Going West: True Crime - Clinton Nelson // 226

Episode Date: August 13, 2022

In August of 2006, a 21-year-old man attended a party after relocating to Louisiana to reconnect with his biological father. Multiple reports came out from party attendants that he had been acting paranoid and then left suddenly. But the most eerie account of all came from his father, who was the last person to speak with him, and remembers his son whispering into the phone that he thought someone was following him. This is the story of Clinton Nelson. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Disappeared: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.66a9f71b-8203-457b-d271-568cbd72e555?ref_=imdbref_tt_wbr_pvc_truecrime&tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_pvc_truecrime-20 2. The Charley Project: https://charleyproject.org/case/clinton-devon-nelson 3. NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/cold-case-spotlight/despite-no-leads-clinton-nelson-s-mother-will-never-give-n798131 4. KSLA: https://www.ksla.com/2021/08/31/bossier-detectives-still-searching-man-who-went-missing-after-house-party-15-years-ago/ 5. KSLA: https://www.ksla.com/story/15329074/deputies-at-working-methlab-in-bossier-parish-two-arrested/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to Cram fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Thank you so much everybody for tuning into yet another episode of going West. That has like become my line. I don't know why I always say that. Thank you so much everybody. I always emphasis so as well. Also thank you to Jamie for recommending today's case. As you guys know there's a lot of just really bizarre male disappearances and a lot of them happen in cars. We've covered a ton of those. This one, I would take kind of somewhat fits into that category and I hadn't heard about it until Jamie emailed us. So thank you Jamie. It's definitely a weird one. So don't forget to share and tell other people about going west if you love the show because it just means so much to Heath and I. Yeah, absolutely share the show with your friends and family, leave us a review, and yeah.

Or just listen, you know. Or just listen. It works too. You can just do that. So thank you for doing that today. I hope you're having a wonderful day and let's talk. Alright guys, this is episode 226 of Going West. So let's get into it. In August of 2006, a 21-year-old man attended a party after relocating to Louisiana to connect

with his biological father. Multiple reports came out from party attendants that said he had been acting paranoid and left suddenly. But the most eerie account of all came from his father, who was the last person to speak with him, and remembers his son whispering into the phone that he was being followed. This is the story of Clinton Nelson. Clinton Devin Nelson was born on August 9, 1985 in Nebraska to parents Carolyn Johnson and Jeff Mason. But Clinton had a pretty unique origin story.

So his parents met in Bozer, Louisiana when they were teenagers, and for reference, Bozer is just across the Red River from Shreveport, Louisiana, tucked up in the northwest corner of the state, just over the border of Texas. So Carolyn returned to her home in Nebraska and found out that she was pregnant at 17. And at first, Jeff joined Carolyn back in Nebraska, and they tried to make it work for the sake of their newborn son. But as it happens, when their differences proved too vast, Jeff headed back to Louisiana and Carolyn committed to raising Clinton on her own. When her son was young, Carolyn met and married a military man,

and he moved the three of them to spearfish South Dakota, which is in the black hills of South Dakota. And the black hills are a national park and a beautiful region of the state situated on Crow, Cheyenne, and O'Chayty Shacoin native land. And at the time they moved there, the town of spearfish had just about 8,000 people who resided their full time, but the area is known for its rolling hills, unmatched natural beauty and spearfish creek, which runs through town and into a waterfall.

Carolyn's new husband actually legally adopted Clinton, and then he and Carolyn had a daughter of their own, giving Clinton a sister. Carolyn lovingly described her son as kind, caring, and compassionate, and said that he was the kind of person who would always stick up for the underdog. He loved hunting, fishing, and spending time outdoors, especially with his grandpa, and while Clinton was, by all accounts, a typical teenager, there was a part of him that always felt like it was missing something because he didn't have a relationship with his birth father. And due to this, he questioned his background and his purpose and struggled in high school.

