Before she vanished, Marialice Clark was a name on a federal document — a 12-year-old from Omaha whom a Treasury Department agent claimed had described weapons and dynamite inside Black Panther Party headquarters. Years later, she walked away from a north Omaha neighborhood and was never seen again. Her disappearance remains unsolved, and anyone with information can contact the Omaha Police Department Missing Persons Unit.
A Child Named in a Federal Raid Affidavit
A Child Named in a Federal Raid Affidavit According to the Omaha World-Herald, Marialice Clark was allegedly identified as an informant by Thomas John Sledge, an ATF agent, in 1970, when she was 12 years old. Sledge claimed Clark had described weapons and dynamite at what he identified as Black Panther Party headquarters, and his account appeared in an affidavit supporting a federal search warrant, the newspaper reports. A separate account, published by Richardson Reports, places the affidavit in connection with a federal search warrant targeting the National Committee to Combat Fascism headquarters, filed by Sledge. A petition on change.org from a sibling states that Clark was named as the informant on the affidavit in July 1970, when she was 12. The Charley Project notes that the ATF had obtained a warrant to search the building named in the affidavit, but that search never happened.
Relatives have questioned the details of the affidavit.
The Disappearance Near a North Omaha Lounge
The Disappearance Near a North Omaha Lounge Per the Omaha World-Herald, Clark disappeared in August or September 1972 after going to visit a friend near a north Omaha lounge. She was reportedly seen getting into a car near the lounge, and a report referenced Chicago plates on the vehicle. Other accounts place her last sighting at a different time: the Charley Project and a NamUs case record both list August 1, 1972, as the date she was last seen near Omaha's Bali-Hi Lounge after getting into a car bearing Chicago plates, while the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children lists her last-seen date as September 27, 1972. According to Oxygen, Clark's mother, Mary Clark, reported her missing on September 27, 1972, after last seeing her at their Omaha home in August. The discrepancies between these accounts have never been resolved publicly.
Despite potential documentation surfacing over the years, Clark has not been identified or confirmed found, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
A Family Still Searching Decades Later
A Family Still Searching Decades Later Jennifer Jackson has helped search for her great-aunt, per the Omaha World-Herald. Clark's case was also featured in a Vanished podcast episode, bringing renewed attention to the decades-old disappearance.
“We just want her to know that we did not give up,” Jackson said, according to the paper's reporting. Clark was one of five long-term missing-person cases highlighted ahead of Nebraska Missing Persons Day on Oct. 15, per the paper.
A Case Tied to a Deadly Era in Omaha
A Case Tied to a Deadly Era in Omaha The federal scrutiny of Omaha's Black Panther-affiliated groups in the early 1970s unfolded against the backdrop of the killing of Omaha police officer Larry Minard, who was killed in August 1970 when a suitcase bomb exploded in a vacant house, according to the Omaha World-Herald. Ed Poindexter, also identified as Edward Poindexter, was convicted of first-degree murder in April 1971 and sentenced to life in prison for the bombing death. As 3 News Now reported, Poindexter and a second man, David Rice, were convicted of first-degree murder in the bombing.
Anyone with information about Marialice Clark is asked to contact the Omaha Police Missing Persons Unit at 402-444-4127, the Omaha Police Department front desk at 402-444-5600, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 402-444-STOP. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's poster for Clark notes she has birthmarks on her right hip and the back left side of her head, details that could still help identify her more than five decades after she was last seen.
