Dave Bocks was a 39-year-old man working as a pipefitter in a facility’s maintenance department. Dave was a hard worker whose work ethic gave him a positive reputation. Dave was also a divorced father of three. According to his ex-wife, Casey, he was a very loving and devoted father.
Sadly, Dave would be met with tragedy one summer.
On June 18, 1984, Dace Bocks reported to his graveyard shift like he had done so many times before. He met with his partner, Harry Easterling, in the parking lot of a White Castle at around 11:00 pm that night. Harry then drove the both of them to the facility in his truck. The pair got to the building just before 11:30 pm. From there, they put their belongings in the storage area, changed into their work clothes, and walked through the sanitizing area.
At around 4:00 am, Dave and his supervisor Charlie Shouse were seen sitting in a parked truck by one of the employees at the facility. While the employee could not hear exactly what they were talking about, they claimed that the conversation seemed to be “serious”. That was aided by the fact that the windows were up despite it being a very hot and humid summer night. They clocked back in at 4:46 am.
At some point during the rest of the night, Dave just disappeared.
Harry recalls being unsettled by Dave’s sudden absence from the job. At 7:00 am that morning, the entire facility had a safety meeting in a conference room. Dave was not there. When Harry went to the maintenance room to put his tools away, he noticed that Dave’s toolbox was open with his keys still inside. He thought that Dave may have been working overtime. However, Harry was still not able to find Dave anywhere throughout the facility. Since he was Dave’s ride, he left a note with security telling him that he would be back later.
That same morning, a furnace operator in a different plant noticed something strange. He claimed that there was an unusual odor coming from the furnace and that there was definitely something inside. He told the supervisor about it and was told that there was nothing wrong and that he should keep working.
That night, Harry arrived at the White Castle to meet Dave. It was his turn to drive to the facility. When Harry saw that Dave’s car was already in the parking lot, he checked it and realized that it had not been driven recently. He then we to the facility and reported Dave missing. Inside Dave’s locker, security found the same clothes Dave was wearing the night before. They would then call the police.
Investigators would then make a startling discovery.
The same furnace that the employee was concerned about contained a set of keys. The keys belonged to Dave Bocks. There were also several pieces of bone fragments found in the furnace as well. It would be a virtual certainty that Dave Bocks was dead. While the police believed that he committed suicide, his family believes that he was murdered.
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