Disappearance of Richard Colvin Cox

Harry Maihafer's book Oblivion (1996) documents the investigation of Marshall Jacobs, a retired high school history teacher, into Cox's disappearance. Jacobs began his research in 1985. The more involved Jacobs became, the more intrigued he became with Cox and the prior inconclusive investigations. It was inconceivable to Jacobs that after 35 years this mystery had not been solved.

The old leads Jacobs revisited included ones from a Mansfield News Journal reporter named Jim Underwood who had written a 12-installment series on the Cox mystery that the News Journal had published in 1982, costing the newspaper more than 18,000 dollars. Underwood had interviewed a high school acquaintance of Cox named Ralph E. Johns, who later in life was elected as juvenile and domestic relations judge in Mansfield, serving six years, and became "a driving force to encourage Mansfield to build and maintain a Juvenile Detention Center."

At 4:45 pm on Saturday, 7 January 1950, a man telephoned Cox's West Point classmate, Peter Hains. Hains was acting as Charge of Quarters in Cadet Company B-2 (part of the North Barracks) and answered incoming calls for company members. He later said the caller's "tone was rough and patronizing, almost insulting." After Hains told the man that Cox was not in his room, the man replied, "Well, look, when he comes in, tell him to come on down here to the hotel. ... Just tell him George called – he'll know who I am. We knew each other in Germany. I'm just up here for a little while, and tell him I'd like to get him a bite to eat." Hains later stated he could not be completely certain the name given was "George", as he had answered many phone calls while on duty and that one had not seemed noteworthy at the time; Cox never referred to the man by name.

Three days after Cox's disappearance, a public appeal for information was broadcast on nearby radio stations. The grounds of West Point were intensively searched by helicopter and by troops on the ground. The Lusk Reservoir was dragged, the banks of the Hudson River were searched and a nearby pond was drained. The manhunt lasted two months but produced no significant leads. A search of Army records for a soldier who had served with Cox and matched the description of "George", only led to individuals who could not have been at West Point at the time of the disappearance. Cox's service in Germany was investigated and revealed nothing out of the ordinary. The theory that he had deliberately deserted from West Point was discounted, as he had left behind in his room $87 (about $980 in 2021) and two suits of civilian clothes. On 15 March 1950, Cox was listed as absent without leave. He was declared legally dead in 1957.

Johns told Underwood that he had not been involved in the original investigation in the 1950s, but during that era "he and another Mansfield man, William McKee, grew very interested in the Cox case and had frequent contacts with local FBI officials. ... Johns also told Underwood that on one occasion, when discussing the Cox case with former FBI agent Vince Napoli, Napoli told him and McKee that the FBI had been within twenty-four hours of grabbing Cox, and he couldn't understand why the FBI would not let them pick him up or why they pulled them off the case. According to Underwood, Johns had speculated, perhaps based on Napoli's story, that Cox might have gone into some secret government agency such as the CIA." In the late 1980s, Jacobs interviewed Johns, who confirmed that he had speculated about a secret government agency but it was only his speculation.

When he was ready to reveal his findings, Jacobs contacted Maihafer with hopes they could collaborate on a book. The resulting work, Oblivion, includes a section with photos including the snapshot that Cox's roommates took of him on 7 January 1950 sleeping off the effects of the alcohol he had consumed in his visitor's parked car a short time earlier.

Cox entered West Point in May 1948 and did well there; academically, he was ranked about 100th of 550. Cox was engaged to be married; he and his fiancée, Betty Timmons, planned to marry after his graduation from West Point.

After graduating from a public high school in Mansfield in 1946, Cox volunteered for service in the United States Army. He joined the United States Constabulary, which carried out police occupation and security duties in Allied-occupied Germany. In May 1947, he began his assignment to the 6th Constabulary Regiment, based at Coburg in the American occupation zone in Germany and was in the S-2 (intelligence) section of Headquarters Company. Later in 1947, Cox applied for and received his appointment to West Point, arriving at the United States Military Academy Preparatory School (then located at Stewart Field near the academy proper) in January 1948. There his classmates included Ernest Shotwell. Years later Shotwell became an important source on Cox's disappearance when he provided an eyewitness account that indicated that Cox had disappeared voluntarily and was deliberately avoiding contact with his distraught family. (Shotwell did not attend the academy and did not see Cox again until 1952.)

Richard Colvin Cox (born 25 July 1928, last seen 14 January 1950) was an American second-year cadet who disappeared from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. In January 1950, he was visited by a young man whose first name may have been George, three times over the course of a week. On the third occasion, Cox and "George" left the grounds of the academy and were never seen again. According to an eyewitness account from another cadet, the two men seemed to have known each other somewhere other than West Point. Cox is the only West Point cadet to have disappeared without a trace.

Cox returned to Cadet Company B-2, signed the Departure Book, took a shower, and slept off the effects of the alcohol (his two roommates later revealed this). As a prank, his roommates photographed him, slumped over his desk, asleep. At an indeterminate time that evening, Cox altered the military time he had written in the Departure Book, changing "1923" to "1823" to make it look as if he had attended the 6:30 pm cadet supper formation. In fact, he had skipped the formation. This detail was not discovered until two years later, when an agent of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command had the Departure Book examined in a laboratory. If the alteration had been discovered when it was fresh in January 1950, Cox could have been charged with violating the Cadet Honor Code.