Jason Keith Cannon

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Boise Police Department (ID)

Missing From:

Boise, Idaho

Summary:

Jason Keith Cannon, a 2-year-old boy, went missing from his home in Boise's North End on March 16, 1983. Investigators believe he was abducted by a non-family member and may still be alive. His case remains unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Wearing blue overalls and a yellow and blue shirt, Jason was last seen around 2 p.m. on the front porch of his apartment complex at 939 N. 32nd St. His mother had gone inside to get his jacket, but when she returned, he was gone. His mother was baking at the time and had the front door open and the curtains pulled away from the windows which allowed her to see him. He had just returned from playing with neighborhood children. She searched inside the home and outside before calling police. He has never been heard from again and an extensive search of the area turned up no sign of him. Police, neighbors and volunteers did an extensive search of the surrounding neighborhood in the weeks that followed, including combing a small canal called Sand Creek that ran behind the apartment complex as well as portions of the Boise River. This is considered an abduction.

Additional Details:

Authorities initially thought Jason had fallen into the canal near his home. They found a toy bucket, which Jason's friends identified as his, west of Stilson Road near the Boise River, about one-third of a mile from his home. However, Jason was afraid of water and at the time of his disappearance his older brother was on the way home from school and his mother was baking brownies in the oven, meaning he had no reason to wander out of his yard. 50 to 75 police officers and volunteers combed the area around his home but found no trace of him anywhere. Water from the Sand Creek was diverted and it was swept with rakes. Divers also searched the creeks bottom but to no avail. Investigators suspect that Jason was abducted by a non family member. They called off the search for him a few days after his disappearance under the assumption he was taken from the area. Someone in the community reported seeing a boy with an older man in the downtown area at night. Police also said a grey van was reported driving "aimlessly" near Jason's apartment complex. There were multiple sightings of him after his disappearance but none of them were confirmed and investigators said it could've just been a child that resembles Jason. "A toy bucket, identified by two of Jason's friends as belonging to the boy, was found west of Stilson Road near the Boise River, about a third of a mile away from his home," a police spokesman at the search site told the Idaho Statesman in 1983. Boise Police Department Violent Crime Unit Det. Paul Jagosh, who was assigned to look into Jason's case again in 2020, has tracked down and re-interviewed several people from 1983, including Jason's parents, who now live out of the state. Police are working with Jason's parents to submit their DNA samples to GEDmatch, which houses DNA samples from several genealogy sites like Ancestry or 23andMe, so long as someone opts in.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 27, 2026