Missing
Stephen Glynn Bovard
Bovard, approximately 1983; Bobby Joe Ferguson
Date and time person was reported missing : 01/31/1983
Missing location (approx) :
Zachary, Louisiana
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Male
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 07/23/1962 (59)
Age at the time of disappearance: 20 years old
Height / Weight : 5'6, 135 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A gold chain and a white gold ring with a small diamond.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian male. Brown hair, green eyes.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Bovard was last seen at the home of a Zachary, Louisiana man, Bobby Joe Ferguson, on January 31, 1983. His parents, with whom he lived in the 17000 block of south Harrell's Ferry Road in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, reported him missing after he didn't come home for several days.
He has never been heard from again. On February 3, his truck was found abandoned and burned in the Tunica Hills northwest of St. Francisville, Louisiana.
A week before he vanished, Bovard had been arrested on drug charges. Police confiscated twelve grams of cocaine, 53 Quaalude tablets, one and a half pounds of marijuana, a .357 magnum pistol, and $5,000 in cash. He was facing a minimum of ten years in prison if convicted, unless he chose to cooperate with the investigation.
Investigators believe Bovard is dead, and issued a warrant for Ferguson's arrest for second-degree murder in the case, but Ferguson fled to avoid arrest. A photo of Ferguson is posted with this case summary. Another suspect, Morris Ronald Allen, in March 1983 and charged with being an accessory to second-degree murder after the fact.
Allen told investigators that on February 4, he'd helped Ferguson dump a carpet-wrapped body, weighted with two tire rims, in the Atchafalaya River at Highway 190 near Krotz Springs. He didn't see whose body it was, but saw an arm and knew it was a human body.
Authorities searched the Atchafalaya River with sonar and found an object which they thought was a body, but conditions prevented divers from recovering it. When police checked Ferguson's home, there was bloody on the wall and ceiling, and a section of carpet had been cut out.
Bovard was employed as a mechanic with Odom Offshore Surveys at the time of his disappearance; he'd worked there about a year. The outcome of the murder case is unknown, but foul play is suspected due to the circumstances involved.
Other information and links : ncy
East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office
225-389-5000
September 2021 updates and sources
The Doe Network
Louisiana Repository for Unidentified & Missing People
The Baton Rouge Advocate
October 12, 2004. May 21, 2019; Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : updated.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
