Oklahoma couple arrested in nephew's 2006 disappearance
OKLAHOMA CITY --Investigators on Friday arrested the aunt and uncle of a nine-year-old Oklahoma boy who disappeared in 2006 and were searching the couple's rural property for his remains, according to the local prosecutor.
Rex and Rebecca Clark were taken into custody in the disappearance of their nephew and foster son, Colton Levi Clark, according to Seminole County Assistant District Attorney Paul Smith.
Smith said Colton is presumed dead and that investigators were searching the couple's five-acre property in Seminole County, about 65 miles east of Oklahoma City, for his remains.
"I remember what a painful, painstaking investigation it was at the time and how disappointing it was that we weren't able to resolve it," Smith told CBS affiliate KWTV.
Smith said the arrest warrants allege first-degree murder, child abuse, child neglect and conspiracy to commit a felony, but he said formal charges are not been filed pending a review of an investigative report by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
He said it was unclear whether the Clarks had attorneys. They were each being held on $3 million bail and were scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, KWTV reported.
"As a parent and a grandparent, I can't imagine what this family had to go through with this child missing all these years," neighbor Sheila Cox told KWTV. "And what breaks my heart even more is, what did this child go through?"
Colton was reported missing on April 20, 2006, prompting investigators to launch a wide-scale search across 2,500 acres using helicopters and search dogs. At the time, authorities said his aunt reported that Colton didn't want to attend a counseling session, and investigators thought he may have run away in part because his backpack was gone.
The case was formally reopened seven months ago, about five years after the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced a $5,000 reward for information about the missing boy. OSBI officials said at the time that Colton and his older brother lived with their aunt and uncle after their parents terminated their rights to the boys.
"Since September 2015, the Sheriff's Office and the OSBI have conducted numerous interviews, and gathered numerous records in cooperation with the Attorney General's Multi-County Grand Jury," according to a news release from the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
It wasn't immediately clear Friday what led investigators to the couple. Officials in the Sheriff's Office did not return phone calls seeking further comment.