As a high school senior at the age of 17, Clinton started experimenting with drugs. At 18, he overdosed by accident after taking a lethal combination of medications, and he was rushed to the hospital where he landed in the intensive care unit after he stopped breathing. Clinton's family hoped that this would be like the wake-up call that he needed, but unfortunately, his problems persisted, and shortly after his overdose, Clinton and some friends broke into their high school and stole items to make more money to purchase narcotics.

In 2003, when Clinton was just 18 years old, he was arrested for the burglary and he also spent six months in prison for this. After his release, Clinton decided that he needed this fresh start and he considered taking like this soul searching trip to find himself and connect with his dad in his rural Louisiana home. So it seemed that he learned a lot from this prison stint, and he wanted to make a change and begin his official adult life with some direction. Carolyn, very protective of her son, especially given the struggles that he had endured recently,

was worried about him finding his roots with his dad. And this makes sense, you know, Carolyn and Jeff have been split up at this point for a very long time. Jeff probably is not Carolyn's favorite person on the planet, so she had her reservations here. Sure. So she and Jeff had, you know, very different ideas of how Clinton should have been raised. And she just worried that Clinton could maybe go back to using drugs after being around

his dad. But Clinton's mind was made up. So in March of 2006, 20-year-old Clinton prepared to make this trip down to rural hot in Louisiana, about 20 minutes east of Shreveport, where Jeff lived with his wife Debbie and her children. Now, Clinton's uncle, so Jeff's brother, owned an oil rig and offered Clinton a job. So he could go to Louisiana, start making some money,

and kind of, like I said, start fresh. Right, so it's not just about him going down there and finding his roots. Obviously, that's a huge part of it, but it's also, hey, I have some work down there as well. Yeah, there's like multiple benefits here. So as some of you probably know, these jobs are very demanding and they require long hours and physical labor. But if you're able to stick it out, they do pay pretty well with entry-level salaries ranging from about $50,000 up to about $80,000.

So setting off with this dog in the front seat of his pickup, Carolyn remembers feeling like she would never see Clinton again, and tragically, she would turn out to be right. Clinton rolled into hot and a town of about 3,000 people, surrounded by lush Louisiana greenery, welcomed by his dad and stepmom into their trailer. It wasn't what he was used to, and Carolyn said that he definitely experienced some culture shock coming from this middle class suburban home, but Clinton seemed relieved for the change of pace, and he loved being surrounded by so much extended family. And this is a lot of new family for him.

Right. However, as Jeff and Clinton grew closer, Jeff's wife Debbie complained that she didn't love him sharing their small space. She lamented that she had told Clinton not to bring his dog, and he did anyway, and that all of them being in the home was just a bit overwhelming for the size. But as the family adjusted to the new member, Clinton started his new job on the oil rig. And you know, as we mentioned, these hours are extremely strenuous, so he was required to work for seven straight days of 12 hour shifts before he could have a day off. He told his mom later that six other people

started at the job the same day that he did and soon he was one of the only ones left by the end of the first week. So this is one of those jobs where you really have to buy in because it is tough. Well yeah and that really goes to show you how tough it was that so many people left before the week was even done because I mean that does sound super harsh. Oh yeah, definitely. So he seemed proud of himself and the work that he was doing and according to Carolyn, he was quote, finding himself and his addictions seemed to be behind him.

But a bit of bad fortune started to unravel this new life that Clinton had built for himself. Well, on the job in the earlier days of working here, he was working below someone else, like physically below someone else, when a pipe wrench was dropped on him, and he sustained broken ribs, a broken arm and needed stitches, or stitches, stitches in his collarbone.

Stitches in his collarbone, that's a lot of injury from a wrench dropping on him. Well, yeah, this is a massive wrench. Yeah, so the right one. But your dad works at a sawmill and there's so many injuries there all the time. Oh, yeah. It's kind of one of those jobs where, I mean, a very similar, yeah, sawmill work is kind of similar in that way, where it's very dangerous.

A lot of things can happen. Yeah, super dangerous. But despite the setback, he did return to work as quickly as he was permitted to do so because he seemed very passionate about just getting the work done. He wasn't lazy about it. Obviously, he was one of the only ones to stick around after that first week. So he did care about coming back and he did just that.

But things at home were pretty unstable. Like we said, the close quarters of the house were really taking their toll on Debbie, who is Jeff's wife, and she and Clinton were clashing about everything. To give her a little bit of space, Clinton went and moved in with Debbie's daughter Rachel, and Jeff was apparently also thinking about moving out and he and Clinton had discussed getting an apartment together. So it doesn't seem things were going very great between Jeff and Debbie anyway and this probably didn't help her feelings

towards his son being there. Of course, yeah, I mean, it's hard enough to have a child who was never around suddenly be moving into your place, you don't even know him. But then the fact that they're clearly having problems in their relationship just makes everything a mess. Exactly.

And in another bout of bad luck, Clinton's truck had broken down and it was out of commission. And he and his mom decided that he was going to purchase her car and drive it down to Louisiana, but until then he was borrowing to purchase her car and drive it down to Louisiana, but until then, he was borrowing his dad's car when he could. So on Thursday, August 31, 2006, Clinton was headed to meet with his friend at his home in Princeton, another small community outside of Shreveport, Louisiana, which is just a 10-minute drive north of Houghton where Clinton was living, so this friend's house was very close by.

Clinton met this new friend Larry Gillespie while helping out at his father's welding shop when he had first moved there. Clinton turned 21 just weeks earlier, and his father Jeff assumed that he was going out with friends to celebrate, but Clinton didn't have a bank account, so Jeff kept all of his money in the safe. Jeff remembers him having around $1,200 in the safe and taking $600 with him that night. But the amount that we've seen varies. For example, one article wrote said that he had as much as $2,300 on him, so he either took half of his money out and cash or a fourth,

which either way is a lot of money. Yeah, it seems like a lot of money. Especially if you're just going to go out for your 21st birthday and a small time, you probably don't need $600. I mean, maybe he's just trying to have a banger, I don't know. You know? But it does make you wonder, and it will make us wonder later

as well what this money was for. Sure. Because he still was without a car, Jeff loaned Clinton his car and Clinton set out for Larry's house for a party. Now that night, Jeff was working just a mile away from Larry's house in Princeton, so he was also very close by. The next day, when Clinton hadn't returned home, Jeff stopped by Larry's house around 3pm to check on him. He remembers Clinton peering through the blinds of the house as he approached, and then speaking to him only through a cracked door, which he found very odd of course. But Jeff, just assuming that he was okay, left him there and headed to work for

the evening. And I wonder, I wonder more so what their conversation was if Jeff left thinking everything was fine despite this odd behavior. Yeah, yeah. Like it is very weird looking through the blinds and then only opening the crack or the door just a crack and talking to your dad like that. And then Jeff leaves and is like, everything seemed fine enough. Yeah, it's super weird. I'm sure as a father, you would find that very odd. Yeah, and he definitely did, but he left.

And he would just kind of assume that he would see him later, obviously, hindsight's 2020, right? Sure. So four hours after this happened, around 7 p.m. Again, this is the day after Clinton had gone to Larry's house. So Debbie, who remember is Clinton's dad's wife, received Clinton's most recent paycheck at their trailer. And she called Clinton to just ask if he needed it that night.

But he told her that they could cash it out together the following day when they went into town to run errands. So this kind of just shows us that Clinton was preparing on returning by the next day to, you know, you know, you know, you know, check waiting for him. Right. And Debbie also asked Clinton if he needed a ride from Larry's that day because his dad had taken the truck. But Clinton said that he planned on getting a ride back with his dad when he headed back to Houghton from Princeton after his night shift at work that evening.

