In the spring of 1972, a group of eighteen children and four adults from a Paterson, New Jersey orphanage embarked on a weeklong camping trip in the sprawling woodlands of Bass River State Forest. Among them was twelve-year-old Donald Caldwell, a young boy with black hair and brown eyes. On the evening of April 3, 1972, as the group settled into their campsite, Donald and a sixteen-year-old friend, Steven Soden, vanished without a trace. The two boys were last seen that night and were never heard from or seen again. The initial search for the missing children was extensive, combing through the dense Pine Barrens, yet yielded no clues as to their whereabouts. The disappearance of two boys from what should have been a safe and supervised outing left a lingering sense of unease and a multitude of unanswered questions for the adults responsible for their care and the law enforcement officials investigating the case.
For decades, the case of Donald Caldwell and Steven Soden grew cold, a painful and unresolved chapter in the history of the Paterson orphanage and the state of New Jersey. The families of the boys were left in a state of perpetual limbo, with no information to bring them closure. The dense woods of Bass River State Forest held its secrets tightly, and the passage of time did little to reveal what had happened to the two missing youths. The hope of finding them alive dwindled with each passing year, but the mystery of their disappearance remained a topic of concern and speculation for those who remembered the case. The investigation was periodically revisited, but with no new leads or evidence, progress was stalled, and the case remained an open wound for the community.
A significant development in the case came nearly three decades later, in April of 2000, when an off-duty state trooper discovered a piece of a sneaker and several bones while walking in Bass River State Park. These remains were sent to the New Jersey State Police Forensic Lab for analysis, but at the time, they could not be identified. The case took another unexpected turn in 2012 when Steven Soden's sister, who believed he might have been a victim of the notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy, submitted her DNA to Cook County authorities who were working to identify Gacy's unknown victims. While her DNA did not match any of the Gacy victims, it was entered into a national database. This submission ultimately led to a breakthrough; in 2013, the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification notified New Jersey authorities that the DNA from Soden's sister was a match to the bones found in 2000. After more than forty years, Steven Soden had been found. While this discovery brought a measure of closure to the Soden family, the fate of Donald Caldwell remains a mystery. The New Jersey State Police continue to seek information from the public regarding Donald's disappearance, keeping the hope alive that one day, his family too will have answers. The case of Donald Caldwell is a poignant reminder of a young life interrupted, a story that began with a childhood camping trip and evolved into a decades-long search for truth and resolution.Last Seen: Apr 3, 1972
