Account
Apr 15, 2010
Jul 17, 2023
Thomas
Gibson
36
2
29 inches
35 lbs
White / Caucasian
Male
On a March morning in 1991, two-year-old Thomas Dean Gibson was playing in the front yard of his home in Glendale, Oregon, when he vanished. It was around 11:30 a.m. on March 18th, and the little boy with brown hair, brown eyes, and a noticeable gap between his front teeth was never seen again. At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing a purple sweatshirt, grey pants, and black and white checkered tennis shoes. His father, a Douglas County sheriff's deputy, told authorities he had gone for a jog after leaving Thomas in the yard, where his four-year-old sister was supposed to be watching him. The father mentioned he had fired his gun at a stray cat on the property before he left. Initial search efforts for the young boy proved to be unsuccessful. The investigation into Thomas's disappearance soon began to focus on his father, Larry Gibson. Investigators found inconsistencies in his statements and grew suspicious of his behavior during the search for his son. A significant turn in the case came years later when Thomas's older sister, who was four at the time of his disappearance, disclosed a different sequence of events. She told investigators she had witnessed her father physically assault Thomas and then place him in his patrol car on the day he went missing. This eyewitness account led to the arrest of Larry Gibson in April 1994, and he was subsequently charged with the murder of his son. Despite the absence of Thomas's body, Larry Gibson was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in 1995. He served a short sentence and was released from prison in 1996, all the while maintaining his innocence. The case garnered significant media attention over the years, including being featured on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries." Various theories about what happened to Thomas have been considered, including the possibility that he was accidentally shot when his father fired at the cat, or that he was intentionally harmed. The disappearance of Thomas Dean Gibson is a deeply tragic and complex case that began with a two-year-old boy playing in his yard and evolved into a years-long investigation centered on his own father. Despite a conviction, the full truth of what occurred on that day in 1991 remains clouded by conflicting stories and the heartbreaking reality that Thomas has never been found.
Mar 18, 1991
Glendale
Oregon
Douglas County
No
26584
Oregon State Police
Roseburg
Oregon
,
91-01131
Oregon State Police
Brown
Brown
Brown
05/24/2026
