Clinton David Brink, 43 & Cristen Amanda Brink, 41 found on trail - Devil's Den State Park, AR- 26 July, 2025 #3 *Arrest*

[SMK777]

Have I missed it or has there been no response from this guy's family? Friends?

I haven't seen any, except for one comment from someone I believe knew him in highschool and it was not anything unusual.

 

[Quill]

It CAN be. But there are many teachers that still give out candy which everyone is making this out to be such a negative thing. And no teachers treats all students the same. It’s human nature. Maybe the girls treated him differently and knew how to manipulate him to get more candy.

But the act of giving candy and treating children different is not grooming by itself. I’m not defending him but defending the profession that needs a better talent base.

Awareness is the best weapon. There is always going to be situations like this because of human nature. I’m not excusing it. We can always to better as parents, classmates, administrators, teachers, etc. But there are always going to predators out there that are really good at disguising themselves. Also, not to mention we were naive years ago and probably at the current time with female teachers.

On the other hand, if he is capable of murdering like he did, who knows what his mind was capable of. That’s what brings a lot of us here.

BBM
1989- I was a first year teacher. We had experts in school law giving us workshops on being a mandated reporter (just on the heels of the Lisa Steinberg case in NYC) as well as appropriate vs inappropriate behaviors. A lot of this training was to prepare us for going out into the schools because your perspective as a student can be naive and we could all have this nurturing spirit. But they cautioned us that there are certain nurturing behaviors that were once considered appropriate that could also be classified as suspicious for grooming children. Rule number 1 was never be alone in a classroom with a student with the door closed. Rule number 2 was no allowing children to sit on your lap. The younger the students, the harder this was during that era for us innocent, nurturers. We also had a lot of information about how to spot and report innapropriate behaviors by peers.

I don't think anyone here is simplifying this into the mere giving of candy. It's the combination of using the candy in conjunction with inappropriate physical touching/contact and isolating, singling out behaviors that are indicative of someone who is using his/her access to vulnerable and impressionable children and manipulating them.

 

[GlassCityRx]

No one said murdering 2 people wasn’t creepy.

 

[Quill]

To only ‘special girls’

With all of the other accusations, including sitting on his lap, to me that is a no brainer-
creepy as s***


IMO

Everything is wrong with this. If it doesn't ring your alarm bells, you don't have any.

 

[AngTxGal]

snipped

The man is accused of slaughtering two strangers in a park.

We don't know what triggered a man to murder, and the unknown is intriguing and fuels the conversation. This thread it not a judgement of anyone else, but an examination of this particular situation and working out what in the world brought him to the park with a knife. imo

My opinion.

Agree, and often when we delve into a person’s life and history we find out that it wasn’t a decision of the day but a pattern of a lifetime, an escalation.

IMO it doesn’t make sense to ignore clear signs that show other things are at play here.
Puzzle pieces are coming together for me, I’ve worked with minors, youth and college students for almost 40 years. So maybe my crap detector is more sensitive as compared to others?

It is concerning that people may ignore or dismiss signs in their own children’s teacher and not realize they are red flags. That is exactly what a perv what’s them to do, second guess themselves. They don’t have to believe me, there are great sources out there.

Child Grooming and Other Abuse Warning Signs
The sections on Physical, Psychological, and Community grooming are applicable.

IMO

 

[GlassCityRx]

Yes, arrest records showed he is 6’ and 180lbs.
He isn’t stunted.

I also believe his parents live in OK, not sure when they moved from the Chicago area.

IMO

I’m sorry if I wasn’t that clear. This was posted right after I mentioned arrested development. It does not stunt physical growth.

 

[Knox]

Have I missed it or has there been no response from this guy's family? Friends?

I haven't seen anything from his family, and only a few things from people who grew up with him in IL. No college buddies or fellow teachers.

But really, under the circumstances, who would want to come forward and say they were a recent friend? Same for his family, what would they say? They look normal, I'm sure they are shell shocked.

 

[AngTxGal]

I’m sorry if I wasn’t that clear. This was posted right after I mentioned arrested development. It does not stunt physical growth.

