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August 20th 1978 was a hot and humid day in Newark, New Jersey. As the afternoon approached,

five teenage friends got together at West Side Park to play a few games of basketball.

17-year-olds Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor were joined by their 16-year-old friends,

Alvin Turner, Randy Johnson, and Michael McDowell. The group of friends had been tight since childhood,

and it was the normal summer routine to spend every day together, hanging out, playing sports,

and even working with some local repairmen to make a few extra bucks.

As afternoon turned into night, the friends made plans to meet up after they'd grab dinner,

showered, and changed their clothes. Amongst the plans for that evening was to help out a local

carpenter with the moving of some boxes, at which time they'd get some cash to have a good time

with for the rest of the evening. Several of the boys returned home and then left, but never returned

again. Others stayed out and also vanished into the darkness of that summer night.

Witnesses reported seeing the boys in various places across town throughout the night,

but what became of them would become a dark mystery that haunted the streets of Newark for years to

come. How could five friends who'd lived in the area all of their lives simply vanish without a

trace? Over the next 33 years, investigators would struggle to answer that question,

while fighting against unsubstantiated tips, the directions of alleged psychics,

and later, two confessions that told completely different sides of a very similar story.

...