Description

Thomas "Tommy" Novak was last seen about 10 pm on July 25th, 1958 on the Lawrence Carter Ranch in Park Valley, Utah wearing a tan shirt and blue jeans. No cars or horses were reported missing, so it is assumed the boy left on foot. He did not take any extra clothing or food with him. At first it was thought the boy may be headed to Finley, Nevada or Idaho. A boy resembling Tommy had been seen trying to broad a train at Brigham City. On Aug 4th, a boy in a tan shirt, blue slacks, a western style straw hat, carrying an old type. 22 and a bundle of cattails was seen at the Ogden stockyard and later the rail yards. The boy told a railroad checker that he was going to Wells, Nevada. The last possible sighting of Tommy came from a rancher in Snowville, Utah who reported that he saw the boy on the evening of Aug 11th. The Box Elder County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Warren Hyde, and many locals on horseback conducted extensive searches of the rugged area around Park Valley but did not find any trace of the missing boy. Railroad authorities as far as California were notified to be on the look out for Tommy riding the rails. Before moving to Utah about a year prior, the family had lived in Nevada. The authorities from Nevada were familiar with Tommy and noted that the boy had an interest in trucks. He was known to hitch rides or stow-away in large trucks. Tommy had one sibling, a four-year-old brother, at the time of his disappearance.