Discover
Mile Higher331: He Vanished From A Public Bathroom & His Parents Were Accused of Murder: Where is Steven Clark?
Mile Higher331: He Vanished From A Public Bathroom & His Parents Were Accused of Murder: Where is Steven Clark?
331: He Vanished From A Public Bathroom & His Parents Were Accused of Murder: Where is Steven Clark?
331: He Vanished From A Public Bathroom & His Parents Were Accused of Murder: Where is Steven Clark?Update: 2025-01-30
Share
Description
Support our Sponsors!
https://hungryroot.com/milehigher
https://rocketmoney.com/milehigher
Cleveland Police Portal: https://www.cleveland.police.uk/contact/af/contact-us/
The Missing Podcast: https://www.themissingpodcast.org/stevenclark
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00
Steven's Birth and His Parents Early Life 2:08
The Horrific Accident of Steven's Childhood 4:29
Moving to South Africa 12:10
Employment Issues and Moving Back to England 16:07
Moving to Marske 18:19
Signs of Something Deeper 24:34
Steven Disappears from Saltburn 29:35
Trying to Find Steven 36:09
The Issues of Human Trafficking in Coastal England 42:13
Suspicions Around the Parents Grows 44:15
His Parents Arrested, The Mystery Letter 49:21
Police Incompetency 56:53
The More We Hear, the Less We Understand 1:05:30
The Search Continues 1:09:12
Theories About Steven's Whereabouts 1:14:27
Final Thoughts & outro 1:24:10
Mile Higher Merch: HTTP://milehigher.shop
Charity Merch for NCMEC: https://kendallrae.shop
Higher Hope Foundation: https://higherhope.org
Check out our other podcasts!
The Sesh https://bit.ly/3Mtoz4X
Lights Out https://bit.ly/3n3Gaoe
Planet Sleep https://linktr.ee/planetsleep
Join our official FB group! https://bit.ly/3kQbAxg
Join our Discord community, it’s free! https://discord.gg/hZ356G9
MHP YouTube: http://bit.ly/2qaDWGf
Are You Subscribed On Apple Podcast & Spotify?!
Support MHP by leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcast :) https://apple.co/2H4kh58
MHP Topic Request Form: https://forms.gle/gUeTEzL9QEh4Hqz88
Merch designer application: https://forms.gle/ha2ErBnv1gK4rj2Y6
You can follow us on all the things: @milehigherpod
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/milehigherpod
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/milehigherpod
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MileHigher
Hosts:
Kendall: @kendallraeonyt
IG: http://instagram.com/kendallraeonyt
TW: https://www.twitter.com/kendallraeonyt
YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/kendallsplace
Josh: @milehigherjosh
IG: http://www.instagram.com/milehigherjosh
TW: https://www.twitter.com/milehigherjosh
Producer:
Janelle: @janelle_fields_
IG: https://www.instagram.com/janelle_fie...
TW: https://www.twitter.com/janelle_fields_
Podcast sponsor inquires: joshthomas@night.co
✉ Send Us Mail & Fan Art ✉
Kendall Rae & Josh Thomas
8547 E Arapahoe Rd Ste J # 233
Greenwood Village, CO 80112
Music By: Mile Higher Boys
YT: https://bit.ly/2Q7N5QO
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0F4ik...
The creator hosts a documentary series for educational purposes (EDSA). These include authoritative sources such as interviews, newspaper articles, and TV news reporting meant to educate and memorialize notable cases in our history. Videos come with an editorial and artistic value.
SOURCES CITED:
https://pastebin.com/DmR6ATqE
https://hungryroot.com/milehigher
https://rocketmoney.com/milehigher
Cleveland Police Portal: https://www.cleveland.police.uk/contact/af/contact-us/
The Missing Podcast: https://www.themissingpodcast.org/stevenclark
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00
Steven's Birth and His Parents Early Life 2:08
The Horrific Accident of Steven's Childhood 4:29
Moving to South Africa 12:10
Employment Issues and Moving Back to England 16:07
Moving to Marske 18:19
Signs of Something Deeper 24:34
Steven Disappears from Saltburn 29:35
Trying to Find Steven 36:09
The Issues of Human Trafficking in Coastal England 42:13
Suspicions Around the Parents Grows 44:15
His Parents Arrested, The Mystery Letter 49:21
Police Incompetency 56:53
The More We Hear, the Less We Understand 1:05:30
The Search Continues 1:09:12
Theories About Steven's Whereabouts 1:14:27
Final Thoughts & outro 1:24:10
Mile Higher Merch: HTTP://milehigher.shop
Charity Merch for NCMEC: https://kendallrae.shop
Higher Hope Foundation: https://higherhope.org
Check out our other podcasts!
The Sesh https://bit.ly/3Mtoz4X
Lights Out https://bit.ly/3n3Gaoe
Planet Sleep https://linktr.ee/planetsleep
Join our official FB group! https://bit.ly/3kQbAxg
Join our Discord community, it’s free! https://discord.gg/hZ356G9
MHP YouTube: http://bit.ly/2qaDWGf
Are You Subscribed On Apple Podcast & Spotify?!
Support MHP by leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcast :) https://apple.co/2H4kh58
MHP Topic Request Form: https://forms.gle/gUeTEzL9QEh4Hqz88
Merch designer application: https://forms.gle/ha2ErBnv1gK4rj2Y6
You can follow us on all the things: @milehigherpod
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/milehigherpod
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/milehigherpod
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MileHigher
Hosts:
Kendall: @kendallraeonyt
IG: http://instagram.com/kendallraeonyt
TW: https://www.twitter.com/kendallraeonyt
YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/kendallsplace
Josh: @milehigherjosh
IG: http://www.instagram.com/milehigherjosh
TW: https://www.twitter.com/milehigherjosh
Producer:
Janelle: @janelle_fields_
IG: https://www.instagram.com/janelle_fie...
TW: https://www.twitter.com/janelle_fields_
Podcast sponsor inquires: joshthomas@night.co
✉ Send Us Mail & Fan Art ✉
Kendall Rae & Josh Thomas
8547 E Arapahoe Rd Ste J # 233
Greenwood Village, CO 80112
Music By: Mile Higher Boys
YT: https://bit.ly/2Q7N5QO
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0F4ik...
The creator hosts a documentary series for educational purposes (EDSA). These include authoritative sources such as interviews, newspaper articles, and TV news reporting meant to educate and memorialize notable cases in our history. Videos come with an editorial and artistic value.
SOURCES CITED:
https://pastebin.com/DmR6ATqE
Comments
Top Podcasts
The Best New Comedy Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best News Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Business Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Sports Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New True Crime Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Joe Rogan Experience Podcast Right Now – June 20The Best New Dan Bongino Show Podcast Right Now – June 20The Best New Mark Levin Podcast – June 2024
In Channel
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States00:00
00:00
1.0x
0.5x
0.8x
1.0x
1.25x
1.5x
2.0x
3.0x
Sleep Timer
Off
End of Episode
5 Minutes
10 Minutes
15 Minutes
30 Minutes
45 Minutes
60 Minutes
120 Minutes
Transcript
00:00:00
Step into the world of power, loyalty, and luck.
00:00:04
I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.
00:00:07
With family, conoles, and spins mean everything.
00:00:11
Now, you want to get mixed up in the family business.
00:00:14
Introducing the Godfather at ChampaCasino.com.
00:00:18
Test your luck in the shadowy world of the Godfather slot.
00:00:22
Someday, I will call upon you to do a service for me.
00:00:25
Play the Godfather now at ChampaCasino.com.
00:00:28
Welcome to the family.
00:00:30
No purchase necessary, VDW Group.
00:00:31
Boy, we're prohibited by law.
00:00:32
18 plus, terms and conditions apply.
00:00:34
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:35
Hey, what is up, everybody?
00:00:51
And welcome back to Malhire Podcast Episode 331.
00:00:55
I'm your host, Kendall.
00:00:57
I'm your host, Josh.
00:00:59
You brain just laps there for a sec?
00:01:00
No, I was using my fingers to number out 331, but I did 330.
00:01:08
Oh, you're trying to pull over there.
00:01:09
So, yeah, my brain did laps for a second.
00:01:11
OK.
00:01:12
OK.
00:01:13
Well, anyway, guys, welcome back.
00:01:14
And today, we are covering the disappearance of Stephen Clark.
00:01:17
And this one is-- A real mystery.
00:01:19
Yeah, a real mystery.
00:01:20
And very controversial a little bit.
00:01:24
And frustrating because, basically, we're talking a lot about whether or not his parents had any involvement in his disappearance and sort of their whole story.
00:01:35
And-- It seems like-- We're all pretty split here.
00:01:38
A majority of the internet and people who have washed any sort of coverage on this case tend to lean towards them.
00:01:46
However, it's important to note there is very little, if no evidence whatsoever, to suggest they are involved.
00:01:54
Yeah.
00:01:54
And yeah, it's a tough one because-- It's so strange.
00:01:57
There's a lot of strange elements to it that just does make any sense.
00:02:00
It's one of those cases where the individual just vanishes off the face of the planet.
00:02:06
And there's some theories, but there's nothing really strong pointing in any which direction.
00:02:13
Right.
00:02:14
Right?
00:02:14
So you're kind of left with this, well, what the fuck happened?
00:02:17
You just don't know.
00:02:18
You're just out of loss, as is everybody.
00:02:21
Yeah, this is one where I really haven't made up my mind either way.
00:02:26
I mean, when it comes to definitely what happened to him.
00:02:28
But also, whether or not I think his parents are involved, I'm like, just totally out of loss.
00:02:33
I can see arguments for both sides.
00:02:35
So yeah, it'll be interesting to get into.
00:02:38
All right, guys, shall we get into this one?
00:02:40
Let's go.
00:02:41
OK.
00:02:42
So Stephen Clark was born in Colchester Essex, near London, on the 30th of August 1969.
00:02:48
His parents, Doris and Charles Clark, had met while they were serving on the police force actually in Cleveland, which is a sub-region of Yorkshire with a jurisdiction over mosque,
00:02:58
saltburn, red car, and other small beach side communities.
00:03:01
Now, the name Cleveland originally means quote cliffland as numerous massive cliffs overlook the beaches at saltburn and mosque.
00:03:09
So Doris served on the force for 10 years and Charles served for five.
00:03:13
And he actually grew up in the region with his hometown being mosque.
00:03:16
And he was also a lifelong middle's burrow football club fan.
00:03:20
And he stated that while he didn't follow the team to away games, if he was home in mosque, he made sure to attend any and all home games.
00:03:27
However, Doris and Charles decided to retire from the police force in the mid '60s.
00:03:32
And Charles worked in the rental car business.
00:03:35
And the family ended up moving quite a bit once he started working there, depending on the needs of the business.
00:03:41
Stephen was born in Essex in 1969.
00:03:43
And only 14 months later, Doris and Charles had his little sister, Victoria.
00:03:48
And due to the closeness in their age, Stephen and Victoria would remain close their entire lives.
00:03:53
Shortly after Victoria's birth, Charles' business took the family to Scotland.
00:03:57
And they lived near Edinburgh.
00:03:59
Unfortunately, this is where tragedy would first strike the family.
00:04:04
On a random foggy morning, Charles was at work and Doris decided to take a quick little walk in the town to pick up groceries.
00:04:12
While Doris' mother had moved to Edinburgh to help care for the young children, it is very unclear if she was home at the time.
00:04:20
And this is kind of the first point in this case that I think raises eyebrows for people because it seems like Doris just left the young children home alone while she ran to the store to grab groceries.
00:04:35
I assume just down the street real quick to come back.
00:04:39
Because according to Ian, there's only one source that even mentioned possibly the grandmother being there.
00:04:47
- Right, and it was just that.
00:04:48
The source mentioned it's unclear if the grandmother was home at the time.
00:04:52
So it wasn't even an indication that she was or wasn't.
00:04:55
- All we know is that she had recently moved there and she sometimes did care for the kid.
00:04:59
But you would think that this detail would have been clarified by their family.
00:05:03
And it seems to me as if the children were left home alone.
00:05:07
And it, you know, Stephen was too.
