SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
Former Member
Missing Since: September 12, 1994 from Choctow, Oklahoma
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: March 21, 1988
Age: 6 years old
Height and Weight: 3'10, 45 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Michael has a scar on his forehead. He had two new permanent bottom teeth that were crooked at the time of his 1994 disappearance.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A blue t-shirt with red sleeves, red and blue shorts, and black high-top sneakers.
Details of Disappearance
Michael's case begins with the abduction of his mother, an unidentified woman who authorities believe was kidnapped by Franklin Delano Floyd between June 1973 and August 1975. Photos of Michael's mother and Floyd are posted below this case summary. Floyd claimed that he 'rescued' Michael's mother after her family abandoned her in the 1970's and served as her parent. He has never provided any details about the woman's identity or background, but it is believed she was born around 1969. Inevestigators know that Floyd and the girl traveled to various states and used several aliases together through the 1970's and 1980's.
The first public record available for the girl states that she was enrolled in an Oklahoma City, Oklahoma school in 1975 under the name Suzanne Davis. Davis graduated from high school in Forest Park, Georgia in 1986. Investigators determined that Davis moved to Phoenix, Arizona later during that year under the name Sharon Marshall. She gave birth to Michael in Tampa, Florida on March 21, 1988 while apparently using the alias Tonya Dawn Tadlock. It is known that Floyd used the aliases Charles Hughes and Clarence Marcus Hughes during this time; authorities believe that this was the reason Michael was given the last name of Hughes at birth. Floyd claimed to be Michael's biological father; however, DNA testing performed in the mid-1990's proved that he was not related to the unidentified woman's son.
In another bizarre twist, Floyd and Michael's mother were married in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1989 under the Tonya Tadlock and Clarence Hughes aliases. Both Floyd and the woman were wanted in connection with a Florida homicide by 1990. Before any legal action could be taken against them, the woman was killed in a suspicious hit-and-run vehicular accident in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in April 1990. Floyd is the main suspect in her death. Authorities realized that the woman's identity was unknown after she was killed; only then did it come to public attention that Floyd abducted the girl years earlier. Michael was placed in foster care in Oklahoma after his mother's death. His foster parents told authorities that Michael had limited muscle control, was non-verbal and often exhibited hysterical behavior when he first arrived at their home. However, Michael apparently made great progress in foster care before his abduction in 1994. His foster parents had begun adoption proceedings for him.
Investigators began probing Floyd's background after the girl's death. They learned he was a career criminal who had been arrested in 1960 at age 17 after a gunfight with law enforcement during a burglary. Floyd had also been convicted of abducting and raping a young girl from a bowling alley in 1962. Authorities searched Floyd's truck and discovered numerous photos of Michael's mother as a child in sexually explicit poses. The photos showed the girl from approximately age four through her adolescence. Other pornographic images of young women and girls were also located in Floyd's vehicle. Floyd used the aliases Trenton Davis, Warren Judson Marshall, Preston Morgan and Kingfish Floyd in addition to the names previously mentioned in his criminal past.
Floyd abducted Michael from Indian Meridian Elementary School in Choctaw, Oklahoma on September 12, 1994. He held school officials at gunpoint and forced Michael and the principal into his truck. Floyd tied the principal to a tree in a nearby field and escaped with Michael. The principal was rescued several hours later and was not physically harmed. Michael has never been seen again.
Floyd was arrested in Kentucky two months after the child was last seen, but he refused to divulge Michael's whereabouts. He was convicted of Michael's kidnapping and was sentenced to 55 years in prison. Floyd has claimed that Michael is living outside the United States or in Atlanta, Georgia, but the government has witness statements detailing alleged confessions by Floyd regarding Michael's death. Floyd reportedly told his sister he drowned the child in a Georgia motel's bathtub in 1994. Other witnesses stated that Floyd told them he murdered Michael in the same manner, while another person claimed he saw Floyd bury Michael's body in a cemetery. Due to these allegations and Floyd's history of criminal conduct, authorities believe Michael met with foul play. Floyd has not been charged in connection with Michael's assumed death or Michael's mother's case, but he is still being investigated for his roles in the crimes.
Floyd was charged while in prison with the 1989 murder of Cheryl Ann Commesso, a teenage exotic dancer. Her body was found along Interstate 275 and remained unidentified for six years. Floyd has a history of mental problems, including schizophrenia, and was initially declared incompetent to stand trial, but regained his competency in a state mental hospital. After his conviction his lawyers tried to mitigate Floyd's crime by having him testify about his childhood in an orphanage, but he was sentenced to death. Now awaiting execution in Florida, he admits he committed numerous crimes, but maintains his innocence in Commesso's murder and still refuses to give evidence with regards to Michael's whereabouts. Michael remains missing and his mother has never been identified.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Choctaw Police Department
405-290-7770
OR
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
202-324-3000
Charley Project
NCMEC