So again, this is Clinton saying that night the night after he got to Larry's house. So, maybe over 24 hours later, he plans on returning home and getting a ride from his dad. Three hours after this phone call still at work, Jeff noticed police cars nearby heading in the direction of Larry's house. Around 10 p.m. he called his son to just make sure everything was okay, but Clinton sounded disturbed and scared. So this was a little bit after, you know, he heard the sirens and saw the police cars going by as when he called Clinton, and Clinton doesn't seem to be doing okay. And he actually spent the phone call, Clinton did whispering

and told his dad, Jeff, that the police were after him. Then the line went dead. Jeff finished up work and drove home at 3am only to find that no one else in the family had seen or heard from Clinton and he was in answering his phone. Early the next morning, so you know hours later since this was at 3am, Debbie and Jeff drove back over to Larry's house looking for him. But Larry and his girlfriend were the only ones home, and they said that they hadn't seen Clinton. Larry's girlfriend gave Jeff a bag of Clintons belongings that he had brought with him on Thursday days earlier, and told them that no one had seen him since the night before.

And according to this couple, Larry and his girlfriend, Clinton had stepped out of the house the night before at 8.30 pm to smoke a cigarette and never came back. So let's kind of talk about this because I know we're throwing a lot of days and times at you guys. So again, Jeff talked to his son, Clinton, at about 10 pm. And that's when Clinton was whispering into the phone and saying the police rafter him and sounding disturbed and scared. Right.

But here's Larry and the girlfriend saying they hadn't seen him since 8.30 p.m. so an hour and a half earlier, when he went outside to smoke a cigarette and never came back. And that's really weird because this would have been before the police started driving in the direction of Larry's house Again, it's not like he saw them go up to Larry's house

It was just going in that direction, you know around 10 p.m So this is an hour and a half before that and an hour and a half before he had this Conversation with his dad on the phone. Yeah, and we also have to remember this is also a very small town Of not very many people. What did you say, like 3,000 people. So if somebody, if you know, you see a police car headed in one direction, it makes you think a little bit more than if like I saw a police car driving somewhere in LA.

Right. But that's what's so weird is that, is that they say they last saw me at E30 and this phone call took place at 10. Yeah. So where was he for that hour and a half of their timing is even correct or are they even telling the truth? Right.

As somebody lying here. Right. Which is why. I mean, this is so confusing. And then we have to go back to when Jeff had stopped by Larry's house and Clinton was peering through the blinds and then speaking to him through a crack door, like it just makes you wonder what was going on through the blinds and then speaking to him through a crack door like it just makes you wonder What was going on in the house? Are they doing something sketchy was was he hung over maybe he's just simply hung over was he on drugs like it

There's so many possibilities that could You know go hand in hand with this weird phone call that happened right, but Jeff knows that this situation is sketchy happened right but jeff knows that this situation is sketchy but i'm really curious if jeff called clinton at ten p.m. you know during the time in which clinton was whispering on the phone why was that not an alarm enough to maybe get over to uh... larry's house after you got off work right now i agree and it's that this is something that really frustrates Clinton's mom Carolyn to this day which will get into in a little bit sure and I'm not trying to blame Jeff because I know he got off

work pretty late so he probably was just like I want to go home and sleep it off yeah yeah but it is it is kind of weird because obviously if even Jeff is saying he sounded scared and that he was you you know, who knows where it's concerning. Yeah, worry that the police were after him and he was whispering into the phone, which is really, really alarming. It just makes you wonder what Jeff thought in that moment if he tried to help. But again, he was at work, like you said. But then we have to go back as well. So again, this call was at 10. Larry and his girlfriend are claiming they last saw him at 830 p.m. Smogas cigarette outside and then he just went missing.