00:05:09
Okay, so that is...
00:05:12
This was a different time period as well.
00:05:13
I think we all have to remember...
00:05:15
- Yeah, but...
00:05:16
- Parents were just a little bit different in the way they went about parenting back then.
00:05:21
But still, that's very young to just leave your kids.
00:05:25
- Can you imagine leaving our daughter at home?
00:05:27
I was saying to Josh earlier, even if we had to like, we were forced to sit on the driveway for 10 minutes with her alone in the house.
00:05:33
I would be like losing my mind.
00:05:35
The things that a two-year-old can get into inside your home and then you could lock them in.
00:05:39
But then if something happens, they can't get out.
00:05:41
I just, it's so mind-blowing to me thinking of leaving a toddler home and I don't really care what time it was.
00:05:46
It's not like this was a hundred years ago or...
00:05:49
- Yeah.
00:05:50
- You know, it's like, yeah, there is less stranger danger.
00:05:53
- There's definitely...
00:05:54
- I don't talk about that a lot, but...
00:05:55
- Definitely.
00:05:56
- Two-year-olds were two-year-olds back then too.
00:05:57
I don't know.
00:05:58
It's crazy.
00:05:59
- It seems like a major lapse in judgment here.
00:06:01
Especially considering the events that occurred right after.
00:06:05
So again, Stephen's just two years old.
00:06:07
- And I don't mean to mom shame.
00:06:09
And of course, we don't know.
00:06:10
Maybe the grandma was home when they wanted to leave that detail out to not put blame on her.
00:06:13
That's possible as well.
00:06:14
- Yeah, we have no idea.
00:06:15
But based on all accounts through sources, when researching this case, there's very little mention as to what the actual situation going on.
00:06:26
But regardless, it doesn't change what happened next because Stephen actually ended up leaving the house.
00:06:32
So he went open the door after his mother left to follow after her into town.
00:06:37
At this point, Doris was already a reasonable distance away from the house and away from Stephen.
00:06:42
So she didn't notice him following her.
00:06:45
On her way to get groceries, she did notice a lorry, which is a large transport truck rounding the corner past her.
00:06:53
But she didn't really make anything of it.
00:06:55
You know, she's just trying to rush down, grab those groceries, come right back.
00:06:59
But on her way back from the store, she noticed a large commotion on the road where this large truck had stopped.
00:07:05
And when she approached the crowd, she realized what had happened.
00:07:09
The large truck had hit two-year-old Stephen in the middle of the road, which is just extremely tragic.
00:07:17
So fucked up.
00:07:18
Doris immediately rushed Stephen to the hospital and at first it was very unclear if he would even live through this whole ordeal.
00:07:26
The truck had crushed his left side and left him in a coma.
00:07:29
The doctors told Doris and Charles that if Stephen lived, he would likely never be able to walk in talk again.
00:07:36
However, after spending a month in a coma, two-year-olds Stephen pulled through and woke up.
00:07:42
While his left arm and leg were permanently disfigured, Doris and Charles were committed to their son and his recovery.
00:07:50
So they spent years putting Stephen through physical therapy and soon enough he was able to walk in talk again, though he could not use his left arm and walked with the pronounced limb.
00:08:00
Doris said that after the accident, Stephen was, quote, not the same little boy anymore.
00:08:05
Very tragic situation.
00:08:08
I'm sure she's lived with a lot of guilt because of that.
00:08:14
Yeah, and that's why I don't mean to add to any of that.
00:08:17
I just think it's like, you obviously can't tell the story without discussing that fact.
00:08:21
I think people find it odd that she's not clarified.
00:08:24
Yeah.
00:08:25
What happened, you know, and if somebody was there and maybe she just didn't see him and it's just kind of a freak accident thing or got out.
00:08:32
She hasn't because it doesn't actually, the situation doesn't really apply to the case at all.
00:08:38
No.
00:08:39
So, no.
00:08:40
However, as Stephen grew up, he still had a very outgoing, friendly and very extroverted personality.
00:08:46
Victoria said that Stephen was always quick to make friends, no matter where they moved.
00:08:50
And she described herself as more reserved and he would always kind of be the one in the family to lead conversations at the dinner table and also with friends.
00:08:58
And they ended up moving to Scotland and that would not be the last move for their family.
00:09:03
Stephen and Victoria were still relatively young so they moved back to England and settled in Cambridge.
00:09:08
Sure.
00:09:09
I hope we're saying that right.
00:09:11
You always say shire.
00:09:13
Yeah, I love saying shire.
00:09:14
But it sounds-- I know now that that is not right.
00:09:17
Sure.
00:09:18
Yeah, we always really struggle with the UK names, but we're doing our best.
00:09:21
But the problem with living there is the cold and humidity of the UK made it hard for Stephen to recover.
00:09:26
Because while he had regained his ability to walk, it was important for him to move every day and walk as much as possible.
00:09:34
And that became difficult during the fall in the winter.
00:09:37
It's really cold.
00:09:39
Yes, it does.
00:09:40
Then in the early 1980s, Charles went on a business trip to South Africa.
00:09:44
And when he returned, he described the country as a "paradise."
00:09:48
And so he decided to move his family across the world as soon as possible.
00:09:52
So they would spend the next 10 years in Johannesburg and Stephen and Victoria spent most of their childhoods in South Africa, which I've heard is a wonderful place.
00:10:02
When it comes to cooking and eating, there's always one problem.
00:10:09
The time it takes to do it.
00:10:12
And these days, with our schedules busier than ever, you know, parents with a two-year-old, if you know, you know.
00:10:18
It can be difficult to get dinner on the table in a timely fashion and also get your child in bed at a decent hour.
00:10:24
That's right.
00:10:25
And so, you know, we've tried a lot of meal kits out there, as many of you know.
00:10:29
But we've really been surprised at how much we've loved Hungry Root.
00:10:33
Yeah, we're big fans so far.
00:10:35
What I love about Hungry Root is it doesn't take 30 minutes to an hour to make a meal.
00:10:40
A lot of their meats and seafoods come pre-cooked.
00:10:45
And so it's just a matter of heating it up, heating up some of the other ingredients.
00:10:49
And boom, you've got a delicious meal on the table in like 15 minutes.
00:10:52
Like, what did we make last week that was?
00:10:54
Oh, yeah.
00:10:55
Absolutely delicious.
00:10:56
The garlic soy salmon with the noodles that it came.
00:10:59
Oh my gosh, that was one of my favorite meals.
00:11:01
And what's cool is the noodles were a like a boutique brand I never heard of before.
00:11:07
And they were absolutely delicious.
00:11:08
Yeah, they introduced you to a lot of cool brands.
00:11:11
That are also healthy.
00:11:12
Yeah.
00:11:13
You know, healthier.
00:11:14
And I also love that they have options to get meals that are for two servings and then some for four versus a lot of meal kits.
00:11:19
You have to commit to a certain amount per week.
00:11:22
And it's nice for us to get like a two person meal when we want it.
00:11:25
And then we just feed our daughter something else.
00:11:27
Or just, you know, we can really cater it to us.
00:11:29
Plus, you can also customize the recipe and remove it.
00:11:32
Yeah, that's the only tool in my believe where you can actually drill down to.
00:11:36
So say it has onion in it.
00:11:38
The recipe has onions and you don't like onions.
00:11:40
You can actually just subtract the onions from it.
00:11:42
So you don't have to pay or have, you know, waste food that you're not going to use anyway.
00:11:46
Which is really cool.
00:11:48
And what's great about hungry root is their meals and foods have no high fructose corn syrup in it.
00:11:54
No artificial sweeteners or preservatives.
00:11:56
The only source top quality meat and seafood free of hormones and antibiotics.
00:12:00
Which is really cool.
00:12:01
We had wild caught tuna last night.
00:12:05
And then the salmon's wild caught as well.
00:12:07
And we also have bison for this week too from Colorado.
00:12:10
Yeah, yeah.
00:12:11
So really top quality meats produce, you name it, hunger roots got it.
00:12:17
So you're going to love hunger root as much as we do.
00:12:19
Take advantage of this exclusive offer for a limited time.
00:12:22
Get 40% off your first box.
00:12:24
Plus get a free item in every box for life.
00:12:26
Go to hunger root dot com slash mall higher and use code mile higher.
00:12:30
That's hunger root dot com slash mile higher code mile higher to get 40% off your first box in a free item of your choice for life.
00:12:37
And you're a dot com slash mile higher code mile higher.
00:12:43
Victoria describes their time in South Africa as a quote adventure every day.
00:12:47
And she talked about one afternoon specifically where they were swimming along the beach with her friends.
00:12:51
And then she and Steven returned after dark.
00:12:54
And they saw a fisherman pull in a massive shark.
00:12:58
And they immediately realized that the water that they had spent the whole day swimming in was infested with sharks.
00:13:03
Which I've always heard South Africa has crazy sharks.
00:13:07
Crazy shark population for sure.
00:13:09
Especially what is it Cape Town is really on for.
00:13:12
Yep.
00:13:13
There's a lot of if you look at concentrations of shark attacks.
00:13:16
That's definitely one of the hot spots on the planet.
00:13:21
But still even then people are swimming in the ocean all day.
00:13:24
Yeah, very rarely does it happen.
00:13:26
Yeah.
00:13:27
And that's exactly what the two of them did.
00:13:29
Victoria said that they at first were like we're never going back.
00:13:33
But then the next day they were back in those waters again with little care in the world.
00:13:37
It is Ryan C.
00:13:38
Crest here.
00:13:39
There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment.
00:13:45
But a better trend would be going to chumbacacino.com.
00:13:48
It's like having a mini social casino in your pocket.
00:13:51
Chumbacacino has over a hundred online casino style games all absolutely free.
00:13:55
It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane.
00:13:58
Welcome bonus now at chumbacacino.com sponsored by chumbacacino.
00:14:01
No purchase necessary VGW group void were prohibited by law.
00:14:05
18 plus terms and conditions apply as we all are usually going to reach.
00:14:10
You know they're there.
00:14:11
Yep.
00:14:12
You put that out of your mind and enjoy the water.
00:14:14
But it does you ever out there and then all of a sudden you realize it.
00:14:17
Oh, yeah.
00:14:18
I gotta make a speedy run in.
00:14:19
Yeah, for a weird shadow.
00:14:20
Yeah.
00:14:21
You ever out there alone where you can't touch and you're like bobbin down and then you're like.
00:14:24
Yeah.
00:14:25
And then you just slowly come back to shop.
00:14:28
Yeah, especially in darker water.
00:14:30
Yeah.
00:14:31
Like on the east coast.
00:14:32
Yeah.
00:14:33
What's interesting though is most shark attacks happen in shallow water.
00:14:37
Yeah.
00:14:38
Where you're standing as opposed to how in deep water.
00:14:41
I don't like that.
00:14:42
Why?
00:14:43
I always thought the opposite.
00:14:45
Probably because they can sharks can see you better in open water.
00:14:50
And so they're able to actually identify you because they can see the whole body as opposed to just like your legs or your feet or something or so.
00:15:00
A lot of shark attacks happen in like waste deep water.
00:15:04
So you're really yeah.
00:15:05
You're not safe man.
00:15:07
You're not safe man.
00:15:08
Get out the water.
00:15:09
It's like one thing for us to be out there.
00:15:10
It's like another to think about our kid out there.
00:15:13
It makes me want to never let her like go play a me ocean alone.
00:15:16
But I can't be that parent.
00:15:19
Have you ever been on a beach when someone got bit by a shark.
00:15:22
No.
00:15:23
No, you have.
00:15:24
Yeah.
00:15:25
It was weird.
00:15:26
Where did that happen?
00:15:27
In Florida.
00:15:28
We were there and I didn't see it right away.
00:15:29
But then after like it was all this commotion.
00:15:30
We're like, what's going on?
00:15:31
And this like older woman got bit on the leg.
00:15:34
Oh.
00:15:35
And I was like, well.
00:15:36
She was fine.
00:15:37
The vacation just started.
00:15:38
So I'm not not going to go in there.
00:15:39
Pretend I didn't see that.
