Oscar James Nedd

• Missing Since 01/01/1975
• Missing From White Plains, New York
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Male
• Race Black
• Date of Birth 04/18/1951 (73)
• Age 23 years old
• Height and Weight 5'2 - 5'5, 140 pounds
• Associated Vehicle(s) 1972 Dodge (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes. One of Nedd's teeth is missing.

Details of Disappearance

Nedd was last heard from on January 1, 1975, when he spoke to his sister on the phone from his rooming house in the 50 block of Broadway in White Plains, New York.

The previous month, Nedd's nephew, Joshua Fluellen, had asked for a place to stay and Nedd had invited him into his home. Nedd did not realized Fluellen had escaped from jail after being accused of shooting a man in Georgia.

When he spoke to his sister on January 1, she told him about Fluellen's criminal history and advised him to make Fluellen leave the apartment. Nedd was very upset at the news. He had a doctor's appointment on January 6, but never kept it. He has never been heard from again.

Nedd's sister and her husband reported him missing on January 8. When authorities went to his apartment, he and Fluellen were gone and there were blood splatters on the walls and floor, bloodstained clothing, and a large puddle of blood under the mattress.

A witness reported seeing Fluellen struggling to carry a large object, similar to a human body, which was wrapped in a rug. The witness stated Fluellen carried the object down the stairs, put it in the trunk of a car and drove away.

Fluellen was arrested in Las Cruces, New Mexico in February 1975, for a string of armed robberies he committed in New Mexico and Arizona. At the time of his arrest, he said he was Nedd and he was driving Nedd's 1972 Dodge.

Austin Avery, the police detective in charge of Nedd's missing persons investigation in New York, wanted to travel to New Mexico to question Fluellen about his uncle's disappearance, but his superiors refused to allow the trip.

Avery retired in 1978, but continued to investigate Nedd's case on his own time. At one point, he says, he visited Fluellen in prison and accused him of murdering Nedd. According to Avery, Fluellen did not deny this, but simply challenged him to prove it. Avery has alleged the White Plains Police Department did not adequately investigate Nedd's disappearance in 1975 because of racism, a charge they deny.

Fluellen was convicted of numerous charges, including kidnapping, rape and armed bank robbery, in the decades after 1975. He is presently incarcerated in federal prison for five bank robberies.

He maintains his innocence in Nedd's disappearance and stated he and Nedd drove to California in 1975 and Nedd disappeared there after meeting a girl in a pool hall. He has no explanation for the blood in the apartment or the witness statement.

Nedd was born in Marshallville, Georgia, one of seven siblings. He was an excellent student and a star athlete in high school, and traveled to New York after his graduation in 1970. He worked two jobs and, by the time of his disappearance, he had saved $1,500. He was engaged to be married and hoped to go to college and become a journalist.

Nedd is described as deeply religious. He was declared legally dead in 2005, but his case remains unsolved.