The Chilling Story Behind the Jamison Family Disappearance | Forensic Files

Hi Crime Junkies. I'm your host Ashley Flowers. >> And I'm Britt. And before we jump in,
you guys, today is kind of a big deal because we have officially hit 500,000 subscribers on YouTube, which is a huge
milestone. And if you've been here a long time, you probably know that I started out on Crime Junkie believing I
would always get to be in my comfy clothes when we record. Not that I'm like all dressed up or anything, but
like >> But there used to be pajamas in the early days. >> I never imagined we would be on camera
every single week. [laughter] But it means so much to us. It's so many of you are showing up to listen to us every
single week. And now so many of you are tuning in to watch every week. And if you haven't hit subscribe yet on
YouTube, today is a great time to do it. Because this is a case where truly it has elements that you won't believe
until you see. And I bet this is a story that is going to sink its hooks into you
the way it has me. I mean, it's one of those where nothing makes sense and there are so many rabbit holes and red
herrings involving real-life struggles and supernatural beings that the lore of this story starts to become bigger than
the facts of the case. But if you ask me, the hard, cold facts tell a story of a family looking for a
fresh start. A family who was this close to getting it when something or someone intervened.
And if that's true, then someone is getting away with murder. Because these undetermined deaths are no longer being
actively [music] worked. Making me wonder if there will ever be justice for the Jameson family.
October 17th, 2009 isn't when the Jameson story begins. [music] But that is when everyone around them
first realizes that something's wrong. Because October 17th is when the Latimer County Sheriff's Office gets a call
about an abandoned pickup truck on Panola Mountain, which is a small part of the larger Sand Bois Mountain in
Latimer County, Oklahoma. This truck had been spotted there a few days earlier, but today was the day that someone
noticed a dog trapped inside the locked truck. By the time Sheriff Israel Beacham and a few of his deputies
arrive, it's already dark and they have to break a window to get the small emaciated dog out. Now, it's clear that
she had been in there for days and was on the verge of honestly death. But, the dog was maybe one of the least strange
things found in the vehicle. According to The Oklahoman, the keys are still in the ignition, even though the car was
locked. Someone's Blackberry was left behind along with a few coats and other items of clothing like a purse, $32,000
in cash in a bag under the seat, and IDs belonging to Sherilyn and Bobby Jameson.
Then there's a seven-page letter signed by Sherilyn to Bobby, who it becomes clear is her husband. Now, I have
highlighted some of these parts, but I'm going to have you read it. Bobby Jameson,
I'm writing you this letter with a spirit of truth and shame. I am asking you forgiveness for ever
coming into your life for everything that I have done to you that has hurt or offended you.
I also ask that you forgive me for the things that I have done to you that has offended God and the Holy Spirit.
You have broken my heart and called me names like [ __ ] [ __ ] and I rebuke you and pray for your soul.
You are a very toxic person. You need to find happiness. You contaminate everyone that you are
around. It breaks my heart and saddens my soul that you have turned into the monster
that you are. Thank God for It kind of cuts off. >> Yeah, like it the copy Yeah. Maybe you
and me both. That with the force that you beat me on the spine that I did not have a heart
attack or being paralyzed from the neck down. [music] You have tried to take my life on more
than one occasion. I would not wish my daughter to be raised in foster care because of you
being in prison for attempted murder and her mother [music] dead. You have put me in the corner so many
times that you have brought the worst out in me. There is no need to keep writing. I will
pour my pain out in my own journal. Thank you for my daughter. That's all God intended to happen. We were never
meant to be together. I fear for your soul. Signed, Sherilyn. Now, Beecham and his team know very
little about the James and family at this point. So, what this letter means or why there's so much cash in the car,
they don't know. I mean, all that attempted murder talk in the letter are like That would have me scared that this is
some kind of like family annihilator situation. >> That would be worst case scenario, but
they haven't found anything to prove that. Like there's no letter from Bobby back to her. There's no suicide note.
Though, deputies have been able to piece together that it was Bobby who brought them up there. It turns out he's spoken
to a realtor about some land that was for sale up there on the mountain. And the realtor said that she usually takes
people to go out and like look at the properties because they are pretty hard to find. This is a super undeveloped
rugged area, like rugged terrain. >> Mhm. But Bobby was pretty insistent that he
was going to take his family, his wife Sherilyn and their 6-year-old daughter Madison up there alone. Like if she
could just give him the coordinates, they'd be fine. So, she did. But that was back on October 8th. Now, when they
look at the Blackberry that was left behind, it has GPS and the coordinates for the land are in it. It looks like
they got up there on the 8th at around 2:15 p.m. But I'm not sure everything that comes after fits in with a plan for
Bobby to do something to his family. Because based on the GPS, it looks like they spent a little time just kind of
like walking around and exploring. I mean, they were looking at nearly 40 acres. And at one point, they actually
ended up taking a photo of Madison that has become infamous in this [music] case.
The picture was taken at 2:51 p.m. on the 8th and she's in front of this cluster of rocks like in the woods.
Now, it's clearly a candid photo. Her arms are like crossed. Her mouth's like a little bit open like maybe she was
about to smile or say something or was in the middle of saying something. And this is important to me because
authorities found this phone in the truck. Meaning that the Jamesons had the phone with them while they were out and
walking around. They know exactly where this picture was taken, but they had come back to the truck.
>> Right. Even the way the truck was facing, [music] it's on this like narrow one-lane road
with a 3-ft drop on either side and it's pointed like they were about to head down the mountain.
>> Like they were leaving. >> Yes. So, what stopped [music] them? Now, there's nothing in the
immediate area around the truck that would suggest something happened to the family there. No sign of a struggle, no
blood, but I will say there had been big rainstorms the last few days there that
could have washed away evidence if there was any to find. Either way, all signs point to bad and authorities need to get
boots on the ground and find the Jamesons because they're already days, if not a full week, behind and this
isn't going to be an easy search. This area on the mountain, I said, rugged terrain." And I do not mean that
lightly. This isn't a developed area with fully built homes or walking trails. This is middle of nowhere
country. And the people who live up there are living off the grid. In fact, that was Bobby and Sherilyn's plan.
[music] They were going to buy some land and live out of a shipping container and
home school Madison. Which honestly, when I heard the story years ago, back when I first learned about this case,
like I couldn't even wrap my head around that. Off-grid, I don't know, these days
is kind of sounding more like the way to go. But like they were excited about this plan. So over the next week or so,
massive searches start getting underway to find the family. They're combing the mountain up from the base through the
north side into an area called Smokestack Hollow. And not only are they dealing with the harsh environment as it
normally is, but those rainstorms that they had earlier make it so that they're slogging through mud and wet brush along
the way. But they search and search, and there is just not so much as a sign of this
family or what happened to them on the mountain. But that might be because the biggest
clues are actually buried in what was happening with the Jamesons before they ever even got to the mountain.
In the parks and forests you love, there are stories waiting to [music] be told.
I'm Dilia D'Ambra, the host of Park Predators, a true crime podcast that reminds you sometimes the most beautiful
places hide the darkest secrets. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Bobby and Sherilyn met around 2002, and
they were married in an out-of-state wedding in 2004. [music] But many people didn't approve. I
actually spoke to a source who knew Bobby before and after Sherilyn, and they say that Bobby completely changed
after getting with her. Before they said he was smart and creative, but they watched as he seemed to slip into
addiction alongside Sherilyn. Now, she had bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and ADHD, all of which she was
prescribed meds for, though she didn't always take them. And the addiction she had to painkillers may have at least
started as a way to self-medicate. Then in 2003, Bobby suffered a bad back injury, like from a car accident, and so
he began managing the chronic pain with pills, which was a slippery slope. Before he knew it, he was addicted to
pills, too. With neither of them working, money was getting tighter and tighter. Their nice
lake house in Eufaula, Oklahoma was getting tougher and tougher to afford, and their financial troubles were
putting a lot of stress on an already strained marriage. It seems like Bobby and Sherilyn may
have turned to lawsuits to solve some of their money problems. We know that Bobby
sued the people involved in his car accident, that was resolved in 2007, and there's other documentation showing that
he and Sherilyn were plaintiffs in a pair of civil suits. Then Sheriff Beecham told The Oklahoman
that just before Bobby and Sherilyn disappeared, they were planning to sue the Eufaula school district, but he
didn't know what for. I'm assuming it had something to do with Madison. People online do a lot of guessing, but the
truth is that we weren't able to talk to anyone who really knows what that was about. But there is one more documented
lawsuit that I found really interesting, because it was ongoing at the time that
they disappeared, and the person that Bobby was suing was his own father, Bob Jamison.
The claim started in 2008, and it all boiled down to this gas station Bob owned. Bobby claimed that he worked for
his dad at the gas station for free because his dad always told him that he would give him an ownership stake of the
station when he sold it. But apparently that never happened. >> [music] >> And then it just got uglier from there.
We spoke to Bobby's uncle, Jack, and he told us that Bob warned him Sherilyn was, quote unquote, dangerous. And Jack
took that to mean physically because Bob told him this story about her pulling a
gun on someone. But, she may have seemed dangerous in other ways to him, too, because I spoke to someone who said that
Sherilyn was spreading rumors that Bob was in the mafia, which from Bobby's POV made his dad the dangerous one. And one
point during the ongoing legal battle, he filed for a protective order against his father claiming that he had tried to
kill him on at least two occasions. Once in November 2008 when Bob allegedly hit
him with a car, and again in April 2009. But, I don't know what happened in that
second incident. But, a protective order was issued following that in May of 2009. This is just 5 months before the
Jamesons went missing. So, maybe because of all of this going on or in spite of it, it seems that by the end
of the summer, at least, Sherilyn had gone off her meds, and [music] clearly the effects were having a major impact.
Now, she had another child, an older son from a previous marriage, and he told author Jake Anderson in his book The
Vanishing at Smokestack Hollow that Sherilyn had started physically abusing him.
So, in August, he was removed from her care and sent to live with his dad. Then in September, Sherilyn attempted
suicide and was hospitalized for 3 weeks. That same month, something strange started happening. The shipping
container that the family planned to live in was sitting near the driveway at their lake house property,
and Sherilyn started spray painting it with messages. Things like, "Three cats killed to date by people in this area."
And "Witches don't like their black cat killed." And did she claim to be a witch? So, this is the thing. I've heard
a lot of different things, but her friend Nikki told people that she did this because a cat of hers had died. She
thought it was the neighbors, >> [music] >> and she just wanted to scare them to
like make people think that she was someone that they wouldn't want to mess with.
I didn't see any sign of her actually practicing witchcraft. In fact, in the time leading up to their disappearance,
there is evidence that they were gravitating to more traditional religious outlets, but still with a
really dark focus. You see, inside their house investigators found pamphlets and books
about death and the end of the world. There were Bibles around the house that had highlighted verses that talk about
the apocalypse. Deputies learned that recently the Jamesons started going to this
Seventh-day Adventist Church, and a month before they disappeared, they'd apparently reached out to the pastor
asking for help with a really concerning problem. [music] He said Sherilyn told him that Madison
was speaking to two children, and then Sherilyn's sister Marla, who had died 2 years earlier.
And Bobby told the pastor that he was looking for some kind of like special bullets to kill demons, and he was
