The Missing Corey Edkin

The Missing
Corey Edkin
New Columbia, Pennsylvania

Corey James Edkin was only 2 years old when he vanished from his home on Second Street in New Columbia, Pennsylvania in the early morning hours of October 13th, 1986. Corey, his four year old sister, their mother Debbie Wise, a roommate named Alberta Sones, along with her two young children aged two and five, all resided in the home.
Debbie left Corey asleep in the upstairs bedroom on her bed while she ran out to their local convenience store for a pizza at about 12:10 a.m. Debbie returned home at 12:40 a.m. and the door to the home was wide open. Upon checking for her son, she realized he was gone. She called 911 at 1:10 a.m.
Alberta claims to have been awake watching television at the time and says no one entered or exited the home while Debbie was gone. Corey has never been seen again.
He is described as a white male with blue eyes and very light blonde/strawberry blonde hair. He was about 3 feet tall and only 30 lbs at the time of his disappearance. He was last known to have been wearing gray pajama pants with a white short sleeved pajama shirt with the image of a beaver on The front. He wasn’t wearing shoes or socks.
A massive search took place after Corey vanished, the search parties consisted of several family members, members of the community and law enforcement with search dogs canvassing the surrounding area including the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. Corey’s face was printed on milk cartons and gas bills to generate tips, but nothing came of it.
An 18 year old young man by the name of Henry Gust Bush was friends with the household’s babysitter who once lived at the home but no longer did. He had also befriended Debbie and continued coming around the house without the babysitter being present.
In his first initial interview with police, he said he spent time at the Edkins home on the weekend of October 11th and 12th. He was “washing and waxing” Debbie’s car on the 12th. Debbie confirmed that Henry spent the night on October 11th and that he was “in and out of the house all day on Sunday.” He was said to have washed Debbies car and afterwards he attended a birthday party for Debbie’s older son. Debbie says she drove Henry home to his mother’s house afterwards.
Henry told police that on October 13th at 2 in the morning, he traveled to West Milton to check on his grandmother due to her medical alert alarm being activated, then he returned to his mother’s house.
October 14th, police located a “burn barrel” on Debbie’s property. Sifting through the ash, they found torn children’s shorts, pajama bottoms with cuts in the legs, and scotch tape stuck to the legs, and a jersey. Everything was partially burned. Henry Bush was present when this was discovered, and he acknowledged the jersey was his. He claimed Debbie gave it to him to use as a rag, and he got grease on it while working on her car.
In 1989, Debbie appeared before a grand jury, but did not mention Henry Bush being in the home in the hours leading up to Corey’s disappearance. She instead said that Henry was “like a son to her.”
Over 30 years later in 2020, Trooper Brian Watkins reached out to Henry by phone so he could come to the PSP Milton barracks to be re-interviewed. During the interview, he claimed not to know Debbie or Alberta well, and that he only knew of them by his association with the family’s babysitter. He said he was not at their home on the 11th and did not remember washing Debbie’s car on the 12th. He was now claiming the last time he had contact with Debbie or Alberta was a week or two prior to Corey’s disappearance when he mowed their lawn for them. When investigators reminded him of the shirt in the burn barrel, Henry claimed the real story was that he ran out of gas when he was cutting the grass. When he filled the tank it overflowed. Henry took his shirt off and wiped the tank and lawnmower with it, and put it in the burn barrel.
He also told police that he read in a newspaper a month or two afterward that Corey’s body was found in a dumpster at a gas station in Allenwood. Such a newspaper article was not located.
He was pressed by investigators as to why he lied to them the first time, and all Henry could say was that he did not know and that it was not intentional.
Due to Henry being caught lying to police, in March of 2024, he was charged with obstruction of justice. He pleaded no contest and was given one year of probation.
Henry may or may not have been involved in Corey’s disappearance. There is still no clear indication as to what happened to the little boy or where he might be.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of Corey, please contact the Pennsylvania State Police at 570-524-2662.

Sources: