I just watched this case, and it is very strange. I did a search and it appears that as of last year, no updates have been noted. What does everyone think? I would assume that the family would be able to correctly identify their own son but why would he never respond? Even when they ran the plates of that car he was in, they came up with nothing. It just doesn't make sense.

This, to me, is one of the stranger cases on UM. It's almost as if they mystery is right there to be solved several times over but nothing ever comes of it.

This case never sat right with me for some reason. Obviously, this man's family wants to know he is alive and okay but some of the stories they told seem a bit far fetched, to say the least. I guess I don't understand why the government would take such an interest in Curt (sp?) as it was mentioned in the segment that he didn't posses any skills that would make him a candidate for any type of mission or special assignment.

I can't help but wonder if the family is blowing things out of proportion, seeing what they want to, or just grasping at straws because they really want to believe Curt is alive and don't want to accept the evidence that suggests otherwise.

I really feel sorry for the family. But I think they're seeing what they want to see. I mean, the military actually took the time to dismiss them on television. They never did that on any other segment.

This was a case I wanted to believe but had trouble accepting.

I think the family is sadly mistaken and is coping with Curt's loss in their own way. I never thought either picture looked like Curt (the first picture they show looks like a South Vietnamese soldier with american troops.. However, they are Curt's parents would be able to identify a picture of their own child much better than anyone else.

I wonder if the military failed to take Curt's father seriously because he was uneducated (he was functionally illiterate). BTW, I believe Borton wa skilled in Vietnam.

I don't think the pictures shown of Curt in the Marines Magazine and a film frame were him. They just don't look like him, imo. Among other differences, they have different brow bone shapes and different ears, and they don't even look like each other.

However, I think the family used these photos as a spring board for Curt's sister to continue her search for him all the way to DC. I think her sightings of him there are more credible.

If you believe the federal government works in mysterious ways, or if you just plain old don't trust those effers (guess you can tell how I feel), then it's easy to explain why Curt's SS# came up as "never issued", and why the license plate on the red car, supposedly driven in DC by Curt, came back as registered to a man who says he knows nothing about Curt.

Well duh! If those plates are given out by the gov't for their own secret purposes, it's very likely that the plate on Curt's car wouldn't be registered to his own name and address, but to someone else working for secret gov't crap, and so on with everybody else's plates. That makes it easier to hide from whoever the gov't workers are supposed to be hiding from.

The phone call that the father received regarding the name of Curt's blonde haired baby sitter is somewhat unsettling to me. It's like whoever was on the phone with the dad wanted to make a positive connection between the dad and Curt, but then there was no further contact.

Or else maybe Curt just wanted to be sure that after all these years, those were really his folks, and an easy way to confirm that would be by asking a private question that only the family would know. Maybe he was actually spying on them the whole time, trying to make sure they were his family. Once he realized that they were (through the baby sitter question) then there was no reason to further endanger them or himself through those "chance" meetings at the park and on the roads.

One thing that I think is total BS is the explanation given by the gov't that the south asians had a viable trade in the "digging up and selling corpses" business. That gov't spokes blabber said that's why only several of Curt's teeth were recovered in a grave in Vietnam, but no other bones were found.

At first, the gov't spokes blabber called them "grave robbers". BS all over that. Grave robbers in modern times are not looking to supply cadavers to medical colleges. They are looking for valuables buried with the dead. They leave the bodies and take the jewelry, gold teeth, etc. I tried to find info on such activity, and doing a quick internet search only provides info on a drug trade that involved sending drugs from VN to the US in cadavers.

That's not what we're dealing with in Curt's case. In his case, he was supposedly buried in one location in VN. Then dug up and buried in another location in a grave robbing business. What money is there in digging up and reburying the dead? Seems like it would cost money to do that and would reap no rewards.

And who the heck were those two guys who kept meeting Curt's dad in the parking lots trying to get him to sign a document declaring Curt dead? The gov't spokes blabber may claim that they don't work in such an unprofessional manner, but come on! The gov't also runs the IRS, and Congress for crying out loud! And they don't exactly have "professional" stamped all over them.

After the dad finally signed the document, he received a check for over $40,000. I'm assuming it was drawn on some bank unrelated to the gov't and couldn't be traced to the gov't. Why would two strangers hound Curt's family to declare him dead, then send him forty grand for doing so?

And come to think of it, why did the family have to declare him dead? Curt was a marine in Vietnam. Why didn't the gov't just declare him 'killed in action' and be done with it? (Plus it had been over 20 years since he'd been last seen alive.) Then the gov't could move Curt into his new identity for whatever it is they wanted him to do.

I don't know if this makes any difference, but Curt's mom is identified in the segment as his step-mother. She calls him her son and I don't know at what point in his life that she became his step mother.

Hi, I'm new to this forum and I registered because I just watch this episode of Curt Borton. After watching this unsolved mystery, I was curious and wanted to see if there was anything on this person on the net or if there was any update..because isn't Unsolved mysteries a really old show??Any ways I read a couple of people post...and I have to disagree with some of you..maybe its wishful thinking but I still believe he is still alive...I was so angry when the sister didn't go up to him and ask the man, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?!"..got me so angry, but of course she didnt want to jepordize her children...so in a way it was understandable.
Although they mentioned that Curt didn't have any skills to do some covert op mission or w/e..we dont know for sure..and the man who said it was part of the u.s military, he could be working for the government for all we know, just hiding the facts...I found it kind of stupid, and everytime that marine spoke....I didnt believe him...I bet he IS working for some secret agency just to cover up for Curt...N e ways...great to see someone had recently postd..shows me this thread is still active...

Here is a webpage that talks about him.

http://taskforceomegainc.org/b038.html

There were several stories of this type in the history of UM. All different but with the central theme of "military man goes missing" and then is either sighted again and/or evidence turns up that he is in some secret program.

As much as I would like to believe these, I think most of them are probably just the hopes of loving families. (Please note they don't all fall into this category but I think most do.)

Justin Burgwinkel, Paul Whipkey, and the other guy I can't remember (his family said they saw him at a gas station on a nice day and he said, "Looks like snow" and then walked away).

I really, really want to believe that these people were/are alive and were on some secret mission, but my logic says in most if not all cases, Occam's Razor applies and there are much simpler explanations.

TM, This is the guy who saw his sister and said, "looks like snow" when it was a sunny day in october with no sign of snow any time soon. She went on to see him in town a few more times, so she claims.

I don't know about the other cases. I'm sure a great many of the "missing vietnam soldier turns up mysteriously" are just cases of wishful thinking on the part of the parent. I know that sounds awful, but it must have been extremely hard for the families to accept.

TM, This is the guy who saw his sister and said, "looks like snow" when it was a sunny day in october with no sign of snow any time soon. She went on to see him in town a few more times, so she claims.

I don't know about the other cases. I'm sure a great many of the "missing vietnam soldier turns up mysteriously" are just cases of wishful thinking on the part of the parent. I know that sounds awful, but it must have been extremely hard for the families to accept.

DOH! I'm an idiot... :crazy:

I didn't read carefully enough. I thought this thread was about the guy who they thought had died in Vietnam and then his parents saw his picture in the magazine, which was apparently "backed up" by a guy in a bar, which later turned out to be false.

I stand by the rest of what I said, though. ;)

i came across something interesting on the web..something related to Curt...as i was searching on google i came across a page, that had his sister e-mail...and saying if anybody had n e question feel free to ask her....heres the link
http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/b/b038.htm
I doubt e-mailing her now would get us any answers or any updates on her brother whereabouts because it was last posted in 1998....but give it a try ..someone, lol?

I saw this case the other day, and it's definately one of the strangest I've ever seen! I don't necessarily not believe the family...I'm not sure what to think. I also did not think the photographs looked like Kurt. But I don't know why that man kept following the sister around, or why those government men kept acosting the father in parking lots. The whole thing is so bizarre.

I think I was the first on here to mention the photographs that did not resemble Curt. The ONLY thing that keeps me from dismissing the family altogether is the fact the father says he was confonted in a parking lot and signed the document which changed Curt's status. The Army official interviewed was adamant the military does not work that way and I believe he is right. However, after signing the paper Curt's family received a large check. I assume the check was issued from teh federal government. If there was no check (and the fact his ss# came up as never issued), I would think this whole story is a crock.

While it would be great that Curt Borton survived Vietnam and was alive somewhere.
However, the evidence portrayed in segment points to that not being the case.

1) He hadn't been in the military very long so him being sent on a "special mission" was very unlikely.
2) When the Marine Corps found teeth that they believed to be his,a simple mitochondrial DNA test would have confirmed his identity. The family didn't seem to have taken this test.
3) The guy that was stalking (if somebody was) could have been in more trouble if he had played a cat and mouse game if he was Curt Borton.
4) If the family believe that he was alive,why didn't they hire a PI when they receive the $43,000 check? This would have solved most of their concerns as a professional investigator would have easily dismissed the less credible information sources.
5) The Vietnam conflict had ended almost 20 years BEFORE this segment was originally aired. Whatever Borton was supposed to have been doing would have ended many years before then.There would be no reason for him to remain "undercover" and doing as such would have been expensive and pointless.

I think I was the first on here to mention the photographs that did not resemble Curt. The ONLY thing that keeps me from dismissing the family altogether is the fact the father says he was confonted in a parking lot and signed the document which changed Curt's status. The Army official interviewed was adamant the military does not work that way and I believe he is right. However, after signing the paper Curt's family received a large check. I assume the check was issued from teh federal government. If there was no check (and the fact his ss# came up as never issued), I would think this whole story is a crock.

His SSN doesn't come up as not issued. At least, it didn't when I ran a search for him in the Vietnam casualty database on ancestry.com. Specifically:

Name: Robert Curtis Borton Jr
Birth Date: 24 Jun 1946
Death Date: 24 Aug 1977
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Race: Caucasian (White)
Home City: Winfield Lincoln
Home State: Michigan
Religion: No Religious Preference
Marital Status: Single (Spouse Not Listed)
SSN/Service #: 492-48-6171
Citizen Status: U.S.
Death Date: 24 Aug 1977
Processed Date: Dec 1995
Casualty Country: Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)
Casualty Type: Hostile - Died While Missing
Casualty Reason: Unknown or Not Reported
Casualty Air: Ground Casualty
Body Status: Body Recovered
Service Branch: United States Marine Corps
Component: Regular (RA, USN, USAF, USMC, USCG)
Pay Grade: Specialist Seventh Class (U.S. Army) or Sergeant First Class (U.S. Army) or Master Sergeant (U.S. Air Force) or Gunnery Sergeant (U.S. Marine Corps) or Platoon Sergeant (U.S. Army) or Grade/Rate Abbreviations With First Column: Any Entry; Second Column: A
Province: Military Region 1 - Quang Nam
Service Occupation: Rifleman (USMC)
Data Source: Combat Area Casualties Current File

Run this SSN in the death index, and it comes up with the same information on name, DOB, and DOD. The 1977 death date, according to the database, was "not actually death dates, but the dates in which MIA or POW soldiers were officially declared deceased."

There is a simple solution to this mystery - just run a DNA test on the remains the gov't says are Curt's. If there is a match, mystery solved.

His SSN doesn't come up as not issued. At least, it didn't when I ran a search for him in the Vietnam casualty database on ancestry.com. Specifically:

Name: Robert Curtis Borton Jr
Birth Date: 24 Jun 1946
Death Date: 24 Aug 1977
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Race: Caucasian (White)
Home City: Winfield Lincoln
Home State: Michigan
Religion: No Religious Preference
Marital Status: Single (Spouse Not Listed)
SSN/Service #: 492-48-6171
Citizen Status: U.S.
Death Date: 24 Aug 1977
Processed Date: Dec 1995
Casualty Country: Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)
Casualty Type: Hostile - Died While Missing
Casualty Reason: Unknown or Not Reported
Casualty Air: Ground Casualty
Body Status: Body Recovered
Service Branch: United States Marine Corps
Component: Regular (RA, USN, USAF, USMC, USCG)
Pay Grade: Specialist Seventh Class (U.S. Army) or Sergeant First Class (U.S. Army) or Master Sergeant (U.S. Air Force) or Gunnery Sergeant (U.S. Marine Corps) or Platoon Sergeant (U.S. Army) or Grade/Rate Abbreviations With First Column: Any Entry; Second Column: A
Province: Military Region 1 - Quang Nam
Service Occupation: Rifleman (USMC)
Data Source: Combat Area Casualties Current File

Run this SSN in the death index, and it comes up with the same information on name, DOB, and DOD. The 1977 death date, according to the database, was "not actually death dates, but the dates in which MIA or POW soldiers were officially declared deceased."

There is a simple solution to this mystery - just run a DNA test on the remains the gov't says are Curt's. If there is a match, mystery solved.
But what about then? Has that number always been registered?

There just seems to be too many weird occurrences for this to be easily dismissed as the family "seeing what they want to see". Especially if you take into consideration all of the people they encountered throughout the years.

Oh and what about that man who held a gun to the family member that tried searching for the SSN? Why didn't it come up at the time when the person searched it? And apparently doing such a gesture got him a death threat.

His SSN doesn't come up as not issued. At least, it didn't when I ran a search for him in the Vietnam casualty database on ancestry.com.

LOL, were you threatened at gunpoint after you looked that up?

I think it speaks volumes that on virtually other UM story about suspicious military disappearances or suicides, RS would always open with the statement: "The military declined to participate in our broadcast". In the Curt Borton segment, they actually let a military spokesperson be interviewed on camera to deny the allegations, as if to say: "We REALLY don't have anything to hide on this one, so we have no problem defending ourselves and denouncing this family's laughable accusations".

I think it speaks volumes that on virtually other UM story about suspicious military disappearances or suicides, RS would always open with the statement: "The military declined to participate in our broadcast". In the Curt Borton segment, they actually let a military spokesperson be interviewed on camera to deny the allegations, as if to say: "We REALLY don't have anything to hide on this one, so we have no problem defending ourselves and denouncing this family's laughable accusations".
That doesn't mean the military is telling the truth though. Especially after all the unusual incidents that occurred.

Oh and what about that man who held a gun to the family member that tried searching for the SSN? Why didn't it come up at the time when the person searched it? And apparently doing such a gesture got him a death threat.

The SSN is on the internet, available to billions of people from a variety of sites. So I find that claim absurd, to say the least.

LOL, were you threatened at gunpoint after you looked that up?

Nope.

Gotta wonder about a vast conspiracy that doesn't bother to redact the supposed secret information from public databases...

The SSN is on the internet, available to billions of people from a variety of sites. So I find that claim absurd, to say the least.
Well the SSN is available now. But what about back then? You can't be certain. The cousin could always be lying, but why fabricate such a story? What would be the motive? It wouldn't get them any closer to finding Borton.

Well the SSN is available now. But what about back then? You can't be certain. The cousin could always be lying, but why fabricate such a story? What would be the motive? It wouldn't get them any closer to finding Borton.

