BOY, 17, DIES OF GUN WOUND NEAR SESSER
Freddie Downen Found Dead In Woods Near His Home Today.

SESSER, III. (AP) - A 17 year old boy - the object of a search Friday night and early today - was found dead in woods near his farm home four miles north of here. The youth, Fred Downen, was shot once through the heart with a .22 caliber rifle. Franklin County Coroner Barney Browning said it was apparently a suicide. A stick was stuck in the trigger of the rifle. About 150 persons friends neighbors and law enforcement officials searched Friday night and this morning before finding the body. The boy went hunting Friday about 3 p. m. the boy was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Downen. The Downen family resides at Emerson City, south of Waltonville, on RFD Scheller and near Sesser. Jefferson county authorities said the youth went hunting alone, with his .22 rifle. His body was found in a thicket about a half block from home. When members of the family returned home from a basketball game at Waltonville, he had not returned from the hunting trip. Becoming worried, they organized a searching party with neighbors, and late last night notified county officers and state police the body (sic) was missing. The body was taken to the Brayfield Funeral Home in Sesser.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete. Freddie was born September 1, 1940 near Sesser, the son of Charles and Leida Downen.

Besides the parents he is survived by three brothers, Jimmy, Ernest and Stephen, all at home; two sisters, Patsy and Susie both at home; and the grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Downen and Mr. and Mrs. Edmond Bates, all of Sesser.

Source: The Mt Vernon Register-News
Date: Saturday, December 7, 1957
Submitted by: Robert W. Loman

Open Verdict Is Returned In Death Of Downen Boy

A coroner's jury last night returned an open verdict in the death of Fred Downen. 17, who was found dead from a gunshot wound last Saturday, in a woods near his home in southern Jefferson county. After an inquest conducted by Coroner Ray Heflry, the jury ruled that the youth died from a gunshot wound inflicted in an undetermined manner. The Downen youth had been hunting Friday afternoon near his home, four miles north of Sesser, with a .22 rifle. His body was found in a woods near his home the next morning. A bullet had pierced his heart.