True Crime Collection

Jamison Family

The Jamison family of Eufaula, Oklahoma, United States, consisting of Bobby, his wife Sherilyn, and daughter Madyson, mysteriously disappeared on 8th October, 2009. The initial investigation into the Jamison family's disappearance indicated that they had probably not vanished of their own accord. The Jamisons' pick up truck was discovered within a few days, abandoned in Latimer County, Oklahoma, a short distance south of the town of Kinta. The Jamisons' bodies were not found, but their malnourished dog, Maisie, was still in the truck. Also discovered were the Jamisons' IDs, wallets, mobile phones, a GPS system, and about $32,000 in cash. The Jamisons were known for carrying large amounts of cash with them. Another clue was the surveillance video from the family's home security system. The footage, time stamped the day they left, showed the couple making several silent trips between their vehicle and home, as they methodically packed to leave. In the footage, the couple's movements were described as "trancelike". The video also shows Sherilyn Jamison place a brown briefcase in the family pick up. Former Sheriff Beauchamp remarked that he believed the briefcase maybe an important clue. Indeed, both the briefcase and Sherilyn's small caliber handgun have never been recovered.

The skeletal remains of two adults and one child were discovered  by two hunters in a remote spot in Latimer County on 15th/16th November 2013, more than 4 years after the family went missing, and less than 3 miles away from where the family's pick up truck had been abandoned. The remains were widely presumed to be those of the missing family, though the Oklahoma medical examiner's office had to use anthropological and forensic pathological testing to identify them. Officials confirmed on 3rd July, 2014 that the remains belonged to the Jamisons. A cause of death was not determined due to the heavily decomposed state of the bodies.

Before the remains were discovered, several theories emerged about the family's disappearance, such as that they had faked their own deaths, were in witness protection, were murdered, or had died by group suicide. Shortly before the disappearance, Bobby Jamison was involved in a bitter lawsuit with his father, Bob Dean Jamison, claiming that Bob Dean had threatened the family. Bobby stated that his father had struck him with his vehicle on 1st November, 2008 and that Bob Dean was involved in gangs and meth. Police do not believe that Bobby's father was involved in the family's disappearance.

Another popular theory was that the Jamisons were involved in drug dealing. Investigators cited the large amount of cash found in the Jamisons' truck, and the apparent strange behaviour exhibited by Bobby and Sherilyn shortly before they went missing. The Jamisons had reportedly told their local pastor Gary Brandon on separate  occasions that they had seen spirits inside their home.

The Jamison disappearance was profiled on the Investigation Discovery series Disappeared in late 2010, in an episode titled "Paradise Lost".