He just vanished. But an hour and a half before that at 7 p.m. is when Debbie called Clinton to say, Hey, do you want your paycheck? And Clinton sounds totally normal and is saying, Oh, no, we'll cash it tomorrow when we go to town to run errands and dad's gonna pick me up tonight. So all this timing is so weird. The radical behavior because before that, so if he's talking normal to Debbie on the phone about his paycheck, but before that,

earlier in the day, he's talking to his dad through a cracked door and appears very odd. So it's like going back and forth here. Yeah, it's really weird. And sorry, guys, I'm really not trying to jump around here, but it's hard not to because there's so many times in this story, but it is really weird. Yeah, that this day, it seems so many different,

weird things happen, but also normal things happen, and it's very complicated. But we're going to talk about it a little bit more. So by the following day, Sunday, September 3, 2006, so almost three days after Clinton went to Larry's house, still with no sign of Clinton, Jeff and Debbie were officially worried. Jeff called Clinton's mother Carolyn and asked if she had heard from him, explaining that no one had seen him in over 48 hours. Panicked, and from 1,300 miles away, or 2100 kilometers, Carolyn urged him to go to the

police. So Jeff and Debbie attempted to report a missing, but, being that it was a Labor Day weekend, police told them to wait until after the holiday, assuming that Clinton had just run off on his own accord and would be back when the weekend was over. I do understand this in the way that Clinton is 21 years old and could definitely be having a fun Labor Day weekend with people, but the strange circumstances surrounding his disappearance, like him just disappearing off someone's porch and whispering while afraid on the phone should have been enough to raise some flags for police.

I think so, you know, I would assume so, but also, you know, going back to like the Labor Day weekend thing, it was also like his birthday around that same time. He was turning 21, so he turned 21 a month earlier. I know, but still, I mean maybe... They were, they were supposedly celebrating. Sure, yeah. So Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, Clinton was due to start a new assignment on his uncle's own oil rig.

Although they had yet to hear from him, his family hoped that Clinton, anxious to start his new position, would come through and show up, especially since he had been doing well at work and seemed to care about working hard. But when he didn't show, his mom Carolyn called the police station herself, attempting to file a missing persons report, but they wouldn't allow her to do so because she was out of state. So on Wednesday, September 6, nearly a week after Clinton was last

seen, Jeff finally submitted a report for his missing son. Jeff had kept this from Carolyn, but on August 2nd, 2006, just a week before his 21st birthday, Clinton was arrested for possession of narcotics. He was a passenger in a vehicle that got stopped for a routine traffic violation, and appearing nervous to the officer was searched and found in possession of Xanax, marijuana, ecstasy, and drug paraphernalia. And he was arrested and issued a court date to answer to the charges. When he was questioned by Jeff and Debbie, Clinton swore that the drugs were not his and that he hadn't been using again, and so they gave him the benefit of the doubt.

That they did, but much to Carolyn's dismay, they kept it from her so as not to worry her just in case. And Carolyn said later, quote, If I'd known Clinton was in any trouble, I would have done anything I would have had to have done to keep him safe, even if that meant protecting him from himself. Clinton was actually still on probation for his prior conviction, so when he received a court date to answer for the drug charges, a warrant was issued for his arrest,

but by this point, he was already gone. So this makes you wonder if the police had arrived to Larry's house for Clinton or possibly other reasons, and Clinton went running. But I also don't think that he would have run forever, because although I don't know the exact time that he would have had to have served, it wouldn't have been that long. It's all like he was wanted for murder, you know what I mean? Yeah, sure. Which is part of why this case is so complex because his family doesn't believe that he would

have run from something like this as I'm about to get into. So police came to both Larry's house and Jeff's house to pursue his arrest warrant, but found no trace of him. So naturally they wondered if he left on his own volition because of this charge, but his family assured that he would not do that. According to his mom, quote, Clinton was always taught to take responsibility for his actions. Even if Clinton got scared and ran, his sister, his familiar relationships are so important to him, he would not be able to just walk away.

