Hold My Sweet Tea
Where True Crime collides with chilling ghost stories and Southern folklore. Join us, sip sweet tea, and uncover shocking tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural, all with a healthy dose of Southern charm and a touch of sass!
Hold My Sweet Tea
Ep. 11-Two-Year-Old Gone Without a Trace: The Wesley Morgan Mystery
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A two-year-old boy vanishes without a trace while allegedly playing in his front yard—but was he really there at all? The mysterious disappearance of Wesley Dale Morgan from rural Clinton, Louisiana in 2001 continues to perplex investigators more than two decades later.
When 19-year-old Ruby Renee Havard reported her toddler missing on May 15, 2001, her story raised immediate red flags. She claimed she went inside to prepare lunch at 9:45 am, only to return moments later to find her son gone. Despite exhaustive searches utilizing National Guard helicopters with thermal imaging technology that could detect bodies even below ground, no trace of Wesley was ever found.
The investigation took disturbing turns as both Havard and her much-older boyfriend failed polygraph tests—with the boyfriend's results described as "off the charts" deceptive. Most troubling was Havard's eventual refusal to cooperate with authorities or follow up on the investigation of her missing child. As Sheriff Talmadge Bunch noted years later, "The boy's mother has never been by, not one time, to try to have a follow up on the baby."
The case gained renewed attention when, years later, Havard faced allegations of attempting to sell another child—charges that were eventually dismissed but echoed investigators' early suspicions about Wesley's fate. Though the FBI reopened the case in 2016 with a $10,000 reward that still stands today, Wesley remains missing, his fate unknown.
Have you heard about this case? What theory makes the most sense to you? If you have information about Wesley Dale Morgan, please contact authorities—even the smallest detail could help solve this heartbreaking mystery after 24 years of silence.
Source Material:
Clinton (AP) The Daily Advertiser May 25, 2001 pg 14, Investigators appeal to relatives of missing boy www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-advertiser/105067645/
The Daily Review, Morgan City, Louisiana May 21, 2001 pg 4 Police say couple lied about missing boy, 2 www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-review/105067588/
WAFB Channel 9 News, Feb 10, 2005, Boy’s Vanishing still a Mystery www.wafb.com/story/2931845/boys-vanishing-still-a-mystery/
WAFB Channel 9 News, jan 9, 2008 Woman arrested for allegedly trying to sell her child www.wafb.com/story/7599800/woman-arrested-for-allegedly-trying-to-sell-her-child/
Uncovered, Missing Wesley Morgan, last updated May 4, 2024, www.uncovered.com/cases/wesley-morgan
Photo Credit:
Stole, Bryn, May 4, 2016, The Advocate, Clinton-area residents recall desperate search for toddler in 2001, say new effort offers hope, www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/clinto-area-residents-recall-desperate-search-for-toddler-in-2001-say-new-effort-offers-hope/article_6c6cde1b-5aa3-565b-ac38-e56e581b7c3e.amp.html
Wesley Dale Morgan's Disappearance
Speaker 1Wesley, dale Morgan went missing on May 15, 2001. He was two years old. Did he walk off? Was he kidnapped? Did something happen in the home that led to his disappearance? This is, hold my Sweet Tea. Thank you Hello, hello, hello, I'm Pearl.
Speaker 2And I'm. I forgot my name. Oh, I'm Holly. Who do you want me to be today? Who? So, uh, as you may noticed, you know of our. What are we up to now like? Maybe like 90 something listeners. Yeah, maybe they're multiplying. Yay, as you may have noticed, we have switched it up a little bit to sound a little less robotic and pre-recorded in our introduction and we want to know what everybody thinks.
Speaker 1Yeah, we decided to just, instead of doing the pre-recorded intro stuff before our music, to give you a little teaser before the music. Our music, to give you a little teaser before the music then chat after and then move our way into the episode.
Speaker 2Yes, yes, yes, yes. So we want to know if y'all are liking it better. That way we can be a little more creative and it's not just like stale, stale, and we read the same thing over again.
