On a late summer day in Fayetteville, North Carolina, a mystery began that would span decades, leaving a family shattered and a community with lingering questions. On September 12, 1964, seven-year-old Alan Westerfield and his older brother, eleven-year-old Terry, seemingly vanished. The boys' stepfather, an Army sergeant named Carl Bock, told authorities he dropped them off at the Broadway Theater on Hay Street for a double feature.
This was a common pastime for the brothers, who were well-known by the theater's employees. Bock claimed he returned to pick them up in the evening, but the boys were nowhere to be found. He said he waited for a significant amount of time before leaving, assuming their mother, Margaret, had picked them up instead. It wasn't until the early morning hours of September 13 that Margaret, after returning home and finding their beds empty, reported her sons missing to the police. An initial search for Alan and Terry was hampered by heavy rains from Hurricane Dora, which swept through the area that night.
The investigation into the boys' disappearance quickly focused on the account provided by their stepfather. Contradictions and troubling details began to emerge, casting doubt on his story. While some theater employees thought they might have seen the brothers that day, others, who knew them well, had no recollection of them being there at all. Investigators found it strange that Bock never went inside the theater to look for the boys when he couldn't find them outside. The day had already been unusual; Bock had unexpectedly picked up the boys from their babysitter that morning, telling some of Terry's friends who came by later that he was being punished and couldn't play. As the investigation progressed, law enforcement came to believe that Bock was involved in the boys' disappearance and that they may have been killed shortly after they were last seen.
Decades have passed since Alan and Terry Westerfield were last seen, and their case remains the oldest unsolved disappearance in North Carolina. The emotional toll on their family has been immense. Their biological father, Mel Westerfield, spent years searching tirelessly for any sign of his sons before his death by suicide in 1978. Margaret divorced Carl Bock during the investigation and passed away in 2003, never knowing what happened to her children. Carl Bock remained the primary person of interest throughout the years. He was interviewed multiple times by investigators, even as late as 2012, but was reportedly uncooperative and hostile. Authorities even offered him immunity in exchange for information about the boys' location, an offer he refused. Bock died in 2016, taking any potential secrets with him. The disappearance of Alan and Terry Westerfield is a haunting cold case, a story of two young brothers who went to see a movie and never came home, leaving behind a legacy of unanswered questions and enduring grief.Last Seen: Sep 12, 1964