00:15:40
She fucks.
00:15:41
Was she okay?
00:15:42
Yeah.
00:15:43
She was fine.
00:15:44
I think like did they she didn't lose her leg or anything like that.
00:15:46
But that's it.
00:15:47
It's usually small.
00:15:48
Yeah.
00:15:49
It wasn't anything.
00:15:50
It was like a great white.
00:15:51
But.
00:15:52
Yeah.
00:15:53
It would be cool to get the nickname Shark Bite.
00:15:55
Yeah.
00:15:56
That would be cool.
00:15:57
That would be cool.
00:15:58
That would be cool.
00:15:59
Have like a wicked scar too.
00:16:00
Yes, dude.
00:16:01
And it would be wicked.
00:16:02
It would be.
00:16:03
You have to wear a shark tooth on your neck.
00:16:04
Oh, I would.
00:16:05
Absolutely.
00:16:06
That would have been my whole personal.
00:16:07
Yeah.
00:16:08
Big to do.
00:16:09
Sure.
00:16:10
For sure.
00:16:11
Anyways.
00:16:12
Back to Stephen.
00:16:13
So as Stephen grew older, he had to face some new challenges.
00:16:16
And regain the ability to walk in his speech was only impacted by a minor impediment.
00:16:20
The injury had given him a learning impairment.
00:16:23
And it became harder for him to keep up with his studies as he got older.
00:16:27
However, there is only one special need school in the area.
00:16:30
And while Dorsen Charles enrolled Stephen into it, Stephen only spoke English while the school taught exclusively in Afrikaans, which is the official language of South Africa initially developed by Dutch settlers and indigenous South Africans in the 17th century.
00:16:44
So if Stephen wanted to do well in this new school, he would basically have to learn a second language in order to do so.
00:16:50
And luckily, that's exactly what Stephen did.
00:16:52
Stephen committed himself to his studies and graduated with honors around 1989, which kudos to him.
00:16:59
I mean, after going through all of that and then to learn another language and graduate with honors, it is pretty impressive.
00:17:05
Baller, I could never.
00:17:06
Don't even start on that.
00:17:08
Which so bad would have paid attention in my language classes in high school.
00:17:11
No.
00:17:12
Here's another issue, Stephen knows that he could not find employment in South Africa after he graduated.
00:17:18
Dorsen Charles feared that businesses and companies were discriminating against Stephen for his disability.
00:17:24
And they realized that if Stephen wanted to find work and live independently of his parents, they'd have to move back to the UK where Stephen's employment prospects would hopefully improve.
00:17:35
After Victoria graduated, the family moved yet again to the UK settling in Gilford near London in 1990.
00:17:43
This was difficult for Stephen and Victoria, who are now both young adults because all their friends, you know, their whole childhood pretty much was back in South Africa.
00:17:51
And they felt like the family was once again starting over.
00:17:54
To hammer this feeling even further, Victoria described that it had snowed heavily in Gilford on the day they moved back from sunny beach side South Africa.
00:18:02
So definitely an adjustment.
00:18:03
Still, Stephen was very outgoing and determined to make friends back in his home country.
00:18:09
Stephen and Victoria became involved with Fab, which stands for Physically Handcapped Abled Body.
00:18:14
And it's a club that provides spaces for people who do have physical handicaps for them to, you know, hang out and meet other people and feel independent.
00:18:23
Stephen was able to make new friends and get started building his new life.
00:18:27
However, unfortunately, Charles had lost his job only one year after returning to the UK and they didn't know where to go.
00:18:34
And they ended up deciding that the family would move back to Charles's hometown of mosque by the sea in 1991, hoping to find new employment there.
00:18:44
Victoria had found a job as a hotel receptionist and decided to stay in Gilford six hours away by train from her family.
00:18:50
Still, she committed to staying in touch and speaking with Stephen and her parents most days over the phone and visiting during the holidays as well.
00:18:58
Victoria recalled one of her last conversations with Stephen that highlighted his dark humor.
00:19:02
He asked her quote, "If you could kill yourself, how would you do it?"
00:19:07
And Victoria responded quote, "I don't know, but if you do, can I have your high-fi?"
00:19:12
Which is a stereo system.
00:19:14
Yeah, yeah, like an old stereo systems type thing.
00:19:17
The high-fi.
00:19:18
Like the high-fi, but the high-fi.
00:19:20
And this was a funny moment for them and they both laughed, so she remembers this fondly.
00:19:24
In the summer of 1991, Stephen, Doris and Charles moved into a home in mosque by the sea, just a two minute walk from the shoreline.
00:19:32
And for Stephen, even with Victoria left behind in Gilford, mosque became an excellent place to spend his early 20s, even as his family tried to rebuild and find work in Charles' hometown.
00:19:44
Mosque is an ancient town situated between the seaside resort towns of Red Car and Saltburn.
00:19:51
Very old towns as well.
00:19:53
And we're talking less than 10,000 people reside in these towns.
00:19:58
I mean, they're real, real small, real close knit.
00:20:01
Beautiful.
00:20:02
They look like beautiful locations.
00:20:03
We'll definitely have to check them out at some point.
00:20:07
Because, yeah, the scenery, I mean, the cliffs overlooking the ocean, that's just like gorgeous.
00:20:12
But the earliest mention of Mosque and written record comes from the Domesday Book of 1086, which is an early census of England and Wales.
00:20:21
Saint Germain's Church was consecrated between 1042 and 1056.
00:20:26
Even the Mosque brass band was a traditional band that taught instruments to all ages and was established in 1875.
00:20:32
And Stephen would attend the brass band during this time in Mosque.
00:20:36
Stephen quickly made a vibrant life for himself in his family while he lived in Mosque.
00:20:40
He worked for the Leonard Cheshire home, a foundation that provides residential therapy, social activities, and training for people with disabilities.
00:20:49
While taking computer science courses, Stephen also attended the Wrathbone Society, another charity that empowered people living with disabilities to attain the skills he needed to become employed and live independently.
00:21:00
Stephen even won a Prentice of the Year at Wrathbone in 1992, which came with a thousand pound prize.
00:21:07
Stephen also had a flourishing social life and was well known throughout Mosque, Saltburn and Red Car.
00:21:13
He and his family were members of a bowling club in Red Car when often spent time at the ship-in.
00:21:18
A local pub just a three-minute walk away from the family's home in Mosque.
00:21:21
And I'm sure there might be some listeners out there who've been to the ship-in.
00:21:24
Still there, just looks it up on Google.
00:21:26
Looks like I got some, you know, yummy pub food.
00:21:30
It's right by, uh, right by the beach and everything, seems really nice.
00:21:35
The Stephen would often spend time with his father, Charles, either attending a Middlesbrough soccer match, football match, though Stephen himself was an arsenal fan or at the ship-in.
00:21:45
I'm a Manchester United fan.
00:21:47
Just putting that out there.
00:21:49
Are you?
00:21:50
I've never seen you watch soccer ever.
00:21:53
It's football.
00:21:54
All right.
00:21:55
Football.
00:21:56
I don't need to explain myself.
00:21:57
That's not how they say it, huh?
00:21:59
It's like Brazil.
00:22:00
Football.
00:22:01
Football.
00:22:02
I'm not.
00:22:03
Yeah.
00:22:04
I don't know.
00:22:05
I like speed.
00:22:06
I like I show speed.
00:22:07
What's that?
00:22:08
What's that?
00:22:09
He's a UK streamer.
00:22:10
He's a UK streamer.
00:22:11
No.
00:22:12
He's a UK streamer.
00:22:13
Oh, I haven't heard of that.
00:22:14
He's sort of him.
00:22:15
He's just fun.
00:22:16
And he loves messy.
00:22:17
Yeah.
00:22:18
Is he a disoccur?
00:22:19
I don't know.
00:22:20
Or football.
00:22:21
He's in the football.
00:22:22
Football.
00:22:23
Yeah.
00:22:24
Yeah.
00:22:25
I like him.
00:22:26
I've never seen you watch football.
00:22:28
I played a lot of FIFA grown up.
00:22:30
All right.
00:22:31
I know that's right.
00:22:32
The game.
00:22:33
Yeah.
00:22:34
Yeah.
00:22:35
And I.
00:22:36
Hey, you know what?
00:22:37
I have a varsity letter in song.
00:22:38
Yeah.
00:22:39
You do.
00:22:40
Get out of here.
00:22:41
What?
00:22:42
I lettered in football.
00:22:44
He did.
00:22:45
Football.
00:22:46
I actually did.
00:22:47
Because I went to a tiny little school in the country.
00:22:50
That's why.
00:22:51
That new, the next or guy.
00:22:52
And I said, yeah.
00:22:53
I was terrible.
00:22:54
Do you still have your letterman jacket?
00:22:56
I do.
00:22:57
No, actually, I never got it.
00:22:58
I never got a jacket.
00:23:00
I just have the letter.
00:23:02
You know what?
00:23:03
I just have the shirt.
00:23:04
I never.
00:23:05
I don't know why I didn't get a jacket.
00:23:06
Probably because I was like, yeah, I don't want to be that guy wearing his letterman jacket around.
00:23:09
I don't know.
00:23:10
And I went to three high schools.
00:23:11
So I'd have to have like three lettered jackets.
00:23:14
Yeah.
00:23:15
But yeah, fun fact for Josh of the day.
00:23:18
Thank you.
00:23:19
Thank you.
00:23:20
I'm a football player.
00:23:21
What position?
00:23:22
I was a forward and played a little goalkeeper as well.
00:23:28
Awesome.
00:23:29
Yeah.
00:23:30
So awesome.
00:23:31
Is goalkeeper and goalie the same thing?
00:23:33
Yes.
00:23:34
I'm glad.
00:23:35
I'm glad.
00:23:36
Yes.
00:23:37
Just a abbreviated version.
00:23:41
And as a side note, Charles said that the only time he was ever physical with Steven was when he had drank too much at the pub and Charles held him up and told him to pull himself together before they went home.
00:23:52
Steven also spent a lot of time with his mother Doris who loved taking mid-day walks along the beach in Saltburn and returning home just before dusk so she could make a hot cup of tea.
00:24:02
Kind of like a very beautiful way to live life.
00:24:05
Victoria said that Steven and Doris must have made this walk hundreds of times while living in Mosque and that she herself had done it dozens of times during the few trips that she took to visit the family between the summer of 1991 and the winter of '92.
00:24:20
Steven also had a friend group outside of his family and he would spend time with them along the beachside's cliffs in Saltburn, the ship in, and downtown Red Car.
00:24:29
He also had a girlfriend leading up to December 1992 and he had met her through the Rothbone Society.
00:24:35
However, his parents said that they had only been seeing each other for about 10 days so very casual and that their relationship mainly consisted of meeting up at the pub, although the police reported that she had taken him home once to meet her parents.
00:24:48
So overall, Steven had a pretty happy life living in Mosque and he was incredibly proud of his achievements through the Rothbone Society.
00:24:56
That's why the events of December 28, 1992 continue to confuse everyone who knew Steven personally.
00:25:02
Victoria visited the family over Christmas that year and returned home to Gilford on December 27.
00:25:08
She described it as a "normal family gathering," "they ate dinners together," spent a lot of time just at the house talking, hanging out, and of course they took the walk from their home to the Saltburn peers.
00:25:20
And the only important of contention seemed to be the family joking about Steven's use of his money.
00:25:25
Charles described him as "a tight-fisted little fellow."
00:25:29
As he refused to spend any of his money but seemed to be happy if his parents were paying at the pub or for soccer matches.
00:25:36
While this was largely in good fun, there was some genuine frustration there.
00:25:40
Steven was 23 years old and pretty independent and his parents wanted to teach him a lesson and financial responsibility aside from just relying on them to pay for everything.
00:25:49
There's this brings us to December 28, 1992.
00:25:52
Doris and Charles have slightly changed their stories throughout the years, which is a bit odd and I think a point people often bring up so we're going to provide you the different versions throughout the timeline to see how well they actually line up.
00:26:04
On Monday, December 28, this was a bank holiday and many tourists are coming into town to visit Saltburn and Redcar.
