37th Anniversary of the disappearance of Corey Edkin

Francis Scarcella, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
·3 min read
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Oct. 13—Friday marks 37 years since 2-year-old Corey Edkin went missing from a home in New Columbia.

There has been some movement on the cold case in recent months and a state trooper still investigating the case said justice will be served for the young boy reported missing on Oct. 13, 1986.

Edkin was reported missing from a home on Second Street in New Columbia by his mother, Debbie Mowery, in the early morning hours of Oct. 13.

Troopers said Mowery told investigators she placed her son in her bed before she drove to a store. When she returned 30 minutes later, her son was gone, she told police.

State police have investigated the case since the disappearance more than three decades ago. In 2009, Edkin was listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs).

Troopers said they do not believe that the child walked away from the home, nor that he was abducted by any other person. Mowery declined to speak with The Daily Item recently and would only say, "I have to live with this every day," before hanging up.

Mowery has not responded to calls for comment since.

In August, the case's lead investigator Trooper Brian Watkins, out of the Milton Barracks, arrested a Mifflinburg man police said is tied to the case.

Henry Bush, 55, was charged after a federal indictment. In a 2022 interview with a grand jury, Bush said he heard Edkin's body was in a gas station dumpster in Allenwood, according to court documents. Bush was scheduled for preliminary arraignment earlier this week, which has been pushed back to 1:15 p.m. Tuesday. Bush is charged with a misdemeanor count of obstruction after Watkins said Bush admitted to lying during police interviews in relation to the disappearance of Edkin, according to investigators.

Previously Watkins announced that state police had made "significant advances" in a 1986 disappearance. "The individuals who caused this tragedy will be brought to justice," he said about the Edkin case last summer.

In the unsealed grand jury report, investigators said they interviewed Bush in November 2022, and the man told Watkins he had been "cleared" and he just wanted it over with. When Bush appeared before the grand jury, he was questioned about his source of information on Edkin being inside the dumpster, noting that Bush was the only person to have ever provided that information to authorities, according to court documents.

The grand jury report also says Bush's unnamed employer testified and said he encountered Bush outside the building where the grand jury proceedings were held.

The unidentified person allegedly stated Bush was a "very nervous man," the report said. The unidentified person also allegedly said Bush told the person he could not talk about why he was there, but he related that it was because he got mixed up with the wrong people at the wrong time, the report stated.

Bush allegedly testified he was not sure when he stayed overnight at Mowery's home and it could have been a week before Edkin disappeared, the report said.

Bush admitted he went to Mowery's home in the hours leading up to the disappearance, but could not remember why he did, the report said.

The report also states Bush used the term "alibi" with respect to checking on his grandmother during the early morning hours of Oct. 13 when Edkin went missing. When asked why he would use the term "alibi" if he had done nothing wrong, he allegedly responded, "I don't know," the report said.