reading a Satanic Bible to learn how to get rid of spirits. So, is [music] is Bobby like humoring Sherilyn, or is he
like all in on on believing this? >> It seems like he really believes it. Because as easy as it would be to write
this all off as just like nonsense from someone who is off their meds, there are
some weird things that I have to tell you. So, we talked to Sherilyn's friend Nikki. I I mentioned that earlier. And
she says that they told her about the spirits, too. And she says that she definitely believed that the Jamesons'
house was haunted, because every time she visited them over the summer of 2008, there was just this heaviness in the
house that she said made her sick to her stomach. And there was one moment in particular that really freaked her out.
Nikki says that she and her husband were sitting with Sherilyn in the Jamesons' living room,
and Nikki could see this like huge gray mist floating down the stairs slowly. And she said literally the hairs on the
back of her neck stood straight up, and then she just watched it until it disappeared near the bottom of the
stairs. I'm sorry, like paging Russia and Eva, like did this just turn into a so
supernatural? >> like, what? >> I don't know. And I Listen, I know people will roll their eyes, whatever.
This is These are people's own experiences. But it's really hard to write off the next thing, which
brings me all the way up to October 8th, the day that the family goes missing. Police docs show that Bobby called the
realtor, whose name is Peggy, to ask about the land for sale at around 8:00 a.m.
>> Mhm. Per a written statement from her, Bobby told her that they were really interested in living off the grid. They
spoke for like 2 hours, and in this conversation he talked about Madison and how smart she was and how he was excited
to home-school her, and he assured Peggy that he knew what they were getting into.
And she said that he sounded excited, but nothing really jumped out at her. It was like many of the conversations she
had with people about selling land. So, that call ends at 10:00 a.m. At 10:30, things get weird.
The Jamesons had a surveillance system set up around their home. And when police pulled the footage from that
morning, it shows the family loading up their truck from like [music] 10:30 to 11:00.
Except they're not really loading much. It's like the most eerie thing, Brett. Now, there were only clips of this video
that live online today. As far as I could tell, the full video that captured like multiple angles during this time
has never been released. And when we tried to FOIA them, we were told that the original no longer exists
because apparently a flood at the department where it was stored ruined it. But in the little bit that was released
to the media and that has survived, you can see Bobby and Sherilyn walking back and forth [music] to the
truck over and over and over. But no one can figure out why. Like the truck doors appear to be open, but it's
not like they're loading it up. Most of the time they're walking back and forth with nothing in their hands.
Though at one point, authorities say that they see Sherilyn take what looks like a brown briefcase type thing, like
a bag to the pickup truck. Now, I don't see a clear moment of that in the short clips we have.
If it is included in what we're looking at, I'm thinking it might be right here at this moment. You can kind of see like
I don't know if you see that, like a shadow, right? Like on the side of Sherilyn by like by her legs.
>> Yeah. But the footage just like isn't great quality. So like it's it's really hard
to tell. Now this video has become hugely sensationalized because this idea has kind of gotten perpetuated that the
way they were walking was like they were in a trance. Which makes for good TV when you've got
talk of witches and demon killing bullets. But I'm a little reluctant to go all in
on that based on what I've seen. >> I mean yeah, I mean I can hardly tell anything from this like kind of really
short loop of footage. Right. And I don't know what's been manipulated or cut. >> Right. Or even if like these are like
consecutive. >> Right. We can't even see timestamps. So I don't know what to make of it. But,
what I know is that after a full half hour of this, that's when they set off to make the about 1-hour drive to the
coordinates that they've been given. But, they make a few stops first to go look at some other land, which suggests
to me that this idea of buying the land and the reason they're going up there isn't some ruse.
>> Right, like it's a legit. Even more evidence of that is the fact that on their way up the mountain, they stopped
at the home of this guy named Dan Clemmons. He lived on the mountain just a quarter of a mile from where the
Jamesons' truck would be found. And in Dan's written statement, he said that he talked to the family for like 45 minutes
before they headed up to the property. He was like telling them, you know, about what
it's like to live up there, whatever. >> land type stuff. >> Yeah, and he told them to stop by on
their way out, but he says they just >> [music] >> never did. Now, we know they arrive at the 40-acre
property at 2:15. 2:51, that photograph of Madison was taken. And then poof, the entire family is just
>> [music] >> gone. All of their stuff just left behind. Well, all their stuff that is, except
one thing. [music] The brown bag that authorities say Sherilyn was seen carrying to the truck
in the surveillance footage is not [music] found. I mean, do they know what was or
what might have been in it? No, that's like that's the question. And [music] no one is ever going to know
for sure because spoiler alert, to this day, that bag has never been found. But,
Sheriff Beecham told the Oklahoman back in the day that he thinks the bag could have had money in it. Now, how much and
what was the money for? >> Mhm. This is where we can spiral. Remember how there was like almost $32,000 under
the seat like when the car was found? Yeah, cuz that's like a lot of cash. Right, so like that's the kind of thing
that will make you think that this isn't something involving foul play, like at the hands of a stranger, right? Because
like who is going to kill an entire family and not take the $32,000 in cash. >> Right. Well, now Sheriff Beachum
wouldn't return our calls, but I did catch a recent interview that he did on a podcast called I Don't Drink Coffee,
where he dives into his theory a little bit. So, remember the lawsuit that Bobby
filed after he was hurt in the car accident? >> Yeah. So, Bobby's mom, Star, apparently
told investigators that he got a $64,000 settlement for that, and that he and Sherilyn split it down the middle. So,
$32,000 each. >> Correct. So, the theory that kind of gets floated is that maybe someone did
make away with $32,000 or something around there. >> In the purse or the bag? >> They just didn't know that there was a
whole second bag of money kind of hidden away in the truck. >> Mhm. Now, the only issue I have with that