00:26:12
Charles and Steven had planned to go to the Middlesboro versus Crystal Palace Soccer match, which began at 3pm.
00:26:18
However, shortly before they headed off to the match, Charles said that if Steven wanted to go, he'd have to pay for his own ticket.
00:26:25
This was in line with the conversation surrounding Steven's financial choices over the holiday and Charles, again, was trying to teach him a lesson and help him become more independent.
00:26:34
A lot has been made of Charles' decision to make Steven pay, some have speculated that this led to a fight or an argument maybe but the family and Victoria have said that this would not have happened.
00:26:45
Not only did the financial conversations over Christmas never lead to a fight, but Steven wasn't even a Middlesboro fan in the first place unlike his diehard father.
00:26:54
This was just a lesson in financial literacy and by all accounts, Steven didn't care much about the game.
00:26:59
Steven ultimately decided to stay behind with his mother and not attend the match.
00:27:04
And retrospect, Charles said that he would have never have made that choice to make Steven pay for his ticket if he had known what would happen next.
00:27:12
Charles left home at around 2 p.m.
00:27:14
to make the 20 minute drive to the game and he arrived before the 3 p.m.
00:27:18
kickoff time.
00:27:19
Once again, there's been a lot of speculation about whether Charles actually attended the game.
00:27:24
He had a program for the match that day as proof, but Daughters pointed out that he didn't have a record of his ticket that he had apparently purchased.
00:27:32
But it is important to note that this was 1992 and tickets were mainly purchased physically at the stadium, not digitally or over the phone.
00:27:40
So by this logic, there's actually no record of Charles attending any Middlesboro matches, despite being a lifelong fan.
00:27:48
So with Charles out of the house, Doris asked Steven if he wanted to go on their walk along the beach to Saltburn Pierce.
00:27:54
Steven said yes and the two of them began their walk between 2 p.m.
00:27:57
and 2 p.m.
00:27:58
30.
00:27:59
Now this is where Doris' timeline first changes.
00:28:03
In some versions of the story, she said that they left together and in others, he left before her and she caught up to him along the beach.
00:28:11
And it's important to note that it took 45 minutes to reach the pierce from their front door.
00:28:15
And it was a bitter cold day, I mean, only 8 degrees above freezing.
00:28:20
And many assume that because of Steven's disability and pronounced limp, that he moved a lot slower than his parents, but according to Charles, he was a "quite speedy" person and could easily keep up with his folks and other people around him.
00:28:34
We can safely assume that because it was a bank holiday, the beach and the Saltburn Pierce were full of tourist visiting over vacation, while both mosque and Saltburn are relatively small towns or populations can double on busy holidays,
00:28:47
especially bank holiday over Christmas.
00:28:50
Doris and Steven reached the pier between 2.50 and 3 p.m.
00:28:54
and after they arrived, Steven decided to run into the public bathroom and once he went in, Doris decided to do the same.
00:29:01
Once again, Doris' story has changed slightly in the years since Steven's disappearance.
00:29:05
Initially, she said that after finishing in the women's restroom, she waited along the wall facing the restrooms for only a few minutes, before deciding that Steven had already headed home.
00:29:15
She decided to just meet him at the house with the tea kettle on.
00:29:19
More recently, Doris said she waited outside the bathroom for around 15 to 20 minutes, and she even mentioned seeing two men and a little girl walk to the restroom.
00:29:28
The two men took turns going to the bathroom while the other man watched the girl, and she thought it was a shame that they didn't feel like Saltburn was safe enough to leave her unattended.
00:29:37
But what's interesting about this is that we have no way to confirm that any of this happened.
00:29:44
Let alone if there was actually these two men or little girl that had never been identified or contacted by law enforcementists, this is purely going off of what Doris remembers.
00:29:55
Probably something that happened 20, 30 years ago, your story could naturally change slightly.
00:30:01
However, based on other cases of parents who have missing children, most of the times, they remember that day their child disappears like it was yesterday,
00:30:14
or something like this happens.
00:30:16
And they can recall every detail.
00:30:18
But again, everybody's different.
00:30:19
Yeah.
00:30:20
It's a weird situation because, as you'll understand, all these things were brought up and she had to, you know, regal over the timeline much later, 28 years later.
00:30:29
So, you know, you do have to consider that.
00:30:32
Although I will say, it seems like that day would be super ingrained in your brain.
00:30:37
But everyone's different, you know, doesn't prove anything.
00:30:40
But either way, Doris left the peer restroom area between 305 and 320.
00:30:45
And many people think it's pretty strange that she didn't check on Steven in the restroom.
00:30:52
And again, of course, hindsight is 2020.
00:30:55
And Steven was a 23 year old man.
00:30:57
Doris said that he would have been, quote, "mortified" if she had gone in there to check on him and hadn't heard anything, you know, that would have tipped her off to any disturbance going on in there.
00:31:06
So, she didn't have any reason to believe something was going wrong.
00:31:08
I guess just to put in my thoughts, if I was with literally anybody, whether it was my child or not, or I was saying to Ian earlier, if I was somewhere with Ian.
00:31:17
And he was in the restroom and I was waiting for him and he never came out.
00:31:20
I would not just leave.
00:31:24
I just probably would have asked someone to go in there and say, "Hey, can you shout in?"
00:31:29
You know, just to make sure, 'cause what if they're sick or something?
00:31:32
It's just kind of strange to walk away in my opinion, but especially if it's your child, regardless of what age or the circumstances.
00:31:40
So I just personally found that pretty strange.
00:31:43
I'm curious to hear what you guys think.
00:31:45
I do most people who have taken a look at this case.
00:31:50
I think we're all kind of like a little weirded out, however, if you look at it from the flip side, they've supposedly done this walk a million times,
00:32:00
right?
00:32:01
So this is not like that big of a deal and maybe there's been instances in the past where this exact scenario played, I mean, it's just going to the bathroom, it's not anything crazy.
00:32:11
And so maybe they've met up at home later on separately.
00:32:15
I think in my mind, because this is not just a 5-10 minute walk back to the house, this is a pretty long walk that the whole reason for going on in the first place is to conversate with one another the entire way that you know there and back.
00:32:31
So it's a little odd.
00:32:35
That's really all I can say.
00:32:36
It's a little odd to me, but again, maybe this is not that odd for them.
00:32:40
Yeah.
00:32:41
Hello, it is Ryan and we could all use an extra bright spot in our day, couldn't we?
00:32:45
Just to make up for things like city and traffic, doing the dishes, counting your steps, you know, all the mundane stuff, that is why I'm such a big fan of Chamba Casino.
00:32:54
Chamba Casino has all your favorite social Casino style games that you can play for free anytime, anywhere with daily bonuses.
00:33:01
So sign up now at chamba casino dot com.
00:33:04
That's chamba casino dot com sponsored by Chamba Casino, no purchase necessary VGW group forward, we're prohibited by law, 18 plus terms and conditions apply.
00:33:12
Like I was saying before, you know, now at 27, having a friend or someone checking on me, I would be more understanding.
00:33:19
I'd be like, Oh, thank you.
00:33:20
I'm good.
00:33:21
Yeah.
00:33:22
But if my mom would have done that when I was 23, get out of here, we'd be doing or, you know, I would have been totally embarrassed.
00:33:28
So for sure to go in there, I think, yeah, I mean, I, I wouldn't go into a men's restroom regardless of who was in there.
00:33:37
But I think I would stick around or ask someone who's going in, you know, and just, it's odd.
00:33:43
Yeah.
00:33:44
I think that's the, like I, I really don't cast any suspicions on the family, just personally, I don't, I don't see that, but I do think that's the weirdest thing is just not sticking around,
00:33:54
you know?
00:33:55
Yeah.
00:33:56
Not, it's, I just feel like it's kind of our natural inclination is to wait for the other person to finish in the restroom and then you're like, all right, let's go.
00:34:03
And I guess if you think from her perspective, she was thinking, oh, maybe he finished much earlier than he came out earlier than me and already do, right, that's, that's true.
00:34:13
Usually it's in and out for us most of the time.
00:34:17
Here's the thing that trips me up though, based on what Doris said, if she stayed just a few minutes and then just decided to head out, it's possible that maybe Steven was still in there when she just decided to head back thinking,
00:34:32
you know, the same thing that he had already head back.
00:34:36
But what's weird to me is that now she's remembering sticking around 15 to 20 minutes outside of the bathroom.
00:34:42
That's not, that's not a short amount of time.
00:34:44
That's a, that's a lot of sitting there looking at the bathroom.
00:34:48
And what are you doing during the 15, 20 minutes?
00:34:50
You're probably wondering what's going on.
00:34:53
And then to never even have somebody go and check after you just waited outside for 15, 20 minutes.
00:35:00
And then all of a sudden she's like, well, I guess it's been 15, 20 minutes.
00:35:03
Maybe he just went home already is just very weird to me.
00:35:06
I think that could have been her exact thinking though like if he hasn't come out now, he probably did leave before me.
00:35:12
He's probably almost 15 to 20 minutes.
00:35:14
I think any person would probably get impatient at something, be like, hey, can you just see if they're in like, that's a long 20 minutes to sit outside the bathroom.
00:35:22
That's a long time.
00:35:23
You know what I mean?
00:35:24
Yeah, it is.
00:35:25
Because if, if your friends in the bathroom for 15, 20 minutes, something's going on.
00:35:31
Like, you all right in there, buddy?
00:35:33
Yeah.
00:35:34
I've seen parents in the past like, just go up to the door and be like, hey, hey, Stephen, are you in there?
00:35:41
Yeah.
00:35:42
You okay, buddy?
00:35:43
Yeah.
00:35:44
And none of that happens.
00:35:45
She just all of a sudden after 20 minutes is like, well, he must have gone home and then just decides to go home.
00:35:49
Right.
00:35:50
The whole argument of hindsight's 2020, but obviously her mind wasn't going to him being missing.
00:35:55
But yeah, like you said, you would just think it could be sick or something.
00:36:01
I don't know.
00:36:02
It is certainly strange, but I guess her staying there for that 15 minutes sort of adds to I'm also very curious about what they talked about on that walk.
00:36:15
What did they actually talk about on their way there?
00:36:18
Because one scenario comes in my mind is what if they had some type of talk and he was upset with her or something and he decided I'm just going to hide out in the bathroom for,
00:36:31
you know, for my mom and she'll just eventually leave knowing that that's how this is going to play out.
00:36:36
And then he did so that he doesn't have to walk back with her.
00:36:39
Maybe he was like, ah, I'm going to go go elsewhere after this.
00:36:43
If that was the case, she probably would have reported that it's possible they just didn't talk at all on this walk.
00:36:50
They'd take this walk all the time.
00:36:51
Maybe they were just trying to see you hanging out.
00:36:54
Yeah.
00:36:55
And silence walking.
00:36:56
Yeah.
00:36:57
They're together all the time.
00:36:58
He lives with them.
00:36:59
So it's not like this is a rare occasion where he gets, she gets to see her grown son.
00:37:03
So I could see them.
00:37:04
But I'm just I think if they did have some type of argument, she probably would have clarified that in the report, you know, or at any point in interviews like he was upset because that would lead more to him walk,
00:37:17
like walking away, leaving because he was angry.
00:37:21
So if that was really what happened, she probably would have mentioned that because that adds more credence to the theory of him leaving on his own.
00:37:28
I see what you're saying.
00:37:30
I have a different thought, but I think as this unfolds more things will make sense, you know,
00:37:40
the different perspectives kind of come together.
00:37:44
So Doris returned back to the home around 45 minutes after leaving the saltburned peers between 345 and 4ish.
00:37:52
And it would have likely grown dark around this time and most people would have started to head home.
00:37:57
And once again, people vast wise, she would walk alone in the dark on the beach, but she had done this walk countless times likely around the same time as she liked to be home by like 4pm to prepare tea.
00:38:09
The Doris did arrive home around, or at least by 4pm, and turned to kettle on for tea, hoping that Steven would return home around this time.
00:38:16
But when he didn't, she began to panic.
00:38:18
And when Charles returned home from the soccer match around 6pm, she told him that Steven was missing.
