KY KY - Ricky Griffis, 46, missed work, fam got text, "stuck in the woods", car found in the Coopersville strip mine, Wayne Co, 4 Jul 2022

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WAYNE COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office needs help finding a missing man.

Wayne County Sheriff Tim Catron said the family of Ricky Griffis has not seen or heard from him since Monday, July 4.

The sheriff said Griffis did not show up for work.

Griffis sent a text message to his family on Tuesday, July 5 saying he was stuck in the woods but no other contact has been made.

His car was found in the Coopersville strip mine area of Wayne County on Wednesday.

The Wayne County Rescue Squad, along with his family members, searched the area.

You are asked to call the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office at 606-348-5416 or the Wayne County 911 Dispatch Center at 606-348-9111 if you have any information.

7BZCL4MFMVAWPGQQUGQDMHYFWU.jpg


www.wkyt.com

Southern Ky. sheriff’s office looking for missing man

You are asked to call the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office if you have any information.
www.wkyt.com www.wkyt.com

JUL 13

WAYNE COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - Questions are being raised after a southern Kentucky man left, made some strange phone calls and then disappeared. That’s the situation surrounding the case of Ricky Griffis in Wayne County.

Police are investigating, but his family fears foul play is involved.

His family is about at their wits end, with many questions about what took place. They believe something happened last week, possibly Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. That’s about the last time they received communication from him.

“I am very convinced there is foul play going on. Very convinced there are people that know what happened to my brother,” said Cheyanne Carney, Griffis’ sister.

More at Wayne Co. man still missing; family searching for answers

Note: Age obtained from public records.
 
Very concerning. Why would Ricky go to that strip mine? Was he the one who send the text about being stuck in the woods? It's stated that he's been in recovery for a few years, perhaps this has something to do with it? Where could he be?
 
I couldn't think of any active mines in Wayne County, so I went to Google Earth globe view. I don't find any active mines, but scrutiny shows that the county is plumb full of revegetated bench-mined areas. Thousands of acres. Even if they know which mine he was last at, finding him might be like finding a needle in a haystack. He may have fallen off the edge of a riser and be sprawled at the base.
 
Oakie said:
I couldn't think of any active mines in Wayne County, so I went to Google Earth globe view. I don't find any active mines, but scrutiny shows that the county is plumb full of revegetated bench-mined areas. Thousands of acres. Even if they know which mine he was last at, finding him might be like finding a needle in a haystack. He may have fallen off the edge of a riser and be sprawled at the base.
Click to expand...
That's sad.
 
Oakie said:
I couldn't think of any active mines in Wayne County, so I went to Google Earth globe view. I don't find any active mines, but scrutiny shows that the county is plumb full of revegetated bench-mined areas. Thousands of acres. Even if they know which mine he was last at, finding him might be like finding a needle in a haystack. He may have fallen off the edge of a riser and be sprawled at the base.
Click to expand...

I couldn't find any kind of mines near Coopersville on any of the maps that I looked (looked at old topo and aerial pics). But there were several cliffs like you mentioned. Or at least no mines were marked and I didn't see any "... Mine Road" in the area. There was a lot of "disturbed" ground from the air pics that I guess could be mines.

I found a few newer articles from a Monticello radio station. A story from 7/18 that mentions a suspicious person in the Elk Ridge area that may have resembled him, but but they didn't find whoever that may have been and it's more of a paragraph than an actual "real" story. Elk Ridge is about 10 miles NNW of Coopersville (via KY-92, not as the bird flies).

Rescue Unit Out over the Weekend to Search for Missing Man – Z93 Country

z93country.com z93country.com
 
There could also be deep mines in the area (or defunct deep mines), and perhaps the reports refer to one of those. They wouldn't show up on an aerial photograph.

I went to the USDA Web Soil Survey for Wayne County to look at the aerial photography. For that particular county, the photos are clearer than the ones on Google Earth (a rarity, as it's usually the other way around), and the many rock outcrops/cliffs are much more visible. There is a lot of mesa-like topography there, that is obscured when aerial photos are taken in leaf-on season.
 
Some areas are covered better than others, but Historic Aerials has old aerial pics and old topo maps. The easiest way to use it is to look up a location (i.e. Wayne County or Monticello) on Wikipedia and there is "Coordinates" with some numbers at the top of the article (a little under the search-thingie) that will have a bunch of different map-related websites. It's one of the many links there.
Oakie said:
There could also be deep mines in the area (or defunct deep mines), and perhaps the reports refer to one of those. They wouldn't show up on an aerial photograph.

I went to the USDA Web Soil Survey for Wayne County to look at the aerial photography. For that particular county, the photos are clearer than the ones on Google Earth (a rarity, as it's usually the other way around), and the many rock outcrops/cliffs are much more visible. There is a lot of mesa-like topography there, that is obscured when aerial photos are taken in leaf-on season.
Click to expand...
ab
 
I don't know anything new about this case, but some skeletal remains found in the same county were ID'ed and apparently the Coopersville strip mine exists and GPS is screwed up for the area...
(that is literally the whole Z93-radio story - when I clicked on the story, it was just that sentence without the pic of the truck...)

