13 year old Nicholas Barclay was last seen in San Antonio, Texas on June 13, 1994. He vanished while walking home after playing basketball with friends.
Background of Nicholas Barclay
Nicholas Barclay was born to mother Beverly Dollarhide on December 31, 1980. He was raised in San Antonio, Texas.
Described as street wise by his sister, Nicholas was diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder and had a history of running away from home, but never for more than a day.
According to his mother, Nicholas was verbally abusive and had hit her in the past, leading to the police being called multiple times regarding arguments with him. His mother had Nicholas’ oldest brother Jason move back into the house to help keep him under control.
Nicholas frequently skipped school and had a juvenile criminal record for breaking into a convenience store, stealing a pair of shoes, and threatening a teacher.
His sentencing was set for June 14, the day after he went missing. One of the potential sentences was placing him into a group home, which Nicholas vehemently objected to.
Disappearance of Nicholas Barclay
On June 13, 1994, Nicholas Barclay was last seen playing basketball with his friends at a neighborhood park, about a mile from his home in San Antonio, Texas.
He called his mother to come pick him up but she was asleep after working a night shift, so his brother told him to walk home.
Nicholas never made it home and hasn’t been heard from since. His mother reported him missing that evening after he failed to return home.
Investigation of case
Due to Nicholas’ history of running away in the past police were slow to respond to his disappearance. They assumed he ran away to avoid his court hearing set for the following day.
They told his mother he would probably be back in a day or two, however he didn’t have any extra clothes with him and only had $5 on him. His family thought if he had been planning to runaway he would have taken his belongings with him, rather than leaving everything behind.
On September 25, 1994, Nicholas’ brother called the police after reportedly witnessing Nicholas trying to break into the family’s garage. He said Nicholas ran off when he realized he had been spotted. Authorities searched the neighborhood, but found no clues as to his whereabouts.
Police have since said they do not believe his brother saw him, and neither does his mother.
Authorities considered both Nicholas’ mother and brother as possible suspects in his case. His mother was addicted to heroin back in 1994, but went into recovery after Nicholas disappeared. She passed two polygraph tests and failed a third.
His brother developed a drug problem after Nicholas went missing, and died from an overdose in 1998.
Frederic Pierre Bourdin
In October 1997, three years after Nicholas disappeared, authorities received a call from a youth shelter in Linares, Spain, stating that Nicholas was living at shelter after escaping from a child sex ring operation.
Nicholas’ sister flew to Spain and identified the person as her brother. The individual was brought back to Texas where his mother identified him as her missing son, however other family members were suspicious.
The individual had dark brown hair and brown eyes (Nicholas has blue eyes), spoke with a French accent, and didn’t know things that he should have known. The individual claimed his abductors had altered his appearance, and that he spoke with an accent from living in Europe for so long. He refused to take a blood test or have his fingerprints taken to verify his identity.
In February of 1998 the FBI got a court order to take the individual’s blood and fingerprints, and the individual was identified as 23 year old Frederic Pierre Bourdin.
Bourdin, a French serial imposter who has been nicknamed “The Chameleon,” pleaded guilty to passport fraud and perjury. He spent six years in prison before being returned to France in 2003.
After returning to France he assumed the identity of Leo Balley, a 14 year old French boy who had been missing since 1996. DNA testing proved he was not Balley.
While in Spain during the summer of 2005, Bourdin pretended to be a 15 year old Spanish orphan named Francisco Hernandez-Fernandez whose parents had died in a car accident. An administrator from his school watched a television program about his exploits and reported him on June 12.
He was sentenced to four months in prison for possessing and using the previous false identify of Leo Balley.
Whereabouts of Nicholas Barclay
The location of Nicholas Barclay, as well as the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, remains unknown. His case is currently classified as endangered missing and remains unsolved.
It was initially believed that Nicholas ran away, but foul play has not been ruled out in his disappearance.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Nicholas Barclay please contact the San Antonio Police Department at 210-207-7484, or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at (800) THE-LOST.
