Sometime between 6:15 P.M. to 6:30 P.M. Dalton was outside in his front yard on the enclosed porch waiting for a church van to take him to church. The church van never arrived. The Streater Police Department, Livingston County Sheriff’s Department and the Illinois State Police joined together in search for Dalton. Hundreds of volunteers came in search for Dalton in the hopes of bringing him home safe to his family. An Amber Alert was issued for Dalton.
Dalton’s sister saw him on the porch about 6:45 P.M. when she left to go to a friend’s house, to wait for the same church van. He came back in to the house sometime between 7:00 P.M. – 7:15 P.M. to say that he was still waiting. At 7:45 P.M. his sister went back home and asked where he was. The church van never arrived and no one from the church contacted the family to notify them it’s cancellation. The scheduled driver was out of town with her sick husband.
Four K-9’s picked up Dalton’s sent from his home to the middle of the street, and stopped. Dalton’s mom reported that she believes he may have mistakenly got in to another vehicle if he believed he was going to church.
Dalton was found twenty-four hours later by a fisherman. He was found floating in the Vermillion River three miles from his home.
Officers found the Bench Top Pro hammer used to take Dalton’s life. Immediately a task force was created, called the Dalton Mesarchik Task Force. Part of the press release read: The Dalton Mesarchik Task Force, recently formed by the ISP, will utilize 30 - 40 Investigators from the ISP, Streator Police Department, Livingston and LaSalle County Sheriffs' Departments, Livingston and LaSalle County State's Attorneys' Offices, ISP Crime Scene Investigators, and special enforcement teams to generate additional information regarding the violent crime and to continue last year's investigative effort. Task Force Commander Craig Koehler said, "Significant strides have been made in the case. Information developed during this investigation is re-evaluated and compared with new information on a daily basis, and analysis of the physical evidence is continuing. The ISP Dalton Mesarchik Task Force remains committed to this investigation and confident it will be resolved." While the investigation has received a great deal of support from the public and hundreds of leads have been received, the task force is requesting the public's continued assistance. "A criminal investigation is similar to working a puzzle; all the pieces are needed to accurately complete the picture. Many of the pieces are now in the possession of the task force." stated Koehler. "However, we have reason to believe there are individuals who have valuable information to this investigation and for unknown reasons have not yet come forward. We are making an appeal to those persons now. You may have the missing piece to the puzzle," Koehler concluded.
Even if you think your information is unimportant or it has already been reported, please contact the task force's toll-free hotline: 1-877-325-8666 (1-877-DALTONM) or email the task force: daltonm@isp.state.il.us or send standard mail to: Dalton Mesarchik Task Force, P.O. Box 406, Streator, IL 61364-0406. To further the efforts of the task force, a reward of $50,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of Dalton's murderer.
While there were hundreds of leads and all of them followed, with dozens of interviews, Dalton’s case grew cold with no answers. It was reported that there were thirty-one registered sex offenders in the immediate area at the time of his abduction.
Questions still loom. Did one of the sex offenders in the area take him? Did someone at the church, know that there was no bus coming for some of these kids, giving them an opportunity to abduct a child? Was someone already following Dalton? Were all the neighbors interviewed? Was DNA found? Dalton’s death remains unsolved.
While there is no longer a task force on Dalton’s case, there is still a 50K reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Dalton’s killer. If you have any information that you have, or not sure you have, please do the right thing. Contact the Illinois State Police Zone 5, at (815) 844-1500 ext 2321.
DALTON'S OBITUARY
Dalton was only 7 years old, when he disappeared on March 26th, 2003 from Streator, Illinois. The little boy was waiting on his own porch outside, for a church van to pick him up. He was supposed to be going to a youth program. Sadly, the program had been cancelled, and little Dalton was instead abducted by someone unknown. When his family called for him to come back inside, he was gone. Many volunteers searched for the child. Tragically, he was found murdered the next day. His little body was found by a fisherman on the Vermilion River, about 2½ miles from his home. His murder remains unsolved. May this little angel soon have justice.
