Published: October 22, 2009 10:17 am      

Mystery deepens as search for family expands

An expanded search is set Friday for a missing family from the Eufaula area, whose pickup was found abandoned along a road in a remote area of Latimer County.

Members of the missing family were identified as Bobby Jameson, Cheryl Lynn Jameson and their 5-year-old child, identified as Madison. The family was identified as having a home in the Sandy Bass Bay area northeast of Eufaula.

They have been missing for approximately two weeks.

“Their white pickup was found on Panola Mountain, near Red Oak,” said Latimer County Sheriff’s Sgt. Chuck Wells. Law enforcement officers found the pickup Saturday parked on a dirt road in an isolated area near a well-site where a natural gas drilling rig had once been, according to Wells.

“When their pickup truck was found, there was a little dog inside that was still alive,” Wells said.

Law enforcement officers also found a sizable amount of cash in the pickup, he said.

Asked if investigators knew what the McIntosh County family had been doing in the area, Wells said “I do know that according to witnesses, they were interested in buying some land.”

It’s uncertain exactly how long the family has been missing.

“It was reported to us on Saturday, Oct. 17,” Wells said. “Some people called and said a vehicle had been sitting by the side of the road for some time with an animal in it.

“They didn’t give any indication it had been there for more than a few hours,” Wells said.

However, the caller later phoned back and said the pickup had been there for a number of days, according to Wells.

Latimer County Sheriff Israel Beachum, Undersheriff Matt Bohn and other officers headed toward the scene when they learned how long the pick-up had been at the site, according to Wells.

“We found the truck,” Wells said. “By the time we got mobilized, it was full dark.”

Investigators later learned the pick-up had been seen at the site as early as Oct. 7, according to Wells.

Searchers combed the rugged area all day on Sunday and into Sunday night, he said.

The search has continued with organized search teams, which have used everything from horses and mules to all-terrain- vehicles. Because of the rugged terrain, Wells said the sheriff’s department had not been asking for additional volunteers who might be unfamiliar with the area.

Much of the area being searched is extremely remote.

“We don’t want a search party for three missing people to turn into a search for others,” Wells said.

Meanwhile, McIntosh County Sheriff Joe Hogan said his deputies had checked the family’s home near Eufaula. They found nothing amiss, he said.

The Jameson home had a home security system with some video on it, Hogan said.

Law enforcement officers have also looked at the security video, but found nothing to help them solve the mystery of where the family is, according to Hogan.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.