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Real Names: Robert Harold "Bobby" Macy, others unknown
Case: Lost Siblings
Location: Reedley, California
Date: 1957
“Case”
“Details: Martha Smith is searching for her twin brother, Robert “Bobby” Brown, and their four older siblings. Their parents, Ira and Dora Brown, gave Martha and Bobby up for adoption as infants because they were unable to care for them. The Brown family had been severely affected by the Dust Bowl, one of the most devastating natural disasters in American history.
During the 1930s, years of relentless drought transformed the lush farmlands of Oklahoma, Texas, and the Midwest into a barren wasteland. Thousands of families were forced to abandon their ancestral homes, desperately searching for work. Uprooted and impoverished, many made their way west to California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley.
Fifteen years later, many still remained in the area as migrant farm workers, following the fruit and vegetable harvest from town to town. Ira and Dora Brown were typical Dust Bowl refugees. They had lost their farm in Oklahoma and never returned. By 1951, they had four children, and Dora was pregnant again. On July 27, 1951, she gave birth to twins: Martha and Bobby.
With six mouths to feed, the Browns felt they had no choice but to put the twins up for adoption. Martha believes her parents gave her and Bobby up out of their best interests. She thinks they could not afford to care for her and Bobby. She had a heart condition that would have been expensive to treat. She thinks Ira reluctantly gave her and Bobby up for adoption so that she could get good medical treatment and education.
Martha and Bobby were placed in California’s foster care system. They were shuttled from one family to another, never knowing what it was like to live in a secure home. Finally, in 1956, when they were five years old, they came to live with Alice and Arnold Breitler in Reedley, California. Alice still remembers the day when Martha and Bobby came to live with them. She says they were so pretty and cute. She fell in love with them right away.
Alice and Arnold got toys for Martha and Bobby. When Alice took them to their bedroom, Martha went right to the doll on her bed and hugged it. Alice thought that was very sweet. At the time, she did not realize Martha and Bobby had never had toys before.
The social worker told Alice that Martha and Bobby had been mistreated. It took Alice two and a half hours to get the dirt off their bodies.
She remembers that they were also very hungry. They ate almost nonstop for a week. She says it was like she just couldn’t fill them up. They also tried to eat with their hands, and Alice had to keep telling them to use their utensils.
As time passed, Martha began telling Alice about their previous foster home. Martha said that she and Bobby had to stand outside while their foster family ate dinner. And then, the family would bring them in and give them beans. Martha says she and Bobby were hungry and malnourished when they arrived at the Breitler home. She remembers sneaking into the kitchen with Bobby in the middle of the night and taking what food they could find. They did it almost every night because they were afraid of going hungry again.
Martha and Bobby were very close to each other at that time. She says it was like they were the only kids in the whole world that loved each other, and nobody else loved them. Years of severe neglect had taken a tremendous emotional toll on them, especially Bobby. Almost immediately, there was evidence of serious behavioral problems.
One day, Martha and Bobby were playing in a small swimming pool in the backyard while Alice was inside washing dishes. When she looked outside, she saw Bobby holding Martha’s head down in the water, and he would not let her up. Alice immediately went out and told Bobby to stop, which he did. She thinks Bobby loved Martha very much but also resented her.
Alice says Bobby would sometimes be sweet, but then he would “build himself up” and have little fits. Then, they would go away, and he would be sweet again. She believed there was something “in him” that was causing him to act that way.
Bobby’s violent temper was a constant worry for Arnold, Alice, and the child welfare office. In 1957, the welfare board, fearing for Martha’s safety, decided it would be best to separate her and Bobby. He was then sent to yet another foster home.
Martha remembers the day that Bobby left very well. They were sitting on the front steps of the Breitlers’ house. She did not know he was leaving that day. She is unsure if he knew he was leaving either. After saying goodbye to Arnold and Alice, Bobby went to say goodbye to Martha. He gave her the clown outfit he had worn for Halloween and told her to keep it. She says that was the one thing he could give her that was very special to him.
Martha says that when Bobby left, she missed him very much because it seemed like he was the only person in the world who loved her. And he was the only person that she loved. Alice still feels bad about Bobby being sent away. She wishes that it had not happened.
When he was eleven, Bobby and his new foster family moved out of the area. Arnold, Alice, and Martha never heard from him again. In 1962, Martha was legally adopted by Arnold and Alice. After Arnold passed away in 1968, Martha and Alice moved to Ashland, Oregon. But they never forgot Bobby.
When she was eighteen, Martha made a special trip to the welfare office in Fresno, California. She learned that Bobby had been adopted and was renamed “Robert Harold Macy.” Eventually, she obtained his address. She wrote a letter to him, asking if he could come to her high school graduation. She remembers waiting excitedly each day for the postman to bring her a letter from Bobby. A few weeks later, however, her letter was returned unopened.
At that time, Martha thought that she had lost Bobby for good. She thought she would never be able to find him again. Twenty years would pass before she was able to uncover any additional information about Bobby. In 1989, she obtained copies of his birth certificate and driver’s license. She also found that he had an address in Los Angeles.
Martha was excited when she found Bobby’s address. What she did not realize was that the address belonged to The Midnight Mission, a homeless shelter. But according to the shelter’s records, Bobby had not been seen there for more than two years.
Martha believes that when she and Bobby were young, they had a special bond. She thinks that, in his own way, he still remembers her and loves her as he did when they were children. She says it is important for her to find him, and it would “mean the world” to her if she could do that.
Bobby and Martha also have an older brother and three older sisters. She would like to find them as well.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the May 6, 1992 episode.
Results: Solved - Within minutes of the broadcast, Martha was contacted by her oldest brother, Jack Brown. She learned she had another brother and a sister who were deceased. However, she was unable to find out any information about Bobby.
Sadly, Martha passed away on October 9, 1995, at the age of forty-four. According to one of her sons, she never found Bobby. A viewer later discovered that Bobby passed away in 1996 (just a year after Martha), in Tucson, Arizona.
Alice Breitler passed away on September 7, 1994, at the age of eighty-nine.”
“Links” to search
“Robert Macy on Unresolved Mysteries Reddit
Martha Smith on Ancient Faces
Martha Smith’s Obituary
Alice Breitler’s Obituary
Robert Macy and Martha Smith on Find a Grave”
Dawn Turner 
