James Eric Bess was 14 when he disappeared from Ashland, Kentucky, in the autumn of 1984. He was living at a boys’ group home in the 1300 block of 13th Street and had been at the facility only two weeks. James is described as an African American male, brown hair, gray/blue eyes, five feet six inches tall and about 110 pounds, with scars on his right arm near the hand, above his right elbow, and on the right side of his waist.

On October 4, 1984, James was last seen wearing a blue jean jacket, a sport shirt, blue jeans and gray tennis shoes. He left the home with a fellow resident, 13-year-old Chipley Sanders, and neither boy has been seen since. The case is classified as an endangered runaway; the group home did not notify James’s mother promptly, and she learned he was missing about a week later when she called to arrange a visit. The Ashland Police Department still holds the open file.

Does anyone remember the boys, where they might have gone, or who last saw them that October day?