Debbie added that he would have likely taken his last paycheck and the remaining money from his dad's safe, you know, that was his own money, with him. Yeah, why would you not, if you're going to go on the run, you're going to need some money? Well, right, because that would be so important, especially he's newer to Louisiana. He doesn't know anybody except for, well, I mean, obviously he has his coworkers and he has his family there, but he's still newer to the area.

And it seems silly to run from this type of charge, you know, and just start a new life for just a drug possession charge. Yeah, especially if you're gone forever. Right. And also, I don't mean just a drug possession charge because obviously he had already spent time in prison. And if he was telling the truth that these drugs were not his, which we can't confirm or deny, that would make it even worse for him, you know, because he would have to probably

serve time for something that he didn't do. But again, that's why this case is so complicated. But something else aside from the recent trouble with the law had been weighing on him, he was about to become a father. Shortly after Clinton moved down to Louisiana, Carolyn received a call from a woman in South Dakota whom Clinton had been dating before he left for Louisiana. She claimed that she wasn't sure if it was Clinton's baby or not, but that she was pregnant. Clinton and his mom were initially surprised and Carolyn even admitted that she was concerned

for him, as she knew what it was like to be young and a single parent. But she claims that Clinton came around and was actually excited at the prospect, and that he would have been a great dad. Police tried to establish a timeline for Clinton's last evening and a list of attendance to the party at Larry's house. Now Larry and his girlfriend initially told Jeff and Debbie when they came looking for Clinton that it was just the three of them at Larry's home on that Thursday night. But when police began conducting interviews and asking around,

they found that more people had been in attendance. And it just makes you wonder why they would lie about this and if they're lying about anything else. Yeah, I mean, if you're gonna lie once, what else are you lying about, I guess? Exactly. So Larry's house was apparently known for drug activity, particularly methamphetamines, so please theorize that Clinton was using drugs again. In fact, in 2011, so five years after Clinton disappeared, Larry and another friend were arrested for cooking and distributing meth from Larry's home.

Clinton was also the youngest partygoer by multiple years. Larry himself was 10 years older than Clinton was, so it seemed kind of strange that he had been there at all. Carolyn still resents Jeff for not stepping in and taking care of Clinton on the last day that he saw him, saying, quote, "'It makes me furious. Jeff had the opportunity to do the right thing that night. He had the opportunity to be a father and Clinton wanted that. Clinton wanted him to be a father." Fellow party goers remember Clinton acting paranoid

and peering out the window over the course of the evening. The area around Larry's home was heavily wooded, so if you had taken off by himself under the influence of meth or some other drug, total speculation, it's highly likely that he may have injured or incapacitated himself by accident. Investigators checked police records that night, and the Bozer Police Department did respond to a 911 call of a suspicious

person in the area about one mile from Larry's house. At 4.30 a.m. the morning after Clinton was last seen. So this would have technically been Saturday morning because he was last seen on a Friday and he had arrived to Larry's on Thursday. Yes. So also another thing is this is really interesting to me because was this suspicious or could this suspicious person have been Clinton or was there someone weird in the area and that could help describe why Clinton is still missing to this day? Yeah, I mean, it's hard when you don't have a very detailed

description of a person wandering around that neighborhood. Yeah, I'd like to know what, like, I'd like to know more details about this suspicious person. Yeah, same. I'm sure we all would. So, um, the police have stated that while there is no probable cause for foul play, the circumstances surrounding this party are very suspicious. On top of that, likely wanting to stay out of trouble, Larry initially declined to be interviewed by police,

making it difficult for detectives to piece together a realistic timeline of events. But two weeks after Clinton's disappearance, Larry did finally agree to speak to detectives on the record. Larry claimed he knew nothing about the disappearance, but confirmed that he had drugs on his property that night. Police then issued a warrant for Larry's arrest, as well as a search warrant for his property. But even with the help of cadaver dogs, the search turned up nothing.