Speaker 1So we're trying to, we're trying to keep it real yeah, trying to keep it real, trying to improve, trying to make it more fun to listen to right, just keep everyone interested absolutely so we learning and growing butterflies in the sky I can go twice as high it always goes back to the Reading Rainbow yeah. I loved Reading Rainbow when I was a kid.
Speaker 2I watched it and it was a little after like my little childhood, but I still I liked it. I really did yeah.
Speaker 1I used to love doing the little book it challenges for like free pizza. Yes, it's like where's that stuff?
Speaker 2at.
Speaker 1Right Free pizza.
Speaker 2Tell me what I need to do.
Speaker 1It's like how many books can I read?
Speaker 2How many pizzas can I get Right Exactly?
Speaker 1What are the parameters of this contest? I?
Speaker 2was just uh, talking to my son the other day and he was like he's like. You know, our go-to food is like pizza. I said because I love pizza. I think that would probably be like the one food that I could eat the rest of my life. Pizza, it is pizza, like you could change up the toppings and all that, but like pizza, it's like so good. Yeah, what is? What is your favorite pizza?
Speaker 1my favorite pizza is the one that the world always talks about. How dare you put that on a pizza? I am Hawaiian girl. All day I love pineapple and ham.
Speaker 2I love the pineapple and ham too, and my son, he like, absolutely loves the same thing, like ham and pineapple. But I think my go-to is always like the thin crust pizzas. And then I'll like switch it up and do like you know, pepperoni and mushroom. Or sometimes I just go like full vegetarian and do just like olives and mushrooms and like the alfredo sauce on it and stuff.
Speaker 1I also really like barbecue chicken pizza.
Speaker 2Yeah, those are good, see, I like all of them. And I've never like, can't say like, oh, I don't like like anchovies on pizza. I've never. I can't say like, ooh, I don't like anchovies on pizza. I've never tried an anchovy, but I don't think I would like it.
Speaker 1Based on the smell of an anchovy. I'm going to tell you no, thank you.
Speaker 2If it smells anything like sardines, no, no, no, no, no Gross. But I wouldn't eat that. But like, I have tried some like awesome pizzas and I think they're all good. And now I'm hungry right or like run across the street to nukes and get a yes, a little flatbread pizza those are yummy. Yeah, I like stuffed crust too. Yeah, stuffed crusts are good, but I always fill up on the crust and then I'm like, oh, I wanted more pizza, I wanted more pizza than crust, but they're good.
Speaker 2That's why I always get the thin crust, because I don't feel as guilty about eating it. Yeah, and then you get it cut into like little squares instead of actual like triangles. So you're like ooh, I had four pieces of pizza, but you only had like two.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, if it were triangular shaped it would have been two.
Speaker 2You got to trick your brain.
Speaker 1That's funny, but guess I mean, yeah, it works so what do you got for us today?
The Case Begins: Mother Reports Toddler Missing
Speaker 2you already know I know, but they don't know, right. I guess I'll tell everyone else then Wesley.
Speaker 1Dale Morgan was born March 14th 1999, to 17-year-old Ruby and her then-boyfriend Dewey in Clinton, louisiana. They were both teenagers. The two young parents split not long after Wesley was born, and he remained in his mother's care, and he remained in his mother's care. Not long after her split with Dewey, though, ruby began seeing a man, a man, a man named Burnell.
Speaker 2Not a man who was 18 years her senior.
Speaker 1Oh, wow, yeah. So that's why I said man, man, but he probably really isn't much of a man, right?
Speaker 2And if you don't know where Clinton Louisiana is, I have some stories about Clinton.
Speaker 1Oh Lord.
Speaker 2Clinton is.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2Clinton, it's Clinton and they also are famous for their peaches, because there's a lot of peaches in Clinton. Are they peaches for free? I think they cost, but I'm sure they don't have millions of peaches. Peaches for me. Oh my God, get them in a can. Maybe they were put there by a man, not Burnell, not Burnell.
Speaker 1I'm not. I don't think he was messing with the beaches. No, no, no. See this. This is where you learn that we're goofballs all day because we do this constantly in conversation and then we forget what we're telling each other, right? What was I talking about?
