On a spring afternoon in New Lisbon, New Jersey, 12-year-old David Edward Williams vanished without a trace. It was April 7, 1975, when the young male was last seen on the grounds of the New Lisbon State School, an institution for individuals with developmental disabilities situated off Route 72. David, a Black male with black hair and brown eyes, was a resident at the facility.
That day, he and his 17-year-old roommate, Steven Anderson, had been playing at a ball field on the campus with some of the staff members. At approximately 4:15 p.m., the two boys were seen walking back toward their residence. They never arrived, and neither David nor Steven have been seen or heard from since. At the time of his disappearance, David was described as being 5'0" and weighing 113 pounds. He was last seen wearing a dark-colored polo shirt, a small blue corduroy jacket, and striped pants.
David had developmental disabilities and required supervision. He also had epilepsy, a condition that necessitated daily medication to prevent grand mal seizures. Crucially, David did not have his medication with him when he went missing. He often wore a protective helmet to shield his head in case of a seizure, and he was reportedly wearing this helmet on the day he disappeared. The New Lisbon State School, now known as the New Lisbon Developmental Center, spanned a large, 1,896-acre property in the New Jersey Pinelands, a vast and remote area. In the days that followed the boys' disappearance, an extensive search was launched involving the New Jersey Human Services Police, New Jersey State Police, and the Air National Guard, who utilized helicopters and bloodhounds to scour the sprawling grounds and surrounding woodlands, but their efforts yielded no clues as to the boys' whereabouts.
The disappearance of David Williams and Steven Anderson has remained an unsolved case for decades, leaving their families with unanswered questions. The investigation has been ongoing, with agencies like the FBI joining the efforts in later years to re-examine the case and explore new leads. The fact that two boys with developmental disabilities disappeared simultaneously from a state-run facility is a particularly troubling aspect of this case. David's family was from Orange, New Jersey, and there was no indication that he would have tried to travel there. The disappearance of David and Steven is not the only vanishing to occur from the New Lisbon State School; another resident, Kenneth Schweighart, went missing from the facility in 1982, though no connection between the cases has been established. The case of David Edward Williams is a story of a vulnerable child who vanished under perplexing circumstances, and the long and frustrating search for answers that has followed.Last Seen: Apr 7, 1975
