55 Years Later, Family Uncovers Father Buried Beneath Their Home — The Mystery of George Carroll

How a Family Finally Found the Truth About George Carroll

Chris Carroll, normally composed under pressure, emerged pale and shaken from a deep excavation in the basement of his childhood home in Lake Grove, Long Island. "Dad, I think we found something," he told his father, Michael Carroll. The hole Chris and his brother Mike Jr. had been digging for months revealed human remains that forensic testing later identified as their grandfather, George Carroll.

Timeline of a Long-Buried Mystery

• 1963 — George Carroll, a 30-year-old Korean War veteran, disappeared from the family home. His wife, Dorothy, told their children he had "walked out," and she never filed a missing-person report.
• Mid-2000s — Family conversations and relatives suggested foul play; Michael learned his aunt and uncle suspected George had been killed and buried under the house.
• 2010 — A psychic reading described a body buried beneath the home and gave details that only a family member recognized; this prompted renewed interest in searching the property.
• 2018 (Halloween eve) — Chris and Mike Jr. uncovered skeletal remains in the basement floor. DNA and forensic analysis later confirmed the identity as George Carroll.
• 2019 — The family buried George with military honors at a national cemetery on Long Island.

Background: After returning from the U.S. Army and service in Korea, where his children later learned he even drove for a USO tour, George settled on Long Island with his wife, Dorothy, and their four young children: Jean, Patricia, Steven and Michael. Dorothy later married the family’s former handyman, Richard Darress, who many family members have long suspected of abusing the children; Darress has since died. The Carroll children maintain that they were told their father abandoned them, a story that remained unchallenged for decades.

"Our father was in the ground for 55 years while we just thought he abandoned us," said eldest son Steven Carroll. "But somebody murdered him."

Investigation and Aftermath

The discovery gave the family long-sought closure: they were able to inter George with military honors on October 25, 2019. Suffolk County Police continue to investigate the death; while many family members suspect Richard Darress, no one has been convicted and the investigation remains active.

The family's search and emotional reckoning are documented in the film The Secrets We Bury, directed by Patricia E. Gillespie, which premiered on Investigation Discovery and is available to stream on HBO Max. The film follows siblings who reunited to unearth both physical evidence and the truths that had haunted them for decades.

What This Means

Beyond solving a disappearance, the case speaks to the long-term effects of unresolved loss, the role of family memory, and how informal tips—like a psychic reading—can prompt renewed attention to an old case. The Carrolls’ determination turned generations of uncertainty into a concrete discovery that forced a community and investigators to reexamine a story that had been told as abandonment.