The strange case of Bobby Dunbar, child that went missing in LA

On the surface it appears that way, however the kid apparently went along with it. I read a report that said he was saying 'I'm Bobby Dunbar' when he was located.

My GF's parents live not too far from that area of St. Landry Parish, and I've heard them mention this subject before.

I'll have to ask them about it.

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My guess is that the real Bobby Dunbar wandered off and drowned in the lake (or was eaten)... the parents continued to hope that perhaps he had simply wandered off and was kidnapped. Then, when the lookalike was found in MS, they simply claimed the boy as their own. Whether or not they truly believed it was him is another debate entirely.

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How does this explain this

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There was another report that said he screamed out "Mother!" when he saw Mrs. Dunbar and ran and embraced her.

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We thinking the second part was fake news circa 1915?

I suppose thats the type of story you would proliferate as the government if you knew you had kidnapped someones kid to cover your arse.

Many conflicting reports. One said that he yelled "Mother!" but another one said it appeared that neither one recognized the other. In fact, the Dunbars took him home for the night just to see if it was him, because they weren't sure. Screw that -- if my son was missing, and 8 months later he was supposedly found, I'd know first glance if it were him or not, without question. There wouldn't be any "let me take him home for the night and see."

The other weird thing was that his supposed real mother (Julia Anderson) didn't recognize him either when she was shown 5 kids in a lineup

The news media couldn't be trusted to tell the truth even then:

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Newspaper accounts differ with regard to the initial reaction between the boy and Lessie Dunbar.[2] While one account indicated that the boy immediately shouted "Mother" upon seeing her and the two then embraced, another said only that the boy cried and quoted Lessie Dunbar as saying she was unsure whether he was her son. Other newspaper accounts quote both the Dunbars as initially stating doubts as to the boy's identity. There were similar contradictions in newspaper accounts of the boy's first sighting of the Dunbars' younger son, Alonzo, with one newspaper claiming that the boy showed no sign of recognizing Alonzo, while another saying the boy recognized him instantly, called him by name and kissed him.

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In 2004, DNA profiling established in retrospect that the boy found with Walters and returned to the Dunbars as Bobby had not been a blood relative of the Dunbar family.

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This is a little misleading as well.

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In 2004, after an Associated Press reporter approached the family about the story, Bob Dunbar, Jr. consented to undergoing DNA tests to resolve the issue. The tests showed that Dunbar, Jr. was not related by blood to his supposed cousin, the son of Alonzo Dunbar, the younger brother of Bobby Dunbar, Sr.[5] Since the DNA testing is conclusive, the fate of the actual Bobby Dunbar, who disappeared at Swayze Lake in 1912, remains unknown.

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So basically the supposed Bobby Dunbar's son was not related by blood to his brother Alonzo Dunbar's son. All sorts of links in that chain could be broken.

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The fake Dunbars that didn't go along with the DNA testing are some shitty arse people. Instead of helping clear a wrong created by their not really grandparents/great grandparents, they fight against it. What sad sacks of shite.

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As crazy as the theory is that either Bobby or perhaps his cousin who was also DNA tested was the product of an affair, and hence the reason for the DNA result, an affair being hidden would be a common sensical reason for the refusals.

Anyway, from reading the transcript I linked, it appears that everyone involved except for the Dunbar parents went on to live good lives, Bobby/Bruce married and had a good family life; Julia as well was taken in by the folks from MS that had testified in the trial in support of Walters (saying they had seen he and the boy together prior to the disappearance of Bobby) married and had seven children; and even Walters.