A Boy’s Disappearance Baffled Authorities—Until a Hidden Room Was Found Near Where He Was Last Seen (3 of 4)

And in that crawlspace… a mattress. A spoon. A water bottle. Crayon drawings taped to the wall. A child’s T-shirt—Aiden’s.

Emily screamed.

Police were called. Within hours, forensic teams filled the house. The room was real. The items were real. And the DNA confirmed it: Aiden had been in that hidden space.

But there was one problem.

The crawlspace had no other exit. No tunnel. No vent. No hidden trapdoor. Just a single way in and out—behind a 200-pound dresser bolted to the floor.

So how did he get in? And more terrifyingly… who put him there?

That’s when a neighbor came forward with something they’d never thought to report.

Two years earlier, just days after Aiden’s disappearance, a repairman had come to the Winslows’ house to “check the furnace.” Emily had been too distraught to think twice. Mark barely remembered letting the man in.

There was no furnace scheduled for repair.

The man was never identified.

The theory? He’d built the hiding spot himself—possibly over multiple visits. Hidden in plain sight. And then, when no one was watching, he took Aiden—into the walls of his own home.