The Missing
Louis Anthony Mackerley
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Little Louis Anthony Mackerley was a talkative and lively seven year old boy living in Allentown, Pennsylvania with his parents and three siblings in 1984. He was a first grader at Central Elementary school, and Louis was in the process of being transferred into special education classes because he had a short attention span and had trouble focusing. He was diagnosed with a hyperactivity disorder which required him to take two doses of Ritalin per day.
On June 7th, 1984, Louis came home from school and informed his babysitter (or his aunt, according to certain sources) that he was going to walk a few doors down from his home to see a neighborhood friend. His parents believe Louis may have been walking to 391 Chew Street to the home of an elderly woman named Helen that he liked to visit. This was a normal occurrence. Louis’s mother Sheila was undergoing a surgical procedure so he was being looked after for the day. He set off walking but never arrived at Helen’s house. He was, however, seen by a different neighbor walking between Fourth Street and Gordon Street at around 4:30 PM, not far from his home.
Carmen Marco, the owner of a local hot dog eatery called Marco’s Doggie Shop at 429 Gordon Street, saw Louis in his store that day. He explained to police that Louis was hiding from two teenage boys that had been chasing him. Carmen stated that Louis lingered in the shop for around 45 minutes, and when he left he walked east on Gordon Street.
The two teens who were chasing Louis were questioned, but were cleared by police.
There was a third sighting reported, but it is contradictory with the timeline of events. A witness believed they saw Louis talking to an unidentified man and woman in a park near Jordan Creek, which is only one block away from his home. The witness believes this was also at around 4:30 PM. This sighting is unconfirmed.
It was typical for Louis to stay out late, but never much later than 9:30 PM. On the night of June 7th, it had gotten to be 11 PM and there was still no sign of the boy. His parents searched around for Louis but ultimately reported him missing to police at 11:10 PM.
The extensive search for Louis began, focusing on Jordan Creek and Lehigh River where he liked to play by, with no avail. There was a search conducted at Dorney Park, since the boy had mentioned wanting to go there. Still, nothing came of it.
His parents took lie detector tests early in the investigation and were ruled out as suspects. There were rumors of abuse/neglect going on in the household, but social services found the rumors to be untrue.
A few months before Louis disappeared, he had made statements to his parents, a school nurse and a psychiatrist claiming a couple named Frank and Elizabeth had molested him. He also said the couple threatened to harm him if he told anyone. Louis has two accounts of what happened. Firstly, he made claims of Frank and Elizabeth molesting him on the railroad tracks near Jordan Street and Lehigh River. The other story is that the couple took him to their apartment and molested him before driving him back to his neighborhood in a blue station wagon. This led police to wonder if he had been assaulted on more than one occasion. Sadly, an investigation did not occur, due to Louis being unable to produce last names or an address of where they could find Frank and Elizabeth. There are theories that Louis being sexually abused was linked to his disappearance but there was never any evidence the abuse occurred. Could the unconfirmed sighting of the couple talking to Louis be the so-called, Frank and Elizabeth?
His brother Harold recalled in an interview, “They told him if he told anybody that he would disappear.”
The stories about Frank and Elizabeth have never been confirmed, and there is still no evidence as to what happened to Louis.
Louis was missing four front teeth when he was last seen. He is a white male with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a maroon and white striped shirt, blue pants with an elastic belt with a train shaped buckle, pinkish socks and brown shoes. He has two odd-shaped, circular burn scars on the right side of his chest. Without his medication, he may suffer from memory lapses. He has a slow gait and often leans forward, holding his head down. Sometimes he stands with both hands on his hips when he is speaking.
Louis was one of the first missing kinds to be put on milk cartons.
Almost a year after Louis disappeared, his parents moved into 391 Chew Street. Helen was moving to a retirement home and Louis’s family wanted to be at a place he knew and could possibly return to. Louis had dreamed of living there someday. Unfortunately, his parents eventually had to file for bankruptcy and moved to Effort PA in 1989. The home on Chew Street remains vacant. His parents believe Louis may still be alive but may not remember who he is.
If you have any additional information about the whereabouts of this individual, I urge you to contact the Allentown Department of Public Safety at 610-437-7721.
Sources:
https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/244dmpa.html
https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Louis_Mackerley
https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/missing-child-louis-mackerley-has-been-gone-now-for-38-years/
https://charleyproject.org/case/louis-anthony-mackerley
https://vocal.media/criminal/young-boy-vanishes-months-after-claiming-he-was-molested
https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP2908
https://www.missingkids.org/poster/ncmc/601804/1
The Lost & The Taken 
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