1659852042476.png
 
SBM from the fundraiser page set up by Ricky's mom. I wish we had coordinates for where his car was recovered.

Missing Person-Finding Ricky Griffis​


Missing
On Wednesday, July 6, 2022, Deputy Joe Horne responded to a call from Ricky’s family stating they had not seen or had heard anything from him since Monday, July 4, 2022, which was uncommon for Ricky. Ricky did not show up for work either. A coworker received a text message from Ricky on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, at 9:29 am, saying he was stuck in the woods. No other contact has been made with Ricky since then. On Wednesday, July 6, 2022, Ricky’s vehicle was located in the Coopersville strip mine area of Wayne County. A search of the site by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office and an extended search by the Wayne County Rescue Squad, as well as K911-KY and family members. Ricky has not been located, and the search and investigation is continuing. Rescue units returned to the scene, assisting the family in retrieving the vehicle Mr. Griffis was driving. Units were joined later in the day by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, who deployed drones over the area with no success. During this time, rescue units continued searching the ar
ea for any signs with no success.

Ricky was known to be at the following locations on July 4th:
The Cove/ formerly Mugsbees 100 Stonecrest Drive Burnside Ky
Shell( referred to as Pitmart) 1516 Columbia Avenue Monticello Ky
The Junction 65 KY-90 Albany Ky
 
A family in neighboring Wayne County continues to ask for help in a missing person case, according to a report by Z93 in Monticello.

Ricky Griffis hasn’t been seen since July 4. The report says both police and his family in Wayne County suspect a crime was committed and they believe something may have happened to him while he was in this car with other people.

Authorities were able to recover his car, wallet and his cell phone. The Wayne County sheriff says it’s possible a crime was committed but evidence is still being gathered and polygraph tests are still being performed.

Anyone with information about Griffis’ disappearance should call their local police or the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office at 606-348-5416.

lakercountry.com

Man still missing in Wayne County over 3 months later

A family in neighboring Wayne County continues to ask for help in a missing person case, according to a report by Z93 in Monticello. Ricky Griffis hasn’t been seen since July 4. The report says
lakercountry.com lakercountry.com
 
TruckersWife said:
A family in neighboring Wayne County continues to ask for help in a missing person case, according to a report by Z93 in Monticello.

Ricky Griffis hasn’t been seen since July 4. The report says both police and his family in Wayne County suspect a crime was committed and they believe something may have happened to him while he was in this car with other people.

Authorities were able to recover his car, wallet and his cell phone. The Wayne County sheriff says it’s possible a crime was committed but evidence is still being gathered and polygraph tests are still being performed.

Anyone with information about Griffis’ disappearance should call their local police or the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office at 606-348-5416.

lakercountry.com

Man still missing in Wayne County over 3 months later

A family in neighboring Wayne County continues to ask for help in a missing person case, according to a report by Z93 in Monticello. Ricky Griffis hasn’t been seen since July 4. The report says
lakercountry.com lakercountry.com
Click to expand...
So LE knows who the people in the car were that were with him? It appears like it according to this.
 
Ricky has been added to NamUs.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.
www.namus.gov

Tattoos:
wolf on back right shoulder
barbed wire right forearm
large cross on left upper arm

two toes missing from right foot
skin grafting scar right thigh
right lower leg and ankle repaired with surgical rod
top dentures
 
JUN 9, 2023

WAYNE COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - It’s been almost a year since a southern Kentucky man was seen by his family.

The Wayne County sheriff says foul play could be a factor in the disappearance of Ricky Griffis. His family has sought out help from an out-of-state K-9 search team.

Griffis was last seen here in the Burnside area sometime around July 4 of last year. What followed were some strange text messages, then his car, phone and wallet were found. Since then, nothing but questions about what happened to him.

More at Search for missing Wayne Co. man nears 1 year mark
 
JUN 14, 2023
www.wtvq.com

Wayne County: Missing man's mother pleads for answers in son's disappearance - ABC 36 News

Ricky Griffis was reported missing on July 5th of last year, nearly one year later, his mother, Alice, stills recalls their final conversation.
www.wtvq.com www.wtvq.com
[...]

The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says the last message Ricky texted his family told them he was lost in the woods.

His mother says otherwise, “we never received any text messages, the last time I sent him a message was on 4th of July.”

Mabe says ricky never had an easy life, getting into alcohol and pain-killers.

She says Ricky suffered an accident that almost claimed his life, a period in which he was introduced to a variety of drugs. He later went to rehab and managed to also go to recovery.

“What I miss most about Ricky being in our lives is his love that he showed his family, the love he showed his friends, you know, the, the battles he fought and he fought hard to go get out of some of his battles. He was fighting and he did. God brought him back to us a better man,” added Mabe.

As the family inches closer to the anniversary of Ricky’s disappearance, “I just feel Ricky’s come to me and he said, thank you mom and he held on tight to me. So I’ve already felt his spirit laying right here. He come and held me and said, thank you mom because he know mama won’t never give up,” added Mabe.

The Cajun Coast Search and Rescue Team is also aiding in the search efforts and have committed at least two weeks to the case.

[...]
 
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