St. Landry
100 Year Kidnapping Case from Opelousas
Posted: Sep 7, 2012 6:55 PM by Kristen Holloway
Updated: Sep 7, 2012 7:11 PM
It's a story that haunted Saint Landry Parish for the past one hundred years. Four-year-old Bobby Dunbar was kidnapped and disappeared in 1912 from Opelousas. Although he eventually found his way home, questions still remain. His great granddaughter says she wants to set the record straight.
"The book corrects that record and sets it straight as to what really happened," said Margaret Dunbar Cutright.
Margaret Dunbar Cutright was raised believing her grandfather was born Bobby Dunbar, a little boy who went missing from Opelousas 100 hundred years ago. Police found the child months after the disappearance but another woman said the boy was hers.
"It took a long time to get to the bottom of that contradiction and to understand not only his identity but how did that happen. How can two mothers claim one child," said Dunbar.
The court case rocked Opelousas and the court ruled in favor of the Dunbars giving them custody of the child.
However questions still haunted the family and in 2004, they set to find out once and for all what the truth was. DNA proved the man thought to be Bobby Dunbar was not.
So cutright began writing the story of her family, a tragedy that has since turned into a story of joy and a closer bond with family members.
"It means a whole lot to me to get to really meet them and to know know who they are and that they are my kin people and we love them," said Rawls Hollis.
As for the real Bobby Dunbar, Margaret thinks he may have drowned; he had gone missing during a camping trip by the lake. His body was never found.
The author is signing copies of her book at the Delta Grand Theater in Opelousas starting at 6:30 tonight. She'll also be at the Opelousas Library tomorrow morning.
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