In a story that began with a holiday visit, two-year-old Curtis McCoy vanished from a city street in Newark, New Jersey, on November 18, 1989. The young boy, who lived with his mother, Lashawn McCoy, in South Carolina, was in Newark visiting his father, Curtis Williams, for the Thanksgiving holiday. The initial account of his disappearance described a busy day of window-shopping downtown with his father, his father's girlfriend, Sabetha Moore, and their two young daughters. According to Williams, as the group went to cross an intersection, he reached back to take his son's hand, only to find that the little boy was gone. At the time he went missing, Curtis was described as an African American male, approximately 1'8' tall and weighing 25 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a green jacket, blue jeans, a grey shirt, white sneakers, and a blue Yankee hat.
A distinguishing feature noted by his family was the presence of two marks on his back.
The years following Curtis's disappearance were filled with uncertainty for his mother, who moved to New Jersey to be closer to the investigation. The case, which had initially been investigated as a possible stranger abduction, took a significant turn years later. In September 2005, Curtis Williams and Sabetha Moore were arrested on fraud charges, which included falsely claiming the missing Curtis as a dependent on a loan application. This development led to intensified scrutiny of Williams's role in his son's disappearance. The investigation culminated in January 2006, when Williams was charged with the murder of his son, following testimony from Moore who claimed Williams had killed the child and concocted the story of his disappearance.
In a plea agreement in May 2007, Williams pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension. He admitted to killing his son and stated that he had buried the boy's body in a shallow grave under the New Jersey Turnpike in Jersey City. Despite his confession and subsequent searches of the area he described, Curtis's remains have never been recovered. Williams was sentenced to time served and probation, a resolution that was met with criticism from Curtis's mother. The case of Curtis McCoy is a deeply troubling narrative that shifted from a missing person report to a homicide investigation centered on the boy's own father. Although a confession was made and a location identified, the absence of his remains leaves a painful void and prevents final closure for his loved ones.Last Seen: Nov 18, 1989
