The geography of a thirteen-year-old walking home alone at night from a basketball court creates opportunities for dangerous encounters.

San Antonio in 1994 was not without its violent incidents.

But no suspect has been identified, no evidence of violence has been found, and the case has never been officially reclassified from missing persons to homicide.

The third category — darker and more specific — involves the possibility that Nicholas was harmed by someone in or connected to his family.

Jason’s sighting of Nicholas three months after his disappearance, combined with Jason’s subsequent death from overdose and the various polygraph results surrounding the family, have fed speculation about whether family members knew more than they acknowledged.

Bourdin’s accusations, while self-serving and unreliable, fall into this category.