Published: October 24, 2009 01:27 pm      

Family is still missing

An expanded search that began Friday morning for a missing family from the Eufaula area had turned up no more clues by that evening, according to Latimer County Undersheriff Matt Bohn.

Despite help from a small army of volunteers, Bohn said around 4:20 p.m. on Friday that the search in a remote area of Latimer County had so far been “uneventful.”

Members of the missing family have been identified as Bobby Jamison, Sherrilynn Jamison and their 5-year-old child, identified as Madyson.

Law enforcement officers were planning to start winding down the search near 5 p.m. on Friday, because it would take awhile to get all of the searchers down off the Panola Mountain, according to Bohn.

“We’ve had a lot of rain,” he said.

He was unsure at the time if the search would continue over the weekend.

Asked how many searchers had been involved, Bohn said “The sheriff gave me an estimate of 200.”

Everything from aircraft, to riders on mules, horses and all-terrain-vehicles had been used in the search.

Meanwhile, the FBI and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation have entered the probe. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Forestry Services of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture are among the agencies who have participated in the search.

The family is now believed to have been missing since Oct. 7, although the Latimer County Sheriff’s Department did not learn they were missing until about 10 days later, according to Sgt. Chuck Wells.

“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.

“Their white pickup was found on Panola Mountain, near Red Oak,” said Latimer County Sheriff’s Sgt. Chuck Wells. Law enforcement officers found the pick-up 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 pick-up 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 pick-up, he said.

Bohn said Friday that investigators have talked to family members and friends of the Jamisons.

Asked if they had learned anything that will help with the investigation, Bohn indicated that everything investigators learn could ultimately prove helpful in the case.

“Anything will help,” he said.