North Carolina Veteran Missing for Nearly a Month After Failing to Show Up for College Class

Mar. 15, 2025

Clinton Bonnell.Photo:Sheriff Ennis W. Wright: Cumberland County NC

Sheriff Ennis W. Wright: Cumberland County NC

More than three weeks after Clinton Bonnell’s disappearance, authorities as well as the North Carolina veteran’s family and friends are looking for answers.

Bonnell, 50, was last seen on the evening of Monday, Jan. 27, in Gray’s Creek, a suburb of Fayetteville, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Officesaid in a statement.

Since then, Bonnell had enrolled at Methodist University and was studying to become a physician’s assistant, his sister Stefanie Firkins toldNBC News.

On the day Bonnell went missing, Firkins said her brother went to work out at Fit4Life gym before he headed to campus to prepare for tests that day.

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Classmates and staff at the school became concerned when Bonnell did not show up for class the following day, Firkins added.

Shana Cloud, Bonnell’s wife, later alerted Firkins — who lives in Texas — that her brother was missing.

The 6-foot-tall Bonnell, who has brown hair, brown eyes and weighs 195 lbs. He was last seen wearing a plaid button-down shirt, black hoodie and brown pants, authorities said.

Firkins told NBC News that her brother’s disappearance is “out of character” for the veteran and dedicated family man, who was taking his studies seriously.

“He was completely enamored with medicine and excited about his career path,” she said.

The sister added, “He would not walk away from his life and his school and his daughter.”

Still, the circumstances of Bonnell’s disappearance don’t sit well with her.

“My brother is a Green Beret and perfectly capable of taking care of himself,” Firkins said. “There’s very suspicious circumstances surrounding his disappearance.”

Anyone with information about Bonnell’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sergeant J. McLeod at (910) 677-5548 or call 911.

source: people.com