Speaker 1we're like talking in, like music so ruby renee havard, at the age of 19, reported her son missing. This was on the morning of may 15 2001. She said that she last saw her child at about 9 45 that morning playing in the front yard of the house. There is some articles that say he was playing on the porch, some say in the yard, some just say he's playing in the yard, others say that he's playing with puppies on the porch like a whole litter of puppies. And she stated that she literally went inside to fix lunch.
Speaker 19 45 in the morning she went inside to fix lunch and that when she came back he was gone yeah, you know, if you're gonna tell lies, maybe you should like plan those lies out with the timeline you know?
Speaker 1I mean, they don't get a whole lot from her, yeah, other than that, because she gets to the point where she just flat out refuses to talk to anybody anymore. Um, but three days of non-stop searching of the area surrounding the home havard and her boyfriend burnell hilton jr, reside in, there was no trace at all of the boy, and Burnell was 37 at this time. So she's trying to keep track of these ages. Yeah, so we see where we're at here, east Feliciana. Sheriff Talmadge Bunch. He sounds like he should be in a book, right? Why do I get some like To Kill a Mockingbird feeling, right about here, talmadge Bunch, he sounds like he should be in a in a book, right? Why do I get so much some like to kill a mockingbird feeling?
Speaker 2right about here talmadge bunch.
Speaker 1Anyway, he requested that the fbi assist as hope that the boy had just wandered off was waning. They really weren't finding him anywhere. They weren't finding any traces of him at all. Honestly, it got to a point where they felt like maybe they're like he had to have been, like picked up and taken. Yeah, because there's nothing indicating where he went, right. No direction to look.
Speaker 1And I'm sure they brought dogs out and the National Guard assisted using helicopters with thermal imaging equipment. They assured everyone that if that boy was out there, that imaging equipment they used could have found the toddler, even if he was buried two feet underground Right and how far can a three-year-old toddler get? On his own.
Speaker 2Well, he's two. Oh two, that's right, yeah two.
Speaker 1So even less. He's shorter.
Speaker 2Like his little legs aren't going to carry him that far.
Speaker 1Not that far, and what she made seem like was a very short amount of time. So, yeah, definitely not understanding where she thinks he may have walked off to, but both Havard and Hilton were given a polygraph test that they failed bunch explained that they know something about this and that burnell's was off the charts lying and they could have used that in.
Speaker 2You know, with the grand jury.
Speaker 1Yeah, it looked, looked nasty, little suspicious so at that time it was the hope of the sheriff that the boy was still alive and was maybe just being used in like an illegal adoption arrangement, because they really just are hopeful that there's some way to get that baby back alive. Yes, according to the daily advertiser in lafayette, louisiana that published May 25, 2001, investigators were getting frustrated after repeatedly questioning the boy's mother and her boyfriend. They then turned to other family members pleading for them to help find the missing boy, and Talmadge Bunch then explained we've gotten to the point that she won't talk to us and won't talk to anybody. The teen mother just shut down.
Speaker 2She was like I'm not saying anything anymore.
Speaker 1Yeah, which is crazy, because how is that helpful in finding your child Right?
Speaker 2You're out here trying to look for your child, your child, right. You're out here trying to look for your child. You would be doing anything and everything and talking to whomever to get any information and locate him.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, I would be up up the butts of these sheriffs, right, right, help me find my. I wouldn't be sleeping. My two-year-old disappeared. I'd be out there every minute I possibly could probably endangering my own life because searching and I'm like running myself ragged looking for my kid.
Failed Polygraphs and Silent Mother
Meet Your Hosts: Pizza Talk
Speaker 1So hilton, the boyfriend, was later arrested on a warrant for second degree murder by zachary police in connection with a 1998 death. He was accused of shooting John Lavallee of Zachary in the face with a pistol, as Lavallee was walking along the road somewhere around 11 pm on Halloween in 1998. Wow, and you know, in my mind of minds, because this is like something that's happening a lot now, right, I have to wonder if they didn't think that maybe the boyfriend did something with the kid or did something to the kid yeah, and disposed of him somewhere, somewhere, yeah exactly, and then she reports him missing later, like obviously no evidence of this stuff.
