• Missing Since: 09/12/1994
• Missing From: Choctaw, Oklahoma
• Classification: Non-Family Abduction
• Sex: Male
• Race: White
• Date of Birth: 03/21/1988 (34)
• Age: 6 years old
• Height and Weight: 3’10, 45 pounds
• Jewelry Description/Clothing: A blue t-shirt with red sleeves, red and blue shorts, and black high-top sneakers.
• Associated Vehicle(s): Pickup truck (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Michael has a scar on his forehead. At the time of his disappearance in 1994, he had two new permanent bottom teeth that were crooked.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Michael’s case begins with his mother, Suzanne Sevakis, being abducted. Franklin Delano Floyd had married Suzanne’s biological mother under an alias name in North Carolina.

Suzanne’s mother’s previous marriage produced three daughters and an infant son. She was imprisoned for a short time in Dallas, Texas in 1975, and when she was released, Floyd and the children had vanished. Two of the girls were eventually found at a children’s home, but Suzanne and her one-year-old brother remained unaccounted for.

The police refused to investigate because Floyd had the legal right to take the children as their stepfather. Suzanne and her brother were never reported missing by authorities.

Floyd and Suzanne resurfaced later that year in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where she was enrolled in school as Suzanne Davis. Davis graduated from Forest Park High School in 1986. Investigators discovered she had relocated to Phoenix, Arizona later that year under the name Sharon Marshall.

On March 21, 1988, she gave birth to Michael in Tampa, Florida under the alias Tonya Dawn Tadlock. Floyd is known to have used the aliases Charles Hughes and Clarence Marcus Hughes during this time, and authorities believe this is why Michael was given the surname Hughes at birth.

In another bizarre twist, Floyd and Michael’s mother married in 1989 in New Orleans as Tonya Tadlock and Clarence Hughes. By 1990, Floyd and the woman were both wanted in connection with a homicide in Florida. The woman was killed in a suspicious hit-and-run vehicular accident in Oklahoma City in April 1990, before any legal action could be taken against them. Floyd is the primary suspect in her murder.

Authorities did not realize the woman’s identity was unknown until after she was killed; it was only then that Floyd abducted her years before. However, she remained unidentified for another two and a half decades.

Michael was two years old when his mother died and he was placed in foster care in Oklahoma. His foster parents, Merle and Ernest Bean, who had him for almost four years, told authorities that when he first arrived at their home, he had limited muscle control, was nonverbal, and frequently displayed hysterical behavior. However, prior to his abduction in 1994, Michael appeared to have made significant progress in foster care, and the Beans had begun adoption proceedings for him.

Floyd attempted to reclaim custody of Michael, claiming he was the child’s biological father and that Michael’s foster parents were abusive, but a blood test revealed that he and Michael were not related, and his efforts to reclaim custody were futile.

Following Michael’s mother’s death, investigators began looking into Floyd’s background. They discovered he was a career criminal who had been arrested at the age of 17 in 1960 following a gunfight with law enforcement during a burglary. Floyd was also convicted in 1962 of kidnapping and raping a young girl.

During a search of Floyd’s truck, authorities discovered numerous photos of Michael’s mother as a child in sexually explicit poses. The photographs depicted the girl from the age of four to adolescence. Floyd’s vehicle also contained other pornographic images of young women and girls.

In addition to the names previously mentioned, Floyd used the aliases Trenton Davis, Warren Judson Marshall, Preston Morgan, and Kingfish Floyd.

On September 12, 1994, Floyd kidnapped Michael from Indian Meridian Elementary School in Choctaw, Oklahoma. He forced Michael and the principal into the principal’s pickup truck while holding school officials at gunpoint. Floyd tied the principal to a nearby tree and fled with Michael.

Several hours later, the principal was rescued and was not physically harmed. Michael was never seen or heard from again. The stolen pickup truck was discovered in Dallas, Texas, a month after the kidnapping.

Michael’s foster parents were not permitted to speak to anyone about his disappearance due to confidentiality laws governing foster care. It wasn’t until the FBI issued a public appeal for information in Michael’s case that the Beans were allowed to speak to the media about his kidnapping.

Floyd was apprehended in Kentucky two months after the child was last seen, but he refused to reveal Michael’s location, claiming he had taken him to a safe place. He was found guilty of kidnapping Michael and sentenced to 52 years in prison.

Floyd claimed Michael was living outside the United States or in Atlanta, Georgia or Kansas City, Missouri, but the government had witness statements detailing alleged confessions by Floyd about Michael’s death.

Floyd allegedly told his sister in 1994 that he drowned the child in a bathtub in a Georgia motel. Other witnesses claimed Floyd told them he murdered Michael in the same way, and another claimed to have seen Floyd bury Michael’s body in a cemetery.

Authorities suspected Michael met with foul play because of these allegations and Floyd’s history of criminal behaviour. Floyd has not been charged in connection with Michael’s presumed death or the case of Michael’s mother, but he is still being investigated for his involvement in the crimes.

Floyd was charged with the murder of Cheryl Ann Commesso, a teenage exotic dancer and coworker of Suzanne Sevakis, in 1989 while incarcerated. Her body was discovered along I-275 and remained unidentified for six years.

Floyd has a history of mental issues, including a diagnosis of schizophrenia. He was declared incompetent to stand trial at first, but regained competency in a state mental hospital. His lawyers attempted to mitigate his crime after his conviction by having him testify about his childhood in an orphanage, but he was sentenced to death. Floyd, who is currently on death row in Florida, admits to numerous crimes but maintains his innocence in Commesso’s murder.

Suzanne Sevakis was identified as Michael’s mother in the summer of 2014, 24 years after her death, but this information was not made public until October of that year. Floyd told the FBI about his marriage to Suzanne’s mother during an interview in prison earlier in 2014. Agents from the FBI paid a visit to Suzanne’s mother, who recognised a photo of the girl as her daughter. The identification was confirmed by a DNA test.

Two FBI agents interviewed Floyd on death row in September 2014, and he admitted to killing Michael on the same day he abused the child. He claimed that he had intended to raise Michael on his own, but that the boy had grown apart from him during his time in foster care and no longer loved him.

Michael had gotten out of control on the way to Dallas, and Floyd couldn’t handle it. Floyd stated that he shot him twice in the head and had no remorse for his actions. He claimed to have buried Michael’s body on Interstate 35, just before the Texas border. However, a search of that area in March 2015 yielded no results. Authorities stated that wild hogs in the area were likely to consume the body, including the bones.

Suzanne’s missing brother was found alive and well in 2019. He was adopted in North Carolina not long after he went missing. Michael’s whereabouts, on the other hand, remain unknown.

Investigating Agencies

• Choctaw Police Department 405-290-7770
• Federal Bureau of Investigation 202-324-3000