Dermot Faulkner Kelly, 16, left his family home in Oglesby, Illinois, on the afternoon of January 30, 1972, saying he was taking his .22 caliber rifle to the woods along the Vermilion River for target practice and never returned. His jacket and boots were found the next day on the riverbank near where the Vermilion meets the Illinois. Bare footprints led about 20 feet out onto the partially frozen river with no return prints, and an impression of a rifle was in the snow. Divers later recovered a rifle believed to be his from under the ice; its telescopic sight was missing. He had left his wallet, identification, and most personal effects at home and was carrying only a small amount of money.

Family described him as intelligent, quiet, and troubled by perceived social inequities; he had missed school for medical treatment the prior fall. Investigators considered accidental drowning and suicide, while the family pursued a possible runaway theory after a since-unconfirmed 1973 Chicago sighting. DNA comparisons have ruled out matches to certain unidentified Midwest victims, and the case was legally closed by a death declaration in 1992. The case was reopened in 2018 but remains unresolved with key questions about what happened on that riverbank.

Did anyone who knew Dermot or who lived near the Vermilion River in 1972 ever see him that day or in the years after?