Locating Nicholas: The Tale of A Lost Boy And His Clever Imposter

In 1993, 13-year-old Nicholas Barclay went out for a basketball game and never came back. After several years of a fruitless search, his family was elated to hear he had been found. 

On the 13th of June 1993, San Antonio law enforcement was alerted to a missing person situation regarding a young boy. His mom was frantic, and despite the repeated assurances from the officers that he would be found, she couldn’t stop being scared. 

Nicholas was a troubled teen who, at the tender age of 13, had become unpopular with the local law enforcement officers—he had already amassed multiple felonies in his records. 

From a young age, Nicholas was quite a handful. He had a vicious temper that led him to physically abuse his mother on several occasions. 

With the way Nicholas had turned out, even early on, one would be tempted to point the finger at his childhood—he had quite a rough and tough one. 

Beverly had three children to look after. Besides Nicholas, she had Jason and a daughter, Carey, from a previous marriage. Both were a lot older than Nick.

After Nicholas failed to come home from the basketball game, his family was gripped with a dilemma. His mom found it difficult to believe that he had gone missing.

According to reports, Nicholas had a brief talk with Jason over the phone on the day he went missing. Nicholas wanted to see if his mom could come to pick him up after the game. 

When the cops got wind of Nicholas’s three-day absence, they weren’t too bothered. Law enforcement officers who were aware of Nicholas’s brushes with the law and his scheduled court appearance were sure the boy was running from the law.

Nicholas’s mom supplied police with what she believed was sufficient information about her missing son. Asides from his biological information, such as age, height, and blue eyes, she also described what he wore that fateful day.

One of Nicholas’ missing person’s publications was captioned “help bring me home.” It had his headshot beside his information. His innocent, 13-year-old face would attract pity from anyone who saw it. 

Usually, boys with the kind of history as Nicholas came home after several days of escapades. Even with his absence for about a week, the cops were sure that he was somewhere in the neighborhood.

Three months after Nicholas’s disappearance, the cops thought that they had had a breakthrough. His elder brother Jason called the department, declaring he had sighted Nicholas attempting to break into the garage. 

Days began to roll by after Nicholas’s disappearance. Eventually, days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. Slowly, hope began to fade away. The cops got tired, and the search lamps went dark.

After three years without much hope of finding their son, the Barclays family got an unexpected reason to believe that Nicholas would be with them again. They received a phone call from Spain that Nicholas was still alive. 

As the saga continued, Nicholas was found wandering a train station in a tiny Spanish village. Later on, he was led to a nearby youth shelter in a part of the country called Linares.

Back home, there was a heavy celebration, both by his family and the authorities. Nicholas had finally been found after all hope had been lost. 

Carey brought Nicholas home, half happy and half suspicious. This wasn’t the Nicholas she knew. When the boy got home, the rest of the family agreed with Carey.

The new Nicholas had a good explanation for his personality change. He explained that on the day he went missing, he was taken by some unknown men on his way home. 

There were several obvious differences between the Nicholas who went missing and the one who was found. The missing Nicholas had blond hair and blue eyes, while the one who was discovered had dyed blond hair and brown eyes.

Private investigators soon became interested in the story. They found Nicholas’s explanation for the change in his eye color pretty ridiculous—he had claimed that his abductors changed his eye color through a sophisticated scientific procedure.

After some careful investigation, Parker and Fisher were able to discover the true identity of the boy who claimed to be Nicholas. His name was Frederic Pierre Bourdin, a 23-year-old Frenchman who had made a name in mischief.

Frederic Pierre Bourdin was born in France on June 13th, 1974. He grew up under the care of his grandparents in Nantes and never knew his father. His mother, who left him with his grandparents, claimed that his dad was Algerian.

Frederic Pierre Bourdin, also called “The Chameleon,” achieved notoriety in his home country of France for being a serial imposter. Besides Nicholas, the man had previously assumed the identities of hundreds of other people. 

Bourdin derived fun from claiming the identities of missing children. He studied the worldwide missing children’s registry to pick out the characters that most caught his interest. 

Shortly after his deception came to light, the Nicholas impersonator was arrested and charged in court. He was sentenced to six years in prison. Of course, he wasn’t remorseful. However, he had an exciting theory for the press. 

While no one wants to believe a serial imposter, investigators didn’t want to dismiss his claims too quickly. His theory has some substance to it. 

After serving his time for Nicholas’s impersonation, Frederic got caught yet again in 2005 after undertaking a similar act. Back in France after Nicholas’s impersonation, he again posed as a missing child.

As mentioned, the now-married Frederic believed that one or more of Nicholas’s family members were responsible for his disappearance. Many other people subscribe to this theory, and you can’t blame them much for doing so.

Charlie Parker, for some reason, believes that Frederic’s theory has validity. Parker’s chief culprit is Jason, Nicholas’s half-brother. 

It has been close to three decades since Nicholas was last seen. Investigators are still searching for the missing boy who would now be well into middle age.