Victor John “Jackie” Theel, 6, disappeared on September 5, 1944, after leaving his elementary school alone to walk the short distance to his home for lunch. He has never been seen again. There were a couple of sightings of Jackie in the afternoon on the day he vanished, but an extensive and exhaustive search produced no clues to his whereabouts.
Who Were the Theels?
Harold Alvin Theel married Bernice Catherine Pinch in Chippewa Falls, WI, on October 19, 1925. They subsequently had 15 children together. (Old newspaper reports say 13)
Located in Stearns County, Paynesville is a small town about 85 miles northwest of Minneapolis and west of the Mississippi River. As of 2020, the population is around 2400. In 1944, it was between 1300 and 1500.
True crime fans will be familiar with Stearns County as it is where Jacob Wetterling, 11, vanished in 1989 and was found deceased in 2016.
Disappearance of Jackie Theel
Jackie Theel, 6, could not wait for school to start at Paynesville Elementary School on Mill Street. Built in 1912, the large brick school housed grades K-12 after a previous building burned down. Part of this building still stands today with the newer elementary building built around it.
Miss Dorothy Gladke, 21, would be his teacher. She was born in Browerville, MN, on July 14, 1923, to Joseph and Mary Gladke and had recently finished training as a teacher. She secured her first job at Paynesville Elementary School, teaching first-grade students for the 1944-1945 school year.
Jackie awoke on September 5, 1944, eager to start his first day of school in the first grade. The three-foot tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed boy was thrilled to don a faded navy blue sailor suit for the day. The outfit was missing a button in the back, so Bernice fastened a safety pin. Jackie then put on a pair of new black shoes, and Bernice slipped a note for Miss Gladke in his pocket. The note informed the new teacher to keep Jackie at school until one of his brothers picked him up to walk home with him for lunch. Jackie then walked to school with his siblings.
According to a 1944 article in The Minneapolis Star, Jackie arrived at school “with considerable eagerness, hugging his tablet, pencil, and crayons as if they were the most precious things he ever owned.” In between games and songs, Jackie munched on a bag of potato chips. At 11:30 a.m., school dismissed for lunch.
And here’s where the nightmare began.
Instead of following Bernice’s instructions in the note, Miss Gladke completely disregarded them. She asked Jackie twice if he knew the route to his home, and he pointed. However, he pointed west, and the Theel home was northeast of the school building. (Jacobson, 2004)
Miss Gladke followed Jackie and other students to a street crossing. Jackie insisted he knew where he lived (Thorkelson, 1944). However, he never made it home.
Search and Investigation
Bernice was waiting for Jackie to come home for lunch. When he failed to return, she called Stearns County Sheriff Art McIntee.
Over the next seven days, search crews scoured the Paynesville area and nearby Crow River for any sign of the missing boy. Farmers searched their buildings, fields, and pastures, and Les Spaeth, a local barber, flew a civil patrol airplane, conducting an aerial search.
Bloodhounds followed Jackie’s scent up Augusta Avenue, west along the Crow River, and west of the North American Creamery (now Associated Milk Producers, Inc.) on Railroad Street. The route showed that Jackie almost made it home. But instead of heading east on Railroad Street, the boy went west. The dogs continued to follow the boy’s scent along the west end of Paynesville near Highway 23, where the trail stopped.
Despite the extensive and exhaustive search, authorities never found Jackie Theel.
Sightings
Two young girls reported to the police that they saw Jackie passing the city hall a few minutes after the boy left school on September 5, 1944. (Thorkelson)
Mr. and Mrs. Pete Thompson were returning from a fishing trip at Long Lake that day. Mrs. Thompson said she saw a small boy carrying a piece of paper and wearing a blue suit walking in the ditch along Highway 23 between 1 and 1:30 p.m.
Robert Burr, 16, and William Johnson, 14, reported they saw a small boy matching Jackie’s description entering a light brown car on Highway 23 around 4:45 p.m. that same day. Willmar Police followed up on the sighting and discovered that the driver was a soldier traveling with his brother. They had stopped in Willmar to get the starter fixed. (Jacobson)
Jackie’s siblings, Annabelle and Fay, told the Paynesville Press in 2004 the sighting raised more questions than answers.
