# Disappearance of Walter Collins

Walter Conrad Collins was a 9-year-old American boy who went missing in 1928.
Five months after Walter went missing, a different boy claimed he was Walter. When Walter's mother Christine Collins refused to believe this claim and insisted the boy was not her son, she was committed to a mental hospital for ten days until the impostor confessed.
Investigators in California later concluded that Collins had been murdered by Gordon Stewart Northcott as part of the Wineville Chicken Coop murders.

## Background

Walter's parents were Christine Collins (born in 1888 as Christine Ida Dunne) and Walter J. Collins (an ex-convict born Walter Joseph Anson). Walter B Collins was born in September 1918.

## Disappearance

Walter Collins disappeared on March 10, 1928, after Christine gave him money to go to the cinema. Walter's disappearance received nationwide attention, and the Los Angeles Police Department followed up on hundreds of leads without success. The police faced negative publicity and increasing public pressure to solve the case. Then, five months after Walter's disappearance, a boy claiming to be Walter was found in DeKalb, Illinois. Letters and photographs were exchanged before Christine Collins paid for the boy to be brought to Los Angeles.

### Impostor and abusive internment

At the reunion, Christine Collins said that the boy was not Walter. Under pressure to resolve the case, the officer in charge, Captain J. J. Jones, convinced her to "try the boy out" by taking him home. She returned three weeks later, again saying that he was not her son. Although she had dental records and backing from friends to prove her case, Collins said Jones accused her of being a bad mother and bringing ridicule to the police. Jones had Collins committed to the psychiatric ward at Los Angeles County Hospital under a "Code 12" internment – a term used to jail or commit someone who was deemed difficult or an inconvenience.
Jones questioned the boy, who admitted to being 12-year-old Arthur Hutchens Jr., a runaway from Iowa. Hutchens was picked up by police in Illinois and, when asked if he was Walter Collins, he first said no, but then said yes. His motive for posing as Collins was to get to Hollywood so he could meet his favorite actor, Tom Mix. Collins was released ten days after Hutchens admitted that he was not her son and filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department. Collins won a lawsuit against Jones and was awarded $10,800 (equivalent to $200,000 in 2023), which Jones never paid. The actions of the LAPD outraged the public, and were "particularly embarrassing" for chief James Davis.

### Aftermath

In 1929, Gordon Stewart Northcott was found guilty of abducting, molesting, and killing three young boys in what became known as the Wineville Chicken Coop murders. Northcott's mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, confessed in late 1928 to her participation in the murder of Walter Collins as being amongst her son's victims. Following her confession, she was sentenced without trial to life imprisonment for her role in Walter's death. The state chose not to prosecute Gordon Northcott for Walter's murder and instead brought him to trial for the murders of three other young boys for which there was also forensic evidence. On February 13, 1929, he was found guilty for all three murders and sentenced to death. Despite these convictions, Gordon Northcott denied killing Walter Collins, and Sarah Northcott later attempted to rescind her confession and gave other scattered and inconsistent statements.
Christine Collins continued to believe her son was still alive in spite of the guilty plea entered by Sarah Northcott to a judge, and corroborating testimony by Sanford Clark. She corresponded with Gordon Northcott and received permission to interview him shortly before his execution. Northcott pledged to explain the true account of her son's fate, but he recanted at the last minute and professed his innocence of any involvement. Collins was further encouraged by the appearance of another boy that Northcott had abducted and probably molested. The police initially thought the boy might have been a murder victim of Northcott's. Collins continued to search for her son for the rest of her life. Collins attempted several times to collect the money owed her by Jones, including a 1941 court case, in which she attempted to collect a $15,562 judgment (equivalent to $320,000 in 2023) in the Superior Court.
Christine died on December 8, 1964, at the age of 75.

## Portrayal in media

* Changeling, a 2008 film directed by Clint Eastwood, depicts the events from the disappearance of Walter Collins in 1928 until the reappearance of one of Northcott's other victims in 1935. Christine Collins was portrayed by Angelina Jolie, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
* The Big Imposter, the June 7, 1951, episode of the radio program Dragnet where a boy disappears in Los Angeles and is seemingly found about 9 months later in Dayton, Ohio, when a runaway is caught by police and claims to be the missing boy. The impostor is brought to Los Angeles and "reunited" with the missing boys' grandfather, but eventually the grandfather realizes the boy is not his grandson and the imposter admits the ruse under questioning by the police. Four months later the body of the actual missing boy is found buried at a farm on the outskirts of Riverside, California, the victim of murder.