had a tall fence surrounding our yard, she didn't think anything about leaving me alone in the yard to play. She was gone only a few minutes and when she returned to the yard, I was nowhere to be found!

Mom claims that her heart stopped beating and that she was near hysterics as she searched the yard and found no trace of me or of my toy, for that matter! She called my name over and over and even looked inside our house, thinking I might have followed her inside without her noticing, but there was no sign of me!

Then, the most frightening thing happened! Mom noticed that the gate to the fence was still closed, and since I wasn't tall enough to reach the lock she knew that I couldn't have left the yard alone! I was too young and too small to climb over the tall fence and besides, I had my ball with me and you can't climb with just one hand! Someone must have helped Bobby to get out she thought. And since no friend, relative or neighbor would take me from my backyard without my mother's permission she knew I must have been kidnapped!

EERIE FEELINGS - My mother was never one to jump to dramatic conclusions or to make mountains out of molehills, but she had an eerie feeling about the whole thing - especially since the phone call she went into the house to answer had turned out to be a wrong number! When she discovered that I was gone, she couldn't help but think the phone call had been part of a plot to get her out of the yard, away from me - so that someone else could snatch me!

Mom was almost in a state of shock, but somehow she was able to telephone my dad to come home immediately. Together, they called the police to report me missing and then called all of our neighbors, asking them if they had seen me. From what Mom tells me just about everyone in town was searching for the Sherman kid. And since no one could find me or any clue leading to my whereabouts they too believed that I had been kidnapped! Even the police were convinced!

I can imagine how heartbroken and frightened my folks must have felt. To this day, Mom can't talk about the day I was kidnapped without crying so I can picture how terrified she was the day it actually happened. It was like a living nightmare for my folks all during the time I was missing but the strangest was yet to come.

NOBODY KNOWS - Of course, everything turned out fine and my parents did get me back safe and sound a long four hours later! I was several blocks away from the house, clutching my toy and crying cos I couldn't find my way back home. Everyone was relieved and happy to see me again but to this day, one mystery has never been solved. No one knows how I got out of the backyard! And for that matter, no one knows if I did get out on my own or if I really was kidnapped!

The only person who knows the whole truth (aside from the kidnapper if there really was one) is me. And as I mentioned before, I was only two years old and too young to understand what was going on or to even answer any questions so I was no help at all in solving the mystery!

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? - Needless to say, Mom never left me alone in the backyard (or anywhere else) again. And Dad even tried to get me to climb the backyard fence just to see if I could and thus solve the mystery once and for all! But you know what? I never did climb that fence until years later. So we don't know anything more (about the truth of what happened that day) now than we did years ago!

When Mom told me the story a few weeks ago, I was amazed that I didn't remember it at all! True, I was very young when it happened and it's natural that I might not recall it, but I can't help but wonder that maybe just maybe I purposely blocked that incident out of my mind!

One thing's for sure: if I ever do get the memory of that day back in my head again my parents will be the first to know all the details! And since I've already shared this little story with you I promise to tell you too!!