Schenectady

In August 1971, 14-year-old Thomas "Tommy" Meuse left his grandmother's Swan Street home in Schenectady with $3 or $4 in his pockets and walked a few blocks toward downtown to buy her a gift.

He never returned.

Forty-two years later, two of Meuse's aunts, Virginia Stoddard and Josie Peeney, reflected on their nephew and continue to hope he is alive and well.

The sisters and other relatives have been working with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the Schenectady Police Department in hopes of renewing interest to the case.

"I hope he's married and has kids and grandkids," said Peeney, 68, who lives in Rotterdam.

Stoddard, a Schenectady resident, said that a few years ago she had her cheeks swabbed several times to provide a DNA sample to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Tommy's father, James Meuse of Florida, told the Times Union on Friday that he also gave authorities his DNA and photographs of him and his son as young boys.

With DNA from both sides of the family, scientists simulated Tommy's DNA profile that is now part of the national DNA database and will be used to cross-check it against any human remains.

The personal documents were also used by the agency to come up with a picture of what the now-56-year-old Meuse might look like today.

As a result, James Meuse, 79, said the rating system the center uses to assess the strength of a missing-persons case being resolved are better for finding his son.

Eric Clifford, the city police detective, said the department is not actively investigating Tommy's case, but rather "providing assistance to the center in any way I can."

Stoddard, 67, and Peeney recalled Friday how Meuse grew up in Schenectady and attended the now-shuttered St. Columba's elementary school. The boy, who could be mischievous at times, lived with his mother in California for a few years before returning to upstate New York, said the sisters.

"He was a tease ...was loving, and appreciated everything we gave him," said Peeney, 68. "Every place we went, we would take him to give mom a break."

Stoddard, who is 10 years older than her nephew, said he was like a little brother.

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James Meuse, who said he enjoyed a good relationship with his son, suspects that Tommy may have run away because he didn't want to return to the cramped trailer where his mother lived with her boyfriend and the man's son.

"How does a little boy survive this length of time unless he has help?" he asked. "You would expect him to have surfaced one way or the other."

On Friday, Stoddard and Peeney showed a reporter a faded newspaper clip from the personals section dated Jan. 21, 1972, that ostensibly was penned by Shirley Meuse, the missing boy's mother:

My Tommy went shopping and never came back.

They say they are looking but they don't know where he is or if he will show.

Who have they asked?

Where have they looked?

Is his name just a page in their book.

At age 14 on August 9, 1971, he did disappear.

Does any there really care?

In another article, Shirley Meuse wrote that her son, Tommy M. Seeley, was a 15-year-old Selkirk boy.

Seeley was the name of Meuse's then-live-in boyfriend, said her relatives.

But Peeney and Stoddard conceded Friday that their sister, who passed away last year, wasn't forthcoming with details after Tommy disappeared.

"I think whatever she knew or didn't know, she took with her to the grave," said Peeney. "She never had any fear of what happened to him, and when we questioned her, she was very evasive."

Stoddard had this message for Tommy: "Uncle Gene and I are still in the same house with the same number," she said. "Come see us."

pnelson@timesunion.com • 518-454-5347 • @apaulnelson