The Disappearing Residents of the New Lisbon State School
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**Information is obtained from the Where are they? Podcast and other online sources as cited**
The New Lisbon State School has housed thousands of people since its doors opened in 1914.
The facility went through a lot of changes over the decades, but it was always a home for developmentally handicapped or disabled children and adults.
The New Lisbon State School is located in New Lisbon, New Jersey. Records and documentation regarding incidents that happened there are scarce, including information on the three disappearances we are talking about today.
David Williams was 12 years old in 1975. He suffered from epilepsy and took daily medication.
Steven Anderson disappeared with David Williams. Steven was 17 years old.
Kenneth Schweigart was 46 years old in 1982 when he vanished.
All three disappeared from the grounds of the New Lisbon State School.
Where are David Williams, Steven Anderson, and Kenneth Schweigart?
This story is a sad one, and even more heartbreaking, is the lack of information on what happened here. When I first learned about this case, I thought for sure there would be a ton of stuff online about it. Blogs, videos, and news reports…but there is so little out there. So little.
These three people, David and Steven, both children, and Kenneth, a 46-year-old man, disappeared from a state institution. This should be talked about.
THE BACKGROUND.
Before we dive into their stories, and the very little we do have about them, I want to take a close look at the facility they went missing from, the New Lisbon State School, now also known as the New Libson Developmental Center.
The New Lisbon Center opened in 1914 as a place to house developmentally disabled men and women. It would change names a few times. It was called the Vineland State School, the Four Mile Colony, and the Colony for Boys.
It would become a place that was for boys and men only, although in the 1990’s it would once again be a co-ed institution.
New Lisbon today serves hundreds, and is a federal and state-funded facility, receiving about 75 million dollars a year in operating funds.
It’s also located in a fairly remote area of New Jersey, surrounded by woods, nature reserves, and waterways. In fact, the facility itself consists of 1,896 acres.
There was an interesting interview I came across with Bernie White, who was Deputy Director of Institutional Operations at DDD in New Jersey from 1955 until 1987. In his interview, he said that during his time in office, New Lisbon was a center for high-functioning males, who would hopefully be able to go into the adult foster care system.
DAVID WILLIAMS AND STEVEN ANDERSON.
In 1975, David and Steven were roommates at the then all-male New Lisbon State School, as it was known at that time. They were also friends, despite the fact that David was just 12 and Steven was 17.
David Edwards Wiliams was born on October 9, 1962. He was diagnosed with epilepsy and had to take daily medication. He was also known to wear a helmet at all times, which was to protect his head should he have a seizure. When he was last seen, he was in fact, wearing his helmet.
We don’t know much about his family life, including relatives, but it has been mentioned in several sources that his family did keep searching for him after he disappeared.
Steven Eugene Anderson was born on May 25, 1957. He was 17 years old when the boys vanished. He did have some communication impairments, but beyond that, it’s not known if he had other disabilities. It was, however, mentioned that both boys needed assistance with everyday tasks.
On April 7, 1975, Steven and David were walking toward their room, which was located in Vine Cottage on the property. They had been playing ball on the grounds, and staff did indicate they saw them walking back towards their room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and David was even wearing his helmet, as he always did.
At that time, the school had over 1,000 people on the premises, including residents, and staff. The resident-to-staff ratio at that time is not known.
Some have said later that they thought they saw the boys walking towards the woods, but it’s hard to know what is factual, especially since at the time, very little was documented about what happened.
I have questions.
Who would report the boys missing, and when was it? For instance, did they not show up for dinner?
Then I’m curious, did the staff search the area and grounds first, and then call the police? How long did they search on their own?
We know they eventually did report them missing, and local authorities did conduct searches of the area.
But no sign of either Steven or David was found. Not even David’s helmet.
At first, it was left to local authorities, which included New Lisbon Local Police and the New Jersey Department of Human Services. Eventually, the New Jersey State Police would become involved as well.
THE LYON SISTERS.
Less than 2 weeks before, on March 25 of that year, two young girls were shopping at the Wheaton Shopping Plaza in a suburb of Washington D.C., when they literally vanished into thin air.
The two girls, Katherine and Sheila, were 10 and 12 years old and were just spending the day hanging out.
They were seen a few times throughout the day, and around 2–3 p.m., a neighbor remembers seeing the girls walking away from the shopping center and towards their home.
They would never be seen or heard from again.
This was a huge case in the area, but the girls were never found.
Was there a connection? It was talked about, but nothing really officially linked the cases. Other than two minors, disappeared at the same time, together.