Now, again, this is a couple weeks later, so it's possible that that is why nothing came up. But it's tough. Yeah, it's really tough. I mean, it appears that it just wasn't handled very very intensely from the get go. Right. Well, of course, we know that he wasn't even officially reported missing for six days just because police really just wouldn't even let them. Yeah. So back in South Dakota, Carolyn was understandably in anguish, but one bright spot remained. Clinton's former girlfriend had her baby, a little boy named Austin. The baby was born just six weeks after Clinton's disappearance. Carolyn was able to meet Baby Austin just a day after he was released from the hospital, and she brought with her pictures of Clinton as a baby and remembers feeling extremely overwhelmed

at the resemblance. The ex-girlfriend seemed convinced at this point that Clinton was not the father, but submitted a paternity test to be safe. While waiting for the results of the paternity test, Carolyn headed down to Louisiana for the first time since her son's disappearance to conduct a massive search and confront the people who may have been involved in his disappearance. But the heat of the late summer and the thick brush surrounding Larry's property made it exceedingly difficult

to search for him. They were also not permitted to search on Larry's property, but Larry did agree to meet with Carolyn personally so that she could question him directly. And Carolyn remembers Larry hugging her and seeming upset at the circumstances and even asking her, quote, why would I hurt my friend? This is weird to me because I don't know. Obviously people lie all the time but to kind of bring that question upon yourself like well why would I hurt my friend? It's almost like you're trying, you're using that as a tactic to convince her that you wouldn't do that. Yeah, that you're a good guy.

Why would I? Yeah, but I don't know, I don't know if it can so easily be believed. However, he also said some things that made her wonder if he was, in fact, involved in Clinton's disappearance. According to Carolyn, quote, Larry thought Clinton was dead in a ditch somewhere with $600 in his pocket. She found this morbid and very suspicious that he mentioned the same amount of money that Jeff claimed Clinton had in his pocket

at the time of his disappearance. Yeah, obviously this seems very sketchy. How do you know he's got $600 in his pocket? Yeah, and that's exactly what Carolyn Wunder, like how did he know? And it also gave her the idea that maybe a robbery occurred. And rumors swirled around the small community and many locals were suspicious of a drug-fueled robbery

gone wrong and the cover-up of an accidental death. Police conducted dozens of interviews, but unfortunately, party attendants were unreliable because of the heavy drug use on that night. Police also interviewed family members, friends and locals and conducted some polygraph tests, and Larry even consented to a polygraph test, but the results were inconclusive. For a year after Clinton disappeared, sightings and tips came in, but nothing that located his whereabouts. On a later visit of Carolins down to Louisiana, Clinton's uncle brought her the emergency

report from his injury shortly before he went missing, and the report found that he had still had heart trouble from his overdose that doctors wanted to further investigate. His health trouble may have made him more vulnerable that night that he went missing. He may have overdose, or maybe his heart stopped, and other party attendees panicked and disposed of his body, which seems like it could have been a very likely scenario. So one rumor circulated that Clinton had fallen and hit his head on a table, and that he was fed to alligators in a nearby swamp. God, this is just such a brutal rumor.

Yeah, it is, it is, but where did that stem from? Yeah, where did it come from? So Carolyn remembers Larry telling her that when they met up, that he knew it was the state law in Louisiana that you can be charged for murder if you supply someone with the drugs that they use to overdose. So the mention of this definitely made her wonder if that's what happened. Well yeah, that's like quite the thing to bring up to the mom of a missing young man.

Yeah, being like, oh, I know that the state law says that if I supplied the drugs to this guy who overdosed like I could be charged with murder And it's like that is already being speculated. So yeah, what a weird thing to bring up weird thing to say So Clint's family still believes Larry knows more than he's telling and they have publicly stated that they believe Clinton is dead Because a number of tips led police to believe that he may have been disposed of in a body of water and because there's a one acre pond just east of Larry's property, police organized a search of the lake, just wondering if there could be remains found discarded in the water. But 27 divers combed the pond for two days and they turned up nothing. So it's safe to say that he was not in that pond.