00:38:24
So Charles immediately caused the police who informed him that he couldn't report adults missing for at least 24 hours after he was last seen, obviously this was in the 90s.
00:38:34
It was different, it was really frustrating.
00:38:37
Yeah, we still see that sometimes happens.
00:38:39
Well, he's an adult, so it's a little bit different.
00:38:42
It's possible that they would make him wait 24 hours.
00:38:46
Yeah, it's just it's always so frustrating.
00:38:49
It's silly rule, but I get why they have it sometimes.
00:38:53
So anyway, the two of them decide to just leave the house and comb the beach themselves with flashlights, and they were shouting his name over and over again, but they had no luck.
00:39:03
After this, they went back to the dunes by mosque to search for Steven.
00:39:07
The dunes there are more hilly and rocky than the dunes we're accustomed to here in the United States.
00:39:11
So it's more fitting with the, quote, land of hills that Cleveland area is known for.
00:39:16
I mean, just seeing pictures in the video of this, these are serious cliffs, 100 plus feet tall sheer rock faces.
00:39:27
And looking out the expanse, Charles imagined that Steven might have fallen into one of the mini rocky crevasses, and there is no way he indoors could fight him alone that night.
00:39:36
So they returned home and informed Victoria as soon as they could about Steven's disappearance.
00:39:40
The next day, they officially reported Steven missing to the Cleveland police.
00:39:44
And unfortunately, really not much happened.
00:39:46
It seems like there's really not a lot of work that was done by the police other than the very basics.
00:39:53
Yeah.
00:39:54
And it doesn't seem like they took a very seriously, which is a shame.
00:39:58
There's just like no record of what was or any record released as to what was discussed.
00:40:03
Did they interview at this point that, you know, what was actually done?
00:40:07
What did they canvas?
00:40:08
How hard did they search the cliffs?
00:40:11
Because then years just went by and there's just no sign of Steven.
00:40:14
While the Clarks worked tirelessly in the first few years of his disappearance to try and find him, this bird dozens of news articles, melt cartons, and partnering with other families of missing people in attempt to spread awareness for their son's case.
00:40:27
And it doesn't seem like much was done as far as an official investigation was concerned.
00:40:33
While the Cleveland police opened a dedicated incident room in order to respond to the hundreds of tips that came in and took daily reports from the caretakers of the salt burn, pears, and cliffs, little was done outside of the searches undertaken by the Clark family.
00:40:47
And yes, hundreds of tips did come in.
00:40:50
Steven's disappearance had been a huge story initially, especially among the more salacious publications like the Daily Mail.
00:40:56
Unfortunately, these tips did not go anywhere and only two sightings were considered somewhat credible at the time.
00:41:03
The first came in from a man named Stan Kamish, who knew Steven and the Clark family from the ship in.
00:41:09
On the 3rd of January, 1993, just days after Steven disappeared, Stan gave an interview with the Cleveland police to report that he had seen Steven in red car at around 2 p.m.
00:41:19
on December 30, which was two days after he was last seen by Doris going into the restroom at the salt burn pears.
00:41:25
While he was talking with a friend, Stan reportedly saw Steven walking past the Gazette offices into the town's center.
00:41:33
And he said that because he was in conversation with this friend, he was unable to speak to Steven or catch his attention and was unaware at this point that he was missing.
00:41:41
However, some outlets have reported that Stan did speak to Steven during this initial sighting, but the official Cleveland police case filed does not report them being in conversation.
00:41:51
However, during efforts to revitalize the investigation in 1999, a detective once again visited Stan to get his story and Stan this time changed his version of what happened.
00:42:00
He said that he had not seen Steven's face, and it's simply noticed that he had seen a man with a similar build to Steven walking with a pronounced limp.
00:42:09
And the distance of the sighting also changed.
00:42:12
Initially, Stan said that he was standing relatively close to Steven at the time of the sighting, but now he said that he was at least 30 yards away from the man that he thought could have been Steven.
00:42:21
So completely different story we're looking at now.
00:42:25
It pretty much discredits it.
00:42:27
The other somewhat credible sighting came from a woman who knew Steven through a relative who worked at the bowling club the Clarks' remembers of.
00:42:34
The woman said that on January 14, 1993, she was looking out of her living room window and saw her when she saw Steven walk across the road toward an area known as Glen Side Terrace.
00:42:45
The woman reported that Steven was with a man between 1560 who was bald with gray hair around the sides of his head and worth thick glasses.
00:42:53
Steven was not speaking to the man and it appeared that Steven was trying to keep up with him as he walked.
00:42:59
The woman knew Steven was missing and reported this sighting to the police who told the local media on January 22, 1993.
00:43:06
While this was considered the only other credible sighting for nearly 30 years, a new investigation team put together in 2019 went to the woman's home and discovered that not only was her living room a considerable distance away from the road,
00:43:19
but that would have been dark out at the time of the sighting, which would really render any actual identification nearly impossible.
00:43:29
So maybe she saw, maybe not impossible to say.
00:43:34
On top of that, the middle-aged man Steven was walking with has never been identified.
00:43:40
So what about other theories regarding Steven's disappearance?
00:43:43
Well, some have said that perhaps Steven was kidnapped or attacked while in the bathroom.
00:43:49
All human trafficking is an issue in the town of Red Car, as highlighted by more recent police initiatives, traffickers typically target younger people, though of course anyone can become a victim of human trafficking.
00:44:01
I did a little research on human trafficking of people with disabilities and they are actually at a higher risk of being human trafficked and often targeted,
00:44:12
but based on the research it seems like they usually are targeting younger individuals and individuals with mental disabilities as opposed to physical disabilities,
00:44:25
because obviously a lot easier for them to traffic and manipulate and force to do whatever they're planning to do.
00:44:33
While researching this, I did try to find information regarding just people with disabilities who have gone missing and it's interesting that it's similar to the study you just named because almost all of the research is about more mental disabilities as opposed to physical.
00:44:48
There's not that many numbers regarding people with physical disabilities going missing.
00:44:55
So I don't know, I just think there's a gap in research that should be filled there.
00:45:01
Yeah.
00:45:02
100%.
00:45:03
Yeah, that'd be interesting to have more information on.
00:45:06
It is a much higher probability for a female as opposed to a male.
00:45:11
Or a human trafficking.
00:45:12
Oh, yeah, definitely.
00:45:15
So is it a possibility in this case?
00:45:18
Yes, it's always a possibility, but is it the most likely, I don't feel that way.
00:45:25
I think in also we have to remember this area was busier than normal.
00:45:31
This is over the holidays.
00:45:32
There's a ton of tourists in town.
00:45:33
Which?
00:45:34
This is a public restroom.
00:45:35
It could also lead to a higher risk in the sense that there's more people, maybe there's more bad people they know.
00:45:41
It's a busy time.
00:45:42
That's a good point.
00:45:43
There's a lot of random people that are there that aren't familiar with the space because they're visiting or whatever.
00:45:48
Right.
00:45:49
Yeah.
00:45:50
Plus on that note, if someone had tried to abduct or attack Steven in the bathroom, it would have certainly been heard by Doris in the women's room next door or while she was waiting outside or by other people in the bathrooms considering how busy it actually was.
00:46:06
What if Doris' second version of events is to be trusted, at least two other people went into the men's room immediately after Steven did and neither of them saw or heard anything granted the men in Doris' story have never been identified or come forward so it's possible that they did.
00:46:22
Here's something that would have been really nice to figure out who they were and speak to them, but it's too late now.
00:46:29
And while Steven did have his physical disabilities, he was a relatively large man and pretty mobile.
00:46:36
So if he were attacked, there's a good chance that he would have fought back and those surrounding the bathroom would have noticed a commotion.
00:46:43
So if Steven wasn't attacked in the bathrooms, then what else could have happened?
00:46:48
The salt-burned bathrooms are in front of the large beach-side cliffs up a hill.
00:46:53
So some have wondered if maybe Steven potentially left the restroom before Doris noticed his friends near the cliffs and went up there to speak with them.
00:47:01
While none of Steven's friends have come forward to say that they saw him on the day of his disappearance, there is a chance that he could have walked to the cliffs independently once he finished up in the restroom.
00:47:10
Because again, the salt-burned cliffs are incredibly dangerous, especially if you stand near the edge.
00:47:15
The ground near the cliff edge is unstable and often crumbles, leading people to fall to their deaths on the beach below.
00:47:22
Seven years ago, two boys named Harry Watson and Alex Yaman died after taking photos on the salt-burned cliffs.
00:47:28
The boys were in good spirits and loved the outdoors, but the ground near the cliff edge was unstable.
00:47:33
Harry's mother, Tony Watson, said it was "a tragic accident."
00:47:36
However, those who fall from the cliffs usually end up on the beach below or wash up a short near the salt-burned area.
00:47:43
Numerous coast guards and locals who care for the area have reported that they found no bodies or anything suspicious in the days after Steven's disappearance.
00:47:52
And while the cliff can crumble, the majority of deaths at the salt-burned cliffs are usually suicides, every member of the Clark family has reported that Steven was in good spirits, had a girlfriend, and employment prospects through the Rathbone Society and was excited about the future.
00:48:05
Yeah, I really think the suicide theory can be pretty much ruled out.
00:48:10
It seems highly, highly unlikely that that was the case.
00:48:14
So what about the chance that Steven willingly disappeared?
00:48:19
This is also, obviously unlikely, Steven left his glasses, his passport, his wallet, which included his bank cards and his ID at the house before they went on the walk.
00:48:29
Also, his bank account has been completely untouched, and he never deposited that thousand pound prize from the Rathbone Society.
00:48:36
So if Steven willingly disappeared, he did so without any money, identification, or a way to gain employment.
00:48:44
So I really, again, think that one can be pretty much ruled out, makes no sense.
00:48:50
One more theory says that Steven was harmed before he went on the walk with his mother.
00:48:54
This would assume that Doris and Charles lied to police and were most likely involved in Steven's disappearance.
00:49:00
In September of 1999, the police in Geesbro received an anonymous letter regarding Steven.
00:49:06
While the contents of this letter have never been made fully public, it is alleged that it says that Doris and Charles killed Steven and buried him in their back garden.
00:49:17
While the police in 1999 did not find this credible, the new investigation team did.
00:49:22
So on September 16, 2020, pretty recently, Doris at age 80 and Charles at age 78 were arrested on suspicion of the murder of Steven Clark,
00:49:34
which is pretty crazy and out of the blue to make this arrest, you know, all of this time later.
00:49:40
They were just completely shocked, and so was the public, and of course it stirred up a ton more discussion about it, media coverage and everything like that.
00:49:48
And at this time, Victoria was working from home and she was visited by two police officers who knocked on the door during a conference call and she said that quote, "When you have two detectives on your door asking to come in,
00:50:00
you are really panicking about what has happened."
00:50:04
And the police told her quote, "Look, there's no easy way to say this, we might as well just come out with it.
00:50:09
We have just arrested your parents on the suspicion of murdering Steven."
00:50:13
I'm sure she was just...
00:50:15
"That's shocking."
00:50:16
"Lord."
00:50:17
The police questioned Victoria for four hours while on September 16th, Doris and Charles were interrogated at the station in Red Car for over six hours, and they alleged that Doris and Charles were violent people,
00:50:30
although they provided no evidence or motive for them allegedly murdering Steven, and that's been the biggest thing for me is there is no motive.
00:50:38
I can't think of anything.
00:50:41
Yeah, at least no motive that's been publicly released.
00:50:48
They're doing an investigation, so I don't know how much they're going to tell them, but as far as we know, seems like there's nothing there.
00:50:56
The entire time, the Clark family who never reported any sort of violence at all were wondering where they possibly got this information.
00:51:03
A day later, on September 17th, police urged the anonymous letter writer to come forward in order to strengthen their case.
00:51:10
After Doris and Charles were released on bail, they were forced to stay in a hotel in Red Car while police searched their home.
00:51:15
And on September 19th, Cleveland police rolled up and set up a tent outside of the Clark's home to serve as an investigation center, and for five days, police dug up their garden and removed their shed after finding an area of interest underneath it.
