When he was last seen, Nicholas Patrick Barclay was wearing a white t-shirt, purple pants and black shoes. Barclay was 13 years old and playing basketball with his friends in San Antonio, Texas, his hometown in 1994 when he called his home-phone asking his mother to pick him up. However, Barclay’s brother refused to wake his mother up. After that phone call, Barclay would never be heard of again.

According to his mother, Barclay hit and cursed at her on occasion and had left home a few times before, but never for more than a day. The police were often called to the Barclay house in regards to loud arguments or fighting. Barclay was diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder and often got into trouble at school.

In Oct. of 1997, law enforcement officials received a call from a youth shelter in Linares, Spain. The man on the phone claimed Barclay was living at a shelter in Spain after fleeing from a sex ring operation. In response, Barclay’s sister flew to Spain and identified the man as her brother. Together, they flew back to Texas.

The man had dark eyes and dark brown hair, unlike Barclay’s light brown hair and blue eyes. However, Barclay’s mother believed the man was her son although many people were suspicious, including Barclay’s uncle. The man professed that the abductors had chemically altered his hair and eye color, and his French accent was picked up after being in Europe for so many years. The individual declined to voluntarily provide blood samples or fingerprints to verify his identity.

In Feb. 1998, the FBI obtained a court order to take the man’s fingerprints and blood in hopes of finding a match with Barclay’s. These fingerprints established this man’s true identity, Frederic Pierre Bourdin. Bourdin was a 23-year-old French citizen who was posing as Barclay after gathering the boy’s information at a missing child center.

Bourdin had a criminal history and had used many different aliases. In 1998, he plead guilty to passport fraud and perjury. He was sentenced to six years in prison and made many contradictory statements about Barclay. At one point, he claimed to have proof that Barclay was deceased, but later redacted these statements and denied ever meeting Barclay.

Following Bourdin’s trial, police commenced their investigation. This time, they focused on the Barclay family. Barclay’s mother was addicted to heroin around 1994 and went into recovery after his disappearance. In addition to this, Barclay’s brother developed a drug problem which eventually led to a cocaine overdose in 1998. He was considered a suspect in the disappearance, but after his death the investigation hindered.

As of now, Barclay is classified as a runaway by many agencies. He still has not been found, leading other agencies to believe foul play might have taken place.