Boy found in a VA creek 50 years ago ID'd as missing Philly child

Boy found in a Virginia creek 50 years ago as a missing child from Philadelphia

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A young boy that was found in a Virginia creek about 50 years ago, has been identified as a missing child from Philadelphia.

This case dates to June 14, 1972, when a 14-year-old was riding his bike home from school in Lorton, Virginia.

“There’s a small bridge that goes over a creek, and the boy looked down in the creek area and saw the body of a child,” said Detective Melissa Wallace with Fairfax, Virginia’s Cold Case Unit.

Wallace told sources the little boy, believed to have been about 4 years old, died of blunt force trauma, but police couldn’t identify him, so he was buried by a group of Christian women, who adopted him in death. They gave him the name “Charles Lee Charlet”. That name was on his tombstone at the cemetery where he was buried.

Fifty years later, with the advancement of DNA and genealogy, Wallace sent hairs from the autopsy to a lab for a full genetic profile, which led investigators to the family of Vera Bryant in Philadelphia. The boy, identified as Carl Matthew Bryant.

Wallace was able to get in contact with Vera’s sister, to deliver the information. Vera’s sister confirmed that Vera also had a six-month-old named James

“The last thing she knew, is they were all headed down to Virginia, and the boys were never seen again,” Wallace said.

When Vera returned to Philly for Thanksgiving in 1972, she got into an argument with her family about where her children were. At the time, she was dating a man named James Hedgepath.

“They asked, ‘Where are the boys at?’ And they said, ‘Oh, they stayed down in Virginia with his family.’ And they all thought that was weird that she wouldn’t bring her kids up for a big holiday like Thanksgiving,” Wallace said.

Vera died in 1980. Hedgepath died decades later. Investigators believe she and/or Hedgepath killed Carl. They are still looking for the baby, James, which is why they are keeping the case open.