00:51:30
All in after the searching this, they basically didn't come up with anything significant.
00:51:34
I'm so curious, as to what that letter actually said, that led them to believe it was credible after all of this time, and to dedicate that much time and resources to digging up their whole yard.
00:51:47
I mean, there had to have been more in there, or some reason.
00:51:51
Well, it's redacted.
00:51:52
A bunch of it's redacted.
00:51:53
And why?
00:51:54
So why they redact it and what's in the redacted part.
00:51:59
It's hard to believe that they would be able to get a warrant like this off of the anonymous letter, and that's what a lot of investigators in the UK and,
00:52:12
you know, people familiar with their criminal justice system have says they don't just like hand this out.
00:52:17
Right.
00:52:18
They'll just hand the search warrants out.
00:52:20
So a lot of people speculate that they're, they must have something more that they just aren't that maybe that letter kind of help confirm some other piece of evidence or information that they had in order to get it,
00:52:33
but you would think if that was the case, it would have been taken seriously initially, you know.
00:52:40
Why was it all send deemed credible all of that time later?
00:52:43
Yeah.
00:52:44
And again, we just don't know.
00:52:45
It's been very kept under wraps when it comes to what investigation was actually done at the beginning over the course of the 30 years.
00:52:55
So it's really impossible to say.
00:52:58
And people point to the fact that this is a police department ravaged with scandals and it was kind of had a bad name out there.
00:53:07
And so maybe this is an attempt to try to, you know, get back into the good graces of the public by, you know, this is a big case.
00:53:15
I had a lot of publicity at the time by kind of bringing it back up and trying to resolve it at what cost though.
00:53:24
And I think that's the difficult things.
00:53:26
There's just so much we still don't know.
00:53:28
And it's not helpful.
00:53:29
They only release excerpts from this letter.
00:53:32
And the rest is redacted.
00:53:34
And we clearly all want to know what does the full letter say.
00:53:36
And you would hope that there's a good reason for the redaction, but that's not always the case.
00:53:42
Who knows?
00:53:43
I also think it's important to say that the police themselves never officially named Adoris and Charles.
00:53:52
They immediately after they were released on bail went to the media where like we just got arrested.
00:53:57
But even if you were to go on the official like Cleveland police page for Stevens case, they say to this day, it just says, we've arrested two individuals or we did arrest two individuals.
00:54:08
So it's just very curious as to why they would have done that with all of the publicity that fall.
00:54:15
Yeah, we know they arrested them.
00:54:17
So why keep that a secret as well?
00:54:20
It's bizarre.
00:54:21
This case is so strange.
00:54:22
A lot of it doesn't make any sense.
00:54:24
It's just like on suspicion, right?
00:54:28
Like here in the US, you can just arrest somebody on suspicion.
00:54:31
You've got to have more than that.
00:54:34
It's like, is that just a, especially from an anonymous library?
00:54:36
So just a UK thing that they have that ability or what's going on there just, I don't know, we're missing something.
00:54:43
No circumstantial evidence or really anything.
00:54:49
You know what?
00:54:50
It's a new year and you know what that means?
00:54:52
That's right.
00:54:53
It's time to rock it.
00:54:54
Your finances to the top baby.
00:54:56
It's time to get those savings and check.
00:54:59
Time to take a look at all of those subscriptions that you picked up over 2024 and figure out which ones you're still using because I bet you money that you aren't using half of the subscriptions that you're paying for and instead of taking your,
00:55:13
all this time out of your precious day to comb through your bank statements, log in to 18 different accounts to try to figure out where you're paying them from.
00:55:22
Why not just get rocket money, the best personal finance app that I've used and I personally use on a daily basis.
00:55:29
Rocket money is the app that helps find and cancel those unwanted subscriptions for you at monitors you're spending and even helps you lower your bills so you can grow your savings.
00:55:39
What's not to love about that?
00:55:40
I got all of my accounts hooked up to it.
00:55:42
You can have your checking your savings, your investment accounts, literally every account that you use for your finances, you can plug in the rocket money, track all of it from one place.
00:55:50
And what's great is it actually sorts out your expenses.
00:55:54
It gives you your dates for upcoming bills coming out of your account.
00:55:58
It makes it so, so easy.
00:56:00
Just by setting up rocket money, I guarantee you, you will probably start saving money just from being more organized.
00:56:05
But on top of that, it will alert you to utilities bills.
00:56:09
Like for me, it was my internet bill.
00:56:11
They're like, "Hey, I think we can save you money here.
00:56:13
Just give us upload a picture of your bill and we'll do the rest."
00:56:16
And sure enough, that's what they did, say this 30 bucks a month on internet service.
00:56:19
It's amazing, they go do all of it for you, you don't have to even lift a finger or lift your phone.
00:56:25
It's an amazing service, I recommend it to absolutely everybody.
00:56:28
And if you use their premium features, you get access to like credit monitoring, net worth tracking, and a bunch of other features, which I think are well worth the couple bucks a month.
00:56:38
So rocket money is saved over 5 million users, including myself, a total of $500 million in cancel subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all the app's premium features.
00:56:50
So cancel your own wanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with rocket money.
00:56:55
Go to rocket money dot com slash mile higher today.
00:56:58
That's rocket money dot com slash mile higher.
00:57:08
So instead of staying at the hotel and red car, they actually wanted to stay with Victoria during this time.
00:57:13
But they were worried about breaking the rules and then getting into further trouble due to the COVID lockdowns.
00:57:19
An ITV documentary called accus of murdering our son, the Stephen Clark story, chronicle doors and trials during this time, Victoria said quote, mom and dad were in a state of shock.
00:57:29
They've been pitted against each other.
00:57:31
It was just awful, the way they were treated was diabolical.
00:57:35
After months under police suspicion and became clear that the only bit of evidence, suspecting them of murder, as far as we know, was the anonymous letter from 1999.
00:57:44
Cleveland police urged the letter writer to reveal themselves in any information that could lead to an arrest.
00:57:51
Months later, the letter writer did come forward and while her identity is unknown to the public, she did not know the Clarks personally and had never heard of Stephen before his disappearance.
00:58:02
And she had said she wrote the letter as quote, a concerned citizen, which makes this even more bizarre that they would make a move like that from a concerned citizen who didn't know them and had no reason to be making these accusations.
00:58:18
Yeah, and if you look at this letter, we have the picture of the envelope.
00:58:23
Stephen's name is misspelled on it and she sent it to the wrong police department.
00:58:28
It seems like back in '99, why didn't they do anything with it?
00:58:33
They probably just thought it was...
00:58:35
Yeah.
00:58:36
And it seems like it is.
00:58:39
I don't know.
00:58:40
I don't know what's going on.
00:58:41
It just seems like either this is like a PR stunt for the police department to try to get some publicity.
00:58:49
But doesn't look good.
00:58:50
I mean, to the public, they're seeing these elderly...
00:58:54
I mean, they're 80 and 78.
00:58:56
Yeah.
00:58:57
It's not a good look.
00:58:58
No.
00:58:59
And it's like, yes, you do have to keep in mind that when this happened, they were, would they have been 50, 50?
00:59:05
They would have been there like late 40s, early 50s, right?
00:59:07
Okay.
00:59:08
Yeah.
00:59:09
So you do have to consider that because it's like, obviously you see these two older people and think, like, what have never done something like this?
00:59:16
This is so fucked up.
00:59:17
And yes, it is fucked up, you know, after all this time, for them to be going through this, especially if they didn't do anything.
00:59:24
But yeah, you got to keep in mind.
00:59:26
So it could have just been a giant oopsie by the police department.
00:59:30
Because they believe that based on the information, whether it be from the letter whoever else, that Stephen was buried in their backyard.
00:59:41
And I don't know if that people speculated that's what was in the letter and that's why it's redacted.
00:59:46
It's just flat out said that and maybe the person had some other name in there that tipped them off to this information or something we don't know.
00:59:55
But that's why they were, they were, I guess they were able to go get that warrant to dig up the backyards because they felt like it was credible enough to do it.
01:00:05
I mean, I'm trying not to think that they're all just clowns.
01:00:09
And this is just like a, it's looking a little circusy.
01:00:12
I know, but it's like, is it really that bad?
01:00:15
Are they really that bad at their jobs that they would just do this?
01:00:18
It seems that way.
01:00:19
I wouldn't be shocking to me.
01:00:20
And now that the letter had been largely debunked, Doris and Charles are looking for anything to clear their names.
01:00:27
Luckily, during this ordeal, an anonymous person did come forward with a sighting that was unreported during Stephen's initial disappearance.
01:00:35
A witness came forward and reported seeing a man who they thought looked like Stephen walking from his home towards the ship in between three and four p.m.
01:00:43
on December 28, 1992.
01:00:46
And this fits in nicely with Doris' timeline, and if true, it would mean that Stephen had walked home after visiting the pier and disappeared sometime after four, meaning it would have been impossible for Doris and Clark to have harmed Stephen before the walk.
01:01:00
Also, how could they have killed Stephen and buried him in the backyard without alerting their neighbors?
01:01:05
Of course, that could happen, but that also seems unlikely.
01:01:08
But the Cleveland Police took this sighting as credible, which is also confusing, like base off.
01:01:15
Nothing.
01:01:16
And that's the thing is with the only sighting we know, like the only witness whose name we have is Stan Cammish's name, and I think that's largely because he passed away,
01:01:26
I believe, like in 2010.
01:01:28
But the woman who supposedly saw Stephen in Saltburn and now this additional witness, we don't know who they are, we don't know what this other person's relationship was,
01:01:40
Stephen.
01:01:41
And we also don't know why after 30 years they came forward and were like, oh no, I saw him.
01:01:47
Yeah.
01:01:48
It's like all of those things would lead you to believe it's probably not credible.
01:01:51
Right.
01:01:52
But anyway, Doris and Charles, because this sighting was took as credible, we're cleared of all suspicion in February of 2021.
01:01:59
And here's Doris and Charles recounting their experience on national news.
01:02:02
Eight years ago, I never heard a word.
01:02:05
And then suddenly there's a knock on the door, and you have the police there arrested in fact that you were accused of his murder.
01:02:17
It is shocking.
01:02:18
It is shocking.
01:02:19
Terrap your house.
01:02:20
Terrap your garden.
01:02:22
What was your motive for allegedly killing him?
01:02:25
Hello.
01:02:26
It is Ryan, and I was on a flight the other day playing one of my favorite social spin slot games on chumbacacino.com.
01:02:32
I looked over the person sitting next to me, and you know what they were doing.
01:02:35
They were also playing chumbacacino.
01:02:37
Everybody's loving having fun with it.
01:02:38
Chumbacacino is home to hundreds of casino style games that you can play for free anytime, anywhere.
01:02:43
So sign up now at chumbacacino.com to claim your free welcome bonus.
01:02:47
It's chumbacacino.com and live the chumbacacino sponsored by chumbacacino.
01:02:51
No purchase necessary VGW group voidware prohibited by law, 18 plus terms and conditions apply.
01:02:56
Well, I don't think the really gave said anything about a motive, it just there was nothing said like that.
01:03:05
There was never said that at all.
01:03:07
So you work with this case, in a murder, there is a motive, sure.
01:03:12
It is the most bizarre case, and I've investigated many, many cases.
01:03:17
They get arrested on suspicion of murder their son.
01:03:19
They're interviewed twice, then they're released on bail.
01:03:22
And it's at that point I become involved, and I spent 17 weeks with Charles and Doris, and I have to say, when I first started, I treated them as though they were suspects.
01:03:31
Really?
01:03:32
They were suspects by the police.
01:03:33
When we started to talk to them and Charles and Doris to tell you themselves, I gave them a hard time at times.
01:03:38
You know, I had some very searching questions to get answers from them.
01:03:41
And I spent more time with them than any of the investigating officers.
01:03:44
Right.
01:03:45
And after the end of the 17 weeks, as the program shows, they were cleared from all involvement.
01:03:51
But what we do show in the program is we now will reveal totally the evidence that the police have got in relation to Charles and Doris, and people can make up their own mind as how strong that evidence is.
