MCI

The Hurricane Missing Children Incident

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On June 25th and July 25th, 1985 a series of child abductions occurred at a Freddy Fazbear's Pizza restaurant in Hurricane, Utah, United States. In total, five children went missing: 8 year old Susie Fitzgerald, 6 year Gabriel Gonzalez, 9 year old Jeremy McAllister, 5 year old Fritz McCain, and 11 year old Cassidy Davis. The children were all lured to a backroom by a man adorning a mascot costume. The perpetrator has never been identified. It is widely regarded to be one of Utah's infamous missing persons cases.

June 25th Child Abductions

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At 6:20 PM, the restaurant reached full customer capacity, and was exceptionally busy until 10:00 PM. Around this time, both Susie Fitzgerald and Jeremy McAllister entered the restaurant with their respective families.

At 7:40 PM, Susie Fitzgerald's father, David Fitzgerald, headed to the restrooms due to food poisoning, and entrusted Susie's care to her older brother, 14 year old Nicholas Fitzgerald. According to Nicholas, one of his friends from school arrived and beckoned him to talk, leaving Susie vulnerable to any abduction. At 8:01 PM, Susie Fitzgerald was seen on CCTV cameras to be in the Arcade section of the building playing the restaurant's custom made table top arcade game, Fruity Maze. After a 10 minute playthrough, a man adorning a yellow springlock Spring-Bonnie suit approached her. Susie seemed visibly upset (possibly over the recent death of her dog), and the perpetrator comforted her by hugging her, before he took her hand and guided her to the back-room, successfully evading other cameras in the process. The room itself had no CCTV camera, nor was it marked on the camera system's mini-map display. Once David left the restroom at 8:20 PM, he went to retrieve his son and daughter to leave early, only to notice Susie's absence. He immediately began to search for her, before he asked staff for help.

At 9:13 PM, Jeremy McAllister was last seen by his parents, Elise and Samuel McAllister, heading towards the ball pit area (which was out of security camera view), while they stayed in the dining section. Witness reports state they saw the Spring-Bonnie perpetrator head towards that area around 9:17 PM. At 9:28 PM, CCTV cameras in the restroom hallway barely caught a glimpse of Jeremy heading towards the back-room. 10 minutes had passed before Elise and Samuel noticed his absence. By the end of the day, both children were reported missing.

July 25th Child Abductions

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At 6:45 PM Gabriel Gonzalez and his family entered the restaurant for his 6th birthday party. Shortly afterward, at 7:00 PM, Fritz McCain and Cassidy Davis arrived to attend Gabriel’s party. CCTV footage recorded Gabriel’s entire birthday party, and all of the children remained inside the party room until 8:26 PM, when Gabriel finished opening his presents and left his party room to go play in the arcade. At 8:45 PM, CCTV footage recorded Gabriel playing Pac-Man. After 10 minutes passed, the Spring-Bonnie perpetrator’s arm slightly appeared in camera view, motioning Gabriel to follow him. Gabriel quickly abandoned Pac-Man, and ran to follow the perpetrator towards the back-room.

At 9:10 PM, Fritz and Cassidy were seen by CCTV cameras while they went to the ball-pit. At 9:30 PM, while Gabriel’s parents began to notice their son’s absence, Fritz and Cassidy were seen by CCTV cameras to be leaving the ball-pit area and into the restroom hallway. The Spring-Bonnie perpetrator was caught by the CCTV camera in the restroom as he guided Fritz and Cassidy into the back-room. By the end of the day, all three children were reported missing.

Investigation

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During the initial investigation of the June 25th child abductions, the Hurricane Police Department searched the back-room of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The room was deemed "oddly clean and tidy for an unused room" by police, hinting recent use. There was a distinct lack of any evidence of foul play. The only thing of interest within the room was the retired Spring-Bonnie suit (which was revealed by forensics to have no sign of blood or fingerprints) and a noticeable lack of cameras. Upon questioning, police learned that the back-room was what Fazbear Entertainment called the "Safe Room," and its purpose was to shield the public eye from any Springlock failure back in the early years of the restaurant's operation, hence it's lack of appearance on the CCTV camera map.

When police reviewed the CCTV footage, they were suspicious of the Spring-Bonnie entertainer, and questioned staff about the suit. The suit, alongside the recently destroyed Fredbear suit, had been retired. A week prior, management was made aware that an employee kept using it, however, they did not know who. The staff suggested asking co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment, Henry Emily, about the suit, as he would know if there was any specific employee that had an affinity for it. When Henry was asked, he revealed that co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment, William Afton, had an "odd and disturbing obsession with the Spring Bonnie character." However, it was revealed by his family that William was visiting his home country, Britain until the 14th.

Police suspected an employee or ex-employee must've been behind the whole affair, as the perpetrator showed intimate knowledge of the building's camera system and the Spring-Bonnie suit mechanism. After questioning all employees and ex-employees, police were unable to identify any perpetrator due to their solid alibis. With no other signs of the children's whereabouts within the pizzeria, police suspected that the perpetrator must've waited until after hours and tampered with the cameras to allow him to freely transport the children out of the pizzeria. By July 13th, all police investigation had stopped at Freddy's.

The investigation for the July 25th incident met all the same issues that the June investigation had. Police presence in and around Freddy's increased and remained for the next 5 months.

Aftermath

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Due to the serial kidnappings, most parents in the local area did not feel Freddy's was a safe environment for their children. Popularity further decreased when news headlines reported parents seeing "blood and mucus" around the eyes and mouths of the mascot characters, which prompted further investigation (but no new leads). Public opinion was that the children's remains were hidden inside the animatronics, and instead of reporting it, Fazbear Entertainment disposed of the bodies as an attempt to salvage any public appeal. By the end of 1986, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza was closed.

The following year, Fazbear Entertainment attempted to start afresh with the grand-reopening of an old Fredbear's Family Diner restaurant. They had advertised that their new Toy Animatronics had criminal detection software, and their restaurant had an increase in security. After a few weeks of operation, 5 more children went missing (commonly referred to as the "The Yellow Hare Strikes Back"). Further insult to injury was made when the Funtime Foxy animatronic took out the frontal lobe of the dayshift security guard, Jeremy Fitzgerald, which came to be known as the "Bite of '87."

Fazbear Entertainment made one last attempt by reopening the infamous '85 location in 1989, but the restaurant only lasted until 1992. Since then, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza has become an urban legend amongst Hurricane citizens, with stories of ghost possession, poltergeists, and killer animatronics becoming intimately associated with the brand name. Once these stories became nationalized with the rise of social media, a local carnival company, Ted's Rides, opened up a horror attraction called "Fazbear's Frights." It never gained much public approval by locals as it was deemed to be an insult to the children. It was eventually burned to the ground by the "Hurricane Serial Arsonist."

The Hurricane Missing Children Incident

Hurricane Freddy Fazbear's Pizza before demolition in 2023

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Location: 136 N 3400 W, Hurricane, UT 84737

Dates: June 25th, 1985; July 30th, 1985; 41 years ago

8:01 PM to 9:30 PM (MST)

8:30 PM to 10:00 PM (MST)

Attack Type: Disappearance, alleged murder

Missing: 5 (Fitzgerald, Gonzalez, McAllister, McCain, Davis)

Perpetrator: Unknown