MI MI - Steven Clark, 26, Bay City, 22 July 1997

NamUs

Doe Network

Charley Project



Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
• Missing Since: July 22, 1997 from Bay City, Michigan
• Classification: Endangered Missing
• Date of Birth: June 1, 1971
• Age: 26 years old
• Height and Weight: 5'11 - 6'0, 145 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair, green eyes. Clark's hair was shoulder-length at the time of his disappearance.
• Clothing/Jewelry Description: A black Ozzie Osbourne t-shirt, black shorts and black high-top shoes.

Details of Disappearance
Clark was last seen in Bay City, Michigan in the early morning hours of July 22, 1997. He and his roommate, Christopher W. Cushway, had been drinking and went out to get more liquor, but they got a flat tire. Cushway parked the car and they walked to the liquor store, made their purchase and left. They planned to walk home across Veterans Memorial Bridge, but then Clark wandered into an alley and never returned. Cushway went home and when he woke up later that day, Clark still hadn't arrived. Cushway reported him missing two days later.

Clark had previously worked at the Texan Restaurant in the 100 block of north Euclid Avenue and lived in the Arlington Hotel, but he quit his job and moved in with Cushway about a week before his disappearance. He left all his belongings behind, including his guitar and an uncashed paycheck, and never accessed his savings account after his disappearance. Foul play is suspected in Clark's case. He was declared legally dead in June 2011.


Family of missing Bay City man seeking answers 18 years later

In 2011, Bettyann made the difficult decision to have Steve declared legally dead. Despite this, the family still clings to a glimmer of hope that Steve is alive, out there in the ether.

"Yes, we do believe there's a small possibility he's still out there somewhere," Dave said. "I'd like to think he found a woman and she's taking care of him and he doesn't have to use his Social Security number or anything and he's just existing up in the woods someplace.

"I would love to see him come back and allow the hope to be fulfilled," he continues. "You almost always get people asking, 'Have you heard anything about your brother?' "

Optimism aside, Steve's family accepts a more practical outcome that he is dead.

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Bay City Cold Cases: The 1997 disappearance of Steven Clark - November 2011

Steven's Charley project page has been updated. It states now that he is an alcoholic.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/clark_steven_alexander.html

From http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2015/08/family_friend_want_answers_in.html:

Steve was also a bit of a small-time troublemaker, his family said, having occasional run-ins with police and having a predilection toward booze that rivaled his affinity for metal. Like an elixir, the alcohol would conjure the Hyde from his otherwise Jekyll personality.

"When he became that person, he was not a person anybody liked hanging around with," Dave says. "At least, not anybody who wasn't that way."

Did these attributes play a factor in his disappearance that summer night in 1997? Is he still wandering the earth, at age 44? Did he meet his end in a foul play scenario?

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After reading about this case for the first time a while ago, my first thought was "Does the roommate have something to do with it?". Both were drinking that night, getting some more liquor, Steven was known for being "difficult" when drunk, I think it's likely they started fighting and Cushway ended up killing Steven Clark and disposed of him in a dumpster. He was reported missing two days after he was last seen by Cushway. His body would have been long gone by that time.

Reading the comments under that article tells me I'm not the only one who thought of this possible scenario...

I don't think Cushway has ever been named a suspect though. But there might not be enough evidence either...I googled Christopher Cushway in Michigan and found a LinkedIn for a guy with that name in Bay City.

I did a search on the board, but could not find a thread on this gentleman.

BAY CITY, MI — The family of Steven A. Clark sits around a dining room table in a spacious farmhouse, the weight of an 18-year-old mystery hanging heavy on their faces. Discussing their vanished son and brother, they alternate in speaking of him in the present and past tense.

Their eyes, at times, brim with tears. At others, they have a faraway, contemplative look.

Remembering Steve also elicits chuckles, as well as a few expressions of frustration in recalling his devil-may-care lifestyle.



http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2015/08/family_friend_want_answers_in.html

BAY CITY — If Steven A. Clark is still alive, somewhere out there, he’d be 40 years old. Unfortunately, if anyone has seen the former Bay City resident alive in the past 14 years, they aren’t talking.

Clark’s disappearance is one of four high-profile cold cases the Bay City Police Department is hoping will garner new leads after summaries of the files were published on the department’s Facebook page.



http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2011/11/bay_city_cold_cases_the_1997_d.html

NamUs.

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/show/7064

Bumping.

Bumping

Hi, i'm new here. Just curious if anyone knows if it was verified that Stephen actually made it to the liquor store?
after readingsome details, I'm wondering if he even made it there. If he did, it was mentione they planned to walk over the Veterans memorial bridge on their way home. Could Cushway have pushed him off the bridge? I wonder if they searched the Saginaw River?

Just some initial questions there.