Wheaton, Maryland is about a 3-hour drive from the New Lisbon State School area. Was there someone out there targeting young people?
Seems a stretch that these cases are connected, but can’t be ruled out.
KENNETH SCHWEIGHART.
In 1982, seven years after David and Steven disappeared, another resident of New Lisbon State School would also vanish. Kenneth Schweighart was born on June 25, 1935. In 1982, Kenneth had been a resident of the facility for four years at that point. His family was from Garfield, New Jersey, but that’s all we really know. The only notation on Kenneth’s file is that he had a low IQ and needed some help with daily tasks, but he was gentle and non-violent.
He was apparently seen walking away from the campus at 11:45 a.m. on March 2, 1982, and has never been heard from again.
And that is all we know about Kenneth Schweighart.
This is sad because I have so many questions.
Where was he walking to? Where was he supposed to be going? Who saw him there?
There is some discussion of the search for David and Steven, but no mention of searches for Kenneth. I also couldn’t find any news articles on Kenneth’s case, even archived articles.
The cases of all three- David, Steven, and Kenneth, would go cold.
CASE REOPENED.
In 2017, the FBI would join in with the New Jersey authorities and reopened the case of David Williams and Steven Anderson.
They planned on conducting new interviews and searching the nature reserve adjacent to the facility. They did announce that they learned some interesting new bits of information and that they believed that a break in the case was going to happen soon.
That was 5 years ago, and we haven’t had any additional updates from the FBI.
NEW LISBON STATE SCHOOL RECENT HISTORY.
Let’s take a little look at the New Lisbon State School. State-funded institutions have a history of poor treatment, especially in pre 1980’s.
Many former workers have come forward to talk about abuse and the terrible things that would go on at the New Lisbon school.
In 2003, the Attorney General opened an investigation as they received reports of the horrible treatment and consistent abuse of the residents.
The findings of that investigation were documented in a 35-page brief.
These specific incidents are taken directly from that briefing:
Robert, 4/17/02 — staff member punched the resident in the chest. •
Jennifer, 3/1/02 — staff member called resident degrading and undignified names. •
Adam, 2/27/02 — staff member forcefully pushed Adam into his room, causing him to collide with a chair on the other side of the room. •
Henry, 2/27/02 — staff member took Henry and other residents to her house to clean up dog waste in her backyard. •
Angela, 2/24/02 — staff member was seen holding Angela’s faceguard and shaking her head up and down while yelling at her.
Wilson, 2/9/02 — staff member intentionally smeared glue on Wilson’s face, and failed to remove the glue before it dried; removal of the dry glue was “painful.” •
Paula, 1/25/02 — staff member slapped Paula in the face, and pinched her “because she is a ‘dark-skinned black person’ and bruises don’t show up on her”; there were “2 large bruises on right breast”; staff member also struck “the heal of her hand on Paula’s forehead”; staff member directed profanity at the resident and verbally threatened her. •
The New Lisbon State School would be assigned a federal monitor to see that the patients would get the care they deserved. The legal order for the monitor ended in 2009.
So, later in 2009 when another tragedy befalls the school, people once again start wondering what was going on there.
JAMES HOLLIS JR.
James Hollis Jr. arrived at a nearby hospital from the New Lisbon Developmental Center in Burlington County on the morning of Dec. 11, 2009, his body temperature was 84 degrees. His hip and several ribs were broken. He was in such bad shape, and he was unable to stand. James died from his injuries later that day.
In 2011, James’ family filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming abuse and negligence.
WHAT HAPPENED?
So what really happened to David, Steven, and Kenneth?
Did they wander off and have an accident?
Did they wander off and get picked up by someone?
Or, did something happen to them at the school that was covered up?
To this day, no one knows.
David Wiliams was 12 years old in 1975. He would today be 59 years old.
He is described as a black male, 5 foot tall, and about 110 pounds. He was wearing his epilepsy helmet when he was last seen.
Steven Anderson was 17 years old in 1975. He would today be 64 years old. Steven is described as a caucasian male, 5 foot 7 inches tall and weighing around 140 pounds. Steven has blonde hair and blue eyes and likes to be called ‘Teeve’.
Kenneth Schweighart was 46 years old when he vanished in 1982. He is a caucasian male, 5 foot 8 inches tall, and weighing around 150 pounds. He had greying brown hair in March 1982.
If you have any information on David Williams, Steven Anderson or Kenneth Schweighart- any info at all- please contact the Atlantic City Resident Agency of the FBI, at (609) 677–6400.
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