New hunt on for missing teen YEAR-OLD CASE: Kevin McClam has been missing from the Naval Weapons Station since last Easter.
Published on 02/28/98
BY NADINE PARKS
The Post and Courier
GOOSE CREEK - Police have planned a massive search with hundreds of volunteers to find Kevin McClam, the teen who disappeared from the Charleston Naval Weapons Station nearly a year ago.
"I need as many people as I can get. Hundreds may not be enough," said Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Dan McCarthy, who will lead the all-out search along with Chief Rick Metzler of the Charleston County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad.
McCarthy met Friday with representatives from several local and state agencies to organize what Metzler described as a sloppy, nasty, snake-infested exploration of the weapons station.
"It's not going to be a fun walk," Metzler said.
He said the four- to eight-day plan - which was prompted by new clues provided by two reputable physics - will begin perhaps as early as Wednesday and will be conducted in three phases.
First, rescue divers will search and drag dozens of water wells, ditches, creeks and ponds, and lower side-scan sonar devices into watery areas.
Next, tracking and cadaver dogs from the Charleston County Sheriff's Office and others used in major catastrophes, such as the Oklahoma City bombing, will cover hundreds of acres in and around the base's Marrington Plantation, a 17th-century rice plantation.
The search will end with a massive land exploration by volunteers on foot and police officers on horseback.
Among those who participated in the Friday meeting were representatives of the rescue squad, the Charleston County Sheriff's Office, the North Charleston and Goose Creek police departments, the Navy's investigative service, base security and the Natural Resources Department.
Police searched some areas last year. This time, they will go over the same areas and explore the vicinity as well.
McClam, a 14-year-old eighth-grader at Marrington Middle School, disappeared March 30, Easter Sunday, from his home at the base. A couple reportedly saw him later that day, walking along a dirt road in tennis shoes and boxer shorts. Two days later, his clothing was found nearby.
McCarthy said there are no signs the teen who loved to play basketball ran away from home.
"There was nothing so dramatic that would make him run away," McCarthy said, adding that McClam was a good student.
His disappearance was followed by half a dozen reported sightings, mostly at local McDonald's and Burger King restaurants. But the last sighting came May 19, and information provided by psychic Dorothy Allison of New Jersey and local psychic Elizabeth Baron indicates McClam may still be on the base.
Whether McClam is still alive, however, is a subject police are tiptoeing around out of respect for his parents, Charles and Tracey McClam. Charles said Friday the massive search should have come one year ago.
"I can't criticize though," he said. "I just appreciate the help."
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Police need hundreds of volunteers, especially hunters and other people familiar with the hazards of maneuvering through snake-infested forests and swamps. Call Dan McCarthy at 764-7800, Ext. 207
Agents plan tunnel search for McClam
Published on 03/07/98
BY NADINE PARKS
The Post and Courier
GOOSE CREEK - Police have exhausted a land exploration at Marrington Plantation for Kevin McClam, but say the search for the missing teen will continue.
"The NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) is not going to stop looking for Kevin McClam," Special Agent Dan McCarthy said.
McCarthy said searchers did not find a grave or anything significant related to the Marrington Middle School student who disappeared nearly a year ago from Charleston Naval Weapons Station. Kevin's clothes were found near the plantation on the base. His tennis shoes and boxer shorts, however, were never located.
His mother, Tracey McClam, on Thursday could not positively identify a pair of boxer shorts searchers found this week. The shorts, which were found in poor condition and covered in dirt, will be sent to a lab for testing, McCarthy said.
A number of bones found during the search are being examined to determine whether they are human.
McCarthy is searching for blueprints, and in the coming weeks plans to call in specialized teams to search a vast tunnel system under the base that children are known to visit. Several, deep air shafts that rise above an underground water system must be explored as well, he said.
The agent said he is not disappointed in the results of the search.
"It means there's hope that Kevin's out there," McCarthy said. "He could still be alive."
Meanwhile, he said, investigators are following several leads concerning other people who may have been with Kevin the day he disappeared.
"We're trying to identify individuals that might know Kevin," McCarthy said. "I think there was someone else that was with him."
Anyone with information about Kevin's whereabouts on March 30, 1997, Easter Sunday, should immediately call police.
"They can call me and tell me anything. I'll take anything," McCarthy said. "We will keep them anonymous."
ED:Nadine Parks covers Goose Creek, Hanahan and North Charleston. Contact her at 745-5863 or at nparks@postandcourier.com
March of 1998, Charleston County EPD was requested to coordinated two separate searches for Naval Criminal Investigative Services to look for Kevin McClam on the Naval weapons Station property. The first was an extensive ground search using trained searchers and volunteers. Waterways wear also searched using divers from Charleston County Sheriff's office and Rescue Squad along with James Island Fire Dept. and City of Charleston Police divers. The second search was conducted using USAR trained searchers to search the entire storm drainage system under the facility complex.
The Water Sector was directed by Carl Carter, Coordinated Dive Team Leader. Divers search approximately 100 feet east and west of the boat landing.
The Land Search was coordinated by Rick Meitzler, Chief of the Rescue Squad and was broken up into three different groups; walkers, horses and dogs.
The horses teams searched the less dense areas where they were most effective while the walkers and dogs searched the denser areas using tight grid searches where possible.
The where abouts of Kevin is still unknown...
