On June 10, 1966, eight-year-old Timothy David Tim Trask from Findlay, Ohio, went missing after he set off on his bicycle to Riverside Park to fish in the Blanchard River. Tim, a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy who loved the outdoors, was reported missing that evening. The next day, his body was discovered in a wooded, marshy area near the river, concealed under heavy brush. He had been shot twice at close range and stabbed, with his fishing rod and a glass jar of minnows beside him.
The tragic discovery was made about 24 hours after his disappearance.
The investigation concluded that Tim had been murdered on the evening of his disappearance and had been criminally assaulted and abused. The case went unsolved until May 1968, when Stanley Everett Rice, a 25-year-old drifter and sexual predator, was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the murder of another young boy. During interrogation, Rice confessed to the murder of Tim Trask, as well as other crimes. Rice's confession led to the recovery of a diary in which he recorded his sadistic crimes.
Rice, known as the "stuttering drifter," had a history of molesting and photographing young boys. He was eventually convicted of one murder in Ohio, one in Ontario, and the Mother's Day killing in Florida. Despite his confession, authorities could only confirm his involvement in these three murders. Rice was sentenced to life imprisonment and remained incarcerated until his death in 2007.
The murder of Timothy David Tim Trask remains a haunting reminder of the vulnerability of children and the heinous acts committed by predators like Stanley Everett Rice.
