In the spring of 2006, a quiet and deeply troubling story began to unfold in the small community of Wewoka, Oklahoma. Nine-year-old Colton Levi Clark, a young boy with brown hair and hazel eyes, was reported missing on April 20, 2006. At the time, Colton and his older brother, Homer, were living under the legal custody of their paternal uncle and aunt, James Rex Clark and Rebecca Faith Clark.
The couple had taken the boys in three years prior after they were removed from their parents' care. The official story provided by the Clarks was that Colton, frightened by an impending visit from a Department of Human Services caseworker, had jumped out of a window and run away. They pointed to his missing backpack and shoes as evidence of his flight. A wide-scale search involving helicopters and tracker dogs was launched across 2,500 acres, but the dogs were unable to pick up Colton's scent leading away from the property, an early sign that the story was not as it seemed.
As the investigation into Colton's disappearance progressed, authorities grew increasingly suspicious of Rex and Rebecca Clark. Investigators noted that the couple seemed strangely uninterested in finding their nephew and often spoke of him in the past tense, as if they already knew he was gone for good. They initially agreed to take lie detector tests but later refused, adding to the growing concerns of law enforcement. The case eventually went cold, with Colton's whereabouts remaining a painful mystery. For years, there were no significant breaks in the case until Colton's older brother, Homer, who had since been adopted by another family and changed his name, came forward with a harrowing account of what he witnessed in the home. His testimony painted a grim picture of abuse that he and his younger brother had endured.
Homer's courageous testimony revealed a much darker and more violent series of events than the runaway story the Clarks had fabricated. He told investigators that about a month before Colton was reported missing, his aunt and uncle had accused the nine-year-old of stealing a ring. As punishment, they beat him severely for nearly an hour. Homer recounted waking up in the middle of the night to see his little brother lying on the couch, his face severely bruised and bloodied. A few hours later, when Homer woke again, both Colton and the sleeping bag he had been under were gone. The Clarks threatened to kill Homer if he ever told anyone what had happened, forcing him to rehearse the false story about Colton running away. Based on this powerful testimony, Rex and Rebecca Clark were arrested in April 2016, a decade after Colton vanished. In October 2017, a jury found them guilty of first-degree murder and four counts of child abuse. Both were sentenced to life in prison. Although the case is legally closed and justice was served through the conviction of his murderers, the search for Colton Levi Clark continues in a different way; his body has never been found, leaving his loved ones without a final resting place to mourn him.Last Seen: Apr 20, 2006
