Mouse over to enlarge. Right 2: Age-Progressed by NCMEC to 12 years; 49 years
Mouse over to enlarge. Right 2: Age-Progressed by NCMEC to 12 years; 49 years
Name: Kurt Ronald Newton
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Case Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Missing Since: August 31, 1975
Location Last Seen: Chain of Ponds, Franklin County, Maine
Date of Birth: July 28, 1971
Age: 4 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 3'1"
Weight: 35 lbs.
Hair Color: Light Blond/Strawberry. Medium length.
Eye Color: Blue
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available
Clothing: Navy blue jacket; blue sweatshirt with the word "Manchester" across the front; brown pants; blue suede ankle height shoes
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Newton's family was camping at the Natanis campground in Chain of Ponds, ME on September 1, 1975, with three other families from their home in Manchester, ME. Natanis Campground is located just off of Route 27, about five miles southerly from the Maine-Quebec border.
On the day of his disappearance, his sister was playing a game outside and his father drove off to get firewood. A friend from her trailer heard a plaintive "Daddy, Daddy," as Newton apparently ran to his tricycle and pedaled away trying to catch his father. Newton was last seen by 11-year-old Lou Ellen Hanson at about 10:30 am to 11:00 am riding his Big Wheel tricycle on a woods road about .4 miles headed West away from the campground.
Newton's tricycle had been found near a dump at a point .8 miles from the campground. At the time of his disappearance, there was one main woods road leading Westerly from the camping area. This road was in a condition to travel with conventional vehicles to a point about .7 miles from the campground, where it forked. The left fork continued another .1 mile to a dump where refuse from the camping area had been dumped for several years. This branch was not passable beyond the dump to conventional vehicles. The road beyond the dump was grown in with raspberry bushes, grass and with trees blown across the road in several places. There were several wet or sandy places where a child's footprints should have been apparent to an experienced observer. About 1.5 miles above the dump this woods road intersected another old road which ran generally north and south. The road was checked for tricycle tracks but there were none found. A volunteer caretaker for the campground, Jack Hanson, found the tricycle just before the steep rise leading to the dump.
A team of investigators interviewed everyone known to have been at the campground, using polygraphs when in doubt. One camper reported that she had seen a white station wagon roar out of the campground leaving a cloud of dust in its wake shortly after the time Newton disappeared. But no such car was registered at the campground, and nobody else reported seeing it. Experienced trackers reported they could find no evidencce of recent vehicle traffic on the logging road beyond where Newton's father had been cutting wood, the only road available for a "back-door" abduction.
The police sent teletype descriptions of Newton throughout the United States and Canada. A call came from a man in Connecticut who had returned from camping in the Canadian Rockies. There he had noticed a small blond-haired boy staring at him with a quizzical expression. He said he was struck by how nervous the boy and the man seemed with each other. He saw the same boy, he said fervently, on a Kurt Newton "Missing" poster. That same week a call came from Vermont. Two waitresses were sure they had seen Newton in their restaurant. However, upon investigation, the boy was located and found not to be Newton.
Agency Name: Maine State Police - Major Crimes Unit South
Agency Contact Person: Detective Michael Chavez
Agency Phone Number: 207-657-5710
Agency E-Mail: miac.msp@maine.gov
Agency Case Number: 19170F6
NamUs Case Number: 22943
NCIC Case Number: M-000164660
NCMEC Case Number: 1227947
NamUs
NCMEC
Maine State Police
Maine State Library
Yankee Magazine - Mar. 30, 2018
Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 04/01/2024 - By: mc
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
Return Home