True Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Part VII

Joe Clark: The Bonebreaker Case

A.K.A.: "Bonebreaker"

Classification: Homicide

Characteristics: Juvenile (17) - Kidnapping - Torture

Number of victims: 1

Date of Murder: July 4, 1994

Date of arrest: July 31, 1995

Date of birth: 1977

Victim profile: Christian Steiner, 14

Method of murder: Drowning

Location: Columbia County, Wisconsin, USA

Status: Sentenced to life in prison on November 7, 1997

At an age when most boys get their kicks by chasing girls and sneaking beers, 17-year-old Joe Clark of Baraboo, Wisconsin, got his through the imprisonment and torture of other boys. If not for his last victim's seemingly endless amount of resolve and a literal never-say-die attitude, Clark's crimes most certainly could have escalated in their brutality.

Clark's eventual imprisonment did not come soon enough for 14-year-old Chris Steiner, however. Steiner's parents found him missing from the family's home on July 4, 1994. When police arrived they saw the signs of an abduction. Steiner's bedroom window screen had been sliced open, muddy footprints were evident on the carpets, and a patio door was discovered to be unlocked. Despite local authorities' best efforts, Steiner was found dead six days later draped over a partially submerged tree on the edge of a Wisconsin River sandbar.

Strangely, an autopsy showed no traumatic injuries on Steiner's body, though police remained convinced foul play was involved. His death was caused by drowning and was officially listed as 'undetermined'. The mysterious crime was something new to the rural town of Baraboo. No doubt locals hoped that the young boy's death was an isolated, one-time tragedy. But Steiner's killer was living among them and waiting to strike again. In the early morning hours of July 29, 1995, he did.

Thad Phillips awoke that night and felt himself being picked up from the living room couch and carried through the house, thinking one of his parents was escorting him to bed after he had fallen asleep watching TV. Instead, he was hoisted outside and set down by a young man he could not quite recognize but quickly assumed was a family friend. Unfortunately, it was Joe Clark and when he told Phillips to run with him, the groggy and confused boy agreed.

Not until the two arrived at a ramshackle home about a mile away did Thad realize he might be in trouble. Clark introduced himself by his first name and then forced Phillips to his upstairs bedroom, tossed him on the soiled bed, and proceeded to viciously twist and turn one of Phillips' ankles until it snapped and splintered. Immediately showing his fighting spirit, Phillips managed to free himself from Clark's grasp and limp his way downstairs where his abductor caught up and threw him onto a couch. No doubt angered, Clark pushed Phillips' leg upward toward the boy's head and leaned in until the thigh snapped. The abuse continued into the night when, after dressing Phillips's shattered legs in crude casts of socks and ace bandages, Clark left his victim alone on the bed while he went out, apparently convinced the boy was no longer a threat to escape with due to the extent of his injuries.

He underestimated Phillips. The gutsy youngster dragged himself down the stairway, making it into the kitchen when Clark and a girl arrived and sat down on the couch unaware that he lay silent in the next room. Unfortunately, when Clark's friend left, the sadistic youth discovered Phillips lying in the kitchen and after recovering from surprise, dragged him upstairs yet again to continue the brutal punishment and for the first time threatening to kill, though that was certainly the ultimate intention all along.