On October 17th, 2009, hunters in southeast Oklahoma near the small town of Red Oak walked upon a pickup that appeared to be abandoned on oil property. The pickup belonged to the Jamison family from Eufala, Oklahoma, about 30 miles northwest of the location. Inside the pickup were the families’ coats, cell phones, the father’s wallet, a GPS locator, a “substantial amount of money”, and their small starving little dog – who had been in the vehicle for some time. The Jamison family had already not been seen or heard from for at least 8 days when the pickup was discovered. They remain missing at this time.
Southeast Oklahoma can be characterized as extremely rural, sparsely populated, rugged wilderness terrain with vast beauty. It can also be described as having a large percentage of the population being at or below the poverty line, sparse in employment opportunities, and ripe with marijuana cultivation and meth labs. Red Oak sits just to the western edge of the Ouachita (English equivalent is “Washita”) Mountain wilderness. It is a dense forest of pine and hardwoods described as having “a triple canopy”. The area is populated by black bear, white-tail deer, turkey, cougar, panther and even legends of Big Foot (for more information on this read about “The Legend of Boggy Creek” and the incident at Honobia, OK).
My family has gone on annual deer-hunting trips to this area since before I was born. We love southeastern Oklahoma, the people and the wilderness. But there are rules in southeastern Oklahoma.
* Know where you’re going before you start.
* If you come upon a trailer with a blue tarp hanging of the edge – don’t take the time to turn around…back out immediately.
* Carry your gun.
* Don’t go alone.
I owned 118 acres on top of one the highest peaks in the Ouachitas for a few years and my children and I would go up and camp…the land was inaccessible except by 4-wheel, and some times then only barely. Our neighbors were a ½ mile down the “trail” and they lived in a cabin they had built themselves with no electricity or modern plumbing. When they came visiting during our trips they would be walking their two mastiffs and both husband and wife would be packing…on both hips.
It’s a different place, and I love it. It’s like stepping back in time to when life was simpler, more beautiful, and the rules were actually more clear-cut – but less forgiving. Don’t do this and this won’t happen. Do it, and most likely it’s going to leave a mark. The people are kind and generous…but many of them, when you get back into the extreme wilderness areas, have chosen isolation and prefer to just be left alone.
The Jamison’s are said to have last been seen on October 8th. They had a map and they were off, as a family, to look at two 40-acre pieces of property. Their goal was to purchase a piece of land they could move a shipping container onto and make a home in the pines and the mountains. The last activity on the abandoned cell phones occurred on October 8th and they have not been heard from nor seen since.
Bobby Dale Jamison, the father of the family, is 44 years old. He had a couple of scrapes with the law in his younger days, but he appears to have cleaned up his act since then. His wife, Sherilynn, is 40. Their daughter, Madyson, is 6 years old and was attending kindergarten in Eufaula. Friends of the family describe Bobby and Sherilynn as doting parents to Madyson. They say she is “the light of their lives”.
Reports state the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations (OSBI) contacted Tim Miller and EquuSearch in the last week of October to assist in the search for the family due to the rugged terrain and the need for searches on horseback. This year has been an abnormally wet year for the entire state of Oklahoma, and southeast Oklahoma is no exception. So adding to the inherent ruggedness of the mountain ridges is the fact that everything is muddy and slick and virtually impassible by vehicle.
(Photo courtesy of NewsOK.com)
Pathfinders, a canine search and rescue team out of Moore, Oklahoma, also arrived that week to assist in the search.
(Photo courtesy of NewsOK.com)
It is extremely easy to get lost in the Ouachita mountains due to the “fingers” that come off the steep mountain ridges. They can make a person feel they are headed in a given direction, when, in fact, they are following a ridge that may curve by up to 90 degrees. The Jamisons lived near the area and had taken a GPS locator with them – a sign they were familiar with the problems of trekking on foot in the area. One of the very curious things about the situation is that it was left, along with all other belongings (including their doggy), in the pickup. In response to theories that maybe the family got out of the vehicle, took off walking, and subsequently got lost, Sheriff Beauchamp of Latimer county has made the following statements:
“It didn’t look like to me that they got out and walked, it just looked like they got out and that was it. They didn’t take their coats, it was kind of cold that day, they didn’t take their cell phones, of course they didn’t take their dog,” said Sheriff Beauchamp.”
Sheriff Beauchamp also had this to say:
Sheriff Beauchamp says investigators have looked into the Jamison’s past and there doesn’t appear to be any signs that they were in trouble or looking to start a new life. He says there’s no obvious reason why they disappeared.
However, there are some issues that should be taken into account. Bobby Dale Jamison had been working for his father at the family gas station in Oklahoma City for some time. Earlier this year Bobby Dale filed a Fraud suit against his father because, according to statements made in court documents and from family friends, he had been working for his father for free on the promise that some day he would be half owner in the gas station. His father recently sold the gas station, and Bobby Dale received no compensation from that transaction. In May of this year Bobby Dale requested and received a protective order against his father, Bobby Dean Jamison. That protective order was later set aside and law enforcement has made statements that the issue was resolved.
The Jamisons have now been missing almost a full month. If you have information that could lead to the location of little Madyson and her mommy and daddy, please contact the Latimer County Sheriff’s Office at (Oklahoma) 1-918-465-2161. It’s getting colder and those woods are a scary place for a little girl.
Valhall.
Related links and articles:
http://newsok.com/authorities-seek-clues-in-search-for-eufaula-family/article/3410976
http://newsok.com/mud-slows-hunt-for-missing-three-in-southeast-oklahoma/article/3411584
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