though is that is a lot of cash to just be sitting on from 2007 when that lawsuit settled to October of 2009,
especially if there really were all these substance use problems. Not that it can't be done, but I don't know,
they're having financial troubles, yet they're like just sitting on >> like cash.
>> For how long, Leah? Just it's weird to me. Yeah. Now, others have speculated that maybe it was drugs that was in the
brown briefcase. [music] And that's usually from the camp of people who see the surveillance footage, and they don't
think that they're in a trance, but rather they think they may be drugged out, which is what a psychologist at the
sheriff's office brought in believed and told them. Which is just as, if not more, plausible. [music] I mean, you
think about it, like how this all played out. There's a half an hour between when
Bobby gets off the phone with Peggy and then when he is seen on the camera. And I say that because like she doesn't make
any indication that he is speaking strangely, that he's sounding intoxicated. >> Right, like it's a very normal
conversation with her with like a possible buyer. >> saying if he if you're going to say then
like a half hour later he's like in a trance or so drugged out that he's acting weird. Like there's a short
window of time where like something might have happened like after he got off the phone with Right, there's like
this gap. >> Right, and he could have taken something. So like she doesn't know what
he's like high or not, right? Like >> Right, for sure. Like I mean, he could have been high functioning. I think the
thing that I take issue with is there's to me a big difference between having an
hours-long conversation with someone and like I said and then behaving in a way that some people would characterize it
as being in a trance, right? Like there has to be like something that happened. >> be a shift between those two times.
>> Right. Ghosts, is it drugs? Otherwise like whatever, which makes me go back to
questioning even the basis of this. Like that video. Again, I'm not seeing weird movements or
actions from the short clips that we have. I like I'm kind of taking law enforcement at their word here that the
way they were moving was super weird. If there is a a world where their movements
over the full video weren't all that weird and and this is something that has just gotten blown up over the years,
then they might have been in perfectly fine condition and then nothing weird happened after the call with the
realtor. They were just >> [music] >> getting ready to leave. And I like to say like getting ready to leave with
like a small child Yes. >> which is not the easiest, most clear-cut, direct thing to ever do.
Totally fair, but but but usually if I've got if I'm thinking about like the stuff that like holds me up with Joe,
it's like I'm It's stuff. It's >> It is. It's the stuff. It's the it's the not having stuff that I think is
>> is the weirdest part of it. >> Odd, yeah. But if we are talking drugs in Oklahoma in 2009, meth is what
everyone was concerned about. Use and production was rising at the time and locals actually told us that the
northern part of these mountains in particular are known for illegal activity like drugs and dumping. So,
weird behavior, large amounts of cash, for a moment even the police think maybe this whole property sale thing was a
ruse and they were really going up the mountain to make some kind of drug deal. But, authorities debunk this one pretty
quickly because they don't find any illegal drugs in the Jamesons' house or their truck.
And they're not finding any evidence that Bobby or Sherilyn were illegal drug dealers or users. It seems like
everything that they were on was prescription. Though I will say Bobby's uncle Jack told us that he thought Bobby
was using something other than painkillers. But, not enough for their home or truck
to show signs of that. >> Right. So, I don't think that it was drugs in Sherilyn's bag.
Now, the only other thing that might have been in the bag, the only other thing that has never been found,
>> [music] >> is a .22 caliber gun that Sherilyn owned. Like drugs or money, we can't confirm
that she took it up the mountain with her that day. We just know that it is totally MIA.
It wasn't in the home when they searched it, and it wasn't in the truck. So, was it money? Was it a gun? Was it some
combination of things in that bag? I don't know. But, knowing everything you do now, you
might see why many in the public start honing in on a theory >> [music] >> that it was actually Sherilyn, off her
meds, having recently been suicidal, that picked out this plot of land, wrote a scathing letter to her husband that
she read all the way up there, and then once they got to the right place, she enacted some kind of murder-suicide
plot. Okay, but then where are they? That's the big hole, right? Why can't anyone find them after weeks [music] and
then months of searching. Well, and it doesn't make sense to me at least why you'd leave your dog locked in the car.
Like that's a prolonged death sentence for the pup. Like Yeah. Not to get graphic, but if the dog was shot, like
that's one thing. Like that's like everybody then. No, I know exactly what you mean. Like let the dog run free.
Leave the dog at home. Or like do a million other things, but this seems like the cruelest thing.
>> Yeah. And everyone who talked about the family said that Madison loved that dog.
Like she would not have gone anywhere without it. So it's just like another part that does not add up.
>> Yeah. Other things that don't add up to me are like the key being in the ignition and almost all of their things
being back in the car. Like if she wanted to take her family out to the wilderness and end things,
then why wouldn't the phone still be with them? Like why not the keys? They went back to the truck. They had to have
gotten in and then turned around so they were ready to go down this one-lane mountain road.
Then something happened to them. Like that like it doesn't fit for me. >> Well, that's assuming this was a
murder-suicide. Like what if that briefcase she had had the gun, had the money, and she was going to disappear.
Well, that would have been a plausible theory. I mean really for either Sherilyn or
Bobby. But that stops being a plausible theory in 2013. Because that's when the entire family is
actually found. Not too far from where their abandoned truck stood four years earlier.
On November 16th, 2013, this is four years after the Jamesons disappeared, a man named Tim Graham is with his wife
and family on their annual hunting trip to the mountain. They're just looking for signs of deer when Tim sees
something strange in the brush about like 50 yards away from a gravel road. He looks [music] like a turtle shell at
first. I mean it's weathered, discolored, and a little stuck to the ground. But when he picks it up, he realizes
that it is a skull. And there is a small hole near the forehead. Now Tim immediately puts it down and
yells to his wife, but then he sees another one like a slightly smaller one. And then as the family is trying to get
