The Strange Disappearance (and Reappearance) of Nicholas Barclay.

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On September 10 1994, Nicholas "Nicky" Barclay went to the park near his home to play basketball with friends. Later that day, Nicholas called home to get a ride. His brother Jason answered the phone and, annoyed with his little brother, told Nicky to walk home. Nicholas' mom Beverly worked nights a convenience store and slept during the day. Jason later explained that he told Nicky to walk home so he wouldn't have to wake their mother. Nicholas never came home that night.

At the time of his disappearance, Nicholas Barclay was 13. He lived in San Antonio, Texas with his mom and half-brother Jason. By all accounts, Nicky was a troubled child. He often skipped school, started fights, stole, and reportedly was abusive to his mother both verbally and physically. At the young age of 13, Nicholas had three tattoos. Yes, you read that correctly. Tattoos- a "J" on his left shoulder, a "T" or a cross on his left hand, and "L and N" on his left ankle. The half-brother Jason had recently moved back into the family home, after their mother asked him to help with Nicholas. She claimed his behavioral problems were just beginning to get out of hand and she needed help. According to Beverly, she believed that Nicky would straighten out with the influence of an older brother in his life (Jason was at least 10 years older than Nicholas in 1994).

According to the family, when Nicholas still hadn't returned home from the park after a full day, they figured he had run away or went to stay with friends. They later explained this away by telling authorities they figured he was upset with them for telling him to walk home instead of giving him a ride. Beverly did not report her son missing until 3 DAYS LATER, on September 13, 1994. A full 3 days after she had not, nor any of their family heard or seen Nicholas. When the boy was finally reported missing, the police also figured Nicholas was a run away, and did not start on the case immediately. Turns out, Nicholas had a court hearing scheduled on September 14th for a theft charge. The police, and his family, figured he could have run away to potentially avoid having to appear in court.

Like I did with the first case I wrote about (Kendrick Johnson), I did my research on this story. Every article, podcast, and news story I read or watched on Nicholas' case all addressed how he was a troubled child. Almost all of these sources predicted that Nicholas' case wasn't investigated right away was due to this particular fact. No one was going to take the disappearance of a truant child seriously. I call BS. No matter how many times this boy didn't come home for a day or two at a time, skipped school, or acted out could ever justify him not being seen or heard from for 3 days. I will go into that more later in my post.

This is where the story takes a drastic (and strange) turn- 3 years after Nicholas disappeared, in October 1997 a man named Johnathan Dorian from Spain got in touch with police in the United States claiming to have Nicholas Barclay, alive, at a group home. Dorian told police that the boy was found wondering the streets and was clearly traumatized and scared.

News of Nicholas' return reached his family. They were told vague details, but Nicky's older sister Carey insisted on going to Spain immediately to retrieve her brother. Authorities in the states were suspicious and wanted to approach this odd situation with caution. The FBI reached out to Carey and informed her they would be assisting her to get Nicholas from Spain.

To sum up a rather long story, Carey and FBI agent Nancy Fisher go to Spain and meet the boy in the group home who claims to be the missing boy. Nicholas, now 16, claimed to have been kidnapped and sold into a child sex ring where he ended up in Spain. He tells authorities heart wrenching stories about the tourture he had to endure every day for 3 years, being raped and abused repeatedly. After a few days of interviews and testing, Nicholas was allowed to return to the United States with his sister, who was ecstatic to have him back.

The reunion of Nicholas and his family at the airport was filmed and can actually be found online. If you watch this video, it is clear that most of his family are welcoming to the boy who has been gone for the past 3 years; but others just seem uncomfortable. To be honest, his mom looked SUPER uncomfortable and under stress- almost like she knew something wasn't right. Maybe this was because she was nervous to be reunited with her son whom she hadn't seen in years, or maybe because she knew better. Another odd feature about Nicholas' return was his demeanor after getting off the plane. He was wearing a heavy jacket, scarf, sunglasses, and a hat. The boy barely spoke to anyone. Some may justify this as him being horribly traumatized by his encounters over the past few years and that maybe he became desocialized.

Despite the odd return, Nicholas was welcomed home and allowed to move back into the family home. To his family, he seemed to be fitting back in to his routine as well as could be expected. Nicholas even returned to school where he reconnected with old friends.

Happy ending, right? Wrong.

Not long after returning, Nicholas and his family were receiving heavy media attention, despite the advice of authorities. Private Investigator Charlie Parker was asked to take a look at the case by a friend in the media. Charlie was immediately skeptical of Nicholas. Eventually, he convinced the authorities to look into this man claiming to be Nicholas further. After weeks of digging, run around with Nicholas' family, and questioning, it was determined that this man WAS NOT Nicholas, but in fact 23 year old Frederic Bourdin who was well known to authorities in Europe. Bourdin had a criminal record and had been known to steal identities of missing children in the past. Turns out, the man who reached the authorities in the United States initially "Johnathan Dorian", was ALSO Frederic. No such man at the group home existed.

