FL FL - Zachary Michael-Cole Bernhardt, 8, Clearwater, 11 Sept 2000

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I lived in Dunedin right next to clearwater at the time and from my memories of the news back then she was being evicted during his disappearance. This may explain why she moved I don't find that odd but I do think she did not seem sincere in her news appearance and it's totally bizarre IMO that she suddenly decided to go swimming with no towel (an afterthought to throw in when LE asked where her towel was?) and her car was seen arriving back around 3 ish. I also find it odd that she walked by the bed to get to the shower and didn't notice him gone then. Something happened to Zach and I believe she knows.
 
I wonder if LE checked to make sure there was a pile of clothes full of pool water at her house? To see if she was definitely in the pool or not?

One thing I was wondering is if she believed that jumping in the chlorine-filled pool would kill any evidence that could be on her clothes.
And then the taking a shower right after to clean her body before "noticing" that Zach was missing.

Based off of the last several minutes of the Disappeared episode, it appears that even some of the family members believe mom is guilty.

I cannot believe someone with a missing child would move from FL to Hawaii (don't think you can get any further away and still be on US land) and change her name.
 
I just watched it this morning and found this thread when looking for more info. I've lurked but never posted here before. I have to agree with everyone, something just doesn't seem right with mom's story. I think, at the very least, Mom is lying about how long she was gone. I read someplace, maybe earlier in this thread, that mom's story to police changed about how long she was gone, sometimes saying 15 min, sometimes 2 hours. Maybe these inconsistencies are some of the reasons police said they think she knows more than she's saying. She was seen driving before going to the pool, supposedly driving the garbage to the dumpster. I'm wondering if she was actually gone away from the complex, for a good chunk of time, Zachary woke and went looking for her and somehow met with tragedy. Maybe she claimed to be close by because it sounds so much better and more sympathetic then leaving your child home alone at 4 am to go party, get drugs, met a guy, whatever. But would someone still be worried about looking like a bad mom if they actually didn't know where their child was? I don't know.
Like an earlier poster mentioned, it was interesting that her mom claimed that this split her family apart, like those who support Leah and those who think she is guilty of something. Zachary's grandma said some of her daughters wouldn't speak to her anymore and other family members called Leah a murderer when they saw her. It makes me wonder if there are some details the family knows that haven't been publicized. Such a sad case.
 
TBH, I wouldn't be surprised if Zach has been left alone while sleeping plenty of times and had woken up alone before. Enough that he wouldn't have worried to go looking for Mom. I don't say this out of judgement, but just that I had got the impression Mom was troubled and might have had some involvement with drugs or something.
 
Why would you stop cooperating with the police and move away so soon after your child's disappearance? Why would some of your own siblings believe you had something to do with it? Very suspicious...
 
Why would you stop cooperating with the police and move away so soon after your child's disappearance? Why would some of your own siblings believe you had something to do with it? Very suspicious...
I had an idea that maybe she actually did drive away in her car that night, leaving him sleeping in the house. He wakes and wanders outside looking for her. By the time she returns, he has been seen by someone nefarious and been taken. She knows that being neglectful led to this, so she's not honest and runs away from the accusations. I am not wedded to the theory, but it seems plausible.

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I think you're right about this for sure. The more I think about it, the less I think it could be a random crime of opportunity. If mom was on drugs, she probably had some messed up people around. Or maybe her relatives know she has a temper or violent rages or something and that's why many believe she may have done something.

I googled articles for an hour or so and it seems like the grandma and aunt from the show have been very involved with keeping this in the media and even started some support groups for other families of missing persons over the years. All the articles show pics of them with barely a mention of mom at all. It looks like she's checked out of searching completely, which is hard for me to understand. I couldn't help but think that maybe it's another sign of guilt, that staying away completely means there's no chance of accidentally letting something slip that gets the police looking at her again.
 
looking forward to watching the new episode! Just from reading a few articles before coming here my money is on the mother.
Im sorry but no mother who's child is abducted moves to hawaii and changes their name and then doesnt want anything to do with the investigation in finding her own child.
I dont believe her walk and swim story either. I'll see how my opinion changes if it does when i watch the ep :)
If she didnt kill him I feel like she maybe took him somewhere.
 