It was a joke, I know what arrested development is, I apologize if it was smart ars

I’m laughing so hard tears are falling.
IMO

 

[GlassCityRx]

Everything is wrong with this. If it doesn't ring your alarm bells, you don't have any.

Alarm bells are great to have. We should be hyper aware of our relationships adults have with our children. Alarm bells are one thing. Witch hunts are another.

 

[angelainwi]

Alarm bells are great to have. We should be hyper aware of our relationships adults have with our children. Alarm bells are one thing. Witch hunts are another.

do you think it is a witch hunt in this case?

 

[GlassCityRx]

It was a joke, I know what arrested development is

IMO

That made me smile

 

[Arkay]

Btw, I know many teachers that do give candy out in elementary school. It is a common practice.

I taught 8th grade.

Even at that age, we were absolutely forbidden to randomly distribute candy or anything else, which we only did at Chanukah/Christmas time anyway.

The reason for this is that we first had to send out permission slips for the parents to sign.

In NYC we obviously have students from all around the world.

There are parents who have religious reasons why their children cannot eat something, like those pork rinds. There are parents who forbid their kids from eating candy for health reasons. There are also, importantly, children with allergies to certain ingredients. My students were 13 or 14 and they knew if they were allergic to something. However, sometimes there are hidden ingredients, and sometimes kids at that age just want to be like their peers, so they don’t tell us. Or they just want that treat for once that their parents always forbid.

God forbid we just laid out candy, cake, peanut butter crackers etc. and a child became ill, or worse. Hence I always had parents sign off permission and inform me what they can or cannot have.

As to a young male teacher hoisting 10-year old girls onto his lap, that is NOT NORMAL. This is a FLASHING NO!!!!!

I’m not 100% certain if it would be grounds for an arrest or not, but IMO right then and there, that is child abuse.

Little girls do NOT belong near the groin area of unrelated men.

IMO and IME

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

Carrying this over.

View attachment 605769

@Smelly Squirrel, not sure if it's the same girl. But one said she was supposed to meet up with him, but decided not too - bad vibes from that photo. She said he got "angry" when she cancelled on him.

How common is it for a guy like AM who is attracted to little girls, to actually date women his own age?

The woman I posted about never contacted him. She was just going through the likes to her profile, and his profile was one of them. He gave her the like on the morning of the day of the murders.

 

[SMK777]

He gave her the like on the morning of the day of the murders.

Shocking

 

[GlassCityRx]

do you think it is a witch hunt in this case?

Not really. What I’m defending are the innocent teachers out there. They are walking on eggshells all the time and ONE’s parents false accusations can destroy a career and possibly even more. All we can do is make sure we report it to the proper authorities.

 

[AngTxGal]

do you think it is a witch hunt in this case?

We seriously need an emoji of confusion with crossed eyes and little stars circling above head.
I’m not understanding how entertaining that a murderer may also be a pedophile is a witch hunt.

Have I missed something?
I’m not seeing grand claims about any group of people, or generalizations about any specific action or decision or judgement all alone- it is the patten of events all together.

IMO

 

[SMK777]

As to a young male teacher hoisting 10-year old girls onto his lap, that is NOT NORMAL. This is a FLASHING NO!!!!!

I’m not 100% certain if it would be grounds for an arrest or not, but IMO right then and there, that is child abuse.

Little girls do NOT belong near the groin area of unrelated men.

Right, I had assumed this was the consensus in 2025.

 

[knla]

Why would anybody be attracted to a little girl anyway? When I was in school, nobody touched the students at all.

 

[GlassCityRx]

Do schools have cameras in their classrooms these days?

 

[teeby]

I am in education and I think it's important to be aware of the possibility of false accusations but the best way to defend against them is to follow the child protection strategies. By making abuse significantly more difficult/impossible, they protect both the student from abuse and the teacher from false allegations of abuse. You couldn't possibly have touched the child inappropriately in the bathroom if it is demonstrable that you were never in the bathroom with the child.