Search revives 18-year mystery

PINE BLUFF — Nearly 18 years ago, Cleashindra Hall vanished from a home at 5309 Faucett Road in Pine Bluff.

The house belonged to Larry Amos, who ran his business, Arkansas Federal Child Care Nutritional Services Inc., from the residence.

Cleashindra, 18, worked part time for Amos as a clerk.

Her senior photo captured a smiling young woman gingerly holding a tasseled cap between long, slender fingers. Her nickname was Clea, and she wanted to be a pediatrician.

But on May 9, 1994, Clea disappeared - a week before graduation.

Her parents, Willie and Laurell Hall, begged police to search the home on Faucett Road because it was the last place their daughter had been seen.

When officers finally did so, they focused only on Amos’ office area, where Clea had done clerical work, Laurell Hall said.

On Thursday, the day before what would be Clea’s 36th birthday, Pine Bluff police detectives cordoned off the Faucett Road house. Armed with a search warrant, they spent six hours there.

Pine Bluff police Lt. Bob Rawlinson said he couldn’t reveal what prompted investigators to search the home all these years later. Nor would he say whether they found anything that might solve the case.

“Other information developed, and we were able to develop sufficient probable cause to present to a judge,” he said.

Asked whether Amos was considered a suspect or person of interest, Rawlinson replied, “We don’t exclude anybody at this point.”

Amos, described by Rawlinson as “very cooperative,” could be seen on the property at times, but he did not speak to the reporters gathered out front.

The street teemed with activity all day as Pine Bluff residents lined up along Faucett Road, waiting for news and wondering aloud whether the search would lead to Clea.

Buffeted by friends and family, Willie and Laurell Hall also spent the day in front of the large, two-story home.

“A search like this 18 years ago could’ve put this nightmare to an end for us,” Laurell Hall said. “Larry Amos has not done enough to allow himself to be eliminated. ... He wouldn’t cooperate.”

Instead, Laurell Hall said, he chastised Clea and the family, saying the girl had likely run away and that her mother should have been on time to pick her up.

In an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette a year after Clea’s disappearance, Amos said that if Laurell Hall had been a responsible parent, she would have picked up Clea from work instead of falling asleep that evening before the girl’s shift had ended.

He also contended that Clea had possibly run away, maybe because of family problems.

“If things were so good at home, why hasn’t the child called?” he said.

Lastly, he said, while many people believed that he was alone with Clea that day, his wife and son also were present.

“I want to correct one thing,” Amos said then. “She wasn’t last seen leaving from my address. She was last heard leaving from her place of employment.”

THE DISAPPEARANCE

Stories from the Democrat-Gazette’s archives chronicle the day the teenager vanished:

On May 9, 1994, Laurell Hall dropped Clea off at Amos’ house to begin her shift at 2:30 p.m.

Like always, she waited for Clea to call when she was ready to be picked up.

But on this particular evening, Laurell Hall fell asleep.

When Willie Hall arrived home from a softball game about 1 a.m., he woke his wife. Worried, the couple called Amos, who said he hadn’t seen Clea depart but that he heard the door slam as she left the office at 8:30 p.m.

Described by a school principal as a quiet yet excellent student at Watson Chapel High School, Clea planned to attend Girls State at Harding University for a second year. She also had earned a scholarship to the University of Memphis and talked often of one day becoming a pediatrician.

Christmas passed.

A year slipped by.

And then 17 more.

THE SEARCH

Laurell Hall said Thursday that someone - she wouldn’t say who - had let her know in advance that police planned to search the Amos home.

Larry Amos moved out two years after Clea disappeared, Laurell Hall said, adding that the home has remained vacant ever since.

People in the neighborhood have kept her apprised of any activity there, she said.

The home’s exterior reflects both its age and an air of desertion, with crumbling window trim and peeling paint.

At one point during the search, officers brought in dogs, but Rawlinson declined to explain why.

“It’s like we’re stuck in time,” Laurell Hall said, adding that Clea will forever be 18 in her mind and memories. “Even if she’s not alive ... I want to know if that’s the case.”

Asked whether she believes Clea is alive, Laurell Hall replied: “In my heart, she’s alive. And until I find out something different, that’s where she’s going to be.”

As officers wrapped up their search late Thursday afternoon, longtime residents of the neighborhood offered hugs and encouragement to the Hall family.

After one such embrace, a woman told Laurell Hall, “I have been praying for you for 18 years.”