Don't you just love the sound of bird song, crunchy snow, flowing water, and....breaking bones?
Yes, yes, yes and....well, no actually.
Joe Clark however...
Photo by Cara Shelton on Unsplash
On the 4th July 1994, 14-year-old Chris Steiner went missing from his bedroom in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
He had a shift at his new job that morning and when his parents went to wake him at 6.15 am, he was nowhere to be found.
Chris’ father told police that he checked on his son the night before at 10.00 pm and he was asleep in his bed.
This would be the last time anyone saw Chris alive.
An investigation of the property would find:
That the Screen to a ground floor bedroom window had been slashed. (This was Chris’ older brother’s room – he was staying out that night.)
Muddy footprints were found throughout the inside of the house.
And 2 ground-floor patio doors were unlocked.
His parents and the police initially agreed that the most likely scenario was a simple case of a teenage boy sneaking out to a party or to see a girl. It was the 4th of July weekend after all.
But as the hours turned into days and Chris didn’t arrive back home looking sheepish & apologetic, this theory started to weaken.
Another theory police would entertain was that Chris had runaway. His parents, however, were not on board with this theory. They knew their Son and he was excited about his new job and everything was fine at home. No, they insisted, Chris had no reason to run away.
On the 10th of July, whilst the police were no further forward in their investigation, a body was found in the Wisconsin River and dental records would confirm that it was the body of Chris Steiner.
The body was badly decomposed and bloated from many days in the water and the police had no clues as to how Chris ended up there.
The cause of his death was listed as drowning and the manner as “undetermined.”
And this is how it would stay until Thad Philips taught Joe Clark a lesson about strength and determination.
Fast forward a year to the 29th July 1995. 13-year-old Thad Philips and his sister had fallen asleep on the couch in their home in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
At 4.00 am his father noticed that Thad was no longer there, nor was he anywhere else in the house.
Like with the Steiner case, police and his parents were stumped. There were no signs that anything nefarious had taken place yet his parents insisted that their son would not leave without informing them in some way.
Thad would let his parents and the police know exactly what had happened.
Around 43 hours after he was carried from the safety of his home, half asleep and disorientated, Thad found himself breaking down the door of a locked closet, throwing his broken body down a flight of stairs, mercifully finding a phone, and dialing 911.
He told the operator that he was being held captive and tortured by an older boy who had taken him from his home. He was not able to tell the operator who this boy was or where he was being held.
Thankfully they could still trace the call and police and emergency services descended on the house within 30 minutes.
Thus ending Thad’s traumatic ordeal and the sadistic crimes of his abductor, 17-year-old Joe Clark.
Thad told police that Clark was initially friendly and had talked about a party that was supposedly happening at his and his brothers' house. Clark even listed the names of other boys (who Thad knew) that would also be attending this party.
Of course, all this was a ruse to keep Thad calm and compliant and upon arrival at the rundown and dirty home, Clarks’ mask slipped.
He had led Thad upstairs under false pretences before throwing him on the bed and twisting his ankle until it cracked.
Clark would then beat him in a rage after Thad attempted to flee in shock.
During his captivity, Thad would see two sides to Clark.
He would torture and beat Thad, for hours at a time, using a towel to muffle the boy’s screams.
Some sort of frustration or annoyance would usually be the trigger for these prolonged attacks.
Clark had snapped Thad’s thigh bone by forcing the leg forwards and leaning on it until it gave way.
He also jumped up and down on Thad’s chest and attempted to suffocate him.
Thad described how Clark would force his legs into braces and make him walk around on the shattered limbs and he also revealed that Clark had masturbated in front of him.
And then, as if none of this happened, Clark would “tend” to Thad’s injuries with makeshift casts made out of bandages and socks and carry him downstairs to watch TV and talk to him.
Thad said he had asked Clark why he was doing this and Clarks’ reply was quite simple yet horrifying, he did this because he liked the sound of breaking bones and he liked how it felt.
Clark also claimed to have done this before, twice before in fact.
Thad would remember the name of one of these boys as “Chris” but he could not recall the second and nothing further has come of this.
As further proof of his Jekyll & Hyde personality, Clark would lock Thad in a closet and go about his day in a convincing masquerade of normalcy.
His confidence that the boy was in no fit state to escape is what ultimately sealed his fate.
Cocky Clark was out partying with his girlfriend when the police arrived at his home where they would find a missing 13-year-old in a horrific state.
Thad was rushed to the hospital to receive life-saving treatment.
His body was described as being like something you would only see in a victim of a, particularly bad car crash.
Thad’s legs were broken in four places and his
twisted feet had skin reminiscent of rubber, and his toes were pointing the wrong way… When he entered the hospital, Thad had serious, potentially life-threatening internal bleeding. Doctors said he was possibly hours away from passing.
Police knew who they were looking for but they had difficulty in finding him, they searched various teen parties but it would be a stakeout at Clark’s home when he would eventually be apprehended, around 4 hours after Thad placed his 911 call.
When the police conducted a search of his home they found a journal, with a macabre list of local boys, which would be described as a hit-list at Clarks’ 1st trial.
The list contained 29 names which had been sectioned off under 3 headings:
Can Wait
Get To Now
The Leg Thing
Clark admitted that he had taken Thad but insisted his intentions were to just “hang out.” He claimed that he had no recollection of what had happened or how Thad sustained his injuries, as he “kind of blacked out.”
Clark was charged with :
Attempted 1st-Degree Intentional Homicide
Causing Great Bodily Harm to a Child
Mayhem (intent to disable or disfigure)
Causing Mental Harm to a Child
Child Enticement.
He pleaded no contest and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
The defence argued that his biological mother (he was adopted) had been a heavy drug user throughout her pregnancy with him and that he had suffered a head injury in a bike crash the year before.
He was, however, found guilty and sentenced to 100 years.
Thad was awarded $21,000,000 in damages in 1997.
Thankfully, although he has lifelong effects of what Clark did to him, Thad was eventually able to walk again.
What About Chris?
Chris Steiner’s case was reopened, his body was exhumed and a post-mortem revealed injuries to his legs and ankles that were identical to Thad’s.
Clark would be charged with:
1st Degree Homicide
Mayhem
Causing Great Bodily Harm to a Child
Clark pleaded not guilty and maintains his innocence to this day.
He was, however, found guilty of all the charges and received a life sentence with no parole for 60 years.
In 1998, he made an attempt to appeal his convictions citing lack of evidence but the appeal was quashed.
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