01:04:04
But I think what you do see is a journey quite uniquely of the impact of being arrested on suspicion of your son's murder, 28 years on, and what that does,
01:04:14
and they won't mind me saying this, to an elderly couple, what they've been through is an emotional role.
01:04:21
It's great.
01:04:22
I mean, how you could possibly be in that situation at any age, but particularly when you're that old and you've lost your son, I mean, the tears that Doris has shown,
01:04:33
even Charles, I mean, Charles presents himself as an incredibly strong person, but we've sat and spoken quite a lot of the times, and it's really pulled you apart.
01:04:42
As I was saying before, as parents, it is every parent's worst nightmare.
01:04:49
Your son's been missing for 28 years, getting that knock at the door, which must have hit you like about out of the blow.
01:04:58
How do you cope with that?
01:05:00
I don't know.
01:05:01
As far as we're fairly laid back as a couple, but when they rang the doorbell and I opened the door, it was only eight o'clock in the morning,
01:05:12
they came without any warning whatsoever, and asked where Charles was, and I said, well, he's in the shower, and so I had to call him down, and he came down,
01:05:23
and again, we were cautioned and told that we were being arrested for the murder of Stephen Clark.
01:05:30
Well, I think I gave it a laugh, you know, sort of nervous laugh, because I couldn't believe it.
01:05:38
Well, the, I mean, we were shocking that particular time.
01:05:42
I mean, we'd spent 28 years trying to get the police involved, and they never hardly ever ever in every year that would appear, and say,
01:05:52
how is Stephen, where is he, and all the rest of it?
01:05:55
Yeah, that is a good point.
01:05:56
He makes, you know, how insanely frustrating that would be after all that time when you're trying to get them to take it more seriously and to help more, to just show up and they're like,
01:06:07
okay, I mean, it would be traumatizing.
01:06:09
And if they really had no involvement, which I, I think I really lean that way, I mean, it's how horrific of an experience that would be,
01:06:20
especially at their age.
01:06:21
I mean, any age, but it's horrible.
01:06:24
I think it's very clear that the police just failed in this case, completely.
01:06:31
From the beginning to now, it seems like they've never taken it very seriously, and if they really did just arrest them off of an anonymous letter, then shame on them,
01:06:42
that's just poor investigation.
01:06:44
Well, that certainly seems to be the case.
01:06:47
It's just wild to me.
01:06:48
I'd be so interested to hear their perspective on it and hear some, you know, spokesperson for the Cleveland Police come forward and give their take on what happened,
01:06:58
what's going on?
01:07:00
What, how did we end up here?
01:07:02
And are you just trying to say face somehow?
01:07:05
I mean, what a horrible way to try to say it.
01:07:08
No, I know it.
01:07:09
We need them look so much worse.
01:07:35
I don't know.
01:07:36
It's just like, what happened?
01:07:37
It's just nothing happened at the beginning.
01:07:41
Nobody did anything.
01:07:42
Nobody took it seriously.
01:07:44
30 years go by.
01:07:45
They get a letter and they're like, well, maybe, maybe, might as well go try digging up the garden and see if it's legit because this letter was sent, but to accuse them and arrest them and treat them like criminals before any sort of evidence or trial has happened and is wrong.
01:08:05
And they should have just handled it way different, you know what I mean?
01:08:09
And not just like for further questioning or something like that.
01:08:12
Parade them around.
01:08:13
Like these guys are murderers.
01:08:14
They killed their son and put that out into the public sphere.
01:08:17
And I think that also just corrodes their investigation further where it's like, it just is so clear.
01:08:25
They don't know what the hell is going on.
01:08:27
And this is a true cold case.
01:08:30
And that's just where it's at.
01:08:33
And unfortunately, the parents had to get drug through the mud for it, but it's a really tough one, man.
01:08:38
There's just no good options.
01:08:41
There's no, there's no plausible leads or theories.
01:08:45
It's just something happened to him.
01:08:48
And I think that's mainly why people have pointed to the parents, you know, and why the police went after the parents because nothing else makes any sense.
01:08:58
Well, people don't like having no idea.
01:09:02
And so even if it doesn't really make sense, they will figure out a way to be like, yeah, we could.
01:09:08
Right.
01:09:09
Yeah, exactly.
01:09:10
For their own, you know, security at the end of the day.
01:09:13
Right.
01:09:14
And then they look at, you know, the inconsistencies in her story.
01:09:17
Right.
01:09:18
Exactly.
01:09:19
Mm-hmm.
01:09:20
Which again, I don't think that, you know, I understand some people think that that that is odd, but I think until you've gone through something that traumatic, you can't really judge.
01:09:31
Yeah.
01:09:32
You know.
01:09:33
Mm-hmm.
01:09:34
And really, I think this case would be much farther along how they taken his disappearance seriously at the beginning and adequately investigated it, including checking out the family members as,
01:09:46
as you should in every single case.
01:09:50
Yeah.
01:09:51
Imagine if they had searched for him that night.
01:09:53
It's always like, oh, they're an adult.
01:09:55
Yeah.
01:09:56
Okay.
01:09:57
So they could have left.
01:09:58
I mean, we've covered so many cases like this.
01:09:59
Yeah.
01:10:00
But because they're an adult, they wait seemingly too long to take action.
01:10:06
Yep.
01:10:07
You know.
01:10:08
Yep.
01:10:09
So frustrating.
01:10:10
Well, it's easy for people to fill in the gaps when there's nothing to go off of.
01:10:17
And create theories that have no evidence backing them up, just based on the little info that we have.
01:10:25
I think that's the thing.
01:10:26
All of us had to remember is there's so little investigation here and very little evidence to go off of that.
01:10:32
And zero motive.
01:10:33
Yeah.
01:10:34
The motive, the motive is why like the only thing I could think of is if they really were involved, maybe it was some type of accident that was covered up, like that would make the most sense.
01:10:45
A type of domestic situation that unfolded.
01:10:49
It got out of hand possibly or something else that they were somehow responsible for.
01:10:54
I don't know.
01:10:55
I just don't see them plotting a murder together and covering it up.
01:10:59
But who knows?
01:11:00
Who knows?
01:11:01
It's again, it's hard to look at them now.
01:11:03
Yeah.
01:11:04
I think that way.
01:11:05
You have to like put your mind back to where, right?
01:11:08
It's happening at 90.
01:11:09
Mm-hmm.
01:11:10
Yeah.
01:11:11
It's a much different situation and could be different people.
01:11:15
People change over, over time.
01:11:17
Mm-hmm.
01:11:18
So please continue to look for evidence once Doris and Charles were cleared.
01:11:22
And this seemed to be kind of just for show.
01:11:24
Like, it seems like a lot of things for them have been in this case.
01:11:27
But they searched along the popular trails near Saltburn and Red Car and the Clarks had thoroughly searched those areas in the nearly 30 years since Steven's disappearance.
01:11:38
While we're unsure of what other evidence the police had against Doris and Charles, there are other potential motivations behind their arrest because as I kind of alluded to earlier, the Cleveland Police Department was bogged down by scandals throughout the 2010s for failing to respond adequately to violent crimes and kidnapping cases.
01:11:54
And 2019 new chief constable, Richard Lewis openly stated, we're letting you down.
01:12:01
And of course, Steven's case was revitalized in 2019, so it seems like the arrest of Doris and Charles was an attempt to get good press from a well-known cold case which obviously backfired in their faces and so I don't think they would have thought.
01:12:17
I just seem like so perplexed at that whole situation and would love to hear from the police about what happened there.
01:12:26
Why'd you do this?
01:12:28
As of today, Steven Clark has been missing for 32 years and on the missing podcast, Victoria said, quote, "I want to set the record straight."
01:12:35
"I want people to be searching for Steven and to know that he came from a good home and from a family that loves and cares for him and just wants him to come back."
01:12:45
Despite everything Doris and Charles still hope, Steven will return home.
01:12:49
They still live in the same house and mosque and still have his wallet and glasses in case he returns.
01:12:55
Doris pointed to the case of Ricardo James, who disappeared from his family in 1998 but returned out of nowhere 24 years later.
01:13:02
While the Cleveland Police still have a dedicated team working on Steven's case, it's unclear if any new leads have come in since Doris and Charles were cleared of suspicion.
01:13:09
So if you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Steven Clark, particularly between Friday the 25th of December to Monday the 28th of December 1992, or if you have any information to help the investigation team,
01:13:21
use the Cleveland Police's public portal which will have linked or crime stoppers have issued a $10,000 which is roughly $12,300.
01:13:31
Robert on the case for key information on the disappearance of Steven Clark.
01:13:36
And what's interesting too is that the police believe he was murdered.
01:13:41
They're not, they don't shy away from that.
01:13:43
They don't.
01:13:44
They specifically say the murders.
01:13:45
He was a victim of foul play and they're trying to figure out who murdered him.
01:13:50
That's really interesting that they have just come to that conclusion somehow.
01:13:56
They have to have so much work.
01:13:57
They have to have something else.
01:14:00
I can't think of any other reason other than just incompetent and don't know what they're doing, but which could be possible, which is possible.
01:14:09
But I feel like there's got to be something more they did get lots of tips.
01:14:14
There has to be something that's just not is it being publicly do you think that they're saying the murder of Steven Clarks that justifies the arrest more could be because if they're,
01:14:25
you know, if they're still for me, what even happened, it looks even worse, well, I think it could, from that angle, it could also be just to keep people interested and get people to call in tips because they believe it's a murder as opposed to just somebody who's gone missing.
01:14:42
What if he was kidnapped and he's still alive and being held somewhere?
01:14:45
They have no idea if he was murdered.
01:14:47
I mean, personally, I think the most likely scenario is it was some type of accident that he had possibly gone to the cliffs and yes, it seems they would have probably found a body,
01:15:01
but that doesn't always happen.
01:15:03
I mean, there are plenty of situations where it's very obvious that that's what happened and then a body was never recovered.
01:15:10
So to me, it seems like that's probably what happened, but if they're really that confident about a murder taking place, I mean, obviously they have to have more information that would point them in the parents' direction,
01:15:23
but I guess I'm thinking like, could there have been a situation in the bathroom where someone like he was chloroformed and held in there until they were sure that his mom had left and then he was taken somewhere,
01:15:36
but there's so many people there.
01:15:38
I mean, that doesn't even make sense.
01:15:39
It's the only thing I can come up with as far as, you know, how I play.
01:15:45
It's just difficult because I think most of us wish they would have confirmed Doris's account of events because it really comes back to is Doris's recollection of that day and the timeline accurate or is it not?
01:16:04
And I think if the police had gone and actually tracked down people and interviewed people and confirmed that they went on this walk and the time that they got their lines up,
01:16:17
I think this would be a whole different story, but we're somehow confirmed that, you know, Charles was actually at the match.
01:16:25
Charles, right, they were never able to confirm that Charles was at the...
01:16:29
Which there may not, there just may not be a way to confirm that.
01:16:32
It seems like this case fell through the cracks because the police did not investigate it properly and take it as seriously as they should, especially now that they're saying it's a murder.
01:16:42
Well, you guys really botched it if that's what it is.
01:16:46
If we're looking at the lengths of murder, is it possible to that he did leave the bathrooms before her?
01:16:53
I was walking ahead of her and fell victim to someone random, just like crime of opportunity on the beach because yes, it was a holiday weekend.
01:17:02
A lot of people were out, but it was also freezing and people probably weren't, I don't know, maybe there weren't that many people on the beach at the time.
01:17:10
Is that possible?
01:17:11
I don't know, it's just so confusing, I really can't come to any conclusion that makes sense to me.
01:17:16
Where the crime of opportunity potential could make sense is if he was still in the bathroom when Doris left and when he left the bathroom, it was dark out.
01:17:27
Because at that point, people did start to trickle home, like at around, I believe the sunset was just before or before.
01:17:35
So if he would have stayed in the bathroom until like, you know, 313, 330 even, who knows?
01:17:42
And then was walking, there's a higher chance at that point that there would be less people on the beach when the sun finally went down.
01:17:52
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point, but it's even more sense.
