On January 25, 1973, 12-year-old Marvin Beau King vanished from his trailer in the Rose Garden Mobile Home Park on Upper Valley Pike in Springfield, Ohio, while his mother Monica was at work. Beau phoned his mother at the bar where she worked and was told she would call back; when she later tried to reach him there was no answer. A friend sent to check the trailer found the door ajar and evidence Beau had been baking cookies, but Beau was missing.

The next day anonymous callers led deputies to search a ditch near Springfield/Xenia Road at Rebert Pike; after a lengthy search Beau’s body was found in a remote field, fully clothed except for his coat. He appeared to have been dead 12 to 16 hours; an autopsy determined he was strangled with a nylon clothesline. Investigators questioned several people, including a 35-year-old Springfield man described as a material witness, but no one was ever charged. Evidence has been forwarded to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for further analysis and the case remains unsolved.

Beau was remembered as friendly and outgoing; his mother said he was trusting and didn’t fully understand death. If anyone has information that could help bring justice or closure, please contact the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.