Boyfriend of Kiera Bergman, Teen Missing Nearly 4 Weeks, Arrested on Unrelated Charges

Kiera Bergman
Handout

Police have said her disappearance is suspicious.

The boyfriend of a 19-year-old girl who's been missing for nearly four weeks has been arrested on charges unrelated to her disappearance. 

The mother of Kiera Bergman, Kiersten Bragg, told "Good Morning America" last week that she last heard from her daughter in text message on July 30 but said the teen was not her "normal, happy self."

“We are going to find her, we are going to find out what happened and we're going to bring her home,” Bragg said.

Bergman had moved from San Diego to Phoenix, Arizona, in March and had been living with her boyfriend, Jon-Christopher Clark, though she'd recently moved out. Clark, 23, was arrested last Friday on multiple counts. Police said his arrest has nothing to do with the search for his missing girlfriend. 

Clark is the last person known to have seen Bergman alive. He told the Huffington Post in an interview prior to his arrest that he argued with Bergman over money on Saturday, Aug. 4. She walked out of his apartment that afternoon, he said, and hasn't been seen since. 

“When she left there was no immediate concern because we have had arguments in past where either me or her have left for an hour or a couple at a time to go clear our head,” he said. “I didn’t really find it unusual until she wasn’t in contact with me.”

Clark is not considered a suspect or person of interest in the case. Police questioned him about her disappearance on Aug. 13 and served him with a search warrant then. He was arrested on the unrelated charges of 22 counts of aggravated identity theft and two counts of forgery on Aug. 17.

In an Instagram post that day, he said he wanted to set the record straight with anyone who might suspect him of wrongdoing. 

“I love Kiera with all my heart and would never do anything negative to her or put her in harms way,” he wrote in the post. “... I have been nothing but open and honest with investigators and Kieras family.”

In an initial court appearance Monday, Clark was ordered held on $25,000 bond, according to the Huffington Post. He is next due in court on Friday. Phoenix police did not immediately respond to Inside Edition's request for comment.

Bergman's family, meanwhile, remains desperate for any answers. 

“We just want her back,” Chris Bragg, Bergman's father, told the Huffington Post. “Please, just call the police. A piece of our heart is missing, and without it we don’t feel whole. It’s heartbreaking. Please, somebody, say something.”

The Braggs admit they don't get along with Clark and believe he had something to do with her disappearance.

"The circumstances surrounding her disappearance are suspicious," police said.

The family has a GoFundMe page dedicated to raising money for the search efforts.

Bergman is 5-foot-3 and weighs 145 pounds. Police are asking anyone with information to call the Phoenix Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit at (602) 534-2121.

RELATED STORIES