The house where the evil took place is long gone, torn down to build Bruce R. Watkins Drive.</p><p> The little boy who endured the attack is a man. Alvin Sykes is well-known as a solver of crimes, not as a victim. </p><p> He&#x92;s responsible for the 2008 establishment of a cold-case unit in the U.S. Department of Justice to work unsolved murders from the civil-rights era. It&#x92;s just one of his many accomplishments as an advocate. </p><p> But 45 years ago, Sykes was a 10-year-old in Kansas City. He lived with a kindly woman who took him in when his own mother couldn&#x92;t care for him. </p><p> She warned him to steer clear of the man and woman living across the street from their home at 2626 Highland Ave. He didn&#x92;t listen.</p><p>They offered him candy. The little boy, nicknamed &#x93;too sweet,&#x94; loved candy.</p><p> &#x93;The pain came with the man,&#x94; Sykes said, recalling the day when the woman forced her body so close he worried about being smothered. Then the man attacked him. &#x93;It was painful, and after it happened, I didn&#x92;t know what to do.&#x94;</p><p> So like so many other childhood sexual abuse victims, he didn&#x92;t do anything. </p><p> Last week, Sykes breakfasted with police Chief Darryl Fort&#xE9; and told him the story. </p><p> A person would be hard pressed to gain more validation; the chief of police, listening and vowing to pursue your case.</p><p> &#x93;I would like to know if they are still out there victimizing,&#x94; Fort&#xE9; said. &#x93;We will take it as far as we can.&#x94;</p><p> Admittedly, that might not be far. Fort&#xE9; will have tax and property records checked to determine who owned the house where the alleged attack occurred. It also will be necessary to see if such an assault was classified as a crime then, if statutes of limitations apply. </p><p> Such legal sleuthing is the lifework of Sykes. </p><p> His encyclopedic ability to absorb and analyze legal statutes has fueled countless stories for me, most notably the reopening of the 1955 Emmett Till murder case.</p><p> Some of his past efforts will no doubt help other children, now adults, who also were sexual abuse victims.</p><p> A piece of the bill that established the cold-case unit calls for federal help that could be used to solve old sexual abuse cases. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is exploring how it can further their work.</p><p> For Sykes, his childhood trauma became symbolic of something he overcame. With the passage of time, it&#x92;s become something he needs to address.</p><p> An estimated one in five girls and one in 10 boys will be sexually victimized before they are 18. Only one in three will tell.</p><p> It&#x92;s important that they do; even if the recounting comes years, even decades later.