Speaker 1This is just me Mm-hmm Conjecture flying out here, right, so I'm just you know. We see this so much every day of these women with super young kids, like toddlers, infants. You know where they get involved with some man, yeah and they just sit back and let it happen.
Speaker 2There's no way.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, there would be a murder that day, but it wouldn't have been of the baby, right? You know, that's the thing that gets me is like. Every time I see that, I'm like how did you, as a mom, sit there and do that? Or even the ones where the moms actually participate, mm, hmm, like what the hell yeah, what are you thinking or not thinking?
Mother's Suspicious Behavior and Legal Troubles
Speaker 1Or not thinking. Yeah, you're straight, crazy, pretty much. Update. In February 2005, on WAFB Channel 9, sheriff Bunch said that the boy's mother has never been by, not one time, to try to have a follow up on the baby. This is why he feels she knows more than she is telling. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it's like keep making yourself look sketchy here, mm-hmm. So in January of 2008, wafb released an article about Renee Havard being arrested for allegedly trying to sell her youngest child. This was something Bunch had suspected happened to her oldest child, wesley, so she has another baby.
Speaker 2And this happened and tries to sell it. Yeah, so absolutely, this is what happened to the other one.
Speaker 1So these charges were actually later dismissed for lack of evidence and Havard's lawyer, rhonda Covington, stated that she's not sure why everyone keeps bringing this up, as it was money exchanged during a legal adoption process to cover legitimately related expenses. So apparently what occurred was Havard changed her mind, like these people were legally adopting this child, going through the process, gave her money for expenses, which was around like $2,000. And she decides that she doesn't really want to give the baby up. So they've already paid these medical expenses and they have no baby. And I guess what occurred was the parents who were supposed to adopt the child and Havard herself had gone to see the district attorney to kind of figure out where they needed to go from here. What was the process?
Speaker 1right since she changed her mind correct, but, um, I don't know that they got much information in that meeting. But it's also reported that those people also called the cops and like reported her, yes, and so that's what led to these charges of human trafficking. Basically.
Speaker 2Yeah, pretty much. So she tried to sell the baby to somebody else.
Speaker 1No, she didn't try to sell it at all. Apparently it was a legal adoption. The money exchanged was literally just an agreed-upon amount to cover medical expenses for the baby being born.
Speaker 2Yeah, and I think in that case they that's okay. The mother is, yeah, obligated to change her mind.
Case Updates and Call For Information
Speaker 1If she changes her mind, then yeah, I don't know what happens with that. Yeah, I'm not real sure on the legalities of what happens if you change your mind during an adoption process. But yeah, I mean, obviously it led to something terrible, because now these people are upset. I would be too. Yeah, I would be too. And so basically they're just saying there was no actual selling of a baby. But in April of 2016, the FBI announced that they were reopening the missing child case. They set up a dedicated tip line and they didn't really give any specific details as to why there is a renewed interest in the case. But a former Clinton police officer, arkell Merritt, said in an article published by WAFB I presume they're coming with new ideas, maybe newer techniques, things that they feel like maybe, you know, we'll find him. So who knows, maybe they're just trying to fish for something again?
Speaker 1Yeah, maybe see if they can get some information out of some people that they couldn't get before you know, re-canvas the area, see if they find anything new. Just, you know, just checking up, I know there were some 21 electronic billboards around baton rouge area that were running the picture of this child just trying to keep it out there, because if they think that he's still alive, I guess their hopes is that somebody's gonna see this and be like, oh, that's my kid, or oh heck, that looks like me.
Speaker 2Yeah, that looks like me or somebody's like.
Speaker 1You know what, I know what happened and here you go, here you go, I'm gonna tell yeah, and I mean it's sad because you see stuff about her, like about his aunt and things like that just being like I wish we could find him, you know, so sad. There are people who believe he's not alive and that somebody did something and just covered it up.
Speaker 1And they've gotten away with it basically this whole time. Other people think maybe he got kidnapped and there's no trace of the kidnapper anywhere and he's alive, living somewhere with somebody, or not.
