Couple convicted in slaying of missing boy
SEMINOLE — A candlelight vigil will be held here Wednesday night in memory of a boy who went missing in 2006 and to help bring closure to the community, now that his uncle and aunt have been convicted of his murder.
A jury in Ada on Monday night found James Rex Clark, 67, and Rebecca Faith Clark, 61, guilty of first-degree murder even though no body was ever found.
“It’s been a long battle,” said Seminole County District Attorney Paul B. Smith, who prosecuted the case and plans to attend the vigil.
“It is definitely a relief — a relief for the community, a relief for law enforcement who carried the guilt and the scars of the case ... and the regret for not being able to solve it back in 2006,” the district attorney said Tuesday.
Prosecutors charged the couple last
year, alleging they killed Colton Clark in March or April 2006 by beating him. The couple had reported the 9-year-old boy missing from their farm near Seminole on April 20, 2006.
Prosecutors also charged the couple with child abuse, alleging they repeatedly beat Colton Clark and his older brother and used a cattle prod to shock the boys on their genitals.
The trial was moved to Ada because of the extensive publicity surrounding the case in Seminole County. The couple’s defense was that the troubled boy simply ran away.
Jurors took under three hours to reach their verdicts — guilty of firstdegree murder and guilty of all four child abuse counts.
Jurors chose life without the possibility of parole as the punishment for the murder. Jurors chose four life terms as punishment for the child abuse.
“We’re innocent,” Rebecca Clark told news reporters as she and her husband left the courtroom.
Colton and his older brother were placed by the state with their uncle and his wife in 2003 because the boys’ parents had drug and alcohol issues, records show. The boys were adopted by their uncle and aunt in November 2004.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers and volunteers looked for days for Colton after he was reported missing in 2006. The extensive search involved police dogs, helicopters, drones, dive teams and officers on horseback. A reward of $10,000 was offered for his safe return.
The Seminole County sheriff’s office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation reopened the investigation in September 2015.
Their first major interview was with Colton’s brother, Homer Clark, who now goes by the name T.J. Sloan. He lives in Tennessee.
The brother reported his aunt and uncle “brainwashed” him into telling a lie — that Colton was upset about an upcoming appointment with a psychiatrist and either ran away or was picked up by his father, according to court affidavits.
At trial he was the key witness, describing for jurors the beatings he and his brother suffered.
The brother said he last saw Colton lying beaten and motionless on a couch. That final beating came after Colton was accused of stealing a turquoise ring at the farm.
The candlelight vigil is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Seminole Wellness Center. Colton’s brother is expected to speak around 8:15 p.m.
The district attorney said the vigil is meant for the whole community.
“Our community felt the pain and anguish of the loss of little Colton, and grieved for those involved and supported the efforts of law enforcement to resolve this matter,” he said.
One gruesome possibility for what happened to the boy’s body came from a witness, Randy Lehman, who had put in a storm shelter on the farm in 2013.
“There was damage to the turbine when they put it in,” the district attorney said. “Rex was going on about his days in Vietnam and if anybody came on his property he’d shoot him, and that sort of thing.
“And so, as Randy was leaving, he said, ‘Now, we’re going to have to send our employee out here to fix this turbine . ... When he comes out, don’t shoot him.’ To which Rex responded, ‘Well, if I do, I’ll know what to do with the body. I’ll cut it up, put in a barrel, cook it up, kick it over, feed it to my five dogs and gather up the bones and the rest of it and throw it in the river,’” the district attorney said.
“That was a pretty powerful piece of evidence.”