If the local boys did not report seeing that car until Tuesday evening, was the car still in Willmar? If not, did the police actually speak to that driver and see his “brother”? Or did they just ask about the car the next day and were told at the garage that the man was a soldier who said he was traveling with his brother? (Jacobson)
Two decades later, a former Paynesville teacher claimed she saw a young man fitting Jackie’s description depart a U.S. Navy ship in California. The man signed his name, “Jackie Theel” and told her he had been adopted. However, it stands to reason that his first and last name would have changed upon adoption, so this likely was not him.
The last reported sighting of Jackie was in the 1980s. Someone told his younger brother, Fay Theel, that a man entered Tuck’s Cafe in Paynesville looking for his family but claimed he could not find any Theels in the phonebook. Fay was immediately skeptical because some Theels were listed in the telephone book. Furthermore, the man told his story to a longtime Paynesville resident who would have known some Theels in town. Nevertheless, Fay reported the sighting to the FBI.
Rumors and Theories
Several rumors floated around Paynesville regarding Jackie’s disappearance, and some included Harold Theel as the suspect. He either killed Jackie or sold the boy for money. However, his children said in 2004 that Harold was a truck driver working out of town when Jackie disappeared.
The police had a couple of theories regarding what might have happened to Jackie. They and the Theel family believed that Jackie became lost after he left school and that the bloodhounds’ trail proved it. Then, something happened to him afterward. The likely scenario is someone saw him along Highway 23 and picked him up. That person either killed him or raised him as their child. If alive today, Jackie would be 86 years old.
Aftermath
One year after Jackie disappeared, Fay Theel started first grade at Paynesville Elementary School. Bernice was terrified the same thing would happen to him. However, a few days before school started, she walked Fay to school and pretended to be lost, which forced the young boy to find his way home. Additionally, she never allowed her children to wear a sailor suit again.
Myron Roger Theel was only nine months old when his older brother vanished. As if the Theels had not experienced enough tragedy, Myron died less than a year later on March 8, 1945.
Harold and Bernice lived a long life together. In 1979, their oldest son, Donald Theel, passed away at age 53. Bernice died in 1990, followed by Harold in February 1991. That same year, their oldest son, Floyd Theel, died from cancer in 1991, followed by Milton Theel in 1998. Floyd’s twin, Lloyd Theel, also died from cancer in 1999, followed by Thomas Theel in 2004. The most recent Theel child to pass away was Annabelle Theel Krupke in 2023. She was 96. Her obituary said Andrea Theel Calendar also died, but I could not find the year.
Dorothy Gladke married John Minerich in 1950, and the couple had five children together. She remained a teacher for the rest of her working years. We will never know whether Dorothy experienced guilt over disregarding Bernice’s note and allowing Jackie to walk home alone on that tragic day. But she lived a long life, dying at age 90 on March 2, 2014.
Sources
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143047140/dorothy_marie-minerich: accessed September 24, 2024), memorial page for Dorothy Marie Gladke Minerich (14 Jul 1923–2 Mar 2014), Find a Grave Memorial ID 143047140, citing Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, USA; Maintained by Jim Lee (contributor 46942055).
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63662558/harold_alvin-theel: accessed September 24, 2024), memorial page for Harold Alvin Theel (14 Jul 1904–27 Feb 1991), Find a Grave Memorial ID 63662558, citing Salem Cemetery, Paynesville, Stearns County, Minnesota, USA; Maintained by Connie Rogers Theel (contributor 47214341).
Good, Meaghan. “Victor John Theel.” The Charley Project. https://charleyproject.org/case/victor-john-theel
Jacobson, Michael. “The Mystery of Jackie Theel.” Paynesville Press, September 22, 2004. https://www.paynesvillearea.com/news/headlinesarticles/archives/092204/0922theel.html
Thorkelson, Willmar. “Week’s Hunt, ‘Inch-by-Inch,’ for Paynesville Boy Fails.” The Minneapolis Star, September 12, 1944.