Watched the show last night. The mom's plea to the public was off. She didn't say 'I love Zach. I miss Zach' none of that.
 
...she was being evicted during his disappearance. This may explain why she moved I don't find that odd

She didn't move to another complex in town, she moved to HAWAII. And she changed her name. Very odd IMHO. Plus Hawaii isn't cheap.


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This sounds awful, but I wonder if the trash she was taking out was little Zachary [emoji24][emoji24] Did they even check the dumpsters?

I think she was overwhelmed, overworked and tired of struggling to make ends meet. My thoughts are that she wanted her freedom and was weary of the obligation of being a mother. Ugh.


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I had an idea that maybe she actually did drive away in her car that night, leaving him sleeping in the house. He wakes and wanders outside looking for her. By the time she returns, he has been seen by someone nefarious and been taken. She knows that being neglectful led to this, so she's not honest and runs away from the accusations. I am not wedded to the theory, but it seems plausible.

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On Disappeared, Leah was said to have put Zack to bed in her bed, then used her car to take her trash out to the complex's dumpster. Then sometime later she went for the spontaneous swim. I did not catch any mention of the dumpster or local landfill having been searched.

ETA: Sorry, I posted before I read the post immediately before. I couldn't help wondering the same thing.
 
Watched the show last night. The mom's plea to the public was off. She didn't say 'I love Zach. I miss Zach' none of that.
That struck me as well when I watched. She said "we", not "I". She also didn't (at least in the part aired by the show) ask for his return or for him to come home. It was weird to me.
 
The first thought that came to my mind, was that she was out longer then she said. He woke up, went to look for her, and ended up drowning. She found him, hid the body, then concocted a story so she wouldn't be charged for neglect. :(
 
The mother recently spoke with a Florida news outlet, one of her statements was that she was now “trying to live a life Zach would be proud of.” That stood out to me, sounds like someone who feels guilty about the past and is trying to make up for it, in my opinion. What was she doing in the past that Zach wouldn’t be proud of?
 
The first thought that came to my mind, was that she was out longer then she said. He woke up, went to look for her, and ended up drowning. She found him, hid the body, then concocted a story so she wouldn't be charged for neglect. :(

That would explain her being in the pool and the shower and any clothes wet with pool water. This theory makes the most sense to me. I assumed the mom had something to do with it right away due to the oddball garbage/pool/no towel story, but I couldn't think why she'd come up with something so outlandish. Being out partying, coming home to find him drowned, diving in in a panic-- that explains it all very well. I wonder if she was given an alcohol or drug test that night.
 
According to this article (from the 10th anniversary of his disappearance) it seems his maternal aunt and maternal grandmother are the ones who have continued the search for him. Brings up some doubts about the mother for me.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humani...h-for-zachary-bernhardt-goes-onbr-br-/1120808

Why if you were so close to your son and an excellent mom would you move to Hawaii and not continue. She seems like she was a crappy mom to start with talking into consideration they moved 14 times in 11 years and were going to be evicted from this one as well. Sketchy 🤔
 
Exactly. I agree. Literally the forum are all in agreement.... don’t the investigators take what we have to say into consideration? 😡
 
I read some of the comments about the ways she could have been bad parent. My reaction is not specific to this case, but I’m shocked how moms tend to think differently from dads. I probably would not have left my 7-y/o alone at night with the door unlocked to go for a short walk around the block, but I might have. If I knew another dad who did that in a non-high-crime neighborhood and their child became a victim, I would be shocked at his tragic misfortune and angry at the bad guys. I would not blame him or think, “Why wasn’t he providing security for that child every second?” Most mothers OTOH act as if they obsessively take precautions, both legitimate and ones that seem like rituals, and they keep their eyes on their children every second, no harm can come to them.

In this case, I agree locking the door is such an easy step, I would do it. And I would be nervous about even a brief swim with my kid alone in an apartment, even if my front door were just around the corner from the pool. It's not because I'd be worried about some freak predator. I'd be afraid my kid would wake up crying from a nightmare.

I actually agree with the comments that something sounds wrong about his mother’s story. I just don’t find it extremely odd to leave the kid alone a few minutes with the door unlocked. I don’t have a guess as this time at to what happened.
 
Bumping this thread up after seeing part of the Disappearance show on ID today It's title was It's About a Boy.
Zachary has never been found.
 

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