out of there and to go tell someone what they found, Tim's wife spots a >> [music]
>> third really small skull with two front teeth missing. And her mind immediately goes to the Jamisons
because she remembers seeing missing persons posters for the family. Madison's toothless grin is seared in
her brain. And in that moment, she says to her husband, "Oh my goodness, I believe we
just found that family that was missing." And she was right. Now there wasn't much
left out there, just an arm and a leg bone, a left boot, scraps of another boot, and a child shoe, but nothing
else. No briefcase, no gun, and after about 7 months of analysis in June 2014, they're able to
confirm that they found the entire family just 2.6 miles from where their truck was found.
Like 2.6 like 2 and 1/2 miles away. That's it. Which like I know this sounds like nothing to us like flat-landed folk
who like live in the Midwest. >> 5 miles for ages. Fields and fields, but Beecham said that to go from where their
truck was found to where their skulls were recovered, like as the crow flies, it would take like a half day for
someone who is in great shape to hike, which makes this location all the more strange because Bobby was not in great
shape. He had chronic back pain. And I >> don't know if you've tried hiking with a
6-year-old recently, but like in this area that would slow you way down. Most people don't think there is any way that
they got to that location on their own. And [music] this completely nixes the murder-suicide theory. Like it has to be
foul play. But for some reason, it like it doesn't for some people, right? So like
let's talk theories like and what works and what doesn't [music] work. So first,
the murder-suicide theory. People still point to Sherilyn's mental instability and like that hate letter is
what they call it, the one that was in the truck, as proof that she killed her family and herself. Okay, but if they
never found a gun and they can't determine a cause of death, that seems like it takes away all of the elements
that you need to make murder-suicide work. If it was a gun that was used and if they were shot in the head.
>> wasn't there a hole in Bobby's head? Well, yeah, but they officially say that
that hole is from animal activity. But like I'm with you like you could have been shot in like the fleshy parts of
your body that like you wouldn't see from the few pieces that they were able to collect, but even then like you
should see bullet fragments and [music] a gun >> left behind. But I mean, kind of going
back to what like if a gun was used, right? Like that's not the only way it could have gone down. Yes and no. Like I
kind of disagree because like unless mom and dad were in on this together and like quite literally drinking the
Kool-Aid, you have to do something quick like a gun. Like I don't think you can overpower the other parent and kill
Madison without being stopped. You know what I mean? >> Yeah. And so much of what we know
doesn't make sense with this to me. Like why are the keys and the phone back in the truck? Why was the truck positioned
like it was going back down the mountain? Where is the brown briefcase? >> Well, and
I don't know. Like what if someone came across the remains or the briefcase and just
never reported it. Especially the briefcase. Especially if the briefcase had money in it.
>> in it. Yeah, I mean, I could see that for this area, but it seems more likely
to me that it would have been left in the truck and then someone rifled through that once they'd seen the truck
unoccupied for a couple of days and they just like make a quick grab for the briefcase, maybe miss the fact that
there's other money under the seat. But like in that case again, they're not like running off with stuff like where
they are where the remains are, you know what I mean? >> Right. But like whatever someone taking
the brown bag solves, it solves none of the other problems I have with this story. How did they get to where they
were? Because I don't believe that they walked. Especially if this was a plan that just one of them had. Like, "Okay,
can you please leave your keys in the ignition, $32,000 under the seat, and your GPS behind, and let's just like
take a walk into the wilderness?" Like Right. >> No, that is going to raise like all
sorts of alarm bells. >> 1,000%. So, theory number two, misadventure. And >> [music]
>> misadventure, this idea that they like somehow got stuck out there and died, it
doesn't work for me for all the same reasons above. Yeah. But okay, say they were high or something. They're doing
things that don't make sense. Actually, this is the only theory where the strange surveillance footage makes
>> [music] >> like even a little bit of sense or like contributes to something I think.
In every other scenario, that's the thing that is like always this weird outlier.
>> But like okay, whatever. Say you're high, you're acting weird before you even get there, you spend your time in
the mountains and you're about to leave and go down the mountain and you're like, "You know what? Nope. Like let's
just start walking into the great wide nowhere without our coats or a phone or anything else that we previously brought
and used with us for the first time that we're exploring this place." Because remember, they did bring their
Blackberry with GPS when they were walking between 2:15 and 2:50. So, like they were using their GPS before. But,
you know what? Let's just do it without it for the funsies. Say all that happened. Here's the thing that doesn't
make sense to me. I don't think they would all die and end up in the same place.
>> [music] >> Like, if that's the scenario. Wait. No, because they'd have to like they're all
their their remains are all found together at the same place, suggesting they like died at the same time in the
same place. And also, with this theory, I'm thinking like that means that they're high from the time that they
leave the house to the time they get to the mountain. We know that they go to a couple different Like wait. plots of
land first. They talk to a guy on the mountain for like 45 minutes before they get to their like final location.
It just like that that feels like it would flat like that would flag somewhere along the way, right? I would
think. Again, this does not add up for me. Which brings me to theory number three,
>> [music] >> which is foul play. This is the only theory that I think works because it's the only one where
most of the pieces we have fit together. The Jamesons have come to the mountain.
They looked around. They'd gotten back in their truck and turned around ready to go home,
but then they were stopped somehow. Maybe it was innocent at first, or maybe there was
no niceties and they were forced out of their truck with like the threat of violence. Either way, I think they get
out so quickly that Bobby doesn't even pull the key out of the ignition or grab his phone, and they leave their dog
inside the car. >> [music] >> Then, I think they're driven somewhere else and eventually killed. Which like
you said, this is the theory that fits the most pieces, but there's still kind of a
gaping hole in the theory. Like, who would know that they would be out there then? That is the key to
everything. But, it's a short list. So, remember, barely anyone knew that the family was
even gone. Like they didn't It wasn't like abnormal for them to go away for a couple of days. It's why they didn't get
reported missing before their truck is found. So, >> [music] >> it's not like they checked in a lot with
people or had anyone really keeping tabs on them. So, really there's only like two people
close to them that authorities look at. And then people who were up on the mountain. Now, of the two people who are
close to the family, there's no evidence that they actually knew where the Jamisons were headed on October 8th. But
those are just the two people who might have had motives. They have to look at those people. Now, the first is Bobby's
dad because of the lawsuit and the protective order. But by the time the Jamisons went missing, Bob's health was
deteriorated and he was actually living in like a nursing home or some kind of like hospice care. [music] And he was so
sick that he could barely take care of himself, let alone hike a mountain or hurt his son and his family. And there
is no evidence that he could be tied to their disappearance in any [music] way. So, authorities rule him out pretty
quick. And Bob actually passed away just 2 months after they all went missing in
December 2009. So, the second person that they look at who had a personal connection to the family was this guy
named Kenneth Bellows. He actually lived with the family at their lake house in Eufaula over the
summer. The boarding arrangement was part of his compensation for helping them with things around the house since
Bobby's back pain had gotten so bad that he couldn't do much. But there was a huge falling out because
apparently Kenneth told Sherilyn that he was a white supremacist and said that people who had Native American heritage,
like she did, should die. So, Sherilyn ended up shooting at him and kicking him out of the house.
But in the end, Kenneth ends up providing the sheriff's office with a really solid alibi. And I don't think
they could even prove that he knew where the family was going that day since he'd
been kicked out weeks before and hadn't had contact with the family since. So, both dad and [music]
Kenneth cleared, which means that either leaves someone else who they knew personally who just hasn't come up in
the investigation or someone who lived on the mountain. Whichever it is, there might be someone
out there who has the answer. You see, Israel Beecham has retired from the sheriff's office.
But in his 2020 podcast interview with the host of I don't drink coffee, he said in no uncertain terms that he
believes the Jamesons were murdered and he even thinks he knows who killed them.
He just had no way to prove it. And he said he thinks someone shot Bobby and Sherilyn and then just left Madison on
her own to die. >> [music] >> And when it came to why, all he would say is follow the money.
And that's the thing I keep coming back to. Why did they have that much money in
their car anyways? I mean, this wasn't like an uber wealthy couple with cash just like coming out of their ears.
I think it's risky to drive around with that much money. Like, you know, maybe $32,000, maybe more. That's not
something you do unless you're intending to use that money. Don't you think? >> say without like intention. Like to take
it somewhere, to deposit it, for it to change hands. >> And we know that they were going up
there to possibly make a purchase. So, who knew that they were coming up there to make a purchase?
The answer is two people. One, the realtor Peggy, and two, Dan Clements, the local
landowner. And there's something I didn't tell you about Dan. He actually claims to have seen the
family on two different days. According to his statement, the Jameson family was
up on the mountain the day before they got the coordinates from Peggy. Apparently, they had seen the property
online and they decided to just like drive up and check it out on their own. But according to him, they had trouble
finding it. So, they pulled up to his place, likely since he was like the nearest house to, you know, where the
property was. It was like a quarter mile away. And they were asking for directions, he says.
And he says he talked to them that time for like an hour about, you know, building off-grid, like herbal
medicines. And he is the one who ended up giving them Peggy's number to call the next day. He's like, "Listen, you
contact her, come back in the morning." Cuz it was like 6:00 p.m. by that point.
Like So, by the time they're done talking, it's like 7:00. It's like getting dark. He's like, "It's not even
safe for you to be out here exploring the mountain in the [music] dark." So, he says they leave. He says they do stop
by the next day at around noon, where they speak for another 45 minutes. And then the family headed up to check out
the land. Now, remember he told them to stop back by, but he that they never did. But he says they never did. Right.
Now, right away this is a little off to me because if they are talking to him, he
says they start talking around like noon. If they're talking to him to like 12:45, why does their GPS say that they
make it to the land at 2:15? Where are they for the like hour and a half in between?
>> Right. >> We're a quarter of a mile from where their truck is. And you know, were his times just off?
Like, maybe. Either way, he apparently wasn't concerned when they didn't stop back by and wasn't concerned that he
never heard from them again. And it's worth pointing out that if all of Dan's statements are true, like
this makes the murder-suicide theory even less plausible to me. Cuz like, why not do it the day before when like
Peggy doesn't even know you're out there, right? The realtor. Like, they're spending a lot of time talking to people
about buying this land. Yes. Finding the exact location. Like, you don't need any of that if you just
want to go to the woods. Go to the middle of nowhere for this like murder-suicide plan.
>> Totally. Everything about the circumstances makes me believe that they were up there to buy land. Planning for
their future. And on October 8th, something or someone stopped them. Now, based on Peggy's statement to police,
someone alerts her to the Jamesons' truck being there on the 15th. This is 2 days before this story started.
And I guess at the time she was like, "Oh, no biggie. Whatever. The family probably just wanted to take a second
look at the land. Happens all the time." So, she didn't do anything. But then, 2 days pass, and it's the 17th at 3:00
p.m. when Dan is first alerted to the truck being there. And he asked some questions about the
truck, like specific like features or whatever, and he realizes that the description sounds like the family that
he had talked to. So, he gets super worried then and calls Peggy. Peggy apparently tries the family. She
couldn't reach them. And so, he called then another neighbor to ask that neighbor to go look at the truck with
him. But by the time they go up there together, it's 5:30 p.m. And that's when Dan says that he first saw the abandoned
truck for himself. But he doesn't call police right away. He does his own search looking for the
family first. And Peggy is actually the one who ends up calling the deputies, who then arrive at the truck at around
7:30 p.m. Here's what I find odd. One, why not call the authorities yourself? Like Peggy's the one that has to do
that. Like the second you hear about this trapped dog and you're admitting that you're making this connection to
the Jamesons, like why wait? Two, I find it super weird that he wanted to wait for a friend to go look
at the truck with him. Like there is no context in the report for why he did this. Like
you know, maybe he didn't have a vehicle of any kind. Or maybe he wanted someone
else to find it. Right. He's like creating this distance between like himself and the truck. Like
>> This has me wondering like was there any way he could have been behind the first call on the 15th? Like
hey, there's this truck up here like trying to get someone else to get up there then? I don't see evidence of that. I
had literally had the same thought, but that there that call came from another landowner in the area who is named. So,
if he was like if there's a world where he was behind it, he would have had to get that person to call and there again,
like I said, there's no evidence that that happened. The thing I'll say though is like who
isn't named are the two people on the four-wheelers that apparently alerted him to the truck on the 17th.
>> Mhm. From what I have, I can't tell if police ever even identify those men, if they
ever talked to them to verify Dan's story. My biggest question too is about the long conversations they had. [music]
They talked for an hour the first day, 45 minutes the next day. So, at any point did it come up that
they would be traveling up there with cash? Did it come up that nobody would really
know where they were? >> Mhm. We couldn't reach Dan for this episode, so we couldn't ask him ourselves [music]
what those conversations were. And do we know was the truck ever processed for like prints or anything? Like could they
tell if someone else drove it? Or cuz like maybe there's a scenario where the family left on their own or
otherwise and someone brought the truck back to this area later. >> Yeah, so according to police doc, they
did process the truck, but it doesn't go into detail about what was found. So, I
don't know if they got anything good, I don't know if they got anything to compare to anyone, I don't know if it
was like all wiped down. And then based on what we have when it comes to Dan, it just says that they thoroughly
checked him with {quote} negative results. But we looked into Dan Clemons ourselves when we were reporting on this
case in late 2025 [music] and we found something pretty interesting. A man with the same name and the right age was
arrested in 2017 for killing a man back in 1997. Now, we haven't confirmed whether these are the same people since
Dan would not return our calls, but we showed Sherlyn's friend Nikki this guy's mugshot and she confirmed that that is
the same man she knew as Dan Clements who she had interactions with on the mountain while searching for the
Jamesons. >> So, this '97 homicide, like it is it similar? Do we know much about it?
>> know a ton. All I was able to find was that So, like you said, it happened in
'97 and a man named David McCloud was found shot to death at his ranch in California. Nothing is taken from the
house, but his killer took his truck and drove it up to San Francisco and must have fled or whatever cuz they end
up arresting this Dan Clements guy in Oklahoma. This is where like our story takes place, where he'd been living
under a fake name. And the Trinity Journal reported that Dan ultimately pled no contest of voluntary
manslaughter and got 3 years in prison as part of a plea deal. I mean, okay. I assume police would have known
about this at the time though. I would hope so if it was in fact the same Dan >> right.
But, it's not mentioned anywhere in the reports that we've gotten. All we see when it comes to Dan is that they
thoroughly checked him with negative results. >> Which like I still don't even know what
that means, but did they thoroughly check anyone else on the mountain? I'm sure they talked to as many people as
they could. Like, I don't know, I don't have a list of everyone, but I do know one person because we tracked her down.
Her name is Ann Marie Deuhan. And I specifically tracked her down because as we were reporting on this, I heard this
rumor that her and her family moved off the mountain not long after the Jamesons
went missing. So, people were wondering if her and her husband might have been involved. And I actually found this
like, you know, these are rumors now, but I found a tip in the file that someone had made about them back in
2010. But our reporter Shara Adams tracked Ann down and she says that deputies did question her about the
Jamesons' disappearance. And she just laughed in their face, she said. She says that her and her family moved
off the mountain in the fall of 2010 because they'd been homeschooling their children and they wanted to move the
kids like back down so they could go to school. Though, that's not quite how her
daughter remembers it. When I talked to her daughter, she told us that her parents were not good people and that
they moved off the mountain so abruptly that they left a bunch of their stuff. But Ann was never named as a suspect and
she denies having anything to do with what happened to the Jamesons. So, I'm sure there are even more stories like
that. I just haven't been able to track down every person who is on the mountain
cuz turns out living off the grid makes it kind of hard to find you. Off the grid is off the grid.
>> Truly. Now, if anyone on the mountain did it, I have to believe the motive was
money. Beecham said, "Follow the money." But to who? Like I said, he never got back to us for
this episode. But Bobby's uncle Jack really wants to know what more Beecham knows that he hasn't shared in all these
years. Maybe all the pieces are there. Maybe they're just held by different [music] people. The problem is it
doesn't seem like anyone is really investigating this. It's that weird catch-22 we often see where the ME
classified these deaths as undetermined. So, there is no homicide that is being investigated.
All the investigative files we have were from when this was a missing persons case.
Now, it's just in limbo. Meaning that if Bobby, Sherilyn, and Madison were killed by someone,
that someone has gotten away with murder. But it doesn't always have to be that way. So, if you know anything that could
change the status of this case, you can contact the Latimer County Sheriff's Office at 918
465-4013.

In October 2009, the abandoned truck belonging to Bobby Jamison, Sherilynn Jamison, and their 6-year-old daughter Madyson Jamison was discovered on Panola Mountain in Latimer County, Oklahoma. Inside the truck, the keys were still in the ignition, their dog was trapped inside, barely alive, personal belongings were left behind, and $32,000 in cash sat untouched beneath a seat. But the Jamison family was gone.

In this episode, Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat dive deep into one of the most baffling disappearance cases in modern true crime, a case filled with strange behavior, conflicting theories, missing evidence, and unanswered questions that still haunt Oklahoma investigators today.

They explore the Jamison family’s plans to move off-grid in the Sans Bois Mountains, the eerie surveillance footage captured hours before they vanished, the handwritten letter found inside the truck, the family’s fears involving spirits, paranoia, and threats, the missing briefcase and missing firearm connected to the case, and the theories investigators have explored over the last 15 years.

This case also examines the rugged terrain surrounding Panola Mountain near Red Oak, Oklahoma, the timeline of the family’s final known movements on October 8, 2009, the eventual discovery that changed the investigation years later, and why authorities still believe there may be more to this story than the public knows.

What happened to the Jamison family? Did they encounter someone on the mountain? Were they targeted for money? Or is there another explanation entirely? -------- Follow Crime Junkie: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crimejunkiepodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrimeJunkiePodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrimeJunkiePod Crime Junkie is created and hosted by Ashley Flowers.

About Ashley Flowers Ashley Flowers is the top female podcaster in the U.S. and the host of Crime Junkie, the #1 podcast among women and the #1 true crime podcast globally. As the Founder of Audiochuck, she has built a top-tier podcast production company that has garnered over 2.6 billion downloads, captivating audiences with its gripping storytelling through 10+ chart topping podcasts. Ashley and her team are dedicated to creating responsible true crime content that respects victims and their families.

Follow Ashley: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ASHLEYFLOWERS/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ash_flowers TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ashleyflowerscrimejunkie Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleyflowers.af/

Check out these other great crime channels: @annieelise Disney Cruise Busted, Missing Scientist & Makayla Settles’ Dad Pleads Guilty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpZDYscRNJ4 @kallmekris The Life & Mysterious Death Of Natalie Wood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH9VDbSiEhw @KendallRae Her Stalker Was Found Too Late: The Murder Of Kristil Krug https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp-kNjjrWW0 @bellafiori The Case of Russell Stager https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0LoFOvK358

Brief Summary

The Jameson family vanished in 2009, leaving behind an abandoned truck and unsettling clues, leading to theories of foul play and mystery.

Key points

500,000 Subscribers Celebration. Ashley and Britt celebrate a major milestone for their podcast.
The Mysterious Jameson Case. A family goes missing under strange circumstances, raising questions about their fate.
Eerie Experiences. Friends recount strange occurrences in the Jameson household, hinting at something darker.
The Mysterious Brown Bag. Authorities are puzzled by the disappearance of a brown bag Sherilyn carried, which has never been found. 'Do they know what was in it? That's the question.'
Discovery of the Jameson Family. In 2013, the remains of the Jameson family are discovered, reigniting questions about their disappearance. 'Oh my goodness, I believe we just found that family that was missing.'
Theories of Foul Play. The theory of foul play emerges as the only one that fits most pieces of the puzzle. 'This is the only theory that I think works.'

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I fear for your soul.

A poignant line from Sherilyn's letter

4:41WatchMay 25, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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