When I say the story of Frederic and how he "became" Nicholas is wild- holy cow. There is a documentary titled "The Imposter" that interviews Bourdin himself, where he tells the story by his own account. This film can be found on amazon prime as of now.

So, back to the research and reading I have done about this story on my own. Every thing that I came across told little about who Nicholas Barclay actually was, and focused more on this "Imposter". Yes, the story of Frederic Bourdin and how he pulled of this INSANE scheme is interesting, but it overshadows what truly is important here: Where is Nicholas and what happened to him? How could his own family not know this was an imposter and wasn't actually Nicholas? Why were they so quick to accept him into the family, even when everyone else was suspicious? It was later discovered that Beverly refused to provide authorities with a DNA sample when the identity of the fake Nicholas was in question. Additionally, Jason, Nickys half brother, did not come to see fake Nicholas until a month after he was brought home from Spain. Wouldn't you want to see your brother who has been gone for 3 years as soon as possible?? OH, get this. Three weeks after Nicholas' disappearance in 1994, Jason called police to report that he had caught Nicholas trying to break into the garage of the family home. When police arrived on scene, they found no evidence of a break in and no evidence that Nicholas had actually returned. This is odd for many reasons. First, if your little brother had been missing for 3 weeks and you just spotted him, wouldn't you welcome him home instead of calling police? Second, this report of a "victim siting" is well known to police as a tactic used by murders to make authorities believe the victim is still alive.

So, what really happened? Here are some theories:

Theory 1- After playing basketball with his friends at the park, Nicholas started to walk home when someone offered him a ride. This "someone" could be anyone, a stranger or someone well known to the boy. This leads us to think maybe Nicholas ran into foul play and was killed and dumped so his perpetrator wouldn't be found.

Theory 2- Being completely grief stricken for 3 years wondering what happened to their son and brother, Beverly and Carey did not see the red flags in Frederic. They wanted so much for Nicholas to be home, they accepted this man at any cost. They avoided police to in turn avoid the truth, that this boy was not Nicholas.

Theory 3- A theory that is most popular is that Nicholas was killed by a family member- Specifically Jason, or his own mother Beverly. Many suggest this explains the odd behavior and Jason's absence after "Nicholas" returned home. It was later revealed that Jason and Beverly both had serious drug problems at the time of Nicholas' disappearance. In my opinion, it seems highly likely that Jason went into a drug induced rage and killed Nicholas after he returned home from the park. It was no secret that Jason and Nicholas did not get along well, and it could be that Jason got tired of the burden his little brother was putting on the family. After Jason moved back into the family home, the cops were often called over family disputes between the boys and their mother. Neighbors report that this was a weekly occurrence.

This brings me to address what I spoke on briefly earlier in this post- Nicholas' bad behavior. In my opinion, children aren't "born bad". They become products of their environment and acquire learned behaviors. It seems that Nicky's home life was abusive, and maybe even neglectful. I believe that Nicholas' bad behavior was a cry for help. It seems as though this behavior was written off to him just "being bad", and not for what it truly was.

I chose to write about this story because of Nicholas, and the fact that his disappearance remains a mystery. Yes, the imposter story is fascinating and I could have written so much more about that aspect of the case (if you would like to learn more about that, watch the documentary)- but I believe it takes away what should be most important here. Nicholas Barclay, a 13 year old boy who was never seen or heard from again after September 10, 1994. A CHILD. A child who may have been found if his case was investigated properly from the beginning and not seen as "a classic runaway". There seems to be so much missing from the investigation. Was Nicholas' friends from the park ever interviewed? Was the alleged phone call Nicholas made home ever confirmed by phone records? Was the house searched for forensic evidence? Did police canvas the park and neighborhood Nicholas was last seen? Most importantly- why aren't all reports of missing children taken seriously from the minute they are reported? It shouldn't matter how many times this boy ran from home, skipped school, or acted out. He was a CHILD and should have had people out looking for him from day 1.

After Frederic Bourdin went to prison for his crimes, he told police he suspected the family of having something to do with the disappearance of the real Nicholas. In the documentary "The Imposter" Frederic shares he was able to carry on this facade for so long, not because the family believed he was Nicky, but because they would rather hide the truth that he isn't ever coming back. Nicholas' mother Beverly was questioned about his disappearance and many were skeptical of her claims to know nothing. To add to the suspicion, Nicholas' brother Jason died of a drug overdose before they were able to question him on his knowledge of what happened. The case was closed shortly after due to insufficient evidence. Private Investigator Charlie Parker works on Nicholas' case to this day, claiming one day he will find the truth.

Thank you for reading. I always welcome feedback, opinions, thoughts, theories. Please subscribe with your email below so you can be notified when I post! I plan on discussing a new case every week.

-Kayla