The family has continued to live with the compounded losses of the original disappearance, the false hope, the exposure, and the unresolved questions.

The questions that the case raises — about Nicholas’s fate, about the family’s knowledge, about Bourdin’s true motivations — remain unanswered.

The documentary The Imposter (2012) brought the case to a new generation of viewers and remains the most comprehensive and accessible treatment of the story, though it is also, necessarily, incomplete.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System maintains Nicholas Barclay’s profile.

His case is officially listed as unsolved.