In the autumn of 2002, a young boy named Thomas Michael Rettew, who was four years old at the time, disappeared from Alton, Missouri. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance were complex and deeply troubling, intertwined with the vanishing of his mother, Angela Mack. Initially, Angela and Thomas, also known as Mikey, left their home in Salem, Arkansas, together.
Their journey led them to Alton, Missouri, where Angela made the decision to leave her son in the care of a couple, Clarence and Barbara Krusen. Reports from the time suggest conflicting stories: the Krusens claimed they were in the process of legally adopting Mikey, while other accounts indicated that Angela may have sold her son to them. After leaving Thomas with the Krusens, Angela traveled to California. A short time later, she informed her own mother of her intention to return to Missouri to reunite with her son. It was after she was picked up from a bus station in Springfield, Missouri, and taken to the Krusen's residence that both she and young Thomas were never seen or heard from again.
For nearly two years, the disappearances of Angela and Thomas went unreported to the authorities, a perplexing delay that has never been fully explained. It wasn't until August of 2004 that official missing persons reports were finally filed. The investigation into their whereabouts languished for years, with few leads to follow. A significant break in the case did not come until October 2020, a full sixteen years after they were reported missing, when law enforcement learned about the Krusens' intended adoption of Thomas. By this time, Clarence Krusen was deceased, having been shot and killed in Texas in 2012. His wife, Barbara, however, was still alive and became the central focus of the renewed investigation. When questioned, Barbara Krusen provided a statement to the police, claiming that after she had picked Angela up from the bus station, both Angela and Thomas were gone from their home the following morning. She recounted that her husband, Clarence, had told her that someone had come and picked them up, an explanation she found dubious as she hadn't heard any vehicles arriving or departing.
The persistent work of investigators, including the Fulton County Sheriff's Department and the FBI, eventually led to a resolution in the case in April 2021. Following a polygraph examination, Barbara Krusen confessed that her late husband, Clarence, had murdered both Angela Mack and her son, Thomas Michael Rettew. She revealed a gruesome detail: Clarence had told her he had disposed of their bodies in a furnace at their farmhouse. According to Barbara, her silence over the years was due to her fear of her husband. Based on this confession, the Fulton County Sheriff's Department officially closed the nearly two-decade-old missing persons case, classifying it as a double murder. Despite this official closure, the bodies of Angela and Thomas have never been recovered. The overview of this case reveals a tragic story that began with a mother's complicated decision, leading to the heartbreaking and violent end of both her life and that of her young son at the hands of the man who was supposed to be caring for him.Last Seen: Sep 1, 2002
