William Alfred Higgins, age 35, vanished from Mckeesport, Pennsylvania on April 5, 1969.
He’d gone to work at the Christy Park Munitions Plant on Walnut Avenue, as usual, on the morning of April 5.
He never returned to his home on 6th Street. He left behind a wife and six children. He never picked up his paycheck from the plant, and his social security number has not been used since he vanished. I’m not sure if it’s been confirmed that he arrived at work that day.
William’s vehicle, a 1955 pickup truck, disappeared with him and has never been located.
Although William’s family reported him missing in 1969 and police classified his disappearance as suspicious, I can’t find any media coverage. The original police report was lost in 1980 as a result of a flood.
William’s wife, Dolores, placed ads in the paper calling for William to come forward because she wanted a divorce, but there was no response.
William married Dolores in 1955 in response to an unplanned pregnancy. By 1969, however, the marriage was troubled and both William and Dolores were involved in extramarital affairs. William was said to have cut down on his time at the bars and with other women in the weeks approaching his disappearance; he’d been spending more time at home fixing up the house.
Dolores, though, who was 32, was involved with a neighbor who was half her age and had a history of getting into trouble. Following William’s disappearance, the neighbor moved into the home with Dolores and the six children.
It just so happened that Dolores’s brother owned that home, and upon learning that she had allowed another man to move in, he promptly booted them out, and cut all ties with her. The residence burned down soon after.
In the ensuing years, Dolores has told varying stories, all of which implied that William left of his own accord. Among the statements was one where he was living on a barge on Florida and that he had left to avoid paying child support.
William’s family had no contact with his and Dolores’s children after he disappeared, until they recently reconnected online.
There are two rivers he would have crossed in order to get to and from work, so his family has considered the possibility of an accident, but believe foul play is more likely. His children seek answers as to his fate.
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