01:17:55
Still, the beach's were popular, and even if it was getting dark and they were getting less popular, people were trickling home at that point.
01:18:04
Yeah.
01:18:05
They weren't completely empty.
01:18:06
Yeah.
01:18:07
And of course, there's that third sighting that the police indicated they thought was credible, which I don't know if I think they're credible at this point.
01:18:15
Yeah, exactly.
01:18:16
Like, who knows why they decided this is the one, but that if we want to believe that that place to Stephen closer to is home around four.
01:18:23
Yeah.
01:18:24
So, yeah, it's just, I don't know which way to look either, really.
01:18:28
I don't know.
01:18:29
I don't know.
01:18:30
There's like a tiny part of me that believes, maybe they, maybe they really do.
01:18:34
They did.
01:18:35
If he didn't go to that game and they never have, maybe none of, none of their story happened at all.
01:18:41
Hello.
01:18:42
It is Ryan, and I was on a flight the other day playing one of my favorite social spin slot games on chumbacacino.com.
01:18:48
I looked over the person sitting next to me, and you know what they were doing.
01:18:51
They were also playing chumbacacino.
01:18:52
Everybody's loving having fun with it.
01:18:54
Chumbacacino is home to hundreds of casino style games that you can play for free anytime anywhere.
01:18:59
So sign up now at chumbacacino.com to claim your free welcome bonus.
01:19:03
That's chumbacacino.com and live the chumbacacino.
01:19:06
Sponsored by chumbacacino, no purchase necessary, VGW Group, voidware prohibited by law, 18 plus terms and conditions apply.
01:19:12
Maybe, but why?
01:19:13
I just, there's no reason.
01:19:14
I feel like if that was the case, buy now something more.
01:19:18
Yeah.
01:19:19
What have come out?
01:19:20
You would think, but there, of course, there's tons of unsolved cases where things just, you know, that information never comes up and it's, we never get any answers.
01:19:28
It's never solved.
01:19:29
But like, even a piece of, hmm, that's really odd.
01:19:33
Yeah.
01:19:34
You know, something more than just, oh, her story changed a few times.
01:19:36
Well, people point to the fact they're both on the police force and like we've, we've covered in the past, there's those people are going to know how to dispose of evidence or you know how to cover things up better than your average person,
01:19:51
most likely.
01:19:52
Again, nothing points to that.
01:19:53
It's all pure speculation.
01:19:55
But a lot of people out there, I think point to that because I think a lot of people point at the parents because there is no other suspects in the case and the police are saying it's murder.
01:20:03
So I think everybody just naturally gravitates towards them.
01:20:08
Although I do, you know, the more that I look at this, the more I think that this could have possibly been a crime of opportunity that took place.
01:20:16
Sun's going down.
01:20:18
Maybe he had it back on his own because what's interesting is I just did a quick search for crime rate for a saltburn, a mosque and new mosque and it's among the top 10 most dangerous towns in North Yorkshire is a 37 most dangerous overall out of the North Yorkshire 699 towns and the most common crimes are violence and sexual offenses.
01:20:44
And again, we talk about the police department being incompetent in solving kidnapping cases.
01:20:50
And so I think some of that points to there could be a crime problem in this area and there could be criminals, predators that pick out these areas that are touristy spots for crimes of opportunity.
01:21:04
And it's very possible that he was targeted and maybe take an advantage of because of his disabilities.
01:21:11
And they, somebody took him and took him somewhere else, abducted him, likely murdered him.
01:21:19
And it was something, somebody completely random had nothing to do with the family whatsoever.
01:21:25
And I think the more you dig into it, the more you look at the picture as a whole, it seems like that's the more, more likely scenario because I mean, just based on statistics,
01:21:37
the police department seemingly being inadequate in this investigation and others, I think you kind of put the pieces together and you're like, is it possible that there's just an unsolved murderers likely other unsolved murders in this area?
01:21:50
No, for sure.
01:21:51
So because yeah, I get, I get the suspicion towards a parent, I just think there's, there's nothing pointing to it.
01:21:57
And they did do a search warrant.
01:21:59
They did all this extensive investigation into them and they came up with virtually nothing.
01:22:04
So you would have thought they would have found something.
01:22:07
But maybe they did and we just, they aren't sharing it with the public.
01:22:11
They, they have to have, it's just hard to believe that this murder.
01:22:15
Yeah.
01:22:16
And I've made those arrests in the first place.
01:22:17
I don't know.
01:22:18
So frustrating and confusing, we're missing, it really seems we're missing major pieces of the puzzle here.
01:22:24
Now Ian, do you still, we were talking about it earlier, do you still believe the most likely scenario is something happened at the cliffs?
01:22:32
That's just kind of what jumped out to me while looking into the case only because there have been like revitalized efforts to make people aware like these cliffs are extremely dangerous if you stand near the edge.
01:22:47
So that, that's why that kind of peak my interest there because the bathrooms are so close to the cliffs and on top of that.
01:22:54
It was sunset.
01:22:55
It's a very beautiful view.
01:22:56
Yeah.
01:22:57
That's a good point.
01:22:58
Yeah.
01:22:59
In one of the articles I was reading about how dangerous the cliffs were, there is like one of the caretakers saw a married couple like just chillin on the edge, holding hands while the sun was going down and then only a day later,
01:23:13
maybe even a couple hours later someone died, you know, someone died like very close to that spot.
01:23:20
And at this point in time, there are signs all over the cliffs being like, don't stand towards the edge or also having like the national suicide prevention hotline, you know, having that number printed everywhere.
01:23:32
So because that's also the main reason people die there is because they are going there to end their lives.
01:23:38
But back in 1992, there was really, there weren't signs like that, you know, you wouldn't have been made aware that the cliffs were crumbling unless you had stood there yourself.
01:23:50
So that's why I see it.
01:23:51
But where the wrench that gets thrown in there is that it's the beach underneath it unless it's high tide.
01:23:57
Right.
01:23:58
And even if it were high tide, you know, his remains would have been washed up somewhere along the shore.
01:24:03
That is very, very heavily patrolled by the caretakers and Coast Guard because it is such a huge problem and they want to recover these bodies as quickly as possible.
01:24:14
So that's where, yeah, that's where it kind of falls apart is that you'd think, especially after it was reported and those were the only people who were listening or were looking for Steven, you know, they would have found something.
01:24:25
Mm hmm.
01:24:26
And then you also think about the fact that it was so busy and this is, you just brought up a great point about sunset or you'd think at least a couple people would have been out there at that time and would have seen and heard if the cliff crumbled or someone fell off.
01:24:42
He'd probably would have, you know, screen, yeah, it's so bizarre.
01:24:46
God, this one's like starting to hurt my brain.
01:24:48
Just terrible, though, poor Steven.
01:24:52
Yeah.
01:24:53
I think it just comes, I think the police department failed big time.
01:24:57
They really, really mess this one up.
01:25:00
Well, I'm very curious to hear what our audience thinks because, yeah, a lot of from what we've seen, a lot of the commentary online is very suspicious of the parents.
01:25:12
But I think it's also because a lot of coverage on this case is either one sided or lacks a lot of these other details and statistics that we brought up in this episode to help reinforce some of the other theories,
01:25:26
because I think, and also just people judge other people based on appearance, what they say, like with this documentary, if you go after watching this, go watch the documentary.
01:25:35
I'm curious to hear what your thoughts are on it because a lot of people watch that documentary and are likely people, not from the UK, so we don't understand how they talk.
01:25:43
We don't understand their humor.
01:25:45
And some of the things they say in the documentary when I first watched, I was like, yeah, I had all of them.
01:25:49
It's a little weird.
01:25:50
It's a little weird.
01:25:51
It's the way that it comes off and it's just like, I don't know them personally, so that could just be who they are, how they are, and that's how people in this region are.
01:26:00
A lot of people just quick or quick to judge them based off of that, and because the documentary, the investigator goes in there and he seemingly does this investigation.
01:26:11
As you heard in the last clip, we played of them on the television interview.
01:26:18
He asks them at like point blank, did you kill your son?
01:26:21
He tries to ask them all these tough questions that I think everybody wants to hear and he comes away at the end of the like, no,
01:26:31
I seriously don't think that they are involved.
01:26:36
But a lot of people after watching that documentary are like, they definitely were involved.
01:26:42
They're sketchy.
01:26:43
They've edited it too.
01:26:44
Yeah.
01:26:45
There wasn't enough.
01:26:46
And I had to remind myself while watching it that I don't know what was said and cut out.
01:26:50
I don't know how this was edited because I walked away feeling like there didn't seem to be enough emotion and concern or urgency to find him now or to get those answers.
01:27:02
It was mainly their frustrations about being accused and what they went through, which is understandable.
01:27:08
It's very traumatic.
01:27:10
And yeah, it's hard to know what was taken out and maybe they had more of that in there.
01:27:17
It's a great point.
01:27:18
Well, you heard them in the interview we watched, the investigators like, I was with them while they shed tears over this and even Charles, who a lot of people are suspicious of the father Charles because he does,
01:27:31
he is this very strong person.
01:27:33
He doesn't show a lot of emotion, at least from what we saw in the documentary.
01:27:38
And I do agree to it.
01:27:39
I think the way they edited it, they definitely, you know, because of the title, "Cuse of Murdering or something."
01:27:45
I think they tried to lean into it a little bit with the edits and I think that's why so many people walked away with the thoughts of, 'cause yeah, if you go just look at the comments for that documentary,
01:27:57
it is overwhelmingly people pointing suspicions at the parents.
01:28:04
And again, it doesn't really present these other theories and the evidence for these other theories in that documentary solely focuses on the parents and the arrests and all of that.
01:28:15
And I think it's things like when he said, he was a tight-fisted little fellow or whatever he said about him.
01:28:21
It kind of like rubbed me the wrong way in the moment, but you know, I don't understand the way they pray.
01:28:27
We don't live there.
01:28:28
Yeah, it's just different.
01:28:29
Yeah.
01:28:30
And I think a choice is like leaving that kind of stuff in there probably didn't help.
01:28:36
But God, what it just overwhelmingly sad case and just so frustrating.
01:28:41
Yeah, I really, I really hope one day there's some resolution.
01:28:45
Yeah, for a little of that, my God.
01:28:48
To this case.
01:28:49
Perfect.
01:28:50
Toria, everything she's been through as well.
01:28:51
It's, yeah.
01:28:52
It's got to be extremely difficult not to just have no idea what would happen.
01:28:56
To not only experience something like a family member disappearing and having no answers at all and then feeling all this frustration with the police not helping enough and then they come to your door and arrest you all these years later.
01:29:09
I mean, just it's horrible.
01:29:10
It's horrible.
01:29:11
I truly did not do anything that is just so fucked up beyond words.
01:29:16
But um, yeah, any other final thoughts?
01:29:19
I would just kind of, if you guys are interested, like the documentary is very good.
01:29:23
I would recommend listening to the missing podcast.
01:29:26
Yes, that is well.
01:29:27
Their episode on Stephen is just entirely formed around this interview with Toria and it's the only large scale interview like this that she ever did.
01:29:36
So I recommend that just for another person, a newer generation at that, so she is a little bit more emotional than her parents.
01:29:44
I think that also, after listening to the podcast, I kind of walked away with it with more of less suspicions surrounding the parents in general.
01:29:54
Yeah.
01:29:55
Yeah, I think that definitely helps that she can really vouch that thing.
01:29:57
She's not even in the documentary.
01:29:59
No.
01:30:00
So it's good to hear from another family member's perspective for sure.
01:30:04
Yeah.
01:30:05
Thanks for joining us.
01:30:06
We will see you guys next week and until then.
01:30:09
Keep on taking your mind a mile higher.
01:30:18
How to have fun anytime, anywhere, step one, go to chumbacaceno.com,
01:30:33
got it.
01:30:35
Step two, collect your welcome bonus, come to pop a welcome bonus.
01:30:39
Step three, play hundreds of casino style games for free.
01:30:42
That's a lot of games all for free.
01:30:43
Step four, unleash your excitement.
01:30:55
Chumbacaceno has been delivering thrills for over a decade, so claim your free welcome bonus
