Above: Alan Westerfield in 1964 (left) and an age-progressed image to 53, circa 2010 (right)


Above: Terry Westerfield in 1964 (left) and an age-progressed image to 57, circa 2010 (right)

Alan John and Terry Lee Westerfield

Last seen in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on September 12, 1964.

Vital statistics: Alan is a white male. He was born on August 24, 1957. Sandy brown hair, blue eyes. Was six at the time. Terry is a white male. He was born on February 7, 1953. Red hair, blue eyes. He has facial freckles, a scar from an appendectomy on his abdomen, and is missing one permanant front tooth. He has a quiet nature. Was eleven at the time.

Circumstances: The boys were dropped off by their stepfather, Carl Bock, at the theater around 5:30 PM but were gone when he came back around 8:00 PM. Some say they entered the movie theater, others say they did not. Heavy rain from Hurricane Dora impeded the search. Bock could not provide consistant stories and was moved by the army a year later. He was seperated from the boys' mother at the time. The cases are classified as Endangered Missing.

Theories: Some may question the wisdom of For The Lost for taking on this case. It is the oldest case that we have taken on on the site. Any trail of evidence will probably have been left cold. It is one for the books, not for solving, and should be cast to the same world as Joseph Crater and Dorothy Arnold. Should, perhaps. But this case will not go quietly. For one, missing persons' investigations then were very primitive. Beyond the scope of most police departments of the time, unless the case reached national notoriety. Even then it was nearly impossible to locate someone. However, we have tools today that assist the case. Age-progression, which can render a person to their current age, is our best weapon. It creates a current "photo" that is easy to reference. Even then, it will be an uphill climb. Adults involved in the case will be aged or dead, and children may remember little of their playmates. But the small clues they provide are our best chance. Did Terry consider running away, and took his younger brother with him? Was there family friction that could have led to such results? (The boys have a stepfather, for example. Did they resent his intrusion to the family?) Or were they abducted? Despite what many think, children rarely vanish into thin air. It is the trails, no matter how faint, that we follow and hope to solve. Police have said they believe the boys were killed on the night of their disappearance. Their father, Melvin Westerfield and stepfather have both been questioned. Their father has been cleared, their stepfather not, although he has not been charged. This adds a twist to the case, offering another theory tragically often played out in America. Not murder, but that of the "throwaway" child. A child is thrown out of the home and told not to return. Were the Westerfield boys given an order to not be there when their stepfather came back? He was probably not the one to call a missing persons report. If he did, the information may not have been truthful. (A few anonymous tips seem to confirm this.) And children usually follow adult orders. Are two boys, now men, still running in the other direction?

If you have information on either of the Westerfield's wherebouts, please e-mail For The Lost at this address. Or you may contact the Cumberland County Sheriff's office at 910-323-1500. Any tips sent by e-mail will be kept confidential.


Information used to compile this case file comes from the following resources:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
The Charley Project
The Doe Network
The Fayetville Observer
NamUs National Missing Persons Data System

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