In 1994 Texas teen, Nicholas Barclay, vanished after his older brother refused to give him a ride home from his basketball game. More than three years later his family were informed that he had been found in Madrid, Spain, and although there were some noticeable physical differences the family wholeheartedly believed this man was their Nicholas.
Upon the missing boy’s return, there were several noticeable changes including his eye color and accent. However, Nicholas blamed the differences on the supposed fact that he had been abused and tortured by a pedophile ring. It was enough for his family, who were happy to have their son back. Unfortunately for them, this wasn’t their son, it was an imposter, a con-man, and a criminal, who was wanted by Interpol.
If it wasn’t Nicholas Barclay then who was it?
The boy who had been brought home to the Barclay family wasn’t a boy at all, while Nicholas would have been 16 or 17 at the time, the imposter was a 23-year-old French national by the name of Frederic Bourdin. The con-man had pulled similar scams in the past and had a long rap sheet. After being picked up by Spanish authorities Bourdin concocted a plan to escape before they took his fingerprints.
Claiming to be an American who had run away from home he convinced officers to let him contact his family by himself. Left alone in the office overnight (due to the time difference) he called American police stations to enquire about missing persons. It was here that he found out about Nicholas Barclay and decided that the teenage boy would become his new identity.
How was Bourdin caught?
The French con-man pulled off the ruse perfectly, not even Nicholas’ own family seemed to be aware that anything was amiss. It wasn’t until private investigator, Charles Parker, took a closer look at a side-by-side photograph of 13-year-old Nicholas Barclay, next to a picture of the man who was posing as him, that he suspected he wasn’t who he claimed to be.
Parker noticed that the ears were different and from there he began tailing Bourdin and doing as much digging as he could. Speaking to The Independent, Parker recounts the day he got the man to confess. They had met up at a highway diner which the pair had taken to doing on a semi-regular basis. However, this time, Bourdin finally told the PI the truth, “My name is Frederic Bourdin,” he admitted, “And I’m wanted by Interpol.”
In a documentary released back in 2012 titled The Imposter, Bourdin claimed that he confessed as he believed people close to Nicholas knew he was faking but that they were going along with his ruse because they didn’t want to admit they knew Nicholas was dead.
It’s still not clear exactly what happened to the real Nicholas Barclay. He is currently presumed dead and nobody has ever come forward with any information as to what happened to him. As for Frederic Bourdin, he was arrested and sentenced to six years behind bars for his stunt, after which he was deported back to Europe where he went straight back to running similar scams.
