Mud slows hunt for missing three in southeast Oklahoma

BY JOHNNY JOHNSON Staff Writer Comments 5
Published: October 24, 2009

RED OAK — Bobby Dale Jamison, his wife, Sherrilynn, and their 6-year-old daughter Madyson had already been missing for 14 days when search teams from across the region decided one last time to brave the mud-slick roads of the Red Oak Mountain area in southeastern Oklahoma.

Searchers, including Reade Hogan, left, and Mark Ward, center, warm themselves near a fire at the command post on top of the mountain. Ward is a deputy in the Latimer County Sheriff's office. Hogan is an investigator with UKB Lighthorse Police in Tahlequah. Law enforcement officers and volunteers converged in the small southeast Oklahoma community of Red Oak on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, to search a heavily wooded area in the Sansbois Mountains for a missing family of three. Searches on horseback, on foot, on ATVs and in airplanes and helicopters scoured the area for any traces of the family. Oct. 21, 2009. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman

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The steep and winding oil and gas roads that had been bogging down pickups and horse trailers all morning were becoming too treacherous. Search conditions were poor, and black-powder deer season, which started today, meant it would be too dangerous to have search crews tromping through the woods.

After an all-out mass search with more than 100 people came up short last weekend, Latimer County Sheriff Israel Beauchamp knew Friday was probably going to be the last chance to unravel the mystery of the missing family. It was a big mountain, and the clock was ticking.

Beauchamp has been looking for the Jamison family since someone who lives in the area found their pickup Oct. 17, eight days after the resident remembered seeing the family in the area.

The pickup was parked at a well site, about 30 miles from the family’s Eufaula home. Beauchamp said the family had gone to look at a couple of 40-acre plots of land for possible purchase with what appeared to be plans to move a shipping container onto the secluded mountain land and live there.

Inside the pickup, investigators found Bobby Dale Jamison’s wallet, Sherrilynn Jamison’s purse, maps, a GPS, a "substantial” amount of cash, and a cell phone last used Oct. 8.

At first, Beauchamp said, it appeared the family had become lost because they were not at the location marked on the map, but investigators recently learned the site where the truck was parked was a second site where the family was looking for land.

Beauchamp said he was not ready to call the search effort a "recovery” for bodies at this point, but as the days have turned into weeks, some searchers have begun to prepare themselves for the worst.

Monty Jackson, a former state forester and experienced searcher said he doesn’t tend to make assumptions about what has happened or what he expects to find.

"We’re just here to do anything we can to try to help some people who need help,” Jackson said. "Nobody knows what’s going on. We’ll just look and see if we can find some clues. It’s hard to say what’s going to happen.”

When the call went out that the sheriff’s office was looking for experienced searchers and people familiar with the area, they got 12 dog search teams, and dozens of searchers on foot, on horse and on four-wheelers. And all of them had one goal in mind — for one last day, they would work sunup to sunset, trying to cover as much ground as possible and do their best to bring some closure.

In this case, recent rainfall had made tracking impossible, so the search meant setting up grids to look for disturbed ground, checking waterways and looking for any pieces of clothing — any clues.

Beauchamp said the air searches were frustrating at times, because he had two helicopters, a plane and an unmanned drone, but because of the thick "triple canopy” foliage, and windy conditions, pilots were not able to see much of anything.

On the ground, it was slow going, through thick mud, tangled undergrowth, rocky ravines and mountainous terrain. But searchers said it was becoming almost as important to complete a thorough search to rule areas out.

As the sun started to drop near the horizon, however, teams had not found any clues, and it was time to start down the mountain, disappointed and frustrated.

In May, Bobby Dale Jamison filed a civil suit against his parents Bobby Dean and Scarlet Jean Jamison for more than $10,000 for the loss of money to which he said he was entitled when his father sold the family gas station.

Bobby Jamison took out a protective order against his father in May, but authorities said it has been dismissed and appears unrelated to the disappearance of the younger Jamison and his family.

In the suit, the missing Jamison alleges his father enticed him to work for free at the Oklahoma City gas station, but with the understanding that one day, the son would have a half-interest in the station when he was older.

Victor Salcedo, principal of Eufaula Elementary School, said Madyson is a kindergarten student there.

"Our prayers go out to the family,” Salcedo said.