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| Description: On December 5, 1998, Derrick Engebretson, an eight-year-old boy from Bonanza, Oregon, went on a trip to Winema National Forest in Klamath County alongside his father and grandfather. The family was planning to get a Christmas tree while hiking near Rocky Point. A snowstorm soon hit the area and Derrick wandered away and disappeared. When Derrick’s family notified the authorities, a search was conducted for him but they were undermined by the terrible weather. Searchers found some blood in the area along with items which may have been connected to Derrick including a candy wrapper and a bookmark from his school. They also found a makeshift shelter made out of fir boughs. While the likely explanation seemed to be that Derrick had frozen to death in the wilderness, there was evidence to suggest he might have been abducted instead. A set of footprints led searchers to the road where the imprint of a snow angel was found. Around the time of Derrick’s disappearance, a witness saw an unidentified man struggling with a young boy near the road. In 2002, a prison inmate came forward to claim that a convicted child rapist named Frank J. Milligan had bragged about murdering Derrick. Years earlier, Milligan received a 36-year prison sentence for the rape and attempted murder of a 10-year-old boy and for sexually abusing another boy. When questioned, Milligan told authorities that Derrick had made it out of the woods and that he murdered the boy after picking him up by the road. Milligan said he would lead them to Derrick’s body but, after a search of the area turned up nothing, he decided to recant his confession. Officially, there is no evidence to connect Milligan to the crime and Derrick Engebretson’s disappearance remains unsolved. |
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