Speaker 2Right. But I mean, if you've ever been to Clinton, most places out there they're out in the sticks, they're out in the woods. So if he was up on the porch or in the yard, that's highly unlikely but not ruled out, I'm sure.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's very, very rural. Yeah, for sure, and I hate that word.
Speaker 2Rural.
Speaker 1Rural, rural. I usually mess it up, so I said that very slowly.
Speaker 2Yes, rural, yeah, so I mean it's.
Speaker 1You know you don't have neighbors close by it's spread out, so the likelihood of somebody seeing something kind of dwindles there, yeah, that too.
Speaker 1That too, yeah, so super, super sad. Yeah, havard's lawyer stated in that same article that Havard ultimate dream to find is to find her son. He would have been 17 years old in 2016 and during that time, the fbi offered a ten thousand dollar reward for information leading to morgan's location. I believe I could be wrong, so, don't you know, quote me on it, but I believe that ten thousand dollar reward is still a thing it's still in play okay, because at this point this may, he will have been missing for 24 years.
Speaker 2Oh, wow yeah, buddy, that's a long time that is a long time, and especially with no leads or no information anything and I mean as far as I can tell from other stuff.
Speaker 1I mean whenever they reopened the case with the fbi, the the mother still didn't want to talk to anybody. She literally was going through her lawyer for everything. Is that out of fear that you're going to be misquoted, or is that because you got something?
Speaker 2to hide, Right, and that's what I would think. You have something to hide? 100% yeah, because where's your baby? Right, I would still be advocating and I would still be trying to find my child, even 20 something years later.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, if you truly believe Having websites set up and. Yeah, yeah, you truly believe he's alive, or you're? You still retain hope. I mean, what do you know that I don't know Right.
Speaker 2Oh, that's awful, it is especially with him being so little yeah, that's.
Speaker 1The heartbreaking part is like he couldn't at this point if he were kidnapped or if he were sold to someone he doesn't even know. No, like he's not going to remember who his real family was. Yeah, all he's ever going to know is the people that he ended up with.
Speaker 2Right, like I was with this person, and now I'm over here with this person.
Speaker 1And unless they told him any different, he's not going to know anything. He's not going to be running around seeing these billboards going. Oh crap, maybe that's me. I got to take you know what, right, right.
Speaker 2He has no idea what happened to him as a child.
Speaker 1If he's alive, so it's. I mean, it's last updated in 2023 as far as anything involving his case, but he's still missing.
Speaker 2Yeah, but he's still missing. Yeah, I hope maybe something will come about and they'll be able to find him alive.
Speaker 1That would be ideal, yeah, but also like how jarring would that be to find out your entire life was a lie, right?
Speaker 2that you were sold or kidnapped or whatever. The situation was.
Speaker 1And that these people, who weren't your parents, actually raised you this whole entire time and they probably knew and didn't say anything to you Like how betrayed would you feel?
Speaker 2Yeah, that would be horrible. It would be A lot of therapy.
Speaker 1Yeah, it would be a lot of therapy, especially for me, because I'd be like do I hold a grudge, Do I thank you? Because I mean at this point, Right the situation he was in. I'm sure wasn't as bad as what his life may have been if he was still with his mom. I don't know. I don't know Again conjecture.
Speaker 2Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1If you have any information about Wesley Dale Morgan, you're asked to call the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office at 225-683-5459, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST. You can also call that FBI line that was set up dedicated strictly to this case at 1-800-CALL-FBI or 800-225-5324. You can also call Crime Stoppers at two, two, five, three, four, four, seven, eight, six, seven.
Speaker 2Any information, pick up the phone you know anything like, and the reward's still there. So you know, you know something and you've been holding it on to it, get it out there.
Speaker 1Yep. So, as usual, we appreciate y'all for listening. Yes, all sources used to create this episode can be found in the show notes. Our theme music is made by Patty Salzetta and if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review. Like, follow, collect all the things. Help us be seen by strangers, because I know a lot of you that are listening, know us personally, yes, instead of stranger danger, we want strangers.
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