In the winter of 2002, what would be the last face-to-face meeting between Clinton "Clint" Washburn and his family took place at a truck stop in Peoria, Illinois. The 29-year-old man, a Kewanee High School graduate and an Army veteran who had served in Afghanistan, appeared troubled and nervous to his mother, Margi. This meeting, colored by an undercurrent of tension related to issues with a former girlfriend and child support, was the last time his parents would see him.
The final communication came in the form of a phone call in 2003, a conversation that lasted nearly an hour and would be the last time they ever heard his voice. Officially, Clinton Washburn was last seen on March 15, 2003, in Peoria, Illinois.
A few months after the last phone call, in the autumn of 2003, a typed letter arrived at his parents' home, postmarked from Indiana. The letter, purportedly from Clint, stated that he had met a wealthy woman, intended to take her name, and that his family should not try to find him as he would never be located. Stunned and without any means to contact their son, his parents held onto the hope that he would one day change his mind and return. For years, they waited, keeping the same phone number and address, expecting him to walk through the door during holidays or special occasions, but he never did. The silence was profound and heartbreaking for his family, who longed for any news of his well-being.
Years turned into more than a decade of uncertainty. After the passing of Clint's father in 2018, his mother, Margi, felt she could no longer wait and decided to officially report her son as a missing person. Initial attempts to file a report were met with resistance, with law enforcement suggesting that as an adult, Clint was free to disappear if he chose to. However, a report was eventually filed in 2021. The investigation that followed has been a series of painful twists and turns for his mother, including a false lead where she was told Clint had been located in Arizona, only to discover it was a case of mistaken identity. The case remains an active missing person investigation, a source of ongoing pain and unanswered questions for a mother still searching for her son. The overview of the case is a narrative of a young man who vanished after a period of personal turmoil, leaving behind a mysterious letter and a family who has never given up hope of finding him.Last Seen: Mar 15, 2003