Well, I can't say about "back then" since I didn't look back then, but it's just not a plausible story considering that there's no reason to hide this information and it's virtually impossible to believe that something would move from being so secret the gov't would kill over it to public domain so quickly.

Why would the cousin lie? Why would anyone? Publicity, for one. Conspiracy theory books tend to sell too, so the profit factor can't be ruled out, either.

That doesn't mean the military is telling the truth though. Especially after all the unusual incidents that occurred.

Oh, I agree, but I just find it interesting that with all the mysterious cover-up cases on UM, the military would actually agree to cooperate on what is arguably one of the least believable ones they've profiled.

Well, I can't say about "back then" since I didn't look back then, but it's just not a plausible story considering that there's no reason to hide this information and it's virtually impossible to believe that something would move from being so secret the gov't would kill over it to public domain so quickly.

Why would the cousin lie? Why would anyone? Publicity, for one. Conspiracy theory books tend to sell too, so the profit factor can't be ruled out, either.
Ehhh I think you're kind of going off on a tangent with what the cousin said. Is there any basis for the conclusion to dismiss his story? He's trying to help his family. I don't see why he would lie. Even if you don't want to believe him, you can't dismiss his accounts and just assume it was all made up because the SSN for Borton is found in the database now. In my opinion that isn't enough to dismiss his accounts, or anyone else's for that matter. Especially the sister who saw him on three separate occasions for that matter. Just way too many reported incidents to simply say "oh the family just saw what they wanted to see". Way too many to go that route. Think about it, the sister's sightings, the cousin's encounter at gunpoint and being followed, and the father being pursued by those two men.

Oh, I agree, but I just find it interesting that with all the mysterious cover-up cases on UM, the military would actually agree to cooperate on what is arguably one of the least believable ones they've profiled.

Well sometimes the military would cooperate on UM on even stranger cases. Some of the paranormal like UFO's and such and gave statements. So...

Ehhh I think you're kind of going off on a tangent with what the cousin said. Is there any basis for the conclusion to dismiss his story? He's trying to help his family. I don't see why he would lie. Even if you don't want to believe him, you can't dismiss his accounts and just assume it was all made up because the SSN for Borton is found in the database now. In my opinion that isn't enough to dismiss his accounts, or anyone else's for that matter. Especially the sister who saw him on three separate occasions for that matter. Just way too many reported incidents to simply say "oh the family just saw what they wanted to see". Way too many to go that route. Think about it, the sister's sightings, the cousin's encounter at gunpoint and being followed, and the father being pursued by those two men.

I dismiss the whole thing because it's absurd and illogical.

What is the purpose of the "secret returnee" program? The family claims it's because the government doesn't want to admit POWs might have been left behind. It is odd, then, that:

1. The Government told the family that there were sighting of Curt after the
Paris Peace Accords.

2. Curt's name (with thousands of others) is on the 1991 "Last Known Alive"
list.

The sister's sightings are as credible as any other eyewitness sightings, i.e., not very. Did she see someone who might have resembled her brother? Sure. Was it him, very unlikely.

I dismiss the whole thing because it's absurd and illogical.

What is the purpose of the "secret returnee" program? The family claims it's because the government doesn't want to admit POWs might have been left behind. It is odd, then, that:

1. The Government told the family that there were sighting of Curt after the
Paris Peace Accords.

2. Curt's name (with thousands of others) is on the 1991 "Last Known Alive"
list.

The sister's sightings are as credible as any other eyewitness sightings, i.e., not very. Did she see someone who might have resembled her brother? Sure. Was it him, very unlikely.

What was illogical was what happened to the family in terms of being followed, phone called and forced to sign certain papers. As for the sightings, I think the sister would recognize her own brother. She could have just been seeing things, but it happened in three different locations apparently...and I guess her children even recognized their uncle.

I would probably dismiss the entire thing too if it wasn't for all of the strange incidents that happened to the family. Sure they could be lying about everything, but I don't see what the motive would be. Wouldn't get them any closer.

What was illogical was what happened to the family in terms of being followed, phone called and forced to sign certain papers. As for the sightings, I think the sister would recognize her own brother. She could have just been seeing things, but it happened in three different locations apparently...and I guess her children even recognized their uncle.

I would probably dismiss the entire thing too if it wasn't for all of the strange incidents that happened to the family. Sure they could be lying about everything, but I don't see what the motive would be. Wouldn't get them any closer.

If any of that even happened, of course.

Curt Borton was a pretty regular looking guy; nothing particularly unique about him; I see a couple people who look like him almost daily. IMO, neither of the pictures shown in the segment look much like him.

The father can't read, so he doesn't know what he signed and the whole story just doesn't make sense. Why would DOD personnel stalk someone to make them sign something? The Gov't doesn't need the family's permission to declare a soldier dead, they just can. Curt is still on the MIA lists as well and the official (gov't issued!) last known to be alive list, so again, the family's story just isn't consistent with reality.

The "sightings" also occurred 15-20 years after the sister last saw him, he'd look a little different, especially after some time in a VC camp. I don't quite know how children who never met someone would "recognize" him. Of all the supposed "incidents," I believe the sister truly does BELIEVE she saw her brother, I just find it highly unlikely she did.

I can't say they are lying, but why would they - the same reason psychics lie, people telling ghost stories lie, and countless others lied on Unsolved Mysteries - publicity and money. At best, maybe they thought the publicity of the "incidents" would get the gov't to look into the matter. To be honest, my belief that they are being disingenuous is much higher since they apparently won't cooperate in giving a DNA sample to match to the bones identified as Curt's. Want an answer? There it is.

If any of that even happened, of course.

Curt Borton was a pretty regular looking guy; nothing particularly unique about him; I see a couple people who look like him almost daily. IMO, neither of the pictures shown in the segment look much like him.

The father can't read, so he doesn't know what he signed and the whole story just doesn't make sense. Why would DOD personnel stalk someone to make them sign something? The Gov't doesn't need the family's permission to declare a soldier dead, they just can. Curt is still on the MIA lists as well and the official (gov't issued!) last known to be alive list, so again, the family's story just isn't consistent with reality.

The "sightings" also occurred 15-20 years after the sister last saw him, he'd look a little different, especially after some time in a VC camp. I don't quite know how children who never met someone would "recognize" him. Of all the supposed "incidents," I believe the sister truly does BELIEVE she saw her brother, I just find it highly unlikely she did.

I can't say they are lying, but why would they - the same reason psychics lie, people telling ghost stories lie, and countless others lied on Unsolved Mysteries - publicity and money. At best, maybe they thought the publicity of the "incidents" would get the gov't to look into the matter. To be honest, my belief that they are being disingenuous is much higher since they apparently won't cooperate in giving a DNA sample to match to the bones identified as Curt's. Want an answer? There it is.

LOL the government could just lie about the DNA samples. I don't know, it seems like you're assuming the family is lying from the get go and for some reason already branding them as attention seekers. Sure they could be, but at the same time I don't think there is enough there to automatically discount the family...just because the government says "this and that". (because the government never lies about anything right?) Everything the family went through could have been coincidental sure, but you should at least consider the possibility that they are telling the truth. For everything that may support the side of the military's accounts, there is just as much unusual circumstances against the military's word reported by the family. It's almost a case of "he said/she said"...which is why I can't discount either side.

Of course they want attention. For their son's case. These aren't conspiracy theory people looking to sell a book or a story. There's too many things that family went through that they can't all be dismissed as "coincidence." Considering I don't believe Unsolved Mysteries paid people to come on the show (someone correct me if I'm wrong) wanting money and negative attention is far more farfetched in this case.

