PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Investigators have identified a little boy found in a Virginia creek 50 years ago as a missing child from Philadelphia.
The case dates to June 14, 1972, when a 14-year-old was riding his bike home from school in Lorton, Virginia.
“There’s a small bridge that goes over a creek, and the boy looked down in the creek area and saw the body of a child,” said Detective Melissa Wallace with Fairfax, Virginia’s Cold Case Unit.
She says the little boy, believed to have been about 4 years old, died of blunt force trauma, but police couldn’t identify him, so he was buried by a group of Christian women, who adopted him in death. They gave him the name “Charles Lee Charlet” — “Charlet,” coming from the name they gave their group. That name was on his tombstone at the cemetery where he was buried.
Fifty years later, with the advancement of DNA and genealogy, Wallace sent hairs from the autopsy to a lab for a full genetic profile, which led investigators to the family of Vera Bryant in Philadelphia. The boy, identified as Carl Matthew Bryant.
Wallace said there was “a big falling out between Vera and the rest of her family,” but Wallace got in contact with Vera’s sister, who said Vera also had a six-month-old named James.
“The last thing she knew, is they were all headed down to Virginia, and the boys were never seen again,” Wallace said.
When Vera returned to Philly for Thanksgiving in 1972, she got into an argument with her family about where her children were. At the time, she was dating a man named James Hedgepath.
“They asked, ‘Where are the boys at?’ And they said, ‘Oh, they stayed down in Virginia with his family.’ And they all thought that was weird that she wouldn't bring her kids up for a big holiday like Thanksgiving,” Wallace said.
Vera died in 1980. Hedgepath died decades later. Investigators believe she and/or Hedgepath killed Carl. They are still looking for the baby, James, which is why they are keeping the case open.
“Just to make sure there is not someone out there who has information or remembers them,” Wallace said.
Carl will remain in the same Virginia cemetery where he was buried 50 years ago. Officers plan to honor him with a bench, inscribed with his real name.