TX TX - Nicholas Barclay, 13, San Antonio, 13 June 1994

[Noirdame79]

If this is all true then it certainly explains some stuff.

As cold as it might sound, and I'm not saying this to be callous, but it's mercy in a way that Nicholas is gone (I'm certain he's dead). Considering the indicators that points to Nicholas being neglected, abused and unwanted.

While I believe that Beverly loved him and perhaps the only one to do so, even she was considering giving him up to a home. Being abandoned by your mother would certainly do irreversible damage to a child. The family clearly aren't looking for him, either everyone looked away when it came to the unstable and dangerous enviroment home Nicholas was in or they just didn't have the knowledge to understand the severity of it. Several people have also commented how Nicholas seems to be possibly malnourished as he isn't the weight and height he should be for 13yr old. Beverly slept during the day and worked at night, leaving Jason to be the only adult present in the house and anyone can imagine how that must have been like.

The family choose to protect Jason and anyone else possibly involved rather than use their morality to bring justice and closure to Nicholas and his case. They've tried to erase his existence by keeping quiet about the case and if it wasn't for Frederic Bourdin, they would have gotten away with it.

So yes, Nicholas had no one, his own mother didn't want him anymore. What kind of life is that for a child? He was already having a horrible one. He was going down the wrong path, not of his own fault but due to not having the best environment or family to guide, protect, nourish and love him. How would he have turned out as an adult? Not that that should determine who deserves to live or die, but my point is that it would have been a life of pain and darkness, which I wouldn't wish on anyone.

We already see it with Nicholas who was raging and lashing out of pain, due to what he was going through.

I'm probably saying the obvious, but my point is that sometimes I think it's a mercy when an abused child ends up dying, how can you repair the damage inflicted on their mind and soul? (For example, Peter Conelly aka Baby P).
Some survive and lots don't.

Had Nicholas continued to live, he would have still been enduring loneliness (he was cleary unwanted and I'm sure he sensed that), abuse, pain and neglect and likely to a worse degree if he was abandoned and given up to some home.

Finally bringing to my point that sometimes it's, unfortunately, a mercy.

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It's a good point, although if he had been removed from that home, maybe he would have had a better life. Who knows.

I have noticed a pattern in cases of missing children where the parent(s) or someone in a parental role is suspected of involvement in the child's disappearance.

1. The child is almost always portrayed in a negative light. Difficult to handle, incorrigible, dishonest, etc.
2. The parents or people in a parental role portray themselves as good, upstanding citizens who did the best they could; that the child caused all the issues, and caused their own disappearance. It's not unusual for other family members to adopt this narrative as well.
3. The details surrounding the child's disappearance are often sketchy, with very little detail, and little or no corroboration.

4. Very few photos of the child are often made available, and in some instances, the photos are of poor quality and/or from years earlier.

5. The suspected parental perpetrators are often extremely defensive, try to control the narrative, give vague information, and frequently accuse everyone else, specifically people who are suspicious
of them and don't believe their version of events of lying or of fabrication.


Contrary to what Carey claimed in the documentary, Jason was questioned before his death, by both the FBI and the PI Charlie Parker.

According to FBI agent Nancy Fisher, Jason was defensive and apathetic; he didn't seem to care that Nicholas had been missing, expressed no interest that he was supposedly "found", and most alarmingly, told Fisher that he knew that Frederic Bourdin was not Nicholas, but he wasn't going to inform his family of that. That, in my opinion, is the closest Jason came to confessing to killing Nicholas. A stranger, who could potentially be dangerous, is living with your family, passing himself off as your missing brother, and that doesn't bother or concern you? Luckily, Frederic is not dangerous, but Jason had no way of knowing that. Why didn't he tell his family that they had taken in an imposter? To cover his tracks, and perhaps to protect the knowledge that Beverly and other family members may have had about Nicholas going missing?

Charlie Parker said that he told Jason, right to his face, "I think you did it. I don't think you meant to do it, but you did." Parker said Jason didn't answer and just stared at him.

A few weeks later, Jason died of a cocaine overdose. He had been clean for a while, but something caused him to relapse. Fear of being exposed, and maybe even some guilt or remorse for what he had done. It does appear to be a suicide rather than accidental, IMO.

It's also obvious, as previously mentioned, why Jason called the police in September 1994, claiming that Nicholas was trying to break into the garage. The police, according to the FBI agents and Deputy prosecutor, were "sniffing around" and Jason obviously wanted to divert the police and get them to stop investigating him and the family and make the cops think that Nicholas was a runaway. This is very common, in cases like this, false sightings, etc, are often reported to throw suspicion off of family members.

For the family to go merrily on their way as if Nicholas never existed is further confirmation of their lack of care for Nicholas and their possible knowledge or suspicion of what happened to Nicholas, IMO.

 

[Hitchcock3000]

Charlie Parker said that he told Jason, right to his face, "I think you did it. I don't think you meant to do it, but you did." Parker said Jason didn't answer and just stared at him.

I think Jason not denying the accusation but just staring in response kinda confirms it.

IMO

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Nicholas is featured on the Charley Project homepage this week.

I need to seek out these documentaries but --
Nicholas was clearly NOT the problem in this family. Poor kid.