Need help remembering a case

[Lieutenant Bookman]

I’m vaguely remembering a case I saw a while back about a guy who went to Vietnam and was MIA (as I recall) according to the US govt. However, his family doubted that he was really missing, and I believe one of his family members recalled seeing him at a gas station or something. I’m hazy on some of the details but the above is what I recall. Can anyone tell me which case that is?

[TheCars1986]

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_Borton

Curt Borton. One of the more ridiculous segments UM ever did.

[Lieutenant Bookman]

Yep that is definitely the one I was thinking of. I remember seeing it a long time ago but for some reason missed it when I went through the Amazon episodes. Thanks!

[Jon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXQT2_ewSM8

[ThisLittlePiggy]

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

[Lieutenant Bookman]

Thanks for the direct link. I watched it again, and it’s a strange case for sure, but seems to be a whole lot of nothing in my opinion. The pictures they showed in the episode look nothing like Curt (and honestly don’t even look to be the same race as Curt IMO). I don’t know what the reason would be for bringing him back under an assumed identity considering he had no special skills or knowledge that the government would need. Some of the sightings are weird but seems to be a case maybe of the family just wanting to hold out hope that he’s still alive and seeing what they want to see

[Jon]

What I can't put my finger on, is if the sister's sightings of Curt were a case of mistaken identity?

[Lieutenant Bookman]

Originally Posted by Jon

What I can't put my finger on, is if the sister's sightings of Curt were a case of mistaken identity?

I think it was. To me it felt like a family who just wanted to hold out hope that their loved one is still alive and wanted to believe that the person/people she saw was Curt. Similar to the photographs. To me neither of those photos looked anything like Curt, but the family was convinced it was him. I just think they wanted to believe he was still alive and used the photos and sighting to confirm their hope. The weirdest parts of the sightings for me were 1) the fact that the sister claimed to have seen Curt 3 different times and never said a single word to him in any of the encounters, and 2) in the last one where she was with her daughters it was her daughters that were convinced the guy they saw was Curt. I found it strange that her daughters would be that sure. They never would have met him, and presumably only saw pictures of him when he was 20 or whatever. How they would be so certain that a random middle aged man was their uncle they never met just seemed strange to me

[TheCars1986]

None of the purported pictures of Curt "alive" look anything like him.

[WoodBooger]

Originally Posted by Lieutenant Bookman

in the last one where she was with her daughters it was her daughters that were convinced the guy they saw was Curt. I found it strange that her daughters would be that sure. They never would have met him, and presumably only saw pictures of him when he was 20 or whatever. How they would be so certain that a random middle aged man was their uncle they never met just seemed strange to me

Might have been just made up for the segment to make it more interesting.

[bell83]

Originally Posted by WoodBooger

Might have been just made up for the segment to make it more interesting.

Eh. I think it's more likely that the kids saw someone that "kinda sorta" resembled the 20 year old pictures they'd seen, and because kids are kids, pointed it out, and the parent's mind (who had clung to hope for two decades) ran with it.