Right, or at least not in that one, but, you know, as we know, Louisiana is quite, quite this won't be place. And this seems like a very rural place as well. Absolutely. Carolyn said, quote, for me, it's never been about somebody being held accountable. It's never been about somebody being held accountable. It's never been about somebody getting in trouble. It's always been about doing the right thing for my son. It's hard to lose a child and not be able to bury him.

Despite billboards, missing posters, and a $25,000 reward, they don't seem to be any closer to finding Clinton now than they were 16 years ago when he initially went missing. But in 2008, so two years after Clinton went missing, the family did receive some good news. DNA tests confirmed that baby Austin was Clinton's son. Carolyn has joyfully stepped into her role as a grandma and said the Austin often speaks about his dad, which is so sad because it obviously it's great that the family gets to have this baby and this new life and their or this new life in their life, especially without Clinton.

But it's also so sad knowing that Clinton came to accept the fact that a child was coming into the world and it was likely his and he was going to step into that role Yeah, he was he was prepared to be a father. I mean, I just It feels so sad the circumstances of everything and it almost feels like this strange butterfly effect that had he not moved down to Louisiana He probably would have known his son Austin and I'm sure they would have had a great relationship. Yeah, absolutely. But just the existence of Austin really does seem to have helped Carolyn and she said about this,

quote, he's what helped me keep going to keep pushing. Five years after Clinton's disappearance on what would have been his 26th birthday, they held a candlelight vigil in his memory across from Larry's property and are still hoping that someone will do the right thing and come forward if they have any information. Clinton Nelson was last seen around 8.30 p.m. on September 1, 2006, in the 800 block of Ward Lane and Highway 80 in Princeton, Louisiana. Clinton was just 21 years old, 6'1", about 160 pounds, and had blue eyes and dirty blond to light brown hair.

At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing a black Echo brand t-shirt, blue jeans, a black knit cap, red and white DC brand sneakers with red trim, a black leather belt, and white ankle socks with grey bottoms. He was carrying a wallet with a large amount of cash in it, and while there was no phone activity after the call to his dad around 10pm, he did have a flip phone with him. Anyone with any information regarding his disappearance is urged to call the Bozier 2-2-0-3, or Bozure Crime Stoppers at 3-1-8-424-4-1-0-0. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and on Tuesday we'll have an all-new case for you guys to dive into.

What a weird story. I really do think that Larry knows more than he's leading on. Yeah, I mean, just the fact that there was a lot of drug use in that house. It seemed like there was some really sketchy things, and then all these rumors are out there. It's like, who do you believe? Who do you trust? I know and it's so weird just thinking back to the fact that he was peering through the windows or through the blinds and then he opened the door crack for his dad but then he was normal on the phone with Debbie and then he was like in the woods likely on the phone with his dad at 10 pm

disturbed and scared saying that the police were after him. Like, that is really weird to me, but I'm like, if the last known moments of his were on the phone with his dad talking about the police, it still doesn't lead me to believe that he went off and started a new life when he had a son, a loving family, and a small, a somewhat smaller charge in front of him.

And obviously when he went missing, he didn't know it was his son and Austin wasn't born for another six weeks, but he would have learned that if he was still alive after that, you know what I mean? I'm sure. Right, and he was assuming that he was the father of Austin in the first place. Right. Yeah, and I think just like the comments that Larry made to Carolyn really just rub me the wrong way.

In the fact that he lied saying that, oh yeah, it was just the three of us there at my house that night, but really there was a bunch of other people there. It's just too sketchy. Totally agree. I just feel like something unfortunate happened and they potentially covered it up. And that's really, really sad, especially because clearly his mom and just his family care so much about what happened to him in knowing where he is. And they already don't think he's alive and believe that he died that night.

So, you know, they deserve some closure. So please share this story and thank you guys so much for listening. All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. Thank you. you