TX TX - James Jimmy Tidwell, 58, Mt. Enterprise, 15 Feb 2012

summer_breeze

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
30,186
Reaction score
863
http://www.news-journal.com/rusk-co...cle_5b509d9a-63d0-11e1-8bdb-001871e3ce6c.html

Posted: Thursday, March 1, 2012 12:57 pm
From KETK, our news partner

Rusk County officials find missing Mt. Enterprise man's abandoned truck

4f4fc7a508f47.image.jpg
 
NamUs Profile

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/show/15265

Case Information
Status
Missing
First name
James
Middle name
Lamar
Last name
Tidwell
Nickname/Alias
Jimmy
Date LKA
February 15, 2012 00:00
Date entered
07/12/2012
Age LKA
58 to years old
Age now
59 years old
Race
White
Ethnicity
Sex
Male
Height (inches)
63.0
Weight (pounds)
175.0
 
Missing in East Texas: James Tidwell Jr. - 5 years later

Why would a man leave behind his glasses, truck and simply...vanish?

The question lingers on the minds of investigators and the family members of James Tidwell Jr.

"He did not voluntarily, willingly walk off that property and leave all of this work and all of these things that he's done," said Lynn Akin, Tidwell Jr.'s, sister. "It's not like it's presented to be. We don't have answers between what happened from point A to point B."

He worked the overnight shift at his job and left to go home at 5:30 a.m. He reportedly told his employer he would come back later that afternoon. However, he never showed.

"Flander called Jimmy's house and talked to Carol, Jimmy's wife," Akin says. "She told him he had been up working on taxes all night. She said she would not wake him up and would refuse to do so."

According to records, a week went by without Tidwell Jr., showing up for work.

On February 20, Tidwell Jr.'s, employer contacted authorities asking them to check on him. After hearing nothing, they called again on February 28. That's when it was discovered something was wrong.

There were no signs of Tidwell Jr., at his house and no indications of foul play.

Tidwell Jr.'s wife told officers she had been staying with family in Nacogdoches, due to the cabin still being under construction. She said she last saw her husband on February 24, four days before he was reported missing.

The Rusk County Sheriff's Office tells KETK, Tidwell Jr.'s, wife has never been charged with anything and, to their knowledge, she had nothing to do with this.

But Akin argues...she knows more than she's telling.

"Her stories just kept scrambling," Akin claims. "I did not see Jimmy that Friday, but I had called and talked to him. A few minutes later, Carol said she did not talk to Jimmy on that Friday, but that she went by and saw him feed the chickens."

"I can't prove it," says Akin. "We don't have a body, we don't have a crime scene, but that's what I feel in my heart and I have a right to say. I don't know what you've heard, but the facts still remain. He's still missing."

Tidwell Jr.'s, case remains open, and his sister is still waiting for answers, constantly reading her timeline of events, while holding on to the memories of the man who was always there for her.

"Life goes on," Akin explains. "But, you never stop looking. You never stop asking. You never stop wondering. It never goes away."
 
Years later, Lynn Akin, Jimmy Tidwell's sister, still checks in with the sheriff's office about his disappearance.

His little sister says, without a shadow of a doubt, there is no way he would have disappeared willingly.

Due to discrepancies in people's stories, all that is known about his case is that he left work and never returned.

During a search for Jimmy, they located his truck on the corner of State Highway 315 and Highway 95.

"We found his truck, we've never found him," Sheriff Price said. "So we have no clue what could have happened to him at that point."

The truck showed no signs of foul play.

"I'm still looking, Lynn said. "I'm still waiting on answers."

While questions remain, Lynn says she does not believe Jimmy is alive.

When he disappeared she believed he was already dead due to how close the siblings were.

"I didn't believe it from the beginning, he didn't just vanish willingly," Lynn said.
WITHOUT A TRACE: Dozens of East Texans missing with no evidence left behind
 
Jimmy's case is episode 240 of the Vanished podcast.Imo there is only one suspect here.
 
James Lamar Tidwell Jr. – The Charley Project

Casefile added Sept 08 2021


James Lamar Tidwell Jr.
  • tidwell_james.jpg
  • tidwell_james2.jpg
  • tidwell_james3.jpg
  • tidwell_james_truck.jpg
Tidwell, circa 2012; Tidwell's 1979 Ford F100 pickup truck

Details of Disappearance
Tidwell was last seen in Mount Enterprise, Texas on February 15, 2012. His boss last saw him at 5:30 a.m. that day, after he finished working the night shift. He had been working for an electrical company in Longview, Texas for about ten years, and he and his wife lived in a cabin they were building on a ten-acre plot in Mount Enterprise.

Tidwell was supposed to come back to work in the afternoon to do some overtime, but he never showed up. When his boss called his house and spoke to his wife, she said he was asleep and refused to wake him.

On February 20, Tidwell's boss became concerned about his uncharacteristic absence from work and asked the police to do a welfare check, but no one was able to find him. On February 28, the authorities tried again and still couldn't find Tidwell, and his boss filed a missing persons report. His wife said gave inconsistent statements as to when or where she last saw him.

On February 29, Tidwell's white 1979 Ford F100 pickup truck was found abandoned at the intersection of FM 95 and State Highway 315, about five miles from his home. A photo of the truck is posted with this case summary. It had been parked at the roadside for at least a day, and possibly since the day his boss last saw him. His glasses were lying on the seat of the truck, but his cellular phone, wallet and keys were missing. There was no sign of him at the scene.

Tidwell's sister does not believe her brother left of his own accord; she thinks foul play was involved in his disappearance. His case remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Source Information
 
I'm binge-listening to some old episodes of the Vanished podcast this weekend, and after listening to the episode on Jimmy's disappearance, I was absolutely on board with the idea that the wife was hiding something, especially since she answered his phone when his work called and that was highly unusual according to his boss.

Then I went searching for any updated information that might be out there on the case and saw quite a few people believe that Jimmy was a victim of the serial killer Israel Keyes, who was in Texas during the time Jimmy vanished. Another podcast, True Crime , apparently made a strong case for Jimmy being a Keyes victim for a number of reasons, including:
  • Keyes buying a shovel, air freshener, and lube from the Walmart near Tidwell's house on the day after he disappeared
  • Keyes can be placed in Rusk County the day before Tidwell disappeared.
  • Keyes' MO was to rob banks generally within 24 hours of murdering a victim. He robbed a bank in Azle the day after Tidwell disappeared.
  • According to police reports, Tidwell's construction helmet disappeared with him; Keyes is wearing a construction helmet with human hair taped in it, during his Azle bank robbery.
I haven't listened to this podcast yet because I just learned about it, but I'm off to find it and give it a listen.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
172
Guests online
1,806
Total visitors
1,978

Forum statistics

Threads
590,033
Messages
17,929,207
Members
228,043
Latest member
Biff
Back
Top