AZ AZ - Jayson Pearce, 1, Phoenix, 15 April 1983

I listed April 15th as the missing date although some sources give April 18th as the date.

NamUs

Missing & Exploited Children

Charley Project




Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
• Missing Since: April 15, 1983 from Phoenix, Arizona
• Classification: Endangered Missing
• Date of Birth: January 12, 1982
• Age: 1 year old
• Height and Weight: 3'0, 20 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Sandy brown hair, green eyes.

Details of Disappearance
Jayson was last seen at his home in Phoenix, Arizona on April 15, 1983. He was abducted by his non-custodial stepfather. His stepfather claims he gave him to another family, but that story has never been verified and Jayson has never been heard from again. Few details are available in his case.

"Help sought in 1983 Phoenix disappearance of Jayson Pearce":

http://www.nbc12.com/story/29136704/help-sought-in-1983-phoenix-disappearance-of-jayson-pearce

Bumping

Interesting how little attention this case has attracted. An article from the Arizona Republic newspaper in 1990, available at https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/122390361/ gives the following information;


Mothers name Napolean Pearce.
Stepfathers name John David Grooms, born circa 1942, last known circa 1990 in Tucson.
Jayson had a brother Michael born circa 1976.
Grooms was sentenced to just under 2 years in prison for custodial interference but not charged with kidnapping due to 'lack of evidence'. I am not sure why as he wrote notes to the mother saying he took the boy.
The police lost track of Grooms circa 1990.

I suspect Napolean Pearce is now living in Florida. http://az.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19850611_0040291.AZ.htm/qx is the appeal of John David Grooms against his conviction and sentence. It gives some interesting background (such as the mother was in prison for multiple DUIs and he had been looking after the children). Oddly, Pearce and Grooms were only married 3 months before the abduction (in Nevada on 25/1/1983 according to Ancestry).

A bit more digging suggests Grooms may be an interesting character and, perhaps, even did what he claimed. Two web records from the 1970s and 80s suggest a strong religious background and I cannot find any records of other tangles with LE (and cannot find him with any confidence post 1990).

I think he goes by David Grooms rather than John. His marriage record lists him as J David Grooms and the first record also uses this name. At https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/2481713/ there is an article from 1974 (when he would have been 32) which lists him as a lay reader of the Christian Church in Casa Grande. I assume it is our man as it seems unlikely there were two J David Grooms in the same area at the same time. The second record is at https://culteducation.com/group/10814-behind-bars-.html which is an article on Jewish prisoners in Arizona prisons and is dated January 1985, around the time Grooms was in prison. It includes a story about the conversion of a David Grooms to Judaism (apparently the first known case of a prisoner conversion), said David Grooms "who grew up in an evangelical Christian environment".

All of this may be only a coincidence of names, but I suspect not and that it suggests this case is more interesting and less obvious than it may appear at first. Hopefully he really did find a good home for Jayson.

Jayson Nathaniel Pearce

I located this cold case file for Jayson but not much else is out there in the way of new information. I don't understand how they couldn't arrest the step father for kidnapping he admitted to taking the child what else do they need? I wonder if they questioned any of his relatives or close friends at that time to see if they could get any leads there. If he did in fact give the child to someone it would sem logical that he would give him to someone that he knew well to insure that he was giving him a better life.

This post from Missing in AZ suggests that John David Grooms has since died. www.facebook.com/AZmissing/photos/15-month-old-jayson-pearce-was-left-in-the-care-of-his-stepfather-john-david-gro/501599613357348/
Jayson's mother Napolean Pearce passed away in 2019 https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/napolean-pearce-obituary?pid=193627955
Jayson Nathaniel Pearce remains missing.