Our card this week is Zachary Michael Bernhardt, the 4 of Diamonds from Florida. Nearly 26 years after the eight-year-old vanished from his second-floor apartment in Clearwater, Florida, his whereabouts remain a mystery. Zachary’s case is Florida’s longest-running AMBER Alert. It is also a story we covered on Crime Junkie more than seven years ago.
In this episode of The Deck, we’re taking a fresh look at the evidence, including the 911 call Zachary’s mother made in the early morning hours of September 11 to report him missing. Could there have been clues that were missed? And could statements made by Zachary’s mother early on shed new light on a cold-case investigation that has stumped both detectives and Crime Junkies alike?
Zachary Bernhardt is featured as the Four of Diamonds
Source: Crime Stoppers
Episode Info
This is the last episode of The Deck, but our mission isn’t finished. We wanted to find a way to honor the show and its mission outside of podcasting, so we have created a $100,000 endowed fund in partnership with Crime Stoppers USA. With that, Crime Stoppers affiliates and programs nationwide will have access to funds for creating and printing cold case decks in perpetuity so The Deck can live on.
Episode Source Material
- Original reporting by Cooper Moll, Tommy Nguyen, and TJ Raphael.
- Ash, Jim. “Missing Children’s Day A Somber Reality.” WFSU Public Media, 14 September 2015, https://news.wfsu.org/state-news/2015-09-14/missing-childrens-day-a-somber-reality. Accessed 16 July 2026.
- “Clearwater police seek help in finding boy missing 14 years.” WTSP, 9 September 2014, https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/clearwater-police-seek-help-in-finding-boy-missing-14-years/67-300268592. Accessed 16 July 2026.
- “Criminal Image Profiler Jeanne Boyland Discusses ‘Portraits of Guilt’.” CNN, 12 June 2000, https://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0006/12/mn.04.html. Accessed 16 July 2026.
- Fernandez, Sandy M. “Drawing From Elusive Memory.” Time Magazine, 26 March 2001, https://time.com/archive/6690513/drawing-from-elusive-memory/. Accessed 16 July 2026.
- Gay, Nancy and Genevieve Curtis. “Where is Zachary Bernhardt? 8-year-old at heart of Florida’s longest Amber Alert disappeared 25 years ago.” Fox 13 News, 11 September 2025, https://www.fox13news.com/news/where-is-zachary-bernhardt-8-year-old-heart-floridas-oldest-amber-alert-disappeared-25-years-ago. Accessed 15 July 2026.
- “Kevin G. Jalbert.” Florida Department of Law Enforcement; Sexual Offender/Predator Registry, n.d., https://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/sops/flyer.jsf?personId=56006. Accessed 16 July 2026.
- Lonon, Sherri. “What Happened to Zachary Bernhardt?” Patch, 11 September 2015, https://patch.com/florida/clearwater/what-happened-zachary-bernhardt-0. Accessed 16 July 2026.
- “More About The Featured Individuals.” CNN, n.d., https://www.cnn.com/services/presents.opk/radio.memory/more_about_the_featured_individuals.htm. Accessed 16 July 2026.
- “Rise and Set for the Sun for 2000; Zone: 4h West of Greenwich.” Astronomical Applications Dept., U.S. Naval Observatory, n.d., https://aa.usno.navy.mil/calculated/rstt/year?ID=AA&year=2000&task=0&lat=27.9726&lon=-82.7967&label=&tz=4&tz_sign=-1&submit=Get+Data. Accessed 15 July 2026.
- Salomone, Julie. “Florida woman awaits answers 23 years after her 8-year-old nephew disappears in Clearwater.” Tampa Bay 28, 11 September 2023, https://www.tampabay28.com/news/region-pasco/florida-woman-awaits-answers-23-years-after-her-8-year-old-nephew-disappears-in-clearwater. Accessed 15 July 2026.
- “‘Somebody out there knows something’: 20 years since Zachary Bernhardt’s disappearance in Clearwater.” WFLA, 11 September 2020, https://www.wfla.com/news/pinellas-county/somebody-out-there-knows-something-20-years-since-zachary-bernhardts-disappearance-in-clearwater/. Accessed 16 July 2026.
- “Zachary Bernhardt: 25 years since Florida’s longest-running Amber Alert was issued.” WTSP, 12 September 2025, https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/pinellascounty/zachary-bernhardt-florida-longest-amber-alert-25-years/67-262e3c59-4e0c-474a-8a40-fe510605f0cb. Accessed 15 July 2026.
- “Zachary Michael-Cole Bernhardt.” National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, n.d., https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/894757/1. Accessed 16 July 2026.