NC NC - Jeffrey Mays, 22, Cape Hatteras, 13 Nov 1980

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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1785dmnc.html

Jeffrey Mays
Missing since November 13, 1980 from the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
Classification: Missing

27024

Photo: NamUs

Vital Statistics
  • Age at Time of Disappearance: 22 years old
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: White male.

Circumstances of Disappearance
Mays was last seen in boat 16 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on November 13, 1980.
According to newspaper articles published in The Virginian-Pilot, of Norfolk, VA, Jeffrey and Ted Wall, were last seen about 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 13, 1980, about 16 miles southeast of the inlet. A commercial fisherman from Hatteras told the Coast Guard he helped the two repair the engine of Jeffrey's 23-foot boat, the Sea Ox.
The search for the missing men and boat began about 9 p.m. that evening and continued for two weeks. Coast Guard boats, Navy, Marine, Air Force and Coast Guard helicopters were used to cover more than 211,000 miles of ocean. Jeffrey's boat, the Sea Ox, was considered unsinkable. 'The Sea Ox boats are filled with foam flotation that can keep them just under the surface even when swamped. The lost boat had a 280-horsepower engine," reported the Nov. 21, 1980, issue of The Virginian-Pilot.
Authorities haven't found anything from the boat, which is unusual.
Friends and family of Mays doesn't believe Jeffrey is dead.
They said in the winter, the commercial fishermen got into selling drugs. Back then it was pretty heavy duty. Jeff was hanging out with Ted Wall, and they think Ted was over his head owing some people money. The mystery of Jeffrey Mays' disappearance continued to deepen when a friend read the official Coast Guard report. On one of the pages was a quote from a commercial fisherman who told the Coast Guard he had seen a boat resembling the Sea Ox heading southwest at a high rate of speed.
When the friend went to look at the report again, the page was missing. The current public affairs officer with the U.S. Coast Guard Group Cape Hatteras, in Buxton, North Carolina agreed to search for the official records of Jeffrey's disappearance for the Tribune-Review. One day later, she called to say the Coast Guard did not have the records, and that they were in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Six years after Jeffrey's disappearance, this same friend was visiting Mays' family at the family's summer home on the Outer Banks. He said he was looking out the window and watching these two guys get out of two pickup trucks. These guys had long hair, jeans, big boots, and flannel shirts and it was at the end of May. They were talking and I was watching them when all of a sudden one guy whips out a pair of binoculars and looks up at the house. He thought he saw a ghost. The man with the binoculars resembled Jeffrey, said the friend, who began walking toward the front door.
"This guy is staring at me through the binoculars and I'm walking toward them. There's a girl in each truck and a dog in the back of each truck. The one guy drives up the beach road; the other guy who looked like Jeff, drove past me and waved. Jeff had a funny type of wave and this guy waved exactly the same way as Jeff."
In 1995, the commercial fishing vessel, Mr. Big, which was suspected to have exploited a loophole in state and federal fishing regulations in Alaska, arrived in port at the Outer Banks on November 15th. A photographer from The Virginian-Pilot captured a picture of three men standing on the deck of the vessel as it headed into port. One of the men looked like Jeffrey.
When Mr. Big came into the Outer Banks, someone broke into the family's summer home, but they didn't break through the front door or the first floor. This person climbed up on the second floor and was able to unlock a specially designed lock on the second-floor door. There were only several people who knew about that lock on the door. Nothing was damaged during the break-in. Nothing was taken. The person that broke in just turned everything on, the lights, ceiling fans, alarm clocks. That person knew where the electrical switches were. Jefferey's friend told the Mays' family that he thought Jeff was on that boat. He's come to the conclusion that Jeff is living in Alaska. But there's something that's keeping him away from his family. :We keep hitting a brick wall in the search for Jeff and there's a reason. I think Jeff has another life now. Jeff loved his family. There's no question. I think he got hooked up with the wrong people in the wrong environment." Jefferey's mother, Shirley Mays, has committed her life to finding Jeffrey. Her book, "Outer Banks Piracy, Where Is My Son Jeffrey?" details money laundering, power, greed, and drugs on the Outer Banks. She is hoping the book will open up more doors in her search for her only son.
 
Angels_Not_Forgotten said:
awww, seems like he may have broke in and turned the lights on just as an "hey i love you guys im still around" very sad for the parents. :(
............I feel like you on this case... I think 1 or both them boy's got involved a little over there head's in the dope trade and that very easy too do...Most big time dealer's not only sell but use there product too and this make there judgement very strange too say the least.. it's not uncommon for them put out a $10,000 contract on somebody only owe them a hundred dollar's or so just to show other people they best pay up no matter what happened..I think them boy's are on the run from somebody or that's what i hope and them boy's are ok and just hiding out somewhere and when they come to there hometown they keeping a very low profile and don't stay but a day or 2...
 
Thanks Chico for getting me online. I wish to tell the others that I am Jeffrey Mays' mother and I have great reason to believe he is alive. He has been missing for 27 years but you have to know the circumstances to be able to believe like I do. He was 16 miles offshore Cape Hatteras, in International Waters with international drug dealing. He was a little 21 year old fish in a big, big pond. The search was a hoax and I can prove it but the law keeps throwing a steel door in my face. That is because they are involved - and some Coast Guard locals also. This was one of the biggest searches ever on the East Coast and the truth needs to be told.
 
Outer Banks fishermen vanish, case opens decades later

http://www.13newsnow.com/story/news/local/13news-now-investigates/2015/11/11/cold-case/75588520/

Friday marks 35 years since two young men went missing off the coast of Cape Hatteras. According to reports, they were fishing on a boat, but never came back. Not a single trace of wreckage was ever found.

The mother of one of those boys has dedicated her life to finding out what happened to her son. Shirley Mays believes something terrible happened to him at sea.

"It was November 13, 1980. It was a nice, sunny day and he just didn't come home," she said.

She believes Jeffrey may have been caught in the middle of a drug deal gone wrong. She spent years trying to find out what happened. In 2013 she felt she had gathered enough information to open a case. The Dare County Sheriff's Office agreed.

"It's 35 years later. We're going to interview everyone we can find that deals with this case, and then we're going to put it all together," Captain Duprey said.
 
Thanks Chico for getting me online. I wish to tell the others that I am Jeffrey Mays' mother and I have great reason to believe he is alive. He has been missing for 27 years but you have to know the circumstances to be able to believe like I do. He was 16 miles offshore Cape Hatteras, in International Waters with international drug dealing. He was a little 21 year old fish in a big, big pond. The search was a hoax and I can prove it but the law keeps throwing a steel door in my face. That is because they are involved - and some Coast Guard locals also. This was one of the biggest searches ever on the East Coast and the truth needs to be told.
With all due respect, Madam, I am pleased to greet you and tell you that I believe your son was homosexual and that I also believe that he trafficked drugs for a good sum of money, although I do not believe that he consumed it. I hope that one day I can find it .. I never traveled to Canada to see if she found it?
 
Just found this case and thread. Some interesting comments, to say the least. FWIW here is the current NamUs link. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs).
There's 47 exclusions, nearly all from NC or VA, plus quite a lot of further info there. The images and documents page includes a dozen pages from various newspaper articles.

Although he doesn't have a WS thread, Ted Wall has a NamUs file too with six exclusions.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
 

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