LOL the government could just lie about the DNA samples. I don't know, it seems like you're assuming the family is lying from the get go and for some reason already branding them as attention seekers. Sure they could be, but at the same time I don't think there is enough there to automatically discount the family...just because the government says "this and that". (because the government never lies about anything right?) Everything the family went through could have been coincidental sure, but you should at least consider the possibility that they are telling the truth. For everything that may support the side of the military's accounts, there is just as much unusual circumstances against the military's word reported by the family. It's almost a case of "he said/she said"...which is why I can't discount either side.

I didn't set out with the notion that the family is lying (and as I said before, mistake explains some of the "incidents"), but when everything they say doesn't make sense and is inconsistent with verifiable information, it becomes much more then "he said/she said"

If you want to believe that the Gov't is engaging in a huge conspiracy that secretly freed an ordinary grunt from the VC and snuck him back into the country, for reasons and motives unknown, and that same conspiracy is hiding him from his family (but giving him freedom of movement), again, for reasons and motives unknown, hey, that's your right.

And just to be clear, I have no problem believing the following:

1. Borton could have been captured by the VC on his initial mission (he could have also been killed, but the recon mission to find him and his platoon should have found the bodies in such a case)

2. Borton was held in a VC camp during the war and was not released pursuant to the Paris Peace Accords.

3. Borton remained alive into the 1980s (given conditions at VC prisoner camps, I can't see anyone there surviving more then 10-15 years; and at some point prior to normalization, you'd imagine they would have just been killed, if they had).

What I can't believe, based on the evidence presented, is that Borton, or anyone else similarly situated, was a "secret returnee" There were three pieces of evidence presented:

1. His father claims he was pressured by the Gov't into signing a document stating Curt was dead.
2. His sister claims she saw him in the Washington D.C. area
3. His cousin claims his social security number was "invalid"

To each:

1. The father can't read, so he didn't know what he signed. He doesn't know where the "agents" were actually from, but they did not act like official gov't representatives. Curt WAS NOT declared dead and is on the official "Last known to be alive" list, released by the gov't in 1991.

2. The sister never spoke with or approached her "brother" A license plate she copied down traced to someone else, who was not Curt and had no connection to him.

3. The social security number (492-48-6171) appears in every public database, issued to Curt, with his information. You can actually order the original SS-5 form for him at this site: http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. That burden just isn't met here, IMO.

I always wondered about the sighting of "Curt" in the red car. They traced the license plate to a guy who knew nothing of him. Couldn't Curt's sister have met with him so she could say, "Oops, you looked like my brother but you're not, sorry" OR she could at least find out who borrowed his car that day?

Was she making it up, did she make a mistake about the license #, was it honestly a guy who looked like him, did someone loan his car to a guy who looked like Curt, or was it really him? I tend to think it wasn't him, but who was he? Was the car owner the guy who talked to her?

I wish I knew the answers!

3. Borton remained alive into the 1980s (given conditions at VC prisoner camps, I can't see anyone there surviving more then 10-15 years; and at some point prior to normalization, you'd imagine they would have just been killed, if they had).



http://www.strike-the-root.com/72/knight/knight2.jpg

“USA” were 12 feet tall and together the 3 letters stretched 37 feet across the dry paddy, and the highly classified “Walking K” Escape and Evasion symbol beneath the “USA” was 24 feet tall and 19 feet across. DOD experts told you that this “USA Walking K” pilot distress code “must be considered valid until proven otherwise.”

This has always been strange to me. Looking online, the sister moved to California after the segment was taped and her "brother" was there...creepy.

Why follow the cousin? I notice he was in military fatigues. Connection?

Where did the check come from??

Plus the family got a check for 43k for Curts father signing a form. The whole story is odd. After a few sightings you'd think his sister would try to talk to him. I know she didn't because she claimed she was told he was dangerous but still one of the sightings looked to be in a public park area. At least yell from a few feet away and say "Hi Curt" and see what his reply would be.

I liked the part in this story where they had the guy who played Brad Bishop hold a gun to their cousin but since he didn't want to be IDed the conversation sounded off

I watched this segment for the first time today. I have no idea what to make of the encounters with both "Robert" and the "military men" who kept confronting the father in public places. Weird case all around, I would love to know what really happened.

Come on people, Curt Borton is dead. He was KIA most likely. The two pictures shown in the segment look like Asian men and look nothing like Curt at all. He was a PFC, why would the government waste time and money even having a "secret returnee" program (presumebaly to hide their embarassment about not bringing everyone home), only to continue to hide these people that were freed and returned to the U.S.?! Doesn't make any sense. It wasn't like Curt was a Colonel, he was a PFC. As someone else pointed out, the Vietnam war has been over for decades now, why hasn't Curt reached out to his family since the UM broadcast? And I find it very hard to believe that if the government is telling you your brother died in Vietnam, yet you see him in the flesh 15+ years later in a public park, you do not attempt to approach him in any way, shape, or form. In her interview the sister says it was because he was described as "dangerous", but I think she may have had a fear that she'd be embarassed (or be forced to accept Curt's death) by running up and hugging a man who is not related to her at all.

I think this is just a case of a family not accepting the harsh reality and continuing to hold on to every single shred of hope they can that their loved one is still alive.

Come on people, Curt Borton is dead. He was KIA most likely. The two pictures shown in the segment look like Asian men and look nothing like Curt at all. He was a PFC, why would the government waste time and money even having a "secret returnee" program (presumebaly to hide their embarassment about not bringing everyone home), only to continue to hide these people that were freed and returned to the U.S.?! Doesn't make any sense. It wasn't like Curt was a Colonel, he was a PFC. As someone else pointed out, the Vietnam war has been over for decades now, why hasn't Curt reached out to his family since the UM broadcast? And I find it very hard to believe that if the government is telling you your brother died in Vietnam, yet you see him in the flesh 15+ years later in a public park, you do not attempt to approach him in any way, shape, or form. In her interview the sister says it was because he was described as "dangerous", but I think she may have had a fear that she'd be embarassed (or be forced to accept Curt's death) by running up and hugging a man who is not related to her at all.

I think this is just a case of a family not accepting the harsh reality and continuing to hold on to every single shred of hope they can that their loved one is still alive.

I think you are absolutely right. I too felt that the two photos they presented looked nothing like Curt and looked like Asian men. They didn't even share his eyebrows and hairline. I don't even think the two men in the photos are the same man. Also, has anyone noticed how people do not always look the way they do in photos? Some people just look different in a picture. Or you might see a photo of someone somewhere and think, "that looks like so-and-so", when you know perfectly well that isn't them. I don't know if that makes any sense, but my point is that people can look different in photos than in real life.

If there is one thing I have learned from watching a lot of UM, it is that parents of missing/suicide/whatever kids can become very delusional about what happened to them or what they did. I was just reading about the case of Amy St. Laurent (not on UM) who's killer confessed to his mother; the mother then told a friend about the confession, then told a grand jury about the confession, yet now claims that her son is innocent. Crazy! And I'll never forget about seeing Diane Broadbeck's mother on UM who swore up and down that her daughter would NEVER leave willingly with a convicted killer, yet that's exactly what happened. It comes to a point where you really just have to take what these family members say with a grain of salt. They are convinced of whatever they want to believe, many to the point of obsession. I think this case is a perfect example of how delusional a family can become over an idea.

And let's face it, some people just have "common" faces. I was at the doctor's office with my son once and saw a picture in a magazine of a boy that looked just like my son. I showed the nurse, basically just said, "Look at this picture" and she said, "Oh my goodness, another (son's name)."

I've also seen color, high quality pictures of strangers that look JUST LIKE my daughter. That's no big deal, since I know where she is, but if she were missing I'd be convinced that the pictures were of her.

I saw a toddler once who looked just like my best friend's baby, to the point that I asked her mother, "Is her name (friend's name)?" I thought she could have been a new babysitter, the 2 children looked THAT MUCH alike.

I think you are absolutely right. I too felt that the two photos they presented looked nothing like Curt and looked like Asian men. They didn't even share his eyebrows and hairline. I don't even think the two men in the photos are the same man. Also, has anyone noticed how people do not always look the way they do in photos? Some people just look different in a picture. Or you might see a photo of someone somewhere and think, "that looks like so-and-so", when you know perfectly well that isn't them. I don't know if that makes any sense, but my point is that people can look different in photos than in real life.

If there is one thing I have learned from watching a lot of UM, it is that parents of missing/suicide/whatever kids can become very delusional about what happened to them or what they did. I was just reading about the case of Amy St. Laurent (not on UM) who's killer confessed to his mother; the mother then told a friend about the confession, then told a grand jury about the confession, yet now claims that her son is innocent. Crazy! And I'll never forget about seeing Diane Broadbeck's mother on UM who swore up and down that her daughter would NEVER leave willingly with a convicted killer, yet that's exactly what happened. It comes to a point where you really just have to take what these family members say with a grain of salt. They are convinced of whatever they want to believe, many to the point of obsession. I think this case is a perfect example of how delusional a family can become over an idea.
exactly.It's denial and it's very strong motivation to believe something that isn't true.it's a form of mental personal protection/self-preservation.

I don't think Curt's family was in denial per se, I think that they really truely thought he was still alive after all of those years. Especially with his sister claiming she saw him 3 or 4 times since his alleged "death".

Plus the family got a check for 43k for Curts father signing a form. The whole story is odd. After a few sightings you'd think his sister would try to talk to him. I know she didn't because she claimed she was told he was dangerous but still one of the sightings looked to be in a public park area. At least yell from a few feet away and say "Hi Curt" and see what his reply would be.

That's exactly what I would have done! I have a brother who I don't often see yet I still 100% recognise him every time I see him as he's my brother I grew up with! I have never mistaken any one for him although I have seen people that look like him and I don't see how the sister can mistake some one for her brother.
More to the point I can't understand how she was afraid to speak to him. It's her brother? He surely had no reason to harm her or her children.
If this is all true which I believe it is (aside from the fact they refuse to DNA on the teeth which I find bizarre if you really want closure) I feel so sorry for the guilt the sister must have. She had 3 chances to reunite with her brother and missed them all.

Reading a lot of info on the case I still think there maybe a tiny chance that curt is still alive.
Considering the weight of evidence that he has been killed against the evidence he is alive and well it's fair to say he is most likely dead. Although IMO I think he is alive and that it may have something to do with the gov.

However I do think it's a bit harsh to say that the family are delusional?!
They are dealing with a huge loss either way and every one is entitled to there own opinion but I wouldn't go as far as to call the family and crush there hope.

The only way to find any answers on this case is to do DNA on the teeth. But if the family do that and it's identified as curt it stops them hoping that he is happy, safe and alive some where in the world.

I believe it's better to think that way if that's what the family wish to do.

I haven't seen the segment in awhile, but IIRC, Curt received no special forces training, and his family believed him to be in some sort of "secret returnee" program. That's ridiculous. No POW would return home and NEVER contact a member of their family to let them know that they were alive.

If it was me I would always have hope until evidence ie a body told me otherwise.

Hope is what is keeping the family going!

And I sincerely hope the curt is alive!



Totally irrelevant but he's a good looking fella!

This case fascinates me so much. I wish we knew the answers.

I really like this segment, but I don't believe that Curt was sent back or that it was Curt his sister saw. I think she seemed very sincere and believed it, but I bet it was just a lookalike. I think if their theory about him trying to show he was alive was actually a fact he wouldn't have just randomly approached her at a gas station with such a cryptic statement and why would he just be chilling out by the Vietnam memorial?


I agree with the above sentiment about approaching him. In a public park, I would have probably gone up to him (leaving some room) and said, ''Are you Curt?'' Considering this was the third time she allegedly sighted him.

Sadly, I think this was just a case of denial. However, if the other alleged incidents (phone call, men in parking lot, people tracking/threatening cousin, phone tapping) actually happened, I can see why they would be suspicious about accepting what the gov. said. However, I really doubt that Curt is alive.

The one aspect of this case that still bothers me to write it all off as denial/delusions is the man allegedly made the off hand comment about the weather to Curt's sister. Now if this really happened (his sister has no real reason to lie), why on Earth would the stranger made such an odd remark to her if he didn't know her?

The one aspect of this case that still bothers me to write it all off as denial/delusions is the man allegedly made the off hand comment about the weather to Curt's sister. Now if this really happened (his sister has no real reason to lie), why on Earth would the stranger made such an odd remark to her if he didn't know her?

Maybe he was thinking, "There's that woman again who always stares at me. If I say something weird, she'll leave me alone."

I have wondered a lot about this case, too. I would love to know the answers.

Maybe he was thinking, "There's that woman again who always stares at me. If I say something weird, she'll leave me alone."

I have wondered a lot about this case, too. I would love to know the answers.

I honestly thought about that after I posted it. :lol:

Maybe the guy noticed that she kept staring at him and wanted her to stop.

The one aspect of this case that still bothers me to write it all off as denial/delusions is the man allegedly made the off hand comment about the weather to Curt's sister. Now if this really happened (his sister has no real reason to lie), why on earth would the stranger made such an odd remark to her if he didn't know her?

"It looks like it's going to snow doesn't it?"

Strangers sometimes exchange hellos or casual remarks at gas stations, usually pretty insipid conversation. Nothing new there.

But it seems (as least from the segment) that his sister Diane was at the gas station going about her business without really thinking and so (just my guess) he made a completely offhand comment like this to catch her attention and make her sit up and take notice, when otherwise she may just have been going through her day on autopilot.

The even stranger part to me though is the section of the segment where he drives alongside her in the red vehicle and just grins and says absolutely nothing for what seems like an age before he pulls in front then takes the exit at Quantico Marine Station.

A most confusing aspect though is the phone call received by the father. The father is asked, "what was the name of the blond-haired babysitter?". Should this not have been the other way around, where the father asked 'Curt' the name of the babysitter to help verify his identity?

This case always broke my heart because as much as I always wanted to believe that Borton was alive out there somewhere, I just never could get there, you know? There have been some developments in this case over the years it seems.

There is an interesting post in the comments section on the UM site, from someone purporting to be a member of the Borton family. The poster makes the assertion that some skeletal remains have since been found and conclusively ID'd as Borton.

https://unsolved.com/gallery/robert-borton/

There is also a site dedicated to Vietnam War casualties, that has Borton listed among the deceased. Mention is made on this site that Borton's remains have since been located, along with the remains of 13 other Vietnam War casualties. My heart goes out to this family.

http://www.vietnamwarcasualties.org/index.php?page=directory&rec=4834

ETA: While I was reading up further on the Borton case, I came across another Vietnam site that seems to give more details on the recovery of his remains.

http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BortonRC01a.htm

The family is in deep denial. The sister seeing him multiple times and not talking to him bizarre. The license plate she took down wasn't him. Her saying her kids recognized him first is laughable. They never met him! The last pictures she had of Kurt he was only 20 years old. You're telling me her children identified him yards away.. as a middle aged man having never met him? Give me a break. She could've had her kids go to her car while she spoke to "Kurt". I think she deeply wants to believe he's alive so they keep this fantasy alive.

Surrpsied UM took on this case,seems entirely wishful thinking by the family and the 2 pictures not only don't look like Curt one looks like an Asian Male and the other Euroasian.

The oddest aspect of this case, IMO, is that the father received a check for 43k allegedly to declare Curt dead.

They do show onscreen the letter the father signed. I was thinking of doing a freeze frame and trying to transcribe it. If there is any interest, let me know.

The oddest aspect of this case, IMO, is that the father received a check for 43k allegedly to declare Curt dead.

They do show onscreen the letter the father signed. I was thinking of doing a freeze frame and trying to transcribe it. If there is any interest, let me know.

Actually, if it isn't too much trouble, I'd be very interested. That always bugged me, too. Just who paid the money... and why?

Actually, if it isn't too much trouble, I'd be very interested. That always bugged me, too. Just who paid the money... and why?

Was it some sort of GI life insurance policy being paid out because he was declared dead?

I just rewatched the segment and think the family was just hoping he was alive. There's no way those photos were of him. They didn't look like him at all.

Transcription of the letter shown:

Mr. Robert C. Borton
P.O. Box 72
Graham, Washington 98338

10 January 1977



Commandant of the Marine Corps
Code MSFA-1
Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps
Washington, D.C. 20340

Dear Sir,

I am the father and sole beneficiary of SSgt Robert C. Borton, Jr. 492 46 61 71 USMC who is now listed as an MIA from Viet Nam.

After this extended period I feel that to continue to list my son as missing in action will serve no positive purpose, and, therefore, I desire to ask the Secretary of the Navy to change my son's status to killed in XXXXXXXX CAPTIVITY

Will you please assist?

Sincerely yours,
Robert C. Borton Sr.

The "XXXXXX" on the letter was a correction made. I think it was originally typed as "killed in action", but was latter changed to "killed in captivity". The father claims that he was approached in the summer of 1976 by these 2 men with the letter but he blew them off. Eventually, he signed it after being harassed by the men "over a period of weeks". What's interesting though is that the letter is dated January 10th, 1977. 6 months after he claims to have been approached by the men on the street. And the segment mentions that Curt's father made no mention of any of this for 10 years.

Gut instinct is that the father had someone type the letter up for him in an effort to gain the money he eventually received. He feels guilty about it later when his daughter begins her aggressive search into finding him, so exaggerates the story into 2 mysterious men approached him and had him sign this letter, and incorporates that into further evidence that he was still alive. I do think the father honestly believed (or wanted to believe) that Curt was still alive, and by inventing the story would make it more believable, and possibly have someone look deeper into it.

Transcription of the letter shown:



The "XXXXXX" on the letter was a correction made. I think it was originally typed as "killed in action", but was latter changed to "killed in captivity". The father claims that he was approached in the summer of 1976 by these 2 men with the letter but he blew them off. Eventually, he signed it after being harassed by the men "over a period of weeks". What's interesting though is that the letter is dated January 10th, 1977. 6 months after he claims to have been approached by the men on the street. And the segment mentions that Curt's father made no mention of any of this for 10 years.

Gut instinct is that the father had someone type the letter up for him in an effort to gain the money he eventually received. He feels guilty about it later when his daughter begins her aggressive search into finding him, so exaggerates the story into 2 mysterious men approached him and had him sign this letter, and incorporates that into further evidence that he was still alive. I do think the father honestly believed (or wanted to believe) that Curt was still alive, and by inventing the story would make it more believable, and possibly have someone look deeper into it.

Thanks for transcribing it. I completely forgot I said I would do so earlier in this thread.

I guess one thing still bugs me. Where did the money come from? Would the government really give him some sort of a settlement for having Curt's status changed in this manner?

Thanks for transcribing it. I completely forgot I said I would do so earlier in this thread.

I guess one thing still bugs me. Where did the money come from? Would the government really give him some sort of a settlement for having Curt's status changed in this manner?

I don't think the military ever denied sending the check, just that in the manner in which it was obtained. I am no expert on military matters at all, but I wonder if the hold up with the money was because officially his status was MIA, meaning that he was entitled to the money if he were still alive. When the father requested his status be changed (roughly 10 years after Curt went missing) to killed in captivity, I think the military agreed and decided that his parents were his next of kin, so they paid his pension. Here's (https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/benefits_book/benefits_chap13.asp) more info about it.

saw this segment for the very first time. The family are either bunch of liars or had numerous fantasies and dreams they believed were true

Transcription of the letter shown:



The "XXXXXX" on the letter was a correction made. I think it was originally typed as "killed in action", but was latter changed to "killed in captivity". The father claims that he was approached in the summer of 1976 by these 2 men with the letter but he blew them off. Eventually, he signed it after being harassed by the men "over a period of weeks". What's interesting though is that the letter is dated January 10th, 1977. 6 months after he claims to have been approached by the men on the street. And the segment mentions that Curt's father made no mention of any of this for 10 years.

Gut instinct is that the father had someone type the letter up for him in an effort to gain the money he eventually received. He feels guilty about it later when his daughter begins her aggressive search into finding him, so exaggerates the story into 2 mysterious men approached him and had him sign this letter, and incorporates that into further evidence that he was still alive. I do think the father honestly believed (or wanted to believe) that Curt was still alive, and by inventing the story would make it more believable, and possibly have someone look deeper into it.

I agree with your theory 100%.

All these Vietnam stories seem highly similar-family sees magazine photos of somebody & regardless of them looking not much like their loved one they become convinced it is & then go digging-running into veterans in bars etc who tell them the person is still alive, the government have for some reason gone to crazy lengths to cover it up etc & all manner of conspiracy theories kick off.

Some questions that needed to be put to the family-

1. Why were none of the other family members approached about signing or convincing the father to sign the piece of paper? Why would he not consult legal advice? Why did he sign something when he was practically illiterate? Most importantly what happened to the 43 thousand dollars? He says he didn't tell anybody about it for a decade, so did he just sit on it, or did he pay it into a bank account for himself? What happened to that money?

2. Why would the military be chasing him around in car parks to sign a sheet of paper? What was so special about his son that we have never heard of this happening to any other POW? Is it not more likely he got somebody to type this up & they elected to send him a goodwill cheque? Was there some fund for MIA'S that automatically paid out after a number of years?

3. Supposedly because some clicking was on her line the sister believed her phone was tapped, so did she call in surveillance people to check for bugs in the house? Did they find anything? Is it not more likely that it was just work being done on the line or a bad connection? Before my family switched over to handhelds we used to get horrible clicking noises & bad reception on the landline. Why exactly would the US government be bugging the houses of his family members anyway?

4. Why would the cousin be followed endlessly by guys who merely followed him to & from work? Why would he illegally enter a family members SS number into his work computer when he would have been sacked & possibly prosecuted if discovered? How would this person with the gun know he had tried to access his record, where he worked & be able to get there to pull a gun on him &make a threat?

5. Why would the sister think a guy passing the time of day with a comment about the weather & then likely a totally different person overtaking her on the road the next year have anything to do with her brother? Why when he later revealed himself to her did she not talk to him? They were in a public place & he didn't seem to be acting in a crazy way.

You get the impression these people were probably fueled by all the 1970's/1980's POW obsession-newspaper articles documentaries, songs by musicians about the conflict, the three Rambo films, the Chuck Norris films & Uncommon Valour which featured Robert Stack & just invented all this nonsense or are just that deluded they took everyday events & turned them into something more. Like other families they refuse to accept the evidence of the remains found.

Don't believe the family for a minute, the Dad was illiterate and probably the victim of some practical jokes. Kurt's sister I think was delusional and the man she encountered was just some random weirdo. This case was just another one of those UM stories where a family stretches out a story an obscene amount of time where in reality there was actually nothing there.

We have a theory above on the father's encounters in the parking lot, the sister's "sightings" can be dismissed as her being mistaken, there's no evidence at all that their phone was being tapped, the photos don't look like him... But what about the cousin?

To me, that's the weirdest part, the only one that would make me give the family the benefit of the doubt.

Unless the cousin was simply making it up, how can we explained that after having ran a credit check on a 1991 computer at his nondescript job, he is confronted by an armed man telling me that what he "did today was very stupid"?

All these years later and this case still breaks my heart. I don't believe the Borton family have any dishonest or malicious intentions in their vehement assertions that their loved one is alive and in hiding...just an inability to accept a tragic loss. I can't really say as I blame them for that. My own beloved mother passed away unexpectedly nearly a year ago and I still have dreams almost nightly that she's really alive and the whole thing was just a horrific mistake.

I think that one of the things complicating this segment is that it exacerbates a very real fear by many that there were living POWs left behind after the war. In fact I remember discussing this case with my late mother after we saw a UM rerun and I asked her if she believed there were still living POWs in Vietnam. She said that while she certainly couldn't say one way or the other, she sincerely hoped that there were not.

In answer to your question Appliance, I really can't say what was behind the unusual incident with the cousin, but I do know that the human brain has an amazing ability to make connections and see patterns where none exist. It's one of the more fascinating aspects of human nature IMO. I sincerely hope the new year will bring peace to the Borton family.

All these years later and this case still breaks my heart. I don't believe the Borton family have any dishonest or malicious intentions in their vehement assertions that their loved one is alive and in hiding...just an inability to accept a tragic loss. I can't really say as I blame them for that. My own beloved mother passed away unexpectedly nearly a year ago and I still have dreams almost nightly that she's really alive and the whole thing was just a horrific mistake.



Agreed - it's kind of similar to some of these unexplained death cases, where parents convince themselves that their kids were murdered because they don't want to/can't live with the reality that said children either a) committed suicide or b) died in a simple accident

I used to believe the family had a case but watching it again nothing adds up. I'm guessing the show was desperate for interesting cases and did it anyways. It almost reminds me of the Kenneth Engie case where the 2 guys had a fight and then the drunk one was found dead in his garage and his family tried coming up with this huge conspiracy that the other guy killed him. They just couldn't accept the facts. And if they really refuse to match DNA that proves they are in denial.

Just watched this case for the first time in a while. While I firmly believe that Curt is dead and that he died in Vietnam, I will say that there are several instances noted by the family that are interesting to say the least.

As far as the photos, I don’t get what you people are saying at all. The first picture from the magazine looks just like him to me. The second one however that was a still image from a film, that one looks nothing like him except for the vague shape of the face and the hairline.

In my opinion the biggest thing to support Curt being alive is that the US government claims he is dead. I wouldn’t believe that I was alive myself if the government told me so lol.

As to what the “mission” might be that Curt would have been recruited for, who knows? There were programs in place going back to at least the 50s and 60s where young low level GIs were recruited for intelligence programs with various assignments. So I have no problem believing that Curt might have been involved in something like this. However, I can’t buy the letting the soldiers come home but not ever being allowed to contact their family. For what purpose? The government would likely write them off or just “off” them before they would let them come back and potentially expose something they didn’t want to get out to the public.

Something strange was going on to say the least. I don’t buy the “teeth” story on its own. Even if the family agreed to give DNA for comparison, I could envision a couple of scenarios where it could match and still not mean a damn thing. Now if it is true that more remains have been found, I’d be more inclined to believe that.

The instances with the sister, I don’t know. I’d be inclined to believe she was mistaken, but I can’t see the guy making conversation the way he did if there wasn’t more to it. Of course if some stranger starts talking to me randomly in public, rather than look for some ominous code from the person, I’m more likely to be thinking “why the f*** are you talking to me? I don’t know you”, but that’s just me lol.

Anyway, it is a strange case to say the least. And IMO it has a lot more merit than some of the other POW / missing person still being alive segments profiled on the show. But again, just to clarify, Curt probably did die in Vietnam.

This is the Kenneth Engie of POW/MIA segments.

This poor man died in Vietnam and was thrown in a mass grave. The reason the family only ever received Curt's teeth is likely because they were the only remains determined with near certainty to be Borton's based on dental records.

No branch of the armed forces recruits someone months out of basic training for "special assignments", period. It's the stuff of TV and movies. Curt Borton was one of many, many young men that went through initial entry training and then straight to the jungle to backfill the position of another young man much like himself, either killed, finished with a term of service, or evacuated to the rear or out of the country for any number of reasons.

Given stories like that of COL Charles Shelton and Mark Dennis, I always thought this one seemed tenuous--at very best. I flat-out do not believe at all that story about a cousin being accosted by a man with a gun. The rest seems to be the stuff of a family badly wanting their loved one to be alive. In that respect, I certainly cannot fault them.

The gun story is ridiculous. If the timeline of the segment isn't fluid then this occurred in 1990 (or at least between then and 1994 when this aired) and with knowledge of modern IT monitoring systems I have a very hard time believing such a system would have existed in the infancy of computing, where you could monitor the many credit bureau services' IT systems in the event a certain SSN was searched.

Did gunmen show up to threaten all the people who may have happened to make a typo?

Why would they expunge his record at all if they gave him a new identity? Certainly we're not in a world that cares about legalities, you'd just give him a new one and leave the other one linked to the dead man.

It's the stuff of TV and movies.
This is precisely how I feel about the segment as a whole. Some of the more ridiculous moments:

1) The sister seeing "Curt" 3 times, but somehow the license plate was traced to someone totally unconnected and the third time she refuses to see him in a public place because her daughters are there. Couldn't she have had her daughters stand back and approached him herself? And if he was on a "secret mission" why would he allow himself to be spoken to and make contact several times? The whole thing is ludicrous.

2) The guy with the gun threatening the cousin for merely searching for the SSN AND the cousin being followed daily.

3) The phone call with "Curt" in the shadows.

4) The dad being approached in the parking lot to sign papers that supposedly declared Curt dead--but how could he know for sure if he was, by his own admission, functionally illiterate?

5) Wire tapping of the family's phone lines.

I certainly can't blame Curt's family for wanting to believe he was still alive. But I'm afraid that this segment was just chasing after wild conspiracy theories. It was a complete 180 of the Charles Shelton segment.

Why would some random dude just hold a gun to you in the middle of broad daylight in a busy section of downtown like that. I'd imagine back then the situation would have been so out of place somebody walking by would have done something. And I doubt government agents would approach you in a random parking lot. I cant find any new info in this case except some old message board from back in 2000.

The government's story about grave robbing is probably accurate. There has been a very long running, widespread problem in Vietnam with mortuary fraud due to the myth over there that anyone who turns in the remains of a US soldier would be compensated for it. So many graves have been repeatedly disturbed by people trying to steal remains, thinking they can sell them to the US government or to fraudulently sell them to civilians by telling them its worth money & the US will buy it off them. This article talks about it: https://www.historynet.com/bone-dealers-in-vietnam.htm

The cousin's story about the social security number probably arose from either him or his supervisor misinterpreting the computer's results. It was probably not that the number came back as "was never issued" so much as, it belonged to someone legally deceased.

See, for decades the Social Security Administration has maintained a Social Security Death Registry, containing the social security numbers of people who have died, when they died (roughly), and where they last lived (roughly). The whole point of this database is so that lenders when screening people for credit can see if the applicant's number belongs to a deceased person, because deceased persons should not be given lines of credit (for obvious reasons). The cousin was trying to monitor Curt's social security number via a loan application (per the segment) and even in the early 90s, the computers would have immediately bounced that back due to the fact that Curt was legally dead. Depending on how the program was written, I could see it returning an error of "invalid social security number" or similar, but that wouldn't have to mean it was "never issued" like the cousin seems to believe.

I hate these segments because it’s clear the loved one was killed but the family forces themselves to endure all this suffering by not being able to accept it. It sucks seeing people go through that.

There isn’t any mystery here; Curt Borton was obviously killed in Vietnam, and there was evidence to prove it. All the bizarre “clues” are straight-up lies, self delusion or people who don’t know anything about the military making up nonsense. They need to give themselves some peace and put Curt to rest.

Semper Fi, sir.

I just watched this case, and it is very strange. I did a search and it appears that as of last year, no updates have been noted. What does everyone think? I would assume that the family would be able to correctly identify their own son but why would he never respond? Even when they ran the plates of that car he was in, they came up with nothing. It just doesn't make sense.

This, to me, is one of the stranger cases on UM. It's almost as if they mystery is right there to be solved several times over but nothing ever comes of it.
I'm watching this segment on Pluto TV right now and those photos are not of Curt. The first one the soldier looks African American and the 2nd the mail looks Asian, or mixed race. Neither are Curt. Someone was messing with them.

Whomever gave him the SOC # may have transposed the numbers as well and it was a typo, which would be an invalid entry.

now this is one case that would never be made in a current incarnation of UM. Lmao.

I think it has been mentioned...but what even is that phone call to Borton's dad with Curt in the background? If they are asking Curt's dad a question only he (the dad) would know the answer to....are they verifying that it's really Curt's dad?? Isn't that backwards in this story?

Re: the CB Jr. segment, while it was very tragic that the family never really got closure as to the fate of their son/brother - I don't believe that he survived the Vietnam war.

It seems evident that the pictures, supposed sightings in the U.S., etc. were all red herrings/false leads.

That being said, what is especially odd about this case are these elements:

1) Why were the two "alleged" military men harassing CB Senior in parking lots of groceries stores (more than once) until he signed off on some kind of letter admitting that his son had died - which resulted in his getting some $ from the govt. later?! Bizzarre.

2) Why was the cousin threatened in broad daylight (after he left work) allegedly because he input CB Jr.'s SSC in a computer database?! Also very odd.

3) Why the hell did CB Senior receive a call from a mysterious person asking who the identity was of CB Jr.'s babysitter?! WTF?!

Re: all of these mysterious events - if they did indeed happen, it sounds like some weirdos/sickos were harassing/messing with this family for some unknown reason.

I watched this segment last night on PlutoTV, and I have to say: where Curt's family is concerned, I don't think it's a matter of seeing only what they want to see. I think -- and forgive me if this offends anyone -- but I think Curt's family is...how do I say this...not bright? I mean, the evidence could be there that he's still alive and living not far from them under an assumed name, but I don't believe they'd understand it if they saw it. And if they happen to be right that the government is lying to them about Curt's status, well, that's just dumb f'ing luck.

I watched this segment last night on PlutoTV, and I have to say: where Curt's family is concerned, I don't think it's a matter of seeing only what they want to see. I think -- and forgive me if this offends anyone -- but I think Curt's family is...how do I say this...not bright? I mean, the evidence could be there that he's still alive and living not far from them under an assumed name, but I don't believe they'd understand it if they saw it. And if they happen to be right that the government is lying to them about Curt's status, well, that's just dumb f'ing luck.

Understood

If Curt was dangerous, then what was the family doing on UM? Wouldn't that create more problems?

I would hope that common sense would rule in believing soldiers captured and detained as POW would make good candidates for secret covert missions for the US Govt. The other two cases involving Vietnam vets who returned home with physical and mental injuries really struggled to put their lives in order (and they had supporting families). War was tremendously traumatizing and I don't believe that a secret spy program with new identities and firm rules of no contact with your former family makes any sense.

If Curt was dangerous, then what was the family doing on UM? Wouldn't that create more problems?

I would hope that common sense would rule in believing soldiers captured and detained as POW would make good candidates for secret covert missions for the US Govt. The other two cases involving Vietnam vets who returned home with physical and mental injuries really struggled to put their lives in order (and they had supporting families). War was tremendously traumatizing and I don't believe that a secret spy program with new identities and firm rules of no contact with your former family makes any sense.

They positively identified his remains a few months after this segment first aired. If his family could not accept that then they are still living in denial to this day. Due to the family not going on other various forms of media with their "evidence' that Curt was still alive, I have to think that at some point they accepted that he was killed in action.

I just don't see myself avoiding making contact with my brother due to what someone whom I don't even know tells me. She could have told her kids to remain where they were and approached him.

I dunno this segment was very fat fetched and seemed like the family just wanted to be on TV.

I had UM running in the background today and this segment was on. I got curious- has there ever been a verified case of a soldier returning from the military with a new identity and being told never to contact family and let them think you are dead? I searched and I couldn’t find one. The term “secret returnee” seems to refer to soldiers coming back after the Peace Accords without confirmation from the US government, not necessarily to this specific case. Sorry if I missed a post like this way back in the thread. Anyone got an opinion or background info on something like this? This isn’t the first story like this featured on UM either, another was Ray Hickingbotham. But I cannot find confirmation.

The government's story about grave robbing is probably accurate. There has been a very long running, widespread problem in Vietnam with mortuary fraud due to the myth over there that anyone who turns in the remains of a US soldier would be compensated for it. So many graves have been repeatedly disturbed by people trying to steal remains, thinking they can sell them to the US government or to fraudulently sell them to civilians by telling them its worth money & the US will buy it off them. This article talks about it: https://www.historynet.com/bone-dealers-in-vietnam.htm

The cousin's story about the social security number probably arose from either him or his supervisor misinterpreting the computer's results. It was probably not that the number came back as "was never issued" so much as, it belonged to someone legally deceased.

See, for decades the Social Security Administration has maintained a Social Security Death Registry, containing the social security numbers of people who have died, when they died (roughly), and where they last lived (roughly). The whole point of this database is so that lenders when screening people for credit can see if the applicant's number belongs to a deceased person, because deceased persons should not be given lines of credit (for obvious reasons). The cousin was trying to monitor Curt's social security number via a loan application (per the segment) and even in the early 90s, the computers would have immediately bounced that back due to the fact that Curt was legally dead. Depending on how the program was written, I could see it returning an error of "invalid social security number" or similar, but that wouldn't have to mean it was "never issued" like the cousin seems to believe.

Underrated post.

Apparently someone found this...

https://i.ibb.co/1Y44rMjY/488258606-4163562943871483-87491339700867170-n.jpg

Apparently someone found this...

https://i.ibb.co/1Y44rMjY/488258606-4163562943871483-87491339700867170-n.jpg

That raises all kinds of questions, doesn't it?

That raises all kinds of questions, doesn't it?
Went and found the original facebook post, in the comments someone mentions that it's more than likely a commemorative fundraising item
https://thewall-usa.com/bracelet.asp
"We also made copper ones for adults who believed they helped their "tennis elbow." Again, according to our logic adults could pay more, so we would request $3.00 for the copper bracelets."

https://cdn.unsolved.com/wp-content/uploads/existing/mis_robert_borton4.jpg?x36184

I can't believe UM made this segment and used these photos as "proof" that Curt could still be alive. Neither man looks anything like him.

https://cdn.unsolved.com/wp-content/uploads/existing/mis_robert_borton1.jpg?x36184