The wilderness was a second home for eight-year-old Derrick James Engebretson. As an infant, his mother would put him in a pack and take him on bear hunts. As he grew, so did his love of the outdoors.
“Bear Boy” was Derrick’s nickname; he knew his way around the wilderness. Robert, his father, said his son was accustomed to mountain terrain and had once walked 20 miles along the Oregon countryside.
Derrick always carried his trusty hatchet with him, making tiny marks on every passing tree. However, the outdoors was not his sole interest. He also loved to read, and was a fan of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series.
Christmas was an exciting time for Derrick. Not because of the presents, but because he would go Christmas tree hunting with his family. The Engebretsons’ would select one of Oregon’s postcard-worthy evergreens for their Christmas tree.
The woods were his taste of a winter wonderland, and unfortunately, the last place he was ever seen alive.
In 1998, the hunt for a Christmas tree was different. Lori, Derrick’s mother, wanted to use an artificial tree. She thought a real tree made too much of a mess. However, one of their neighbors wanted a real tree, but their disability prevented them from going to the woods and chopping one down. The neighbor asked the Engebretsons’ to chop down a tree for them, which they were happy to do.
On the afternoon of December 5th, 1998, Derrick accompanied Robert and Bob, his grandfather, to the picturesque forest of Oregon’s Pelican Butte. He was no stranger to the area; it was one of his favorite places to go mushroom hunting.
Upon arrival, the three proceeded along an embankment and into the snow-covered foliage. Robert ventured ahead, telling Derrick to stay with his grandfather. Derrick agreed to do so, and he and Bob wandered through the mazes of white and green.
Unsurprisingly, Derrick swung his hatchet at every passing tree; he had to make his trademark indents. As he dashed from tree trunk to tree trunk, he repeatedly asked Bob if he could go catch up with his Dad. Bob, annoyed, eventually gave in and let him scurry off into the white thicket. Bob wasn’t worried about Derrick taking his own route, because the boy knew his way around the wilderness.
Bob eventually met up with Robert at around 3 p.m., Robert immediately saw Derrick wasn’t with him. Confused, Robert asked his father where his son was.
“I thought he was with you,” Bob answered nonchalantly.
“He was with you!” Robert yelled, horrified.
Robert immediately ran back into the forest. He had to find Derrick, and he had to do it quickly. Daylight was fading by the minute and heavy snow was beginning to fall. Robert screamed out his son’s name as he sprinted through the wet, falling snow. His voice echoed through the frosty trees, but there was no response.
An hour passed, darkness set in, and the snow fell harder. Robert reunited with Bob, and the two men continued calling for Derrick. The silence was deafening.
A desperate Robert stopped a passing motorist and frantically asked him to call 911 to report Derrick missing. The motorist drove to a nearby resort and did so.
The police wouldn’t arrive for two hours. The local Search and Rescue had held their annual banquet the same day and didn’t want to prematurely end the festivities.
The next few weeks marked the beginning of a decades-long nightmare. Upon hearing Derrick was missing, Lori raced to Pelican Butte to start searching. In addition to the Search and Rescue team, hundreds of volunteers searched the woods on snowmobiles and on foot.
Bob, a seasoned tracker, was able to retrace some of his grandson’s steps. He followed his grandson’s signature tree indents, as well as his footprints in the snow. Based on the footprints and tree marks, Bob concluded Derrick walked up a hill, made a snow angel, and headed in the direction of Bob’s parked pickup truck. Unfortunately, the trail abruptly ended, a snowplow had bulldozed the remaining footprints, and there were no additional markings on the trees.
The Engebretsons’ practically lived in Pelican Butte throughout the search. Lori refused to leave and kept watch in a donated camper. A bonfire burned outside to help Derrick find his way back. During one of her many sleepless nights, Lori gazed out the window and thought she saw her son emerging from the wilderness with a smile. However, she quickly realized it was a hallucination.
Volunteers discovered a makeshift shelter, a candy wrapper, and a bookmark from Derrick’s school. Knowing Derrick’s love of reading, the bookmark was intriguing but authorities failed to connect the findings to Derrick’s disappearance.
Police also questioned Robert and Bob, who each agreed to take a polygraph test. Both passed their polygraphs and were cleared.
After eight days, police called off the search and declared Derrick had succumbed to the elements. The weather had been harsh all week–it would be impossible for a child to survive such conditions.
The Engebretsons’ and the remaining volunteers continued to brave subzero temperatures in the hopes of finding some trace of Derrick. On December 18th, the Engebretsons’, concerned about the intense weather, called off the search. They didn’t want to endanger the volunteers.
For the next two years, the Engebretsons’ spent every spare moment searching Pelican Butte for Derrick. They spent thousands on search boats and psychics, which drove them to bankruptcy. No trace of Derrick was ever found.
Because of the lack of clues, the Engebretsons theorized Derrick had been abducted from where Bob discovered his last footprints.
A witness came forward, supporting the abduction theory. The witness, who was in the area on the day Derrick disappeared, claimed to have seen an unidentified man struggling with a young boy.
The witness assumed the man was the boy’s father and chose not to intervene. However, investigators did not believe the alleged altercation had any connection to Derrick’s disappearance.
After four years of no leads, the Engebretsons’ finally received promising information. In 2002, a prison inmate sent them a disturbing letter.
In the letter, the inmate claimed that Frank James Milligan, a convicted sex offender, had confessed to Derrick’s murder in prison.
The lead seemed promising. In 1999, Milligan was arrested for sexually assaulting and attempting to murder a 10-year-old boy. Additionally, witnesses reported seeing Milligan’s vehicle in the area on the day Derrick disappeared. Was Frank Milligan the man who took their son?
Police confronted Milligan who confessed to Derrick’s murder. Upon further questioning, he told them the alleged location of his remains. Police immediately traveled to the area as the Engebretsons prepared for the worst.
Shockingly, an extensive search yielded no trace of human remains in addition to no evidence to connect Milligan to Derrick’s disappearance. Milligan recanted his confession.
The Engebretsons’ were back to square one.
Years passed without any promising leads. The Engebretsons have celebrated 22 Christmases without Derrick, each more painful than the last. Even after two decades, the Engebretsons and authorities continue to search for Derrick, who would now be 30 years old.
Bob, the last person to see Derrick alive, passed away in 2012. He never found out what happened to his grandson.
Lori and Robert are now grandparents. Lori still believes her son was kidnapped and is not in Pelican Butte. Despite the passage of time, Derrick never left their hearts. Every year, they hope their beloved son will come home for Christmas.
“I want to believe that he’s still alive to this day,” Lori told KATU in 2018. “..and until someone shows me different, I don’t think I’m ever going to give up on him.”
If you have any information about Derrick James Engebretson’s